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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 0057.PDF
4 January 1952 23 '.. ."ill CLUB NEWS T^ITH the object of furthering the cause of private flying ••by closer co-operation between interested parties in both the United Kingdom and France, the A.B.A.C. has now be come affiliated with the Federation Nationale Aeronautique de France et d'Outre-Mer. Three of the main points from the Protocol will serve to illustrate the working of this interesting arrangement; they are (i) that the Federation and the Association shall make available to each other all information regarding their current activities and the measures effected in the interests of their member clubs by sending to each other copies of all notices, circulars and publications which are circulated; (ii) that both parties shall afford to each other any information or advice of a general or technical nature which may be considered helpful in the solution of current problems or otherwise affecting the flying club and air centre movement, and (iii) that the Federation and the Association shall request and encourage all their member clubs to extend honorary reciprocal membership to individual members of each others' clubs and shall each maintain and circulate a register of clubs which do this. The protocol was signed in London on November 22nd, 1951. THE Royal Aero Club has recently announced the introduction of a new 13-inch rule specially designed to be of greater assistance to the private pilot. Made of clear Perspex, this new instrument is marked in both four miles to the inch and 1:500,000 divisions, so that it may be used in conjunction with the flying maps most commonly in use. It also bears a kilometres/ statute miles conversion scale. Costing 8s (plus 3d postage) it may be obtained from the Air Touring Department of the Royal Aero Club. REPRESENTING a challenge to the high totals of flying hours recorded by various British flying clubs last year is an achievement by members of a more remote centre of aviation enthusiasm—the Royal Singapore Flying Club—where, during the first ten months of 1951, members logged nearly 2,000 hours. NO AUSTERITY: This handsomely equipped Auster J 5D is owned by a keen private pilot, Mr. A. Mackenzie-Low of Hastings. With a view to all-weather usage and occasional "after sundown" sorties its owner has had it equipped with a considerably augmented instrument panel, cross-wind landing gear, a Plessey six-channel V.H.F. radio and a Harley landing lamp. , The average number of hours flown each month was 193, a figure which compared favourably with those of many of our own clubs. During September four days were set aside for the pro fitable divertissement of joy-riding, which incidentally helped to boost the number of hours flown during that particular month to 380 hr 45 min. The R.S.F.C.'s fleet at present consists of three Tiger Moths, one Auster V and one Cessna 120, with the hope that another Auster V and Cessna 120 will be available in the not too distant future. Preliminary steps are being taken with a view to holding an inter-club rally at Kuala Lumpur; the tentative date is the week-end January i9th-2oth, 1952. FORTY-EIGHT YEARS BACK Some Notable Aviation Anniversaries : Recollections of the Early Certificate-holders SOME notable aviation anniversaries have taken place during the past few weeks. For example, ten days ago—on Decem ber 17th—there occurred the forty-eighth anniversary of the world's first controlled, power-propelled, heavier-than-air flight— by the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville; and, no doubt, the golden jubilee of aviation will be suitably celebrated on a world wide basis on December 17th, 1953. The first Aviators' Certificates recognized by the F.A.I, were issued by the A610 Club de France on December 4th, 1909. The Aero Club of the United Kingdom did not begin to issue such certificates until March 8th, 1910, when the first were issued to J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon and the Hon. C. S. Rolls, who were the first to apply. They made the applications simultaneously, so the certificates were issued in alphabetical order. "Brab" and Charlie Rolls were close friends and did many things together. Moore-Brabazon—now Lord Brabazon of Tara —has long been famed as the holder of No. 1 Aviator's Certificate of the R.Ae.C, as proclaimed to the world by the registration number of his car —FLY 1. Charlie Rolls, however, was actually the first Briton to be awarded an Aviator's Certificate, for he was given No. 23 in the list of the A610 Club de France. Moore-Brabazon was awarded No. 40. Among the first hundred of the A6ro Club de France are seven Britons, all of them very well-known in those early days. Following Rolls came Mortimer Singer (a member of the famous family who made fortunes from sewing machines, cycles, and motor cars) with No. 24. Claude Grahame-White qualified for No. 30, followed by Moore-Brabazon with No. 40. Then came Capt. Bertram Dickson, a British Army officer (No. 71) who was killed at a flying meeting at Milan in 1910 when he was piloting a Farman. (This was the first fatal air collision; the other aircraft involved was an Antoinette flown by M. Thomas of France.) Certificate No. 72 was awarded to W. E. McArdle who, with an American, J. Armstrong Drexel (holder of R.Ae.C. No. 14), founded the New Forest School of Flying at Beaulieu, where the R.A.F. airfield is to-day. No. 75 went to Douglas Graham Gil- mour, an enthusiastic young Scot who was an embarrassment to the committee of the R.Ae.C. by reason of his spectacular flying; eventually they suspended his certificate, so he was unable to compete in the 1911 Circuit of Britain Race. The first 15 certificates of the Aero Club de France were all issued on December 4th, 1909, and were consequently in alpha betical order, with Louis Bteriot as No. 1 and Wilbur Wright No. 15. The Aero Club de France said they were uncertain who were Nos. 1, 2, and 3 so they "hedged" and issued them in alphabetical order. There can be little doubt that Orville Wright should have received No. I, Wilbur No. 2, and Santos Dumont No. 3. But for a long time the French were unwilling to recognise the priority of the Wrights; and still they claim, with no justification, that Clement Ader flew in 1897—though a committee of French army officers, whom Ader had invited to witness his attempts to fly, publicly stated that Ader had not flown but had only been jolted off the ground with little help from his wings. The records show that Ader never made any appreciable hop and had no real control of his avion, even before take-off; the attempt ended with a wreck. After Bleriot's No. 1 came the American, Gien Curtiss with No. 2; Leon Delagrange, No. 3; Robert Esnault-Pelterie, who claimed the invention of the single-stick control-column, No. 4; Henri Farman, No. 5; Capitaine Ferber, No. 5 bis. That addi tional No. 5 was awarded posthumously, for Ferber, flying under the name of de la Rue because he was a serving officer, was killed in 1909 while giving a demonstration. Maurice Farman had No. 6; Jean Gobron, No. 7; Comte de Lambert, a pupil of the Wrights, No. 8; Hubert Latham, who failed because of engine failure to cross the Channel a week before Bleriot succeeded, was No. 9; Louis Paulhan, who won the London to Manchester prize, was No. 10; Henri Rougier, a famous Voisin pilot, was No. 11; Santos Dumont, No. 12; Paul Tissandier was given No. 10 bis so as to avoid having the "unlucky" 13, though the Hon. Alan Boyle (who survived till 1949) held No. 13 of the Aero Club of the U.K.; he was very proud of it, and not at all superstitious. Orville Wright had No. 14 and Wilbur No. 15. Every one of these 15 were true pioneers of flight and their names are thus enshrined in the roll of fame, though not in the correct order of precedence. G.D.
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