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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0494.PDF
JUNE 14, «928 He took his 9-h.p. triplane to the 1909 Blackpool Meeting,the first in England. The weather was very wet and boister- ous, which made the cotton and paper very slack, and theengine gave a lot of trouble. Later he went to Wembley Park and fitted a 14-h.p. engine into a triplane. With thishe could start off close to the foundations of the old tower on the hill and fly round the park on to the hill again close towhere he had started, some trees preventing a return to the starting point. He would then reverse the machine andfly back again. That was a case of " pride comes before a fall," because, having made turns to the right and left, hethought he had all but mastered the art of flight. But to his disgust he would find the machine topple over in spite of fullwarp against that side, evidently through failure to use the rudder properly, as he had not up to that time realised theimportance of that stern necessity. Louis Noel joined them then, and learnt to fly, becoming a great airman during thewar, and spared after many exploits and receiving many decorations. F. P. Raynham was another of their pupilswho gave a certain number of hours' work for an hour's flying. He was very sorry to lose one of his early faithful assistantsin Howard Flanders, who left to start building on his own account in a shed near Hewlett and Blondeau. Mrs. MauriceHewlett taught her son to fly, and he made the great raid on Cuxhaven, and was now Wing Commander Hewlett,S. V. Sippe, now Major Sippe, was another of their Brooklands pupils. He made that historic raid on Friedrichshafen,destroying a Zeppelin a month or so after war started, in conjunction with Capt. Featherstone, Briggs and Babbington. Mr. Roe said he often used to meet at that time Sopwith,Hawker and Sigrist. He broke the British duration record with an enclosed biplane flying over seven hours, thenHawker went up with Sopwith's English Wright machine, and just beat it, with an A.B.C. engine, which, he believed,fell to bits next time the machine was taken out. There was an aeroplane exhibition at Olympia, and he used to hear aboutrivals spending a lot of time on his stand. Personally, he had always liked the idea of a rival picking up wrinkles fromhim, and hoped he would be able to do likewise from them. When the show was over he wanted a propeller for tests thefollowing day, but the man who granted the permits had left, and he could not get one. The gate-keeper would not allowhim to pass, so he made a bolt for it, amid police whistles and cries of " Stop thief." The man who finally caught himsaid, "Well, it's Roe." He was someone from Hendon, and Mr. Roe explained. Then the gate-keeper subsequentlyallowed him to take the cherished propeller. In 1912 they built the first enclosed aeroplane to fly in the world. It was asmall monoplane with an air-cooled radial engine. They then built an enclosed biplane fitted with a 60-h.p. Greenengine and entered it for the 1912 military trials at Salisbury Plain. Lieut. Wilfred Parke flew it, and was about the firstperson to get out of a spinning nose dive. Having done a certain trial and feeling bucked up he became rather frisky,when the machine got into a spiral nose-dive. He tried everything he could think of to bring it back, and to his joy itcame out of the dive when quite close to the ground. He flew it through a heavy hail storm for about half-an-hour,and they were surprised on landing to find the leading edge of his propeller looking as if it had been eaten away by rats.During a wet day at those trials they were sitting in the shed talking of machines, when Parke said to Cody, " You can talkwhen you have built an aeroplane that will carry two heavy people like Pixton and Fred May with a 30-h.p.engine."Cody replied in his deep Buffalo Bill voice, " Well, well, I don't mind, I am the man who copy's nobody." Parkereplied in the same tone, " Yes, yes, and you are the man nobody wants to copy." However, if anyone wanted to copyhim or not, his work was of great merit, and they must all feel deeply sorry that he and many other pioneers were notwith them that night, concluded Mr. A. V. Roe. Amongst those invited to the banquet were :—Sir SamuelHoare, Sir F. K. McClean, Sir Oliver Swann, Air Vice-Marshal Sir John Higgins, Col. The Master of Sempill, Sir G. Higgins.Sir E. Crowe, Mr. F. R. Simms, Mr. P. Foster, Lt.-Col. O'Gorman, Capt. W. Brass, Mr. H. V. Roe, Admiral Sir R.Webb, Capt. F. E. Guest, Capt. P. D. Acland, Lt.-Com. J. M. Kenworthy, Mr. G. Holt-Thomas, Maj. E. G. E. Beau-mont, Lady Wakefield, Lady McClean, Mrs. A. V. Roe, Dr. Marie C. Stopes, Lady Higgins, Lady Swann, Mrs.Acland, Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Fairey, Mr. O. Short, Maj. S. V. Sippe, Mr. and Mrs. Handley Page, Mrs. and Mrs. R. Black-burn, Sir Ernest and Lady Petter, Rear-Admiral Murray F. Sueter and Mrs. Sueter, Mr. C. G. Parnall, Mr. and Mrs.H. T. Vane, Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Walker, Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Siddeley, Mr. J. D. Siddeley, Mr. R. K. Pierson, Mr. and Mrs.R. Fedden, Lt.-Col. C. L'Estrange Malone and Mrs. Malone, Mr. W. O. Manning, Maj. R. H. Mayo and Mrs. Mayo, Mr. andMrs. R. J. Parrott, Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Morris, Mr. and Mrs. J. D. North, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Capt. and Mrs. A. G.Lamplugh, Mr. and Mrs. W. Lappin, Mr. and Mrs. J. Lord, Dr. Hele-Shaw, Lady Heath, Col. and Mrs. L. F. R. Fell,Mr. H. P. Folland, Mr. H. Guy-ffiske, Mr. and Mrs. C. Grahame- White, and Mr. and Mrs. R. Chadwick, Air Commodore Gerrard,Major F. M. Green, Wing-Commander W. H. Anderson. Major Baden-Powell, Major T. M. Barlow, Capt. F. • S. Barnwell,Lieut.-Col. J. Barrett Leonard, Mr, A. E. Berriman, Wing- Commander H. Blackburn, Major H. Hemming, Mr. J. E.Hodgson, Wing-Commander T. O'B. Hubbard, Group Capt, E. F. Briggs, Mr. R. A. Bruce, Major J. S. Buchanan, MajorG. P. Bulman, Capt. L. W. Charley, Mr. A. E. L. Chorlton, Mr. H. Burroughes, Senor J. de la Cierva, Mr. E. C. Gordon-England, Mr. Fred May, Capt. F. Warren-Merriam, Lieut, de Vasseau Bos, Mr. F. P. Raynham, General R. Verduzio,Air Commodore J. G. Weir, Major M. Wright and Com. Yamasita. Blackpool Air Pageant EntriesWE understand that while entry forms for the Blackpool Air Pageant, which takes place on July 6-7, have been sentto all aircraft firms, clubs, and private owners, there are some who wish to enter but who have not received theirforms. Anyone in this position should communicate without delay to Alan Goodfellow, Clerk of the Course, 6, BrownStreet, Manchester, as the closing date for entries is fixed for June 15. The King's Cup and Siddeley Trophy Tour INTENDING competitors for both the above events are reminded that entries close at 5 p.m. on June 29. It should be noted, also, that the Committee of the Royal Aero Club has decided that the finish of both these events shall be at Brooklands Aerodrome, and not at Hendon as previously announced. Balloon Explodes at PulhamAN experimental observation balloon burst into flames at Pulham aerodrome, Norfolk, on May 30. It was apparentlybeing drawn to earth but when still at 600 feet there was an explosion and fire broke out. It became detached from thecable and drifted to the ground about half-a-mile away where it was totally destroyed. Fortunately there was no one onboard at the time. American Balloon Race Fatalities IN spite of warnings that thunderstorms might beexpected the national elimination balloon race started at Pittsburgh on May 30 and thirteen of the fourteen balloonswere quickly forced down. Lieut. P. Everet, the pilot of the Army balloon No. 3 was killed when his balloon was struck by lightning and caught fire. His companion, Lieut,Ugent, managed to bring it down without injury to himself. Another balloon, the Goodyear, No. 5, caught fire also,and its pilot, Mr. Ward T. van Orman, broke his leg, after leaping with a parachute, and his companion, Mr. WalterMorton, was found dead after he had jumped out. The airship, Los Angeles, was abroad during the storm butreturned safely to Lakehurst, New Jersey. Gordon Bennett Race GREAT BRITAIN has notified the National Aeronautical Association of the withdrawal of its entry for the Inter- national Gordon Bennett Balloon Race which starts from Detroit on June 30. Sir C. Wakefield's Gift MR. COATES, the New Zealand Prime Minister, has accepted the offer of Sir Charles Wakefield to provide the Government with a light aeroplane. Ceylon LIEUT. CARNDUFF crashed in a Fairey seaplane 100 miles from Colombo, Ceylon, on June 8 in the heart of the hill country. He was slightly injured. He had been flying extensively over the district for some days and the hilly jungle offered no landing places for a seaplane. Inland Air Lines IMPERIAL AIRWAYS are contemplating an air service to Scotland and a trial flight is expected to take place on June 15 next by an Armstrong-Siddeley machine which will leave at the same time as the L.N.E.R. non-stop train from King's Cross. It will travel along the East Coast resorts and com- municate throughout by wireless. 450
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