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Aviation History
1958
1958-1- - 0156.PDF
158 FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . the fact that, at that time, Pratt and Whitney were able to claimthat, whereas the J75 was flowing from the Hartford production line, the Conway had not been ordered ar all—even by the R.A.F.Today the position is markedly different. Production of the military J75, although substantial, is on a scale far below that ofthe J57, and it is possible that the total run will be relatively short. Moreover, with the exception of the small batch of eighteenMartin P6M-2 flying boats, the only military J75s will be fighter engines. In contrast, a considerable (by British standards) run ofmilitary Conways is being delivered for the Handley Page Victor B.2. At the same time a steadily increasing share of the big-jetairline market has also come the way of the Rolls-Royce engine, which is 10-15 per cent cheaper than the JT4 while offering—onBoeing's and Douglas's own figures—considerably improved performance. At the outset, Pratt and Whitney were able to "unsell" theConway by various technical strategems, all more or less arguable. FLIGHT Their case has now been weakened by their own adoption of theby-pass formula Flight, June 6). To date the Conway has been chosen by—in chronological order—Trans-Canada Airlines,Deutsche Lufthansa, Air-India International, B.O.A.C., Varig and Alitalia.* Installations have been developed for the Boeing707-420 and Douglas DC-8, and the engine is fitted as standard to the Vickers-Armstrongs VC.10. * Alitalia are understood to have placed an order in the last fewdays for Conways to power their DC-8s (of which four plus an option on two have been ordered). Taon Does It Again ON July 23, piloted by Bernard Witt, the Breguet Taon lightstrike fighter (Bristol Orpheus turbojet) established—for the second time—a 1,000 km closed-circuit speed record. Flying at20,000ft, M. Witt recorded an average of 1,075 km/hr (668 m.p.h.). This figure is 30 km/hr superior to that attained by him on theformer flight (April 25), though the circuit was again Istres- Cazaux - Istres. HENRY FARMAN-AN APPRECIATION THESE memories of the great Anglo-French pioneer—whose death onJuly 17 we recorded last week—are from the pen of W. F. Bradley, who was for nearly 40 years Continental correspondent of our associatedjournal "The Autocar." FOR fifty-five years I was connected with the late HenryFarman and proud to have his friendship. Although generallylooked upon as a Frenchman, Henry was born in Paris of British parents, his father—whom I knew very well—being Pariscorrespondent of The Standard and The Tribune. Together with his two brothers, Dick and Maurice, he took advantage of theFrench law allowing him definitely to claim British nationality on attaining his majority. It was not until just before the First WorldWar that the three men, at different dates, became naturalized Frenchmen. [Mr. C. H. Gibbs-Smith's researches have shown thatHenry Farman did not, in fact, acquire French nationality until 1937.—Ed.] Thomas Farman encouraged his three sons to take part inathletic sports and particularly cycling. As art students, Henry and Maurice formed a tandem team and for a time were amateurchampions of France. At the age of 18 Henry won the 400 km race from Paris to Clermont-Ferrand and in 1892 he won the100 km championship on the Buffalo track, near Paris. It was a natural step from the bicycle to the motor car andbefore the turn of the century the three Farman brothers were in bu-.iness in the Avenue de la Grande Armee, under the title ofFarman Frcres, as agents for Panhard et Levassor, Renault, and Delaunay-Belleville. They opened what was then the biggestgarage in Paris, the Palais de l'Automobile, in the Boulevard Pereire, which has remained unchanged and is now owned byRenault. As in the case of most agents of that period, Henry and Mauricewere keenly interested in racing. Henry took part in the 1903 Gordon Bennett race in Ireland and finished third on a Panhard.He also drove in the ill-fated Paris to Madrid race in 1903 and ran in the elimination trials for the 1905 Gordon Bennett in Auvergne.Haying missed a bend his car went crashing down the ravine, while both driver and mechanic were caught in the branches ofthe trees. As soon as he had recovered himself, Farman took a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and, turning to hismechanic (who was a few yards away on the branch of another tree), quietly remarked, "Pass me a match, Jules." Henry Farman and "le quatrieme here." In 1907 the Farman Freres business was a very flourishingconcern, but it was just then that Henry became enthusiastic over flying—or, rather, attempts to fly, for nobody in Europe had reallyleft the ground in an aeroplane. He placed an order with Gabriel Voisin for a biplane and the temporary use of an Antoinetteengine. Farman had the option of buying this engine for 13,000 francs [equivalent to about £556 at that time]. Leaving the car business to his two brothers, Henry Farmandevoted all his time to the new sport and on January 13, 1908, he won the Deutsch-Archdeacon prize by making a circular flight ofone kilometre on the Issy-les-Moulineaux ground. This epoch- making exploit proved that the problem of artificial flight had beenconquered and that the machines were not merely making hops ending in brutal contact with the ground. Not only did Farmanteach himself to fly, but he showed his rivals how to use the elevator, and that it was necessary to bank the machine to effecta turn, while his experiences as a racing driver enabled him to get the best out of his engines. Essentially British in physical appearance and in temperament,Farman displayed a quiet self-control, calm reasoning and lack of ebullition that gave him an advantage over the rival aviators of hisperiod and brought him into the front rank, despite Bleriot's sensational crossing of the Channel. Turning his back on the motor business, he opened a flyingschool at Mourmelon—it was subsequently attended by large numbers of British pioneers—and, breaking away from Voisin,began to build his own machines. In a short time his brother Maurice became fired with enthusiasm for flying and started hisown rival aviation business. It was not until after the First World War that the two brothers united forces and built up a powerfulaeroplane and aviation engine business 3 to which they added theproduction of a high-grade car, designed by their chief engineer, the late Charles Waseige. Under the Blum Government the Farman business wasnationalized and later ceased to exist. Both Henry and Maurice continued their car activities and busied themselves with aviationon a reduced scale. It was during the nursery days of flying that I realized thestrong physical resemblance between Henry Farman and myself. During the first Rheims meeting a number of people gatheredaround my oir clamouring for signatures. In vain I protested that I was not Farrnan. They refused to believe me and, in the hopeof getting rid of them, I started to sign a false name. There was no retreat. When the captain of gendarmerie was convinced thathe had seen Farman enter a house at Betheny, near Rheims, he called out his men and they formed a guard of honour whenI emerged. After the police commissaires had taken up the joke and deliberately pointed me out as Farman, all resistance becameimpossible and I was generally recognized as "le quatrieme frere." During the German occupation Henry Farman lived in retire-ment on the western suburbs of Paris, and on my release from a German concentration camp I found he was a neighbour. Meet-ing him one morning afoot in the village street, I expressed surprise that he should be walking, for at 70 years of age he hadremained a keen cyclist. "The Germans chased me," he explained. "They caught upwith me and stole my bicycle. Ten seconds more and I should have been in the forest, where I knew every track and they neverwould have found me." At that time bicycles were the only means of mechanical locomotion and were much sought after bythe German troops preparing for a hasty retreat. At 84 years of age Henry Farman was one of the very fewremaining pioneers who had played a leading role in the bicycle, motor car and aviation movements. On several occasions I urgedhim to write an account of his brilliant career, but his modest disposition always induced him to refuse. W. F. B.
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