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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0547.PDF
SEPTEMBER II, 1909. THE FLYING RACES AT RHEIMS. BEING A GOSSIP ABOUT AN HISTORICAL MEETING THAT MARKS AN EPOCH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AERIAL LOCOMOTION.By H. Massac Buist. IT was delightful to see the different methods of tuning up, quite one of the most ingenious being that used by the Bleriot machines, that were tied to a stake, and the tractive effort taken by an hydraulic measurer, so that before starting out on a flight it could be ascertained exactly whether or not the machine and propeller were acting with absolute efficiency. At present there is no set rule for your conduct in starting to aeroplane. Your bulky machine may be taken to a suitable spot by a bevy of willing helpers, including your mechanics, the picture putting one in mind of a lot of ants leading a fly—excuse the pun. Or, the aeroplane may be taken across the ground by a patient farm horse that has long since learnt not to be alarmed by any sudden starting up of an unsilenced engine, while in yet other cases motor cars were used to tow the planes, even as horses came to rescue cars in the beginning of the older movement. There is also the Wright system, which is a laborious one, of placing the machine on two one-wheeled trestles and marching out to the starting rail with it, in which connection it is to be had in mind that, though they used the rail, the starting weight was rarely employed in the case of the Wright machines. The usual Voisin, Bleriot and Farman method, was to get to the starting place under their own power. In regard to launching into flight, some of the machines appeared to be very sensitive, such as the Antoinette, and some of the Voisins, which were usually put head to wind, if there was any, whereas the Farman, the Bleriot, and the Curtiss aeroplanes seemed relatively indifferent, because in any case very little wind was blowing. Never- theless, the variety of the requirements of the machines, accounted for in no mean measure by the differing experiences and aptitudes of their pilots, provided a very interesting spectacle on the taking-off ground, where one Concluded from page 541.) would see such persons as Rougier spending the best part of an afternoon in the effort to get going. He was rarely without company. You would see the machines of large spread scurrying and scudding about the ground in all directions, presenting somewhat the appearance of a lot of gigantic fowls fluttering about a vast farmyard. It needs a deal of practice for the eye to tell exactly when a machine leaves the ground, for it must not be imagined that they leap into the air. Sometimes they go up for a few yards, then come to earth again, and do not lift until they have gone two or three hundred yards further. Plainly, it does not pay to give up just because you do not get off the ground permanently after the first launching. Some proceed half way down the course before they quit the earth. The quickest machine of all to launch in flight was the Curtiss biplane, which was absolutely amazing. Sometimes it would be in mid-air in less than fifty yards going. As a rule the flyers are held back when the engines are started. They are let go after the screw is turning at its proper speed, in which connection one witnessed the same spectacle that was seen again and again at Pau in, February. That is to say, people would stand in line with the turn of the screws, so that if a blade broke they were in imminent peril of being killed. Seemingly there were no regula- tions to prevent their doing this, though I think there ought to be. I do not propose to describe the competitions, for the detailed results of each have been set forth in another form on other pages of FLIGHT. From the point of view of recounting the story of a race, in the case of aeroplanes, at present it is impossible to do so, because the various competitors did not start at the same time. The com- petitions therefore resolved themselves merely into flights against the flock. Hence, from the spectacular point of view, the interest was in the manner of the flight. How the French visitors lunched in front of the Grand Stand. C 2
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