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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0463.PDF
JULY 31, 1909. This grant has now been increased by one-half, and the additional ^6,500 is described as a grant in aid of the expenses of the aeronautical section of the National Physical Laboratory. The expenditure out ot this grant will not be subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor-General, nor will any unexpended balance be liable to surrender at the end of the year. French Honours for Aviators, JUST before the resignation of the French Cabinet, M. Louis Barthou signed a decree conferring various decorations of the Legion of Honour upon many distin- guished French aviators, and these were published on Sunday last, at the time when M. Bleriot was flying across the Channel. The list of honours is headed by M. Leon Bollee, who has been a Chevalier for ten years and is now made an Officier of the Legion, while those upon whom the honour of Chevalier is conferred include MM. Bleriot, Leon Delagrange, Levavasseur, Ernest Archdeacon, Tatin, Mallet, and Soreau. Cross-Channel Prizes. OWING to not having given the requisite thirty days' notice of his intention to cross the Channel, M. Bleriot did not secure the prize of .£500 ottered by MM. Ruinart, Pere et Fils. This is therefore still open. Also, as a tribute to Mr. Latham's pluck, the proprietors of the Daily Mail have offered a .£100 silver cup as a con- solation prize for the second aviator who succeeds in flying across the Straits of Dover. M. Bleriot and the London to Manchester Prize. AT the dinner which was given by the Aero Club of the United Kingdom to M. Bleriot on Tuesday evening, when he was presented with the gold medal of the Club in commemoration of his Channel flight, it was announced that M. Bleriot was arranging for one of his machines to make an attempt during October next to fly from London to Manchester. There is little doubt M. Bleriot will not pilot the machine himself, and it is probable that he will allow one of his friends to take the place of honour. Another £1,000 Prize. As providing a sort of preliminary canter for the Daily Mail prize for a flight from London to Manchester, aviators should welcome the prize of jQ 1,000 which has been offered by Sir W. Hartley for a flight in a heavier- than-air machine from Liverpool to Manchester. The event is international, and will hold good for six months. Flights can be made any time between sunrise and sunset, but twelve hours' notice must be given to the Liverpool Daily Post, who are in charge of the competi- tion. The aviator must start from within the boundary of Liverpool and land without any intermediate stoppage within the boundary of Manchester. A Further British Prize. ANOTHER prize for cross-country flight has been added to the all too small list of prizes which have been offered in this country. Mr. F. W. Austin, of the Knoll, Orpington, Kent, has offered a prize of ^250 to the first aviator who shall fly from any point, not less than 15 miles from Orpington, and land on a site which Mr. Austin will provide with accommodation, &c. An Australian Prize. :, — As showing the interest which is being taken in aviation by our cousins in Australia, it is interesting to note that a prize of ,£5,000 has been offered by the Australian Minister of Defence for the invention of an aeroplane for defence purposes. The offer has been made to the newly-formed Australian Aerial League conditional upon its raising a further sum of .£5,000 outside the Government prize. Only Australian inventors are eligible to take part in the competition. A British-built Flight Engine. - - THE Green's Patent Aerial Engine, which attracted so much attention at the Aero Show in March, is, we are informed, more than justifying the claims that were then made for it. It will be remembered that a weight of 4 lbs. per h.-p. was then promised, but it is now shown in actual practice to be only a little over 3 lbs. This for a water-cooled engine, complete with fly-wheel and magneto, is a very fine showing, and should give very strong hope to believers in British supremacy that some- thing may shortly be done this side of the Channel to make up for lost time in aviation matters. A couple of "snaps" of M. Bleriot and his friends returning to the hotel after his flight, on the left, and on theright M. Bleriot, indicated by a white mark, is submitting to the enterprising photographer, after greeting his friends from Calais. We are indebted to Mr. G. G. Ashley, of Merton, one of our readers, for these two interesting souvenirs of the great day. 465
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