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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0190.PDF
v?*'^*"^-- ^ :"* " •'?• 'n 190 CORRESPONDENCE . . . good old days," but of course I am told there was no such thing;think of all the beautiful space ships and rockets which the youngster of today will never fly. With modern design methods and materials which were notavailable in the old days, the types I have mentioned could be vastly improved.Let us forget that a biplane or even a triplane are quite old- fashioned if it can be shown that such a structure can now bemade lighter or in cantilever form, more manageable than the conventional monoplane. Let us note that such an aircraft doesnot require a built-up fuselage to hold a tail unit, or an under- carriage if a sinjle unsprung whscl or even the pilot's legs willsuffice. Let us try to mike such an aircraft cleaner and more easy on the eye than the wire and bzmboo efforts of the past. Then I believe that the ideal of an aircraft which can be strappedon and manhandled anywhere by one person could be successful in the not-too-disnnt future. And the fight for the right to flyone's own little aircraft will be on, too! Potters Bar, Middx A. H. CURTIS, ARAes Aer Leprechaun "VOUR correspondent Mr Geoffrey Dorman may wish to know-*- that the colour of shamrock depends solely upon the leprechaun in charge of the growth. A combination of colours (such as, say,red, white and blue) is never used. Incidentally, Mr Dorman may be interested in the local pronunciation of Aer Lingus—which isAer Fungus. This relates to the rapid (almost overnight) growth of the company. We in Ireland never get the sympathy due from the Saxon—but, on the other hand, we never expect to. Dublin Airport. EAMON O'MURPHY Noise and Nutcrackers T ENCLOSE a cutting from The Middlesex Chronicle forA January 27 in reply to Mr John Connell's letter dealing with "rivets from the sky" in the same paper. [See "Straight andLevel," Flight, January 27.—Ed.] I sincerely hope that this will clear up any misunderstanding the public may have of any rivets,bolts, nuts, etc, falling from the sky at supersonic speed on to their unprotected heads. If any reader should still have any doubts, then a short tripto the nearest motor cycle shop should be the obvious solution. There, for approximately £3, a crash helmet may be purchasedwhich should prove adequate protection. Ashford, Middx G. WOODS [The cutting to which Mr Woods refers is of a letter pointing out thatrivets dropped from 5,000ft do not reach the spaed of a bullet, but that of a hailstone, at ground level; and adding: "what have falling rivetsto do with noise abatement?"—Ed.] Cody and "Colonel" T READ with great interest Mr Charles Gibbs-Smith's article-*- [January 27] on Cody's first flight. That seems to clinch the matter of the first-ever flight in Britain. But there is another pointover which I cross swords with the writer. Mr Gibbs-Smith was, I am told, responsible for having the title "Colonel" in Cody'sname removed from the Farnborough plaque. He was wrong about that. The Press often confused S. F. Cody with anotherCody, Colonel Bill Cody (better known as the showman "Buffalo Bill"), who was an American colonel. So they insisted in referringto S. F. Cody as Colontl Cody, too, quite wrongly at first. But there was more to it than that. When S. F. Cody won both first prizes in the Military Trialsat Larkhill in 1912 King George V instructed his entourage to send a telegram of congratulation. But the royal staff apparentlyconsulted the popular Press instead of the Army List and addressed the wire to Colonel S. F. Cody. As a teenager I was staying at Fleet and often cycled to Cody'sshed on Laffan's Plain, a black tarred wooden affair reached from the Fleet Road by crossing the Basingstoke Canal by a woodenbridge. The shed was about where Runway 25 now ends. One hot September afternoon a telegraph boy arrived from Aldershotand handed a telegram to Cody, who was making adjustments to his aeroplane outside the shed. I saw Cody beam and, beatinghis fast into his open hind, roar with laughter, cryin?, "Well this does beat the band!" His associates clustered round him, pattinghim on the b3ck as they read the message. When the boy went to pick up his bike I asked him whit wenton. Explained the lad: "It's from the Kin?, and ole Cody 'as just told 'is mates, 'If 'is Majesty calls me Colonel Cody, thenColonel it shall be'" Thereafter the pioneer was always known as Colonel Codyofficially. But he did not live long to en:oy this status, for hs was killed within a year testing a new biplane. Also killed was hispassenger, W. H. B. Evans, a well-known Hampshire cricketer. The. wings failed in the air a hundred feet up over Ball Hill, justoff Laffan's Plain. No one understood stresses then—not even at FLIGHT, 10 February iy61 Farnborough—and aeroplanes were built on the principle of t:ialand error. To get greater speed for the 1913 Daily Mail Seaplane Circuit of Britain Cody had fitted a far more powerful engineheavier than he'd used before. The airframe couldn't withstand the extra stress and broke. But he died as Colonel S. F. Cody,recognized as such by the King, and his rightful title should never have been removed from the plaque. It's up to Mr Gibbs-Sni.thto see that it is restored. London W14 GEOFFREY DORMA Australian Air PioneersY OUR correspondent Mr Stanley Brogden (January 27) ri: ednot feel too hurt by the statement of a luminary of the Roval Aero Club that Chichester made the first flight from KswZealand to Australia, a statement echoed in my letter which you were good enough to publish in your issue of November 25, I960.Chichester made the first solo flight, Chichester also made ihe first seaplane flight upon this route, and if Kingsford Smith madehis earlier flight with a supporting crew in a tri-motor landplane, that is something in a different category, with the distinction ofbeing the very first thrown in. So far as the merits of Kingsford Smith and Hinkler are con-cerned, I entirely agree with the propriety of Mr Brogden's waving a large Australian flag. I would only like to add to these the nameof Hubert Wilkins (whose biography I had the honour of publish- ing recently), which will always be written large as the father ofArctic aviation and the pioneer of flying in the Antarctic. Considering the smallness of Australia's population, it is reallyastonisning how great a contribution her airmen have made to the conquest of the air, in a series of pioneering flights. In mattersof this sort, it is difficult to differentiate concerning the relative greatness of the individuals' accomplishments, but suffice it tosay that by any standards, Kingsford Smith, Hinkler and Wilkins have made their everlasting mark on history. London Wl JOHN GRIERSONI N his letter on January 27 Mr Brogden has rightly drawnour attention to the almost forgotten achievements of the late H. J. L. Hinkler. We think of others, like the non-stop flightfrom London to Turin in an Avro Baby fitted with a Green engine of 1914 design—that was in 1920; also the non-stop flightfrom this country to Riga, Latvia, more than thirty-three years ago in an Avro Avian. Hinkler was indeed a brilliant pilot, an excellent navigator anda sound practical engineer, as revealed by his ingenious innova- tions. I remember how much his pioneer work stimulated myown youthful enthusiasm for aviation well over thirty years ago. Watford, Herts E. W. BAKER FORTHCOMING EVENTS Feb 10. RAeS Man-powered Aircraft Group: "Insect Flight," by Dr J. W. S. Pringle. Feb 15. BritIRE (Merseyside Section); "Inertial Navigation Sys terns," by Wg Cdr E. W. Anderson. Feb IS. Society of Environmental Engineers: Discussion on The Development and Testing of Small Electronic Components. Feb 15. Kronfeld Club: "Special Air Services Operations in the Oman," by Col Tony Deane-Drummond. Feb 16. RAeS: Cierva Memorial Lecture, "The Era of the Auto- giro," by Prof J. A. J. Bennett. Feb 21. RAeS: "New Metallic Materials of Construction," by Dr N. P. Inglis. Feb 23. Aerodrcme Owners Association: a.g.m. and Dinner. Feb 24. BritIRE (South Midlands Section): "Design Aspects and Characteristics of Long-distance Waveguide Communica- tion Systems," by A. E. Karbowiak. Mar 1. RAeS Graduates' and Students' Section: Annual General Meeting. Mar 1. Society of Instrument Technology (South Yorkshire Section): "High-speed Instruments for Combustion Research," by A. E. Pengelly. Mor 3. RAeS Rotorcraft Section: "Helicopter Approach Aids," by H. W. Mitchell and S. G. Lennox. Mar 7. RAeS Astronautics and Guided Flight Section: "Guided Weapon Control Equipment," by John Dent. Mar 8. RAeS (main lecture at Chester Branch): "Low-speed Problems of High-speed Aircraft," by A. Spence and D. Lean. Mar 8. Kromeld Club: Photographic Exhibition, and talk by F. N. Slingsby. Mar 9. Radar and Electronics Association: "Air Traffic Control, ' by Arnold Field. Mar 10. British Gliding Association: Annual Ball. Mar 11. British Gliding Association: Annual General Meeting. Mar 13. RAeS Historical Group: "Evolution of Transport Aircraft," by P. W. Brooks. Mar 15. Kronfeld Club: "Collision Experiments with Wire Barrage Weapons," by Gp Capt Kent. Mor 16. RAeS Astronautics and Guided Flight Section: Symposium on "Training of Guided-missiles Engineers." RAeS Branch Fixtures (to Feb 16): Feb 14. Lufon, "Mathematical Oddities," by K. A. Fwirthorne. Feb 15. Bristol, "Glas?—Its Uses and Problems." by Dr A. J. Holland; Christchurch, "History of the Schneider Trophy Races," by W. Cox; Coventry, "Aircraft Responre to Atmospheric Turbulence," by J. K. Zbrozek; Reading, Ten-minute Lectures and Film Show; Sbuthampton, "Human Elements of High- speed Flight." by Dr J. Gabb; Weybridge, R. K. Pierson Memorial Lecture. "Science in Supoort of the RAF." by M. B. Morgan. Feb 16. Isle 0/ Wight, "Modern Trends in Car Design," by R. J. Bates.
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