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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0131.PDF
PLIGHT, FEBRUARY 8, 1934 an American journalist who embarked upon several aero-nautical hazards previous to the Great War. At the beginning of the present century he began to interest him-self in airships, and in the year 1906 built an airship with a capacity of 224,000 cu. ft. and powered by two engines of55 h.p. and 25 h.p. It was called the" America. The first trial was a disappointment, and the airship was re-built. A flight to the Pole was started on September 'I, 1907, but fog and a defective compass brought the projectto an end three hours after it had begun. Wellman, how- ever, was not dismayed, and on August 15, 1909, hemade another attempt in an improved airship. This second attempt was also unsuccessful, and, after beingtowed home by a Norwegian steamer, the airship was wrecked in a squall. His last attempt to prove the valueof the airship was in 1910, when an attempt was made to fly the North Atlantic. Setting out from Atlantic City onOctober 15, Wellman, with five companions, headed east across the ocean. Unfortunately, the airship was blownout of its course and abandoned 400 miles off Cape Hatteras. The crew were picked up by the Royal MailSteamship Trent. The airship had covered over 1,000 miles, and, what is worthy of note, carried wireless, thUbeing the first occasion on which wireless messages were transmitted from the air.Aeroplane over London A LOT of unnecessary fuss was caused last week by amachine being sighted flying in a circle over London. Actually it was only a " Virginia " engaged in the officialduty of giving an anti-aircraft unit location practice. Cables again ANOTHER case has occurred of an aeroplane hittingelectric cables, this time in Devon. Mr. Thomas Nash, with eight members of the Barnstaple Flying Club, afterdoing a circular tour, was compelled, by lack of petrol and approaching dusk, to land. On the way down the machinehit some electric cables, but, fortunately, with not enough damage to wreck it. The pilot and passengers all escaped,and no serious harm was done to the machine. An economical aeroplane OUR readers will remember during the latter end oflast year that the Vacuum Oil Co. sent a " Dragon " (two " Gipsy Majors "), piloted by Mr. H. J. White, to surveya large portion of the England-Australia air route in the interests of that company and their associated marketers.The " Dragon " was away 56 days, during which time it put in 340 hours' flying. Apart from one exhaust valvejoint, not one of the spares carried was used at all, and barring the shedding of a wheel spat between Benghaziand Cairo the complete absence of trouble enabled Mr. White to devote his whole time to business. A carefulrecord of the fuel and oil consumption shows that the former was 5.6 gall, per engine hour and that the latterwas 1.522 pints per engine per hour of Mobiloil Aero " W.," a particularly good figure when it is realised thatit includes regular draining at specified intervals. A new "Hawk" PHILLIPS & Powis AIRCRAFT (READING), LTD., have just produced a three-sea ter joy-riding " Hawk." This machine is said to have an exceptional performance and should be of great interest to all firms using joy-riding machines. New registrations AMONG the new aircraft to be registered are " LeopardMoths " for Mr. W. Lindsay Everard, Mr. Loel Guinness and Mr. F. H. Matusch. "Besides the Miles " Hawk "belonging to Man Mohan Singh, the beginning and end of which we have already reported in FLIGHT, there is an-other " Hawk " registered in the name of Mr. F. R. Hill, of Dublin. Two " Dragons " are also registered to Mr.W. L. Thurgood. Mr. John Grierson's wireless demonstrationflight FLYING his well-known " Gipsy Moth " aeroplane.Rouge et Noir (G-AAJP), Mr. John Grierson left Brook- lands Aerodrome on January 27 on a flying tour throughEurope to demonstrate the Marconi " homing " device as an aid to air navigation. This equipment—-which hasalready been described in FLIGHT—enables a pilot to make a direct course for any wireless transmitting station whichlies on his route and gives immediate indication of any deviation. Mr. Grierson had considerable experience inthe operation of the " homing " device on his flight to Reykjavik last summer, when he carried no other wirelessapparatus. For his present demonstration tour he is using the same D.H. " Moth " as on that flight, but a wheeledundercarriage has been fitted in place of the floats fitted for that journey over the sea. Arrangements have alsobeen made for skis to be substituted for the wheels, if necessary, on account of snow at this time of the year inPoland and Roumania. The tour is expected to take about three weeks, the proposed route being Brussels, Amster-dam, Hanover, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Bucarest, Bel- grade, Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Stuttgart, and Lympne.The too-cheap "Puss Moth" IN the Phillips & Powis advertisement on page xx oflast week's issue the price of a " Puss Moth " was given, owing to a printer's error, as £250. Not unnaturally,Phillips & Powis had numerous inquiries at this low figure. The price should have read £550. We apologise for anyinconvenience which the misprint may have caused. Irish town planning AMONGST a number of amendments which architecturalassociations are proposing to the Free State Government for inclusion in the Town Planning Bill, now before theDail of that country, is one to provide for the specific men- tion in the Act of the right of local authorities to reservesites for municipal aerodromes in their town-planning schemes. In official circles it is considered that the amend-ment will be accepted. An airport for ClactonAT the Annual Dinner and Dance of the Clacton Chamber of Commerce, held at Clacton Town Hall, onWednesday, January 31, the necessity of an airport for the town was emphasised. The President, Mr. S. A. Gal-lant, expressed his opinion that the flying ground to the west of the town could be made into a great asset for thetown, and should be under the control of the Council before development in that direction made the use of theground for aircraft both difficult and dangerous. He sug- gested that the Council should look ahead and visualiseClacton as an airport with regular services to Holland. The future development of Clacton was bound up with anexploration of the possibilities of air travel. • SUMMER AIR SERVICES IN WINTER : Members of the International Air Traffic Association, who were in conference in Berlin last week to discuss the summer time-tables for European air services, are here seen at Templehof airport. 131
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