FLIGHT IN 1913.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1986, 17 February 1914, Page 4

FLIGHT IN 1913.

YEAR'S PROGEESS REyiE\V'E&

ALL RECORDS BROKEN.

Mechanical flight hi.ado . n.pprcciatel*. progress in every direction during .1013.. Of course., by far tho -most impprtSni; work (writes Jfr. Massac Biiisfc m ilia "Morning tost") is that which j.s mainly dojio out of, fhe public ojc, in cftnuoctioii frith th.e .national aviation services, Britain, -France, and GerrnJtny have, mado proportionately big' .strides in their rev spoctive aeronautical equipments, .and progress has been made to niniost an equal extent by Italy .and Austria; Bus* sia, too,, is paying very serious .attention to the .evolution of aii aeronautical .military servxee. The otlier European na~ I 0", 8 m.*M doing bo .much. ; and the i >Srf ' tet?s of A wcrica, which fe tho Birthplace OS the hcnvior4r.an.-sir living machine- that was .evolved : bv tho' bro■thers Wright ten. years ago, has made proportionately the least progress of all ■as regards Wilittiry equipment of this character. Tfciit .is natural, becausethere a«ft no defence problem's oh tho other sido of tflr.e Atlantic of 'tho sort that present themselves in 'ISUropo,

New Forms pi Flying. ■f" practically all parts of- .the .world .exhibition, flying, oon.tinues to. a'ttrack attention, A :now' phase of this has. consisted of tire practice Of "lopping tho loop" and <sf upside-down ■'flying, it was -first accomplished by IVgoud en a Specially prepared Bleriot inovioMano, ;a notable feature :of which is' that the-. Machine' is comparatively a ■slow-flying-one; net> furnished:, with high power. These .exhibitions aro quite ■:'cgriirn6n.' teddy, and liavo been iccomplished by smv oral pilots oh Various .sorts, of machines. Borne of tjiflai iiot spcciiilly prepared ■and having, very .powerful engines, be* i'iig in, ■■.consequence fast 'fliers.' So fat, thcro has not booh arfatal'accident with oiio of but it is, to- be- feared tha;t this immunity caiiiioj, be oxjttcfod'-;ai ivftys to continue' if the v pilpts imposo great strains- <m their 'machines by at-, tempting ; to. loop tho loop with very last airerjift. This phaso/of coiirse, has- had notlviite whatever to, do witlv insuring ■safer ■flying, despite/all th.6 claims,ihad6 as to the sciciitiiic'features, pf.'.it. jtji'iis boon :knpwn for; some y.earsi'th.at. it ; is » physical possibilitj- to' loop 'the •ibpp in tho air. 'Indeed, in the. year i.n. xyhich. Grftbame-'White ftoh tho. Gordoh-Be.U'' ne.t't- race .in. America tho "Wrights, were .always' 'fearing tli'at some, .of their trick' oxhibitioh fliers would 'attempt to loop tl'io- loop' on one, 'of their, .aeroplanes. These deveippni.en.ts fcptiio. pvifiyiy under the beading of dShi.Q.nskraiiiij; whtit cail bo done by increasing' experience, and[confidence' on the, part, of the pilot and aro not bound up with tho scientific problem. of evolving fmor.e safe, ■or. more. siftWc flying ftyachmes. happily, however, li9i: : 3 can he loolffid hack to .as a year in which gre'Sit..progress has beolv made iri tho 'science of. s'afe aeroplaiie construction.. Truo* M;r. j. \V«' Dunne .invented Ws' sblf-.bataneiug maciiino «pnie-.j'ears agoi But as far an fehft British piib.lic aii'd' iiio Gpve'r'nhi.eiit . authorities-aro cbiicerncd, f]i9lß is the V-oar in which this invention,- in-the hands.of a.Efohcli military officer, lias been tho means of attracting'the attciir tioit of the wotld. : to the, ■'inh.er.eiit quails ties of bai.9i)c'o. in; tijis ■wpnde.r.'fill systpni of aeroplajio, cbnsti:u.ctibn> "It-j's, ifc-pideirt-ally, 'the only Uritißli a'e'rpuau.t.ical. ■jnyonfioii .that lias.been paid the e.oiii■.pl.imteht of being riiados liiide.r liccnm iii KrflKCc. ::Ab regards tho uptu.ni fcienco of .Ra:fp : 'flying liiiapliine, cOii'SlVuctipil, it is by"a"wido margin tho greatest achicvemont, to JlaPP'li'i Pllw Wtipi.t, hi\vo l>o,on r oxpermißiiting in this dilution, also with notably encouraging results* Achievement in Competitions.

Fiom tho point of view d competitions, of com so, enoimolis piogross his been miulo in oven directnn In Bntain alpne over 705 aerophno pilots' certificates havo been issued, nearly half of them m tho course of the jeir under revicv, It is plain there is no dentil of joung men desnous of becoming at leist mitiallv piohcienl in. iho pi notice of tho new hcienco What has piobablj escaped public notice ev en more. is the consideiablo increase in tho number of dirigiblo billoon pilots' certificates giantcd in this rountiy during tho voir, no iewor than twontj-tno having boon issued Of course nearly all of (he litter aic for office!s assnented wilh the Koval Flying Corps. In this connection it is notable that sundiv noncommissioned oiliccis ond men aic- now numbered among those vv ho aic qualified aeioplanc pilots Henceforth we may look everj venr to sco a gicatci number of uon-coinmissioned olhcois and. men piloting aircraft That, of couiso,lias been tho aim of tho scheme of tuition all along. But it was not until 1913 that it began to be possiblo to put tho notion into practice to any appreciable extent. As jegaids fljmg achievements, both at homo ■and abroad, cjeiv pi ov ions aeroplane lecord has been far surpassed this jcar. Truo, Hawker on the SopW|th hvdio-aoioplano failed io win tho £5000 pnrp for a race agonist timo on a hvdro-noroplaiiG from Southampton lound tho eist coast, across tho Ca'edoniaJi Canal, for In only got the length of Dublin befoio the machine was biokui up The Aerial Deibv,, starting from llcndon, was won hj Uamol ovoi an 80-mile circuit lound London. Much nioM important is the work done bv the Sou ices, including Captain C. A. H Ldngcroft's two world's record urn-slop point-to-point cross-countiy apiopjano flightb with a passcngor between England and Scotland, not, of couise, in connection with an\ competition, though oflicinlh certified Mr SopWith's machine won the Mortimer Smgei £500 pri7c for a scneb of out and home flights from a point on land lo a point at sea not less than luo miles apatt Owing to the competitors waiting until tho last moment tho s'nclielm rioss-cnunrv flight pri?© of £800 was not won this ,vcar, Hawker on tho Scpvulh machine failing to quahfj bv a maigm of about ten miles only Tho £500 Michclm pri7o foi a flight of a. minimum distance of 300 miles was won by Mr It H. Cair, flying the 100 h p Gieen eiigitted Grahnmo-White machine. , World's Record Pflrforiranees, Among foreign events the world' 6 recoid for sped in a cloced cucuit now stands nt over two miles a minute, nameU 127 4 miles an hour The altitude .ccoid was achieved bv the- lato M. Penejon at ]9,256fi The duration stands at 13 hours 17mm. o7 l-sscc , and uninterrupted flight round a closed cucuit at 331.8 miles The Gordon Bennett aviation race at Rheims was won bp Pjcvost on a 160 li.p Gnomeongined Deperdussui monoplane at appioMmatcly tv-o miles a minute, In that the distance- of 200 kilometics was tnvcised m 59mm 45 3-SSCC, thereby bionking all world's records from 10 to 200 kitomctK", Tliero have, or com so, been mrnv deaths during the vear, a fmi propoition of which were the result of nccidents of a class that could havo been avoided, the balance being in tho natuio of inevitable cata&hophios In i elation to tho total amount of mileago flown m tho veai. lu,vvovcr, fatilitics have not been on the increase Consideriblo assistance was rendered to tho movement bv the promotion on tho part ot the Societv ot Motoi Manufacturers and Traders of an Inteinition.il Aeronautical Exhibition at Ohmpia, under tho pationagp ot the King. Indeed, 1013 has been the busiest vear of aeronautical activitv since the living machine-, bciomo practicable.