FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1929
1929 - 0050.PDF
other things being equal, depends upon the load of petrol with which the machine is able to get off. The take-off would be simplified a good deal if the record machine were to take off with but a relatively small quantity of fuel on board and then, once well in the air and having attained a safe altitude, the rest of the petrol could be transferred to it from other machines. Whether such a flight would be classed as " with refuelling " or " without refuelling " might give rise to some discussion at the F.A.I., but the technical aspect is clear enough. A refuelling flight is no criterion of the aerodynamic and structural efficiency of a machine, such as is a long non-stop flight without refuelling. That is to say, the most inefficient aircraft imaginable can remain aloft as long as the most efficient; it would merely require more frequent refuelling. The great advantage of the refuelling flight is, in our view, that it affords an excellent opportunity for thoroughly testing out the power plant. Test bed results, while valuable in their way, can never entirely simulate actual flying conditions, and it is this gap which such a flight fills so admirably. There is little doubt that in this way defects come to light which would otherwise take a very long time to discover. Not only the engine itself but its accessories, installation, petrol and oil systems, and in short, everything con- .nected with the power plant are thoroughly and rapidly tested. Defects that have developed can be put right and another flight made. It would even appear that it might come to be normal practice for an engine firm to keep its own aircraft for carrying out development work actually in the air, after the preliminary work on the test bench. * •> •> Exactly how many miles she has covered GreatALittle durinS her lon?" fl|ght is difficult to Lady estimate ; nor is this necessary for a full appreciation of the merits of Lady Bailey's flight from London through Africa to the Cape, around Africa and home again. The general press has made much of the fact that Lady Bailey's flight is the longest ever accomplished by a woman, and the longest solo flight ever undertaken, thus establishing two " records." To us that is of very7 minor importance. What matters is that an English- woman should have chosen to see Africa from the air, and should have been prepared to rely entirely on her own resourcefulness in making the tour. Everyone who knows Lady Bailey at all well realises that personal " advertisement " is the last thing she would desire ; she is the most modest and unassuming of women. But her great achievement must unavoid- ably bring her into the " limelight." From her point of view the whole thing resolved itself into this : She wanted to tour Africa ; she was already a private owner-pilot. What more natural, then, than that she should make the tour by air ? Only those who have a fairly good knowledge of Africa, with its variety of country and climate, can realise the sort of task Lady Bailey set herself. That she should have completed the tour, as far as Paris, there to be held up by fogs, is but the irony of fate, and is an experience which has befallen many air <3> O Berlin Air ConferenceON January 4, an international conference of air traffic companies, at which Great Britain, ,Germany, France, Belgium,Denmark, Holland, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, JANUARY 10, 1929 travellers. Her great flight was in any case a tour and not a spectacular " stunt " flight intended to break records, so we should not let the delay on the final stage be regarded as other than one of many incidents on a tour that must have been full of surprises and disappointments. Through tropical heat, in rain or snow, across mountains, deserts and seas, Lady Bailey carried on with that quiet determination which is, we like to think, a characteris- tic of our race, and her de Havilland " Moth " and " Cirrus " engine did not let her down. England is proud of the trio and of its achievements. • •:• • It is very doubtful whether, in this ''Avion- country, there is a full appreciationV1SO of the great work done by the French Compagnie Generate Aeropostale with the aero- maritime service between France and South America during last year. Our excellent French contemporary L'Aeronautique publishes, in its December, 1928, issue, an account of some of the work done, and from this it appears that on December 1 of last year, 80 single journeys had been completed between Toulouse and Buenos Ayres, while on November 20 the extension to Santiago du Chile was completed for the first time. The aeromaritime service was operated partly by aircraft and partly by surface vessels, and was a weekfy service. Only two mails failed to get through, of which one was interrupted through the imprison- ment of Reine and Serre in Rio de Oro, while the other was partly destroyed by a fire the cause of which has never been fully ascertained. Graphs given by our contemporary show not only the saving in time which the aeromaritime mail has given in comparison with the normal steamer services, but also the improvement in the service itself from the start in March to the end of October. At first the aeromaritime mail took 17| days from S. America to France. In October this was reduced to 10\ days. In the opposite direction, the corresponding figures were 15 days and 9| days respectively. The average time taken by boat was about 20 days, so that a very considerable saving was effected. The distance between Toulouse and Buenos Ayres is about 8,000 miles, of which the section between St. Louis and Natal (about 2,150 miles) was operated by surface vessels. The com- bination increased the speed over the route to nearly double that of the mail steamers, and by the extension of the air mail to Chile, Santiago was actually brought within 10 days of Paris. Truly a remarkable achieve- ment of which France may well be proud. The excellent results, our contemporary states, were primarily due to the skill and determination of the pilots, who flew by day or by night, in fair weather and foul. Our own experience on the London-Paris route in the early days of commercial aviation was very similar. There also the work was carried out in all sorts of bad weather by pilots who showed indomit- able courage. But whereas we have still not pro- gressed much beyond the London-Paris stage, our French friends have got as far as Santiago in Chile in 10 davs! Truly, this " gives one furiously to think." summer flying programme on international routes wasdiscussed. Rolling AlongAN American pilot, Dale Red Jackson, has been credited and Czechoslovakia, are represented opened in Berlin. The with a performance of 417 " rolls " in the air. 20
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
