AEROPLANE TESTING.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1959, 16 January 1914, Page 3

AEROPLANE TESTING.

A LITTLE KNOWN CALLING

AND ITS PERILS.

When, it was announced ■'iiT'Dc&mbpr/ that Edmond Perroynn hfld -been ..killed; at the Due Flying' Ground -in;V France), through a JJloriot monoplane : sUirning ; . over at a height of only sOftv- : ground, the news conveyed prnc'tii.-ally* no other information to the public.'.he-'-yond that there had been another'fatal; aviation accident. Had-any of the air-. men who publicly "loop the loop,--i:- : diy.c;j sideways, or give exhibitions for gatemoney been killed there would hare been much ado. It would havo been the same, too, if any flier had been killed .in tho course of nn important raco. Vet as an aeroplane, pilot Edmond Perreyon. was, according to H, Mnssae Bitist in -the "Morning Post," greater than these. True, ho was not a constructor who achieved fame by scientific work in tho manner that Wilbur and Or- j villo Wright, Jlanrice and Henry Far- | man, J. W. Dunne, Louis fllcriot, Henri Ooanda, tho Brothers Short, and many others have done. Hβ was merely a great aeroplane tester. In tho last three years ho has probably done moro flying than any other pilot. Season.after j season 'ho was in the air for from four. I to six hours a day. Yet tho public knows practically nothing of his aenievo-ment-s, save, that on March 11 he gained tho world's altitude record by attainting a height of 19,290ft-.—a jioriormanco only possible by using an oxygen apparatus to assist his breathing. Tho'] rarefied condition of the air .at tho higher altitudes may be judged from the fact that tho machine, climbed tho first 12,000 ft. in fourteen minutes,'lα performance that must havo put no less j strain on tho endurance of the man i than on tho efficiency of the aeroplane,'.! But th© remaining 7000 ft. took forty-.. one minutes to climb owing to tho air becoming less and less buoyant because , i moro and more rarefied. A year asro ; Porreyon figured for a- few'weeks in this country by. putting two Eleriot. monoplanes through the War Office- military trials on Salisbury Plain, in the course of which he took out the standard "side-by-side" two-seater machine with an official observer in a wind in which it appeared certain that the monoplane would capsize. Last summer ho -flew from Milan to Homo and back in a day.;, with a passenger. . ■,;■■'.:■■■.■.:■■■.'.'S The Call (or Inspirational Resource.k Hiß public appearances, however, were rather rare. I}n was the most accomplished flier and practised airman*-!, , know of (adds M. B'uht), who in privacy contrived to (k> valuable .and often highly risky work for tho advance - of., tho movement. ■He had a wholesome dislike of publicity. He was born-in Paris thirty-two years ago and differedfrom most 'fliers in that lie came to the movement neither from motor-cycling nor motor-car racing, nor after an Apprentice period to seamanship, hut from, a life so_ utterly different as that of a worker in bronzo. His coolness, skill, and earnestness were early recognised by M. Louis Bleriot. Soon after he hail become a regular flier he took up tho position of chief tester at his works. The public that reads about aeroplane performa-nces and which, hears from time to timo that this Government , or that has ordered fifty or a hundred machines of a certain ma.';o is aware, that each of them is delivered only after it has fulfilled certain tests. It apparently does not realise, however, that with tho coming of mechanical _ flight thoro has arisen o, new calling, the followers of which do far more flying in tho course of each year than men whose names are familiar cither rs exhibitors or prize'rWiinncrs. At the Bleriot work 3, for-.example, soveral hundred .machines 1 aro produced each year. After each of these lias been assembled, it is flowlJ for the purpose of preliminary testing to determine whether or not it has been put togother correctly', and to ascertain where and to what extent adjustments are needed. Perreyon was the chief of the men who tested for Bleriot-.- When you are engaged on a proposition of this sort you work against timo; therefore you cannot wait upon, the weather. Perreyon had to-fly machines in good •winds and bad. it was not until be was in tho air that h<? was able to discover positively what was wrong with any given machine as it had been put together. To appreciate, tbie niau'rs artistry as a flier, therefore, you have to picture him as handling as often as not aircraft improperly adjusted as to minor details, and you hara to realise that generally such a fact could not become known to the-tester until ho was actually engaged in tho execution of a manoeuvre depending on tho accurate working of tho part that was wrongly adjusted or defective. Ho had. therefore, to bo a mail of iron nerve and endless resource, for, time and again, ■under tho threat of instant death, he had to think out in a flash an unprecedented method cf extricating himself from the gravest peril. . .;.-.-.■• --.^

Putting Theories to the Proof,

The men who fly proved machines aro daring enough; hut those whose- nervo is of such a character that for hours a day they ride the wind on unproved types are certainly still snore courageous. Perroyon was the class of man. who, apart from passing hundreds of new. aeroplanes through his hands every year and tuning them up, was wont to make initial flights on fresh models embodying features the worth of which existed merely in theory until, at the peril of his life, tho matter should he tested-in practice. . That is how .he met his end. The machine which turn--ed over when at a height of only 50ft.; from tho ground at Due was a new type designed to be safe, and styled , tho "lifeboat of tho sir." As chief of.the testing staff, too, Edmond Perroyon did a deal of demonstrating in military authorities and- , others. That is' also a phase of flying with which the lay public is unfamiliar'; yet it is one of the must; dangerous tasks the airman is called on to perform. It is extraordinary thateven junior testers and demonstrators who are engaged in this work daily for an average market price of about £200 a, year and travelling expenses will gladly take practically any risk if it gets abouj- the works that "someone from the War Office is coming down to sec our. machine, and, of course, he does. not believe it's nuy good." No matter what the weather, no matter how un.-i reliable tho engine, no matter how brief, the time that has been available for tun';. , ing up the acroplano and for finding, out the peculiarities of its design, I havo, never, adds M. Bnisfc, met the tester-' demonstrator who would listen ■to any: , warnings in such circumstances. -f^AVith- , out exception', everyone ■■I;'.3vliav<>. come ncross simplr goes- up- 'end. puts the machine through tbe>-tests' in si manner which one nmst frni'klv.. confess too seldom proves the worth. : ,of. the aeroplane, but which invariably"'re-..-veals the superb .pluck anil-, nrow-rasj of tho pilot. When parents--.hayo Jo: deal with sons who are eagt'r ..,to ; cm-;; bark, on the new calling and who-fidsji't-.; at. tho prospect of earning a livelihood; on office stools, it is as. well to.omiiit, out that, great as are the risks .ofM'ying at present, there are" slill ao'mnn.vmen with tho spirit to pionc'er-.-sMHI.-dare that the mnrfcet is ovornrowflodj and the wages of tho soropla" f '. : -pilot? are in consequence not hiqli. Tho few miWfa performers v/ho 'Wonie -o?!o-. Ijritios are, of rn\irsr», highly pflid. for. Tihat they do. Hud tlirfrs is a husiliess' Hi at can scarcely !>£> ranked as of a.nsjmanont {■haracter. It is in eny.Mse; an excceiliiiß-Iy chaneeaM" 'cnlling? nor,; it anytliiii!?, in do xvilli tho ?erious; advance of Ihe sfienefs of -aviation nt , . all cdinparabl' , wiHi .the .\vorli- ,, .acJiiem]. :, on tho nnft hand.- ky the. naval and militorv flying iinn of th* world, am! oir the other hand by- the luikiioTa acxo--

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