THE FLYING SAILORS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1486, 8 July 1912, Page 2

THE FLYING SAILORS.

THE NAVY HYDRO-AEROPLANE. (By Charles E. Hands, in tho "Daily Mail.") There is a now intercstin aviation. Tho Navy's hydro-aeroplano has aroused it; (lie series of flying exhibitions over land and sea which the "Daily Mail" is about to givo will encourage increase, and gratify it. J.t j s an interest greater than attaches to another step forward in engineering science, for with 'the new ilying machine has arrived tho new man, the ikw type of airman. The man of tho moment is Lieutenant and Acting-Commander Charles 11. Samson, tho Hying sailor. His exploits in Weymouth Bay afloat and aloft in H.M.S. Amphibian have seized tho imagination of England as no oilier development of tho wondrous new scienco of aviation has yet succeeded in doing. Men of other lands or of our own race might leap from the ground and soar aloft on wonder wings, and We havo looked on in admiration at the illustration of the surprising developments of modern science. But it is with other feelings that wo havo seen an aeroplane issuing from tho element upon which is established the dominion of our race. Wo understood perhaps for the first timo what the word aviation meant, as wc saw sea power pro. ject itself to a higher dimension. Tho great and splendid fact in relation to Commander Samson is that there axe plenty more aviators where he canio from. It is not to belittlo the greatness of his achievement or to deprive him of any of the distinction attaching to it to say that the British Navy is full of Samsons. When tho Navy has a thousand hydroaeroplanes instead of ono there will 1)6. no difficulty in .finding a Samson for everyone of them. Ho is an example, a type, the kind of earnest, active, capable young officer that the Navy can supply in unlimited numbers. Now that the scienco of aviation has been taken up by tho Navy it has found its recruiting ground. Commander Samson, in speech, manner, and appearance, makes no demonstration of gifts, qualities, or achievements extraordinary in tho servico to which he belongs. An unassertive, thoughtful little man, wilh a short, trim, Georgian beard and a pair of very bright grey eyes, there is no heroic claim in his attitude or appearance, but the look of quiet confidence and resolution that belongs to tho man who can be relied on to do things. lie has a great gift of silence when matters which do not attract him, such as his own achievements, are tho subject of discussion. Jlo is never known to talk about himself. It is a little odd to find that his comrades of the Nan - Aero Club, with whom he has lived on closest terms of companionship for a year, know little about him. They know that he has a sweet and lovable nature, that he would do any daring deed or any kindly and generous action, that he does not know the meaning of either fear or jealousy, that duty comes first, in his thoughts, that whatever ho has to do in tho wav of duty, big or little, would he done, thoroughly mid conscientiously without thought it' danger or, reward. They know that under any circumstances or in any emergency ho would do the right thing and the eoiind filing, and that nothing would be neglected or forgotten or left to chance. They know that whenever he makes a (light his inachino will bo in order in every detail, his engine will bo working properly, that there will bo no failure of caro or skill or daring. They know him for an absolutely reliable man in any Honoeivablo ofrcumslanees. But these things they know only from tho cumulative cil'ect of daily observation of his duty, not from anything ho has ever talked about himself.

_ They only know of his service exploits in .S'omnliland and among the gun-runners, in the Persian Gulf the bare facts as recorded in the Navy List. But his views on petrol consumption in internal combustion engines, on wind pockets and lateral stability, on lifting capacity and gliding speed, and everything connected with his "job," these they know at first hand. He is a man of his job, and it is . the ,6liaplo of his thought and conversation. ;. -■■■•■• • — --■• .Commander Samson is twenty-nine—tho ago foT-doing-thiiigs'. He is'of tho kind that always does things. He wns a great liny with a bicycle. Later, Brooklands knew him well as- a daring driver of a racing, motor-car. He knew all about the handling of petrol engines before in March, of last year ho was selected- with the first batch of four young officers to be trained in airmanship for the Navy Aero Corps. Ho set himself to master his job with determination and assiduity, gained-his certificates, practised incessantly in every kind of aeroplane available, .was the first man to launch an ocroplanp from the deck of n battleship, nmd holds the English record for an endurance flight.

Tho other men of tho corps are fine flyers, as daring and as keen. Lieutenunt Gregory, for example, who distinguished himself off Weymouth by his handling of the old Short practice biplane, will bo demonstrating tho greater possibilities of the now bird-boat as soon as there is another ranchino of this type ready for him. .Lieutenant Longmnro navigated the Deperdussin monoplane like a master, and among those at Weymouth who knew most of aviation, the skill which Cantain Gcrrard, of the Royal Marines, displayed in handling the extremely difficult Nieuport was enthusiastically discussed. Thefo young officers hnvo had a year only in the new service, but they arc aviators all. There is another batch under training equally competent:, equally eager for tho new air-and-water service, and there are thousands more to choose from as the service develops. The Navy is full of Samsons. The Navy has not to go out looking for (lying men. All (ho qualities that aviation demands young lieutenants by the scoro are displaying in battleship n'nd cruiser, in torpedo-boat and submarine. Tho qualities that the Navy produces for the hazards of the sea are the qualities thatarc demanded for tho hazards of t-hc air.