AERONAUTICS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 901, 22 August 1910, Page 7

AERONAUTICS.

UNPROFITABLE MEETINGS. By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright. (Reo. August 21, 5.5 p.m.) ■ London, August 20. The Blackpool aviation meeting has ended in disaster, a hurricane having demolished tho aeroplane hangars, the barriers, and the tents. The financial results of the recent aviation mootings have been most discouraging, and • the. ioss to tho promoters has been as follows: — ■ Blackpool £15,000 Bournemouth £10,000 Lanark £8,000 Rheims ,£20,000 Nice £22,000 AEROPLANIST KILLED. (Rec. August 21, 5.5, p.m.) Rome, August 20. Lieut. Vivalai Pasqua has been killed while aeroplantug. AEROPLANE DEPOTS IN FRANCE. (Rec. August 21, 5.5 p.m.) Paris, August 20. The French Government is considering the instalment of airships and aeroplanes at the naval arsenals of Cher-, bourg, Brest, Toulon, and Bizerta, besides at various strategical points on the eastern frontier. THE AERCTLANE IN WAR. ' One cannot over emphasise the importance of the latest achievement in aviation (wrote tho "Daily News" of June 13)— the 100-mile non-stop. flight made last Thursday by two I'ronch Army from Chalousjto Vincennes. The question of tho adaptability of the kcavier-than-air machine to purposes of war is now, indeed, beyond dispute. In the aerial trip of nearly two hours and a half over tho country Captain Jlarconnet and' Lieutenant Fequant did practically what they liked with the l'arniaii biplane they piloted. At one time they (lew at an altitude of 9(10 feet, at another they brought the machine down to* a level sufficient to take. photographic views of the villages and towns over which they passed. "Nothing could have been for us," declared Lieutenant I'equant, "than to blow up any of tho places en route, while I believo it would have been extremely difficult for an opposing force to hit us with {.heir guns, owing to the speed and thb height at which we were travelling." , „. - From tho first the military authorities In Paris saw that simultaneously with the construction of dirigibles the organisation of a fleet of aeroplanes was imperative. The result is that while we have no .official military aviators in England, tho French Army List contains the names of fourteen flying men. For the present, England owns one aeroplane, an old Wright machine, which the Hon. C. S. Itolls presented to the War Office some time ago. An aeroplane costs on an average ten times less than the huge dirigibles on which' Germany has been spending millions.