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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1369.PDF
66 FLIGHT, 20 July iu5l first aeroplane to fly from London to Manchester. So remote did the possibility seem to the ordinary public that a London evening paper published the following paragraph:— "A morning paper makes the trivial offer of £10,000 to the first aeroplane that flies from London to Manchester. Our own offer of £10,000,000 to the flying-machine of any description whatsoever that flies five miles from London and back to the point of departure still holds good. One offer is as safe as the other." I am sure that no one, on that September day in 1901 when the Club was founded, could have visualized the shape, speed, power and perfection of things to come. Under the compelling demands of war requirements in the first world war the large bomber was brought into being, and developed in peace-time into the big passenger-transport aircraft for regular commercial services. Again in the second world war there has been the same compelling force in development; and now, with the advent of the jet, speed and, in fact, all performances, have been carried to limits which until the last few years would have seemed impossible. During these 50 years the Royal Aero Club has fostered the sport of flight and has championed safety in the air. Its active encouragement to everyone interested in air matters has been a leading factor in promoting the aviation developments that have taken place in the last 50 years. From HARALD PENROSE, O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., A.M.I.N.A., chief pilot, Westland Aircraft, Ltd. TO have witnessed in the early years of the century a few of the flights of Hamel, Grahame-White, Salmet and Slack, and later to have participated in some of the tremendous development which within half a century has culmi- nated not only in supersonic speeds and encompassment of the globe, but has opened vistas of even greater achieve- ment—this I count as something of a privilege. There is a fascinating viewpoint in standing between the old, slow-moving world and the new at a juncture which future historians will consider dramatically significant. As a schoolboy, I knew of the Royal Aero Club through Sir Charles Rose, who was its chairman in 1912; but, though the Club controlled the sport of flying, it was not until the Lympne Light Aeroplane Competitions that I saw this motive force in action as personified by the redoubtable Harold Perrin. Coincidentally, it was with the original 1924 Widgeon entrant that, later, I first flew for the Westland Aircraft works. From that time onward, recollection is coloured not only by a long series of Westland-designed machines and several thousand hours' flying above a particularly beautiful part of England, but also by many a light aeroplane meeting, parentally controlled by the Royal Aero Club and attended by men and women who first and foremost were enthusiasts for aviation.' In these more difficult days of regimentation and regulation, one wishes the Royal Aero Club and its official organ, Flight, every success in their endeavour to uphold the liberty of private flying—for the art of piloting a little aeroplane should be the perquisite of any young men who seek not merely adventure, but freedom and spiritual achievement. From JOHN LANKESTER PARKER, O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., director, Short Bros, and Harland, Ltd. I AM pleased that Flight has asked me to add to the general congratulations that will be flowing in to the Royal Aero Club on attaining its jubilee, though I can claim to have been a member for only two-thirds of that time. However, I still have the honour of being a member of the company—now Short Brothers and Harland, Ltd.— who, in those distant days, were the officially appointed makers of balloons to the Aero Club (as it then was). I was flying seaplanes on Windermere in 1916 when Admiral Murray Sueter, "the father of naval aviation," invited me to visit his friend, Oswald Short, who was in need of a test pilot. That interview at Rochester will live long in my memory, as indeed will the subsequent one later in the day with elder brother Horace Short at Eastchurch. There was little to indicate at the time that the temporary employment I thus obtained would lead to a long association with Oswald Short and the many interesting developments, particularly in the use of metal construction, which he originated. Although I am thus comparatively new to aviation, it may be interesting to note the great developments which have occurred, even in my time. The first seaplane I tested—flat out—over the measured mile attained 33 m.p.h. The Royal Aero Club was going strong then; it is going even stronger new—good luck to it. From J. SMITH, C.B.E., F.R.Ae-S., A.M.I.Mech.E., chief designer, Vickers-Armstrongs, Ltd. FIFTY years in any industry, even a well-established one, would naturally cover many advancements and develop- ments in whatever product was produced. Fifty years in aviation has seen the birth of an industry, its expansion —accelerated by two world wars—and its establishment as one of the most important and largest industries in the country today; and progress, as one would expect in a new industry, has been rapid. To those who have been engaged on aircraft design and construction for many years it does not seem a very far cry to the days when aircraft manufacture was largely a matter of juggling with string, piano-wire, fabric, wood, glue, nails and wood screws; in fact, to the time when one felt that one's engineering training had been wasted. But any such feeling was soon dissipated by enthusiasm for this entirely new form of engineering. Thirty years ago we worked out with great accuracy the ordinates for wing sections, and at rib stations these forms were more or less reproduced—and then mutilated by fabric chafing-strips and fabric stringing. Between rib stations, the sections reproduced were nobody's business, and a beautiful herring-bone effect on lift and stabilizer surfaces was usually achieved. Today the design and manufacture of aeroplanes has become a most complicated form of precision engineering, employing thousands of specialists in such fields as aerodynamics, structures, hydraulics, pneumatics, fuel systems, engine installational problems, etc. Advances in performance and handling qualities have been startling even to those engaged in the industry. The Schneider Trophy contest alone saw speeds increase from 45.7 m.p.h. in 1913 to 340.08 m.p.h. in 1931, and, as is well known, sonic speed has now been achieved. Rates of climb are now thought
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