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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0464.PDF
JUNE 7, 1928 morning they wirelessed their position as 400 miles from Suva, and were fighting a desperate battle with a hurricane. At 2.21 p.m. the monoplane reached Suva and landed perfectly on a cricket field, around which was gathered almost the entire population of Suva, including hundreds of natives. The Mayor greeted the airmen and Sir Eyre Hutson, Acting-Governor of the Fiji and High Commissioner of the Western Pacific, extended an official welcome. The stage from Honolulu took 34J hours. They had fought a fierce tempest during the night, and Capt. Kingsford-Smith re- marked that he never wished to experience such weather again. With the greater part of the long sea journey to Australia safely conquered, there only remains a sea flight of 1,550 miles to Brisbane, and a coastal trip south to Sydney. The Commonwealth Government is assisting in the final stages. All coastal wireless stations and ships on the course are directed to listen for the machine, whilst two New Zealand naval vessels near Suva are asked to co- operate. THE ART OF FLYING"* " FLYING is an art. Like all arts it requires practice." There is no ambiguity in that, and by these two sentences, the first in the introduction to his book " The Art of Flying,' Captain Macmillan makes it quite clear what is his attitude towards a pilot's job. Mind you, he is speaking in the main of what may perhaps be termed exceptional flying, such as the testing of new types and so on. But we do not think that, in spite of his many years' work as a test pilot, the author of this little book regards the air line pilot as being on the level of a London omnibus driver. He does, however, differentiate quite clearly between test flying and similar types of flying on the one hand, and normal flying on well-tried types of machines on the other. Captain Macmillan's book is not a treatise on how to fly, and those who expect this from it will be disappointed. Rather does it take up the thread where the ordinary flying school leaves off. Neither is it a guide to stunt pilots, although stunt pilots, like ordinary pilots and even beginners can learn a tremendous lot from it. " The Art of Flying " is something much more than that. It represents the accumulated experience of many years of intensive research flying, and shows on almost every one of its 159 pages how extra- ordinarily observant is the author, perceiving and inter- preting phenomena which, it is safe to say, would pass the average man by entirely. As Sir Sefton Brancker says of Capt. Macmillan in his foreword to the book, " He has the rare quality of being a perfect pilot, equipped with a sound and scientific brain, which enables him to translate ideas into clearly recorded action, and action back again into improved ideas." We doubt if ever the charm of flying has ever been better *"The Art of Flying." By Captain Norman Macmillan, M.C., A.F.C.With a Foreword by Air Vice-Marshal Sir Setton Bnnrker, K.C.B., A.F.C. Duckworth & Co. Ltd. Price 5s. net. Obtainable from the offices of " FLIGHT." expressed than this : " The aeroplane in the air is one's complete and separate world of which one is master ; the earth below belongs to other people and exists only to be used by oneself when desired." Captain Macmillan lays considerable stress on the importance of " ground thinking," and devotes a whole chapter to this subject. Therein he records how, when he was " learning how to fly " (for he does not consider that he was really taught) he used to sit in his hut of an evening with a poker in one hand and his feet on the cold stove, practising synchronisation of hands and feet. Those of our readers who had the good fortune to read Captain Macmillan's account of his being adrift in the Bay of Bengal on an overturned seaplane will remember his excellent literary style. This is retained in the present book, and it is to be hoped that he will write many more, not merely of an instructive kind, but which give his powers of description full freedom. Passages in the present book show Captain Macmillan to be capable of word pictures which are a sheer delight. The book is full of epigrams, showing yet another side of the author's genius. Take for instance, the reference to the part which mentality plays in the evolution of a pilot. Too much imagination places unnecessary strain on the individual, while too little places unnecessary strain on the aircraft." One section of the book is open to criticism ; that dealing with propellers. The author is, or appears to be, rather unkind to the steel propeller, but an explanation from Capt. Macmillan is published in our correspondence columns this week, which should be read by all who obtain a copy of the book, and we hope thousands will do so. It is a book which nobody interested in aviation can afford to miss. In his introduction Captain Macmillan states that he hopes the fathers of sons who wish to fly will read it, as well as the sons themselves. We would add that we hope also the sons of fathers who wish to flv will read it. At St. James's Palace, June 1 His MAJESTY THE KING held a Levee on June 1 at St. James's Palace, at which were present Group Capt. R. P. Ross, R.A.F., Aide-de-Camp in Waiting ; Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Hugh Trenchard ; Sir Courtenay Warner ; Flight-Lieut. John Barraclough ; Flight-Lieut. Henry Battle : W7ing-Comdr. John Bradley, O.B.E. ; Flight- Lieut. Gerald Bryer, O.B.E.. A.F.C. ; Flight-Lieut. Charles Carr, D.F.C., A.F.C. ; Flying Officer Jack Caulfield ; Flight- Lieut. Gerard Combe ; Flight-Lieut. William Elliot, D.F.C. ; Flying Officer Edward Fielden ; Flying Officer Richard Findlay ; Flight-Lieut. James Foden, A.F.C. ; Sqdn.-Ldr. Charles Foster; Flight-Lieut. George Gardiner, D.F.C. ; Flight-Lieut. James Lawson ; Lieut. Gwynn Madocks (private owner) ; Wing-Comdr. Arnold Miley, O.B.E. ; Flight-Lieut. Thomas Moore ; Mr. Hylton Murray-Philipson (private owner) ; Flight-Lieut. Geoffrey Pidcock ; Wing- Comdr. Thomas Rippon, O.B.E. ; Flight-Lieut. Frank Robinson; Flight-Lieut. Walter Seward ; Flying Officer Philip Slocombe ; Flying Officer Cecil Stone;" Sqdn.-Ldr. William Weston, etc. Still Missing THERE is no news of General Nobile's expedition in the airship, Italia, which failed to return to Spitzbergen after flying to the North Pole, on May 23. Lieut. Luetzow Holm is about to begin a search in a flying-boat, having reached King's Bay in the sealer, Hobby, and continued to Spitz- bergen after dogs, sledges and dog-drivers were taken on board. A report states that Italian authorities believe that the airship met with an accident in the region of Wijde Bay on the north coast of Spitzbergen. There are many search parties preparing expeditions. Sweden has authorised the despatch of three machines to the area, which will probably be Hansa-Brandenburg seaplanes fitted with 450 h.p. Bristol Jupiter " engines, each having an operating radius of 800 miles. Capt. Riiser Larsen, too, is now on his way to King's Bay. It is suggested to FLIGHT by Capt. Boothby that had the Italia been fitted with the hydrogen-fuel system, which could have easily been applied to the engines, it would have been all right, as the system would have given at least 20 per cent, economy in fuel, leaving ample to bridge the short distance left. Italian Air Record CAPT. FERRARIN and Major del Prete, Italian airmen, broke the world's record for duration flight last week by remaining in the air for 58 hrs. 37 minutes. Their machine was a Savoia-Marciette S 64 Fiat A 22 550 h.p. engine, and over a triangular course it was estimated that they covered about 5,000 miles, which is a distance record. The duration record beaten was that of 53 hrs. 35 mins., made by Mr. E. Stinson and Capt. G. Haldeman, the American pilots. Capt. Ferrarin was one of the Italian Schneider Team last year. Both airmen stepped from the machine shaved and fresh. It is stated that the flight was actually in the nature of a preliminary test before an attempt to fly from Rome to New York shortly. Belgium Claims Record IT is reported from Brussels that two Belgian airmen, M. Crooy and M. Groenen, landed at the Tirlemont aero- drome on June 4 after flying continuously for 60 hrs. 7 mins. 32 sees. If this is- confirmed it will beat the record made by the Italians reported above. 420
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