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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1532.PDF
21 MAY 1954 FLIGHT 55 A page from THE ESSO HISTOIRE OF AERIAL LOCOMOTION Adapted from the French de P. Crochet-Damais. Illustrated par Philippe Fety avec permission. KING BLADUD AND THE OWLS Along time ago, in Trinovantes (the site, it is said, is that of the present City of London), there lived an old, bearded and formidable king called Bladud. Now Bladud was some thing of a scientist and crazy about air travel. He had visited Athens—on foot, of course—and had studied the mysteries of ancient Egypt. In his palace he worked indefatigably to dis cover the principles of aeronautics. He invented the paper dart. He examined the mechanics of ornithological flight.... And at last he fashioned for himself a flying-machine. It was made for the most part of feathers plucked from the wings of the royal owls. In the twentieth year of his reign Bladud launched himself from the roof of his workshop and achieved a quite fantastic airspeed in a downward direction. It would be an understatement to say that he touched down. By a strange coincidence the twentieth year of his reign was also Bladud's last. Today genius gets results by remembering that it pays to say £sso AVIATION FUELS & LUBRICANTS ESSO PETROLEUM COMPANY, LIMITED, 36 QUEEN ANNE'S GATE, LONDON, S.W.I
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