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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0379.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER AND AIRSHIPS uounded.in 1909 FIRST AERONAUTICALC1VEEKLY IN THE^WORLD OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB No. 1365. Vol. XXVII. FEBRUARY 21, 1935 Thursdays, Price 6d. By Post, 7ld. Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Truiitur, Watloo, London. HERTFORD ST. COVENTRY. Telegramfl : Autocar. Corentrr. Telephone: Coventry o2J0. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS. KAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2, Teiejrranw: antagwM, Birmingham. Telephone : Midland 2971. snascEiPTioK RATES : Home and Canada : Other Countries : Year, tl 13 0. Year, tl 15 'J. Telephone : Hop 3333 (50 hoes,. 2C0, DEAN8GATE, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams : Hiffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST.. GLASGOW, C,2. Telegrams : Ilifle, Glasgow Telephone: Central 4857. ft months, 16s. 6d. b' months, 17s. 6d. 3 months, 6s. 3d. 3 months, 8s. 9d. A Black Week IN one week the flying world has experienced three failures by aircraft of the trans-oceanic type. First, the U.S. naval airship Macon came down on the sur face of the Pacific ocean and was wrecked, with a loss of two lives. Then a British flying boat engaged on a delivery flight to Singapore flew into a mountain in a fog and the nine men on board all perished. Finally, the French aeroplane Joseph le Brix, piloted by Capt. Rossi and Lieut. Codos, developed lubrication trouble when attempting to cross the Atlantic from France to South America, and just struggled back safely to the Cape Verde islands. Fortunately, in this last case there was no loss of life. The British disaster was the roost tragic, although there is no mystery about it. One may wonder why the pilot was not flying higher when in the neighbourhood of mountains wreathed in fog, but there may have been reasons which seemed sufficient to a man of experience. I he American loss is somewhat of a mystery, and with out knowing the full history/ of the airship Macon one cannot say anything definite about it. It has been reported that both she and her sister ship, the Akron, worked out heavier in structure weight than had been allowed for. The same happened in the case of our 1°l' and *r0m tnat *aiut arose tae se°.uence °f events which led to her destruction. The RIOI, however, was very strong, whereas it would seem that part of the amework of the Macon gave way under some heavy th KnVand the broken Pa-rts of the frame ripped two of T uu Cells and caused the tail to sink. No praise would be too high for the airmanship of Lt. -Commander "ey in bringing his ship down on the water and saving ot hls cre w except two, one of whom deliberately J/i6 , overb°ard. He has well deserved the promotion njch has been given him. he 1/S °nly fair t0 remember that both the Akron and •have h " W6re exPerimental airships. All large rigids een exPerimental—even the very successful Graf Zeppelin. The new larger Zeppelin, which we under stand is to be called the Hindenburg, will be a further stage in the series of experiments. The Germans, how ever, have far more experience than anyone else, both in building and in constructing airships. The one Ameri can airship which was completely successful, the Los Angeles, was built in Friedrichshafen. That may have been a coincidence, for the three great American airship disasters, to the Roma, the Shenandoah, and the Akron, were not due to faulty construction so much as to faulty organisation or airmanship. As a commercial form of aircraft ths airship is now almost being threatened in range and capacity by the flying boat, which far surpasses it in speed. How the competition will end depends chiefly on Dr. Eckener and his supremely skilful coxswains and crews. Where the airship is probably irreplaceable is as a naval scout, patrolling the trade routes of the ocean, far outside the range of aeroplanes, and herself carrying aeroplanes on board. As a partial substitute for cruisers, the most expensive airship would be, so to speak, dirt cheap. Dr. Eckener has given every proof that airships can be navigated safely by experienced hands with the help of adequate meteorological information and other organis ation, and he will not be deterred from continuing his experiments with larger craft by the errors in construc tion and the errors in airmanship of other nations. (( A LH ictator s Right* yy W HEN a headline appears in a popular Sunday paper, to wit, the Sunday Dispaich, "Britain Awakes—League to Conquer Air Peril," what deduction can be drawn except that here is another attempt to coerce the Government? It is un doubtedly the duty of the Government to preserve the country from the air peril and all other perils from the King's enemies, and the present Government has been exceptionally busy on that matter. Flight was never a firm believer in the utility of the Geneva attempts at air
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