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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 2173.PDF
576 FLIGHT, 21 December 1950 I I NFAIR TO VETERANS? " The wings were set at a large incidence and since the wheels were far forward, the tail wcs lifted very high when taking off, to reduce drag."—a rebuilt Type XI Bleriot as shown at the R.A.F. dis- play in 1936. A First-world-war Pilot Criticizes Methods of Demonstrating Historical Aircraft lIONEER aircraft consisted of wood, canvas and string, flew but a few feet above the ground, and engine failures, which were plentiful, inevitably spelt disaster." This sort of statement is, of course, entirely untrue. The string legend was handed down humorously by their pilots, who were no more brave or foolhardy than those of to-day. Their engines hardly deserved the term "reliable" as now understood, but, when trouble occurred, a pilot's first thought was not to abandon his aircraft to fall where it would, for the simple and sufficient reason that he had no parachute; the great number of his species who are still with us suggest that successful forced landings were not exactly uncommon. The younger generation, however, appears to believe the legends and, unfortunately, finds confirmation when watch- ing veteran aircraft participating in modern flying displays. Having seen the apparent extent of their flying ability and listened to various commentators, it is scarcely surprising that youngsters fail to appreciate that these machines are the forerunners of the aircraft of to-day and regard their antics as comic relief by some crazy inventor's brainstorms. The Bleriot hops a few feet, the Deperdussin sometimes fails to do so and great astonishment is expressed because the Sopwith Pup achieves a loop. In fact, these exhibitions are a travesty of the early flying days and tend to discredit pilots whose names were once household words. To justify the contention of many that these aircraft are not being shown to advantage, let us note, briefly, a few achievements by four types included in modern programmes, then advance a reason for the present situation and finally suggest a remedy to enable younger readers to get things into perspective. The original Bleriot XI, with "fan"-shaped Anzani en- gine delivering 22 h.p., crossed the Channel on July 25th, 1909, in 37 minutes. It was not a typical "XI," since the one remembered for many successes was fitted with the so- called 50 h.p. Gnome. This rotary engine developed only 35 h.p., but revolutionized flying then in much the same way that the jet has to-day. With the airframe substan- tially unaltered, Chavez crossed the Alps and Moisant flew from Paris to London in 1910. The following year Beau- mont won the Round-Britain Race, Garros reached 13,900 feet, and Prier flew non-stop from Hendon to Paris in under four hours, by an indirect route. The type XI embodied controls working in the natural sense and precisely similar, directionally, to those of a modern aircraft. Lateral control for the early monoplanes was by wing warping, which remained until structural de- mands necessitated the use of ailerons. The wings were set at a large incidence and, since the wheels were far forward, the tail was lifted very high when taking-off, to reduce drag. The Anzani prototype is not the best Bleriot XI for demonstration purposes, though, at a time when pilots and technicians had everything to learn, it reached 200ft while crossing the Channel. The exhibited Bleriot was restored by the late Richard Shuttleworth, who flew it with the characteristic cross-channel rudder; the present machine has this surface replaced by the type familiar on the Gnome model and also appears to require full elevator to fly level, which is not in character. The undercarriage incorporated an ingenious castering action but was not adaptable to in- creasing speeds, and the type disappeared in 1915. Unlike the Deperdussin, developed mainly for racing, Bleriots performed the first aerobatics. In 1913 Pegoud looped a type XI, followed by Benfield Hucks, the first Englishman to do so; characteristically, the Russians claimed the first success. Rolling and spinning were then unknown, but inverted flying was achieved by a bunt! The Deperdussin was probably not the easiest of the veterans to fly. Though there was little side area forward, its fin and rudder could not be described as "generous," and, as with most racing machines, it had no dihedral. Using the 28 h.p. inverted " Y " Anzani engine, Brock, Sabelli and Nardini competed with success against bigger machines of the same marque, and other makes, in pylon races at Hendon in 1912. The existing "Dep" is another rebuilt veteran, and in the light of recent displays it is interesting to remember that, at Heathrow, shortly before Hitler's war, a Mr. Ed- munds flew it on circuits which no old-timer could criticize. Though much could be written about the Avro 504K, some lesser-known facts must suffice. That great pilot F. P. Raynham cut his engine at 10,000ft over Brooklands and arrived over Hendon at 5,000ft; the year was 1913. In November, 1914, three 504s, on the world's first planned raid, bombed the Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichshafen. As a trainer the 504K was ideal, for the dual controls were beautifuly harmonized, it was strong, fully aerobatic, had no vices, but would not permit undue liberties. It was not uncommon to see a first-class pilot complete a "dead- stick" landing from several thousand feet, alongside his hangar door, despite the absence of flaps and brakes. As a three-seater conversion, still with the 110 h.p. Le Rhone rotary, the 504 was giving many thousands their first flights long after the 1914-18 war. What of the Sopwith Pup ? Introduced as a fighter with 80 h.p. Le Rhone in 1916 and tested by Harry Hawker, whose name the present Company adopted, her 104 m.p.h. at 6,500ft, service ceiling of 17,500ft and 3 hours' endurance compare favourably with aircraft of much later date. The pilot of the restored version has described the much-derided rotary engine as "one of the smoothest-running one could ever experience, even to-day," an opinion which old-timers are unlikely to challenge. They cannot understand, however, why display commenta- tors should announce in tones of mock or genuine surprise that the Pup is " about to loop." Some feel that if they could
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