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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0951.PDF
13 OCTOBER 11, 1928 over one hundred years ago. The Society are peculiarly fortunate in being able to include in their exhibit a selection from Cayley's own papers, which have been lent by the cour- tesy of Sir Kenelm Cayley, the present owner. These papers include a note-book used by Cayley between 1800 and 1810, which may, with reason, be claimed as the most important aeronautical manuscript of the 19th century known to be extant. It contains records of his experiments with a primitive form of whirling-arm—vastly different in structure from the immense electrically-driven apparatus at the National Physical Laboratory, though designed for an essentially similar purpose—on the results of which, taken in conjunction with other experiments with small screw- propellers and gliders, he based his reasoned conviction that flight was a mechanical problem capable of assured solution. In other words, he was the first to lay down " that the inclined plane, with a horizontal propelling apparatus, is the true principle of aerial navigation by mechanical means." And because he realised that engine power was " the sine qua nan of the case," he spent a great part of his life in trying to develop some type of caloric or explosion engine applicable to the purpose. The note-book also contains a description, with drawings, of a " tension-wheel," specifically invented by Cayley for use with mechanical flying machines—a type of wheel which actually proved to be almost indispensable on the invention of the aeroplane, and which in its vastly wider application to the bicycle has become of world-wide utility. Other manuscripts in Cayley's own hand deal with such questions as the possibility of using bi-plane or tri-plane wing-surfaces, and the great importance of reducing resistance by " ovailing " the section of supports or struts, and even the cords which he proposed to use for " diagonal bracing." Cayley's work is further remarkable in that throughout a period of over 40 years he combined practical experiments with theoretical reasoning. That towards the end of his life his ideas had projected themselves, so to speak, half-a-century ahead, may be seen in the draft reply of a letter to W. S. Henson, the designer of the first power-propelled monoplane, in which Cayley—warning Henson that progress must inevitably be slow—points out, with tragic foresight, that " a hundred necks have to be broken before all the sources of accident can be ascertained and guarded against." In the direction of airships—navigable balloons as he termed them—Cayley was equally ahead of his time, and as early as 1817, and again in 1841—the papers exhibited include a draft speech of the latter period—he urged the formation of an Aerostatic Institution, because he believed that the principle of " balloon floatage " would be practicable before mechanical flight, and because he knew that few, if any, individuals could undertake the great cost of carrying out experiments. For he fully realised the main principle on which airship theory rests, and was convinced that airships would have to be built on a very large scale. Hence his suggestion for dividing the gas container into several compart- ments, and hence also his suggestion that the form of the navigable balloon which he described—an elongated spheroid of 300 ft. in length—would have to be maintained by " light poles and internal cross bracings of wire." In this connec- tion, it can only be added that Cayley regarded the airship as likely to afford " greater facilities for transporting men and goods through the air than mechanical means alone," and he gave expression to the belief that they would ultimately be used for the longer voyages, with mechanical flying machines serving a complementary purpose for " less remote distances." But if the Cayley papers are. in their way. the most interest- ing exhibit, they form but a very small part of the whole story. That story begins with the legend of King Bladud, the " British King who tried to Fly," who is said to have ruled Britain in the fourth century B.C., and who—as told in the picturesque verse of the " Mirror for Magistrates "— was killed in London trying to achieve winged flight. In the scientific sense, it begins in the 13th century with Roger Bacon, the first man of learning to write of " flying machines," and is continued in the 17th, with the printed writings of the " Flying Bishop," John Wilkins, and the great mechanician, Robert Hooke, who is said to have " invented thirty several ways of flying " before he left Westminster School. A century later, the " romance of flight " is exemplified in the first German translation of Dr. Johnson's " Rasselas "—a rare edition printed at Mainz, with the English text, in 1785. From the period of the invention of the balloon in 1783, the material, both in books and engravings, becomes more profuse. The exhibit is especially remarkable in the latter respect, and comprises from nfty to a hundred rare engravings ranging from 1784 to about 1860. Notable amongst these are several fine coloured aquatints of the ascents of James Sadler, the first English aeronaut—he made his first ascent from Oxford in October, 1784—and more remarkable as an inventor than is generally known. Many of the books are of special interest as describing notable flights or as dealing for the first time with different aspects of the application of ballooning—for instance, Dr. Jeffries' narrative of the first Channel crossing in 1785, or Major Money's first treatise on military ballooning, 1803. Of particular interest in connec- tion with this German exhibition are the prints and documents connected with the record voyage of Charles Green's famous " Vauxhall " ballon to Weilburg in Nassau, the latter including the original congratulatory address presented to Green and his two companions by the Magistrate and Town Council of Weilburg in 1836. The ballooning history of the last half of the 19th century is illustrated by the doings of Henry Coxwell—who, in 1845, published the first English aeronautical magazine—and James Glaisher, who undertook several famous high ascents with Coxwell for scientific pur- poses, and who was mainly instrumental in the foundation of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 3866. The Society's exhibition, held at the Crystal Palace in 1868—a copy of the catalogue is exhibited—was the first aeronautical exhibi- tion to be held in any country, and it was especially notable by reason of the presence of John Stringfellow, who was the first to construct and fly a small power-driven model aero- plane. Of later interest in the field of aviation are such items as letters from Percy Pilcher—the first Englishman to be killed in experiment with a glider—in one of which, dated as early as 1898, he tells of his intention to make an oil engine suitable for use in one of his " soaring machines," an intention which his death most unhappily prevented. A much longer life of aeronautical endeavour—one which has not yet been adequately appreciated by his countrymen—is fully illus- trated in the four large note-books and letter-books of Lawrence Hargrave. Hargrave, in early life, went out to Australia, and his countless experiments with model flying machines and box-kites—the latter his own invention—were carried out in the neighbourhood of Sydney, between about 1884 and 1915. The exhibition of these note-books, which belong to the Society, is some offset to the fact that (owing to the indifference of the land of his birth and of adoption) his remarkable series of model flying machines were destined to find a home in the famous Deutsches Museum at Munich. In all, the Society's exhibit comprises between 300 and 400 separate items, and by means of photographs, the story is brought down to early types of British aeroplanes .and airships, and such great achievements in aerial navigation as the first aeroplane crossing of the Atlantic in June, 1919, and the complete double voyage from England to America—a record not yet equalled — of the airship R.34. Finally, the significance and extreme interest of the whole exhibit is vastly increased by the loan from the Air Ministry of the very remarkable and extensive collection of aeroplane models, some part of which were exhibited at Wembley, and which were more recently on view in the Museum of the United Services Institution. The models, which in themselves form a short history of progress, are effectively arranged, being suspended in mid air against an illuminated background of blue. Taken together, the two sections of the exhibit— the books, engravings and manuscripts which deal with history, and the models which tell of constructional achieve- ment—may be held to demonstrate that, while admitting the comparative slowness of Great Britain to take up with adequate enthusiasm and energy the cause of aviation in the early years of the century, her contribution to the science and practice of aeronautics at large has been a very real and notable one. The selection, preparation and arranging of the great amount of material which has been available have been in the hands of Mr. J. E. Hodgson, the Honorary Librarian of the Society. Mr. Hodgson, who is, of course, well known as one of the leading authorities on aviation history, has not only devoted a very great deal of time and a vast amount of energy to make the exhibit representative and worthy of Great Britain, but he has also lent the Society a large number of valuable books and prints from his own collection, and has obtained permission, from the present representatives of the family, to include Sir George Cayley's aeronautical note-book and other important papers. 881
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