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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0717.PDF
DECEMBER 7, 1922 GLIDING. SOARING Those wishing to get in touch with others interested in matters relating to gliding and the construction of gliders are invited to write to the Editor of FLIGHT, who will be pleased to publish such communications on this page, in order to bring together those who would like to co-operate, either in forming gliding clubs or in private collaboration. THE regulations for the Selfridge 50-mile Gliding Competi tion for a prize of 1,000 guineas have now been published, and will be found on another page of this issue of FLIGHT. We think it will be agreed that the Royal Acre Club has tried to facilitate matters as much as possible for competitors by ruling that the flights for the prize ma be made anywhere in the British Isles. Thus competitors will not have to make the attempts over unfamiliar country. but may make them under conditions with which they are well acquainted. This should be a great help to competitors in various ways. For instance, it will be possible for a competitor to practise over ground near his home, and when he feels that he has attained some measure of proficiency he can make his competition flight over the same country, instead of having to start all over again by going to some other. and unfamiliar, locality. * * * ANOTHER advantage is that he will be able to live ai home and will not be incurring large expenses for housing, etc., while he is practising, while his machine should not have to be sent half-way across the country by rail, as might have been the case had the Royal Aero Club decided upon one particular locality. Furthermore, the expense of having attempts officially observed (which has to be borne by competitors) should be considerably reduced by the appoint ment of observers resident in or near the various localities selected. * * * COMPETITORS must send in, at least seven clear days before their first attempt, a map on which is marked the approximate starting-point selected, and the course which it is intended to follow. At the expiration of the first seven days no further notice is required, but the official observer must, of course, be notified in time for him to be present at each start. Should a competitor decide, after a first attempt, that a different locality might be better suited to his requirements he must, presumably, again notify the Club, sending in particulars as before. * * * THE Royal Aero Club will issue special log sheets, which must be carried by the pilot on all flights in the competition. On the starting certificate of this log sheet the official observer will enter such particulars as will enable the Club to locate the exact point of starting. At the completion of a flight a pilot must enter on the landing certificate such particulars as will enable the Club to locate the exact point of landing and the pilot must get this certificate signed by two persons, who should, if possible, be present at the landing. Failing that the pilot must obtain the signatures of two persons resident in the district in which the landing was made. * * * IT will thus be seen that the rules for the British competition are generally similar to those in force in Germany for the Berliner Tageblatt prize, with the exception that the solemnity of oaths is dispensed with. Yet we have not the slightest doubt that the British declarations will be every bit as true and accurate as the German. * * * ALL enquiries regarding the competition should be sent to the Secretary of the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom. 3-, Clifford Street, London, W. 1, from whom also entry forms may be obtained, and to whom the entry fee of £5 should be sent. The special log sheets will be sent to entrants upon receipt of the entry fee. * * » A CORRESPONDENT writes to tell us that he has lately completed a glider, but complains that he has, up to the present, had very poor results. He states that his machine is a monoplane composed of a BE fuselage, cut down con siderably, and of a pair of Sopwith wings, and that when he tested the machine by towing it behind a car it only got up to a height of about 6 ft., dropping almost instantly as soon as released. * * * WE do not know what is the weight of the machine referred to by our correspondent, and the description bopv vm AIR-SAILING wings " is rather vague. If. however, they are the top plane of a Sopwith " Camel " we do not wonder at the poor results, as the area would, in all probability, be much too small, giving too high a wing loading. The average wing loading of the machines at ltford was _• lbs./sq. ft. The " Brokker " was probablv loaded considerably higher than this figure, but then it had a very high-lift wing, which would help materially. Also on the day the " Brokker " made its famous flight a very strong wind was blowing, and it is quite possible that this machine would not have got oft particularly well if towed behind a car in still air. * * * A propos the " Brokker," we learn that. Sqdn. Ldr. Gray has taken the machine to Salisbury Plain, where lie thinks he will be able to make quite good glides, there being a numbei of hills which are considered nearly if not quite as suitable as those at Itford. It is reported that Sqdn. Ldr. Gray is to carry out tests for the Air Ministry in order to ascertain whether or not gliding is likely to prove of value in the training of pilots. Personally we think that it may prove very valu able indeed, offering as it does opportunities of getting pupils used to being in the air and to handle the controls. Probablj at first two-seater instruction machines might be used, to be followed later by work on single-seaters, much after the fashion of training on power-driven machines. Tuition on gliders should be very cheap, as there are no expensive engines and no petrol to buy. It is to be hoped that Sqdn. Ldr. Gray will succeed in convincing the Air Ministry of the value of gliding. * * * IN the meantime the R*A.F. is taking up gliding unofficially already. Thus on a recent visit to Andover, we learned that a gliding club had been formed at the R.A.F. Staff College and Headquarters of No. 7 Group, and that already the club counted 150 members. Gordon England's little monoplane has been acquired, and has been repaired after the smash, in which, incidentally, it was but very little damaged, most of the breakages occurring in getting Gordon England out of the machine. Later on it is intended to build gliders at Vndover out of scrap material left over from wrecked aero planes. Thus not only will the gliding club be able to get its machines cheaply, but the members will be able to learn a good deal about construction. We trust that a great many other stations will follow this example, and shall be very glad to hear from such gliding clubs, Service no less than civilian. His many friends will be pleased to hear that Cordon England is rapidly recovering from the effects of his crash on Firle. He is already out, and is able to get about on crutches, although he has not yet quite got used to his new " controls and " undercarriage." » * * FROM Mr. L. F. Leeming, of Hale, Cheshire, we have received the following letter : — " A note in your ' Gliding Notes ' recently on a German pilot who flew for some way on the flat using no hill, reminds me of some early experiments made 111 1911, The glider was a crude affair, a monoplane with a 20-ft. span and a chord of =; ft. The pilot stood between the main planes, carrying the whole machine by two straps fastened to the two out-riggers, which carried the tail. As in most of the early machines, the only control was by moving the weight of the pilot's body. "The attempts were made on the flat sands at Southport, Lanes, and after several hours' practice spread over several days, a friend of mine became so expert with this little glider that he could almost make it do anything. In a wind of about 15-25 m.p.h., soaring and glides of two minutes duration were obtained. Our method of taking off was as follows : The pilot stood facing the wind in the machine, and at each wing-tip an assistant stood holding a 20-ft. rope attached to the wing. The assistants then went briskly forward into the wind, pulling on the rope, and the pilot worked the glider off into the air. He soared and rose until the ropes were almost vertical when the assistants cast off, and the pilot then glided down, prolonging the glide as long as possible by soaring. Although not expert myself, and unable to get good glides, my friend could do wonderful things, and made flights of quite big distances. We had the glider for some weeks—it was kept in the open—but eventually I tried it one day in too strong a wind, and being unable to keep it head on (we had no rudder or fin) the machine tipped up, a wing-tip struck the ground, and the whole machine spun round violently, pitching the pilot out at a great speed. The pilot was in bed for some davs. and the glider was a total wreck. 717
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