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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0144.PDF
FLIGHT, FEBRUARY 13, 1931 BOOK REVIEWS FOR THE PLAIN MAN MOST books about flying are too expensive. A book writtenfor the plain man (one must resist the temptation to think that some pun about 'plane is intended) should be cheap,and 35. 6d. seems a very suitable price. Such a book must be accurate, must be matter-of-fact (with no hint of a" stunt " in it), must not be technical, and must be written in sound readable English. These seem to be the chiefessentials, and the Master of Sempill's book satisfies all these requirements. Therefore, it is a good book, for it achieveswhat it set out to do. It will not be of much use to the ordinary reader of FLIGHT, but we hope that very manyother members of the public will buy it and read it. It will do them good, and we shall be surprised if most of them donot end up as readers of FLIGHT, that is to say, as convertsto the gospel of air-mindedness. F. A. DE V. R. "The Air and the Plain Man." By Colonel the Master ofSempill, A.F.C., F.R.Ae.S. (Elkin Mathews and Marrot ; 3s. 6d. net.) Obtainable from FLIGHT Office. A GLIDING LIBRARY THE recent boom, one might almost say the mushroom-likegrowth of gliding, particularly in this country during the past year has naturally produced its attendant crop of litera-ture. We now have three books of varying value on the subject. The first of these is " Gliding and Motorless Flight,"by L. Howard-Flanders and C. F. Carr; the second " Gliding, and Sail-Plaining," by F. Stamer and A. Lippisch; the third"Gliders and Gliding," by R. S. Barnaby. Mr. Howard- Flanders' book is distinctly disappointing. Coming as it doesfrom one who has been associated both practically and theoret- ically with aviation since the very earliest days, we are natur-ally entitled to expect a, book much more commensurate with the knowledge which we know he possesses. There are manycases where the statements made are frankly inaccurate, and we can only assume that the book was got out in sucha hurry that the all-important question of editing was slurred over. For instance, on page 21, under a sub-headingof " Static Soaring " we find the following sentence :—" When the horizontal wind is variable the pilot gains height as thevelocity decreases," while on page 16 under the sub-heading of " The Plane " we find the statement " The plane is merelya development of the lifting power of the kite. It maintains its position in the air by virtue of the air pressure on itsunder surface." It is a great pity that misleading statements like this should have been included, since they will detractfrom the value of the book for all those who know anything about the subject. There is also a chapter included on glidingfor women, taking up six pages, the justification of which is very obscure. There are of course, several lumps of meat init, but one has to search round amongst a stew of redundant vegetable matter, as it were, to find them. The second on ourlist, by Herr Stamer and Herr Lippisch, is again a trifle dis- appointing, but it contains rather more valuable practicalmatter in the form of actual results obtained during the work of the joint authors. Herr Stamer is the principal of theGerman Gliding School at the Wasserkuppe, while Herr Lippisch is Chief Designer and Principal of the TechnicalSchool at the same place, both of which are run by the Rhon- Rositten Ges., and as such they have a larger store of prac-tical knowledge upon which to draw than anyone else con- nected with the sport. The translation has on the whole beenwell done, and the book itself is admirably produced. It is of course entirely descriptive of German principles and assuch needs a little modification to correlate it with our English ideas. Taking it on the whole, however, it contains a wealthof detail which no club could afford to be without. " Gliders and Gliding " is an American book by Mr. Ralph S. Barnaby,who claims to be the first American first class glider pilot. Like most American productions it sets out to make the mostof the wide scope allowed by the subject and inevitably fails by ending up in giving one only a smattering of many sidesof it instead of a thorough knowledge of any part of the sabject. The reader had to allow for the nationality ofthe author in the previous volume, and he must do likewise here; but here again he can do so with profit and the book iscertainly worth consulting by those who wish to have a wide knowledge of the subject. " DAEDALUS." " Gliding and Motorless Flight," by O. Howard-Flanders andC. F. Carr (Sir Isaac Pitman <S- Sons, Ltd.). Price 8s., post free. " Gliding and Sail-Planing," by F. Stamer and A. Lippisch.(The Bodley Head, Ltd.). Price 5s. 6d., post free. Both obtainable from FLIGHT Office. " Gliders and Gliding," by Ralph S. Barnaby. (The RonaldPress Co., 15, East 2&h Street, New York, N.Y.), price 53. PRACTICAL FLYING GUIDE CAPT. W. J. MCDONOUGH has added yet another volume to thilibrary available for the student of practical flying. This i< rather more complete than most we have had, since itincludes the operation of aircraft not only in the air but also on wheels, skis and floats. It is a really good book, inas.much as it is thoroughly practical; there is a sufficiency of technical matter in it describing the theory of flight m aclear and concise, and what is more important, accurate- manner, and though this section is of necessity small, it wincertainly act as a very palatable introduction to the younger generation of pilots on the theory of aerodynamics." CaptMcDonough it will be remembered was flying instructor at the Midland Flying Club from 1925-27, and since this timihe has had much varied experience of the conditions ruMn° in Canada. In his Preface he expresses an opinion which haslong been held among firms operating aircraft, but which when expressed, has naturally raised a great deal of con-troversy here. It would appear to be basically true since we have often heard of extremely good pilots of the type to whichhe refers being of little use in commercial life. He savs " Many people wonder why there are so many hundreds ofpilots out of employment; pilots who did so well in the •war and those who have more recent experience. I refer to time-expired short-service commission officers from the Royal Air Force and other air services. It is not solely because there arenot the jobs for them, but more so because they have not the training or knowledge which is so necessary for civil life.Also, they still retain the service attitude, which, in its place. is not only excellent but necessary, but a qualification totallyunsuited to the commercial pilot. A complete democracy gives us the reason for this situation. For these reasonsdirectors of aerial operations prefer to train their own pilot> ab initio, in preference to employing the ex-service pilotgood as he may be. Student pilots and those who are con templating taking up commercial aviation as a professionshould be warned by this situation and realise the fact that actual flying will be but a small part of the duties of the futurecommercial pilot who expects to command a good salary." It is one of the few books in which there is very littleredundant matter. The author has confined himself to just those details which are absolutely and vitally necessary forthe embryo pilot to absorb, and he has put forward all those details in language which nobody will have any difficult) in understanding. " DAEDALUS." " Airmanship," by John McDonough (Sir Isaac Pitman 6~Sons, Ltd.). Obtainable from FLIGHT Office, price 8s., post A VALUABLE BOOK" AIRPORTS, Their Location, Administration and LegalBasis," is the title of Vol. I of the Harvard City Planning Studies, and is composed of three papers, the first entitled" The Airport in City Planning," by H. V. Hubbard and H. K. Menhinick ; "The Airport Administration" byM-McClintock and P. Mahoney ; and " The Law of Airports," by F. B. Williams. Taken as a whole, these papers togetherwith the subsequent tables and lists in the appendix form one of the most valuable contributions to the establishment andoperation of airports we have seen. It is of course essentially American and therefore those interested in airport or aerodrome management over here will have to bear this fact in mind, and adapt many of the views expressed accordinglybut notwithstanding, the book will undoubtedly be oi great use to them. As in common with the majority oi suchAmerican publications, it is very largely statistical and i- full of tables which form an exceedingly clear basis of com-parison of a large number of airports in the U.S.A. Although there are a fair number of illustrations of airports and airportbuildings, these illustrations rather leave one with a sense o something wanting and the book would have been muck morevaluable had the illustrative matter been increased. ^^a! however, does not seriously detract from the value of the booKand it is one that should be in the hands of all those interested in the subject. We in this country not only lack airports, bualso lack data which will assist those operating the easting ^pnes, and if the development which is foreshadowed for toeforthcoming year takes place, it will outstrip our existing knowledge of the subject, which again makes this book rnofthan welcome. " DAEDALUS. ^ " Airports, Their Location, Administration and Le§aBasis," by H. V. Hubbard, H. K. Menhinick, M. McCr^ lock and F. B. Williams (Harvard University Press). P*°'lished in England by Mr. H. Milford (Oxford University Frtss)- Obtainable from FLIGHT Office. Price 15s. 9d., postfrte.
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