MR ALAN COBHAM

Evening Star, Issue 19326, 12 August 1926, Page 8

MR ALAN COBHAM

ARRIVAL IN SYBIIEY UNEVENTFUL FLIGHT AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. Press Association—By Telegraph-Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Press Association. SYDNEY, August 11. Mr Cobham armed here ui-day and lauded at the Mascot aerodrome. His arrival was delayed by the airman binning at NarromLuo for luncheon. Great crowds went to Mascot and waited for hours. When tbo airman Anally hovo in sight, escorted by ten aeroplanes which mot _ him at Richmond, tumultuous cheering commenced, and lasted until bo made a perfect landing. Unlike Sir Ross Smith, he did not ily over the city, and thus disappointed tho large crowds who had assembled on tho tops of buildings waiting to greet him. Air Cobham had an uneventful bight from CbarJevilie, marked by good weather all tho way. When the aviator landed a strong force of police was powerless to copo with the excited crowds, which rushed the aerodrome and took possession of ibo machine amid frenzied excitement. Air Cobham, guarded by tho police, managed to struggle to the hangar, whore ho was officially welcomed by representatives of the Government.

FIRST HALF COMPLETED

A CHAIN OF AIR LINES, SYDNEY, August 11. Responding to the welcome extended by the State Government at tho official reception at Mascot, Air Cobham said that now that tho first _ half of the journey was done he considered it was not as hard as he had been led to believe, and be was quite certain that he would accomplish the return to England. Ho stressed the fact that there must bo a chain of air lines between Loudon and Australia within a lew years. .... The crowd was so enthusiastic in its welcome that the police had too greatest difficulty in preventing Air Cobham from being severely jostled. Sergeant Ward was so unkempt that on his arrival at the official reception at the Mascot Town Hall the police refused to admit him until lie had been identified. EARLY STRUGGLES

In his book, ‘Skyways,’ Mr Cobham gives an interesting account ot his endeavors to find “a place in tho sun.”' lie had many disheartening experiences. Ile writes in his lirst chapter of the bonk mentioned: — From my earliest days I have had a rrreat desire to fly. At about the age of ten I was taken by my father to tho Crystal Fa lace, to .see an airship night. It was just after Spencer had flown from tho Crystal .Palace to St. Pauls and back, a very great, feat at the time. . . Tho airship was evidently going to make a short flight, and my enthusiasm was so great that one ot the men connected with the airship proposed that 1 should bo put in the fuselage on the next trip. My father vetoed the suggestion immediately, telling mo that when I got older I woiild have more sense and know that 1 was safer on tho ground. However, ho has altered his views since that time and flown with mo on many occasions. About 1910 there was a prize offered in Paris for tho best a.viette, or a fly-ing-machine that could fly without the aid of a motor; that is, on man-power alone.

I was instantly imbued with tho idea of achieving wonderful results by building an avieito and took my best friend into partnership. Onr machine consisted of a bicycle with wings on either side, and a propeller o) huge dimensions, which only just mi.sbed the front wheel in its revolutions. Our chain was cranked on to the propeller and not to tho rear wheel, so that wo hoped to get our forward motion by the revolutions of our propeller. From this one can see that we had determined ideas on the subject. Wo worked very hard, my friend making the bicycle portion of the machine, ami I the wings ami propeller. 1 don’t know where I got the idea of camber from, but 1 certainly felt sure that there should be such a thing, and my great problem was how to get all the nlis of each plane the same curve. However, I made a contrivance with the garden fork by putting a block of wood on each side of the prongs, and placing the ribs-to-bo in between. 1 pulled the ribs down to the handle of the fork, getting the required curve, and then tied them. Baths of hot water were procured and the whole immersed. The next day I was very proud when I cut the string and, all my spruce ribs remained at exactly the same angle.

Our chief trouble at the time was the terrible anxiety we caused our families; every one feared for our safety when wo should got “ hundreds of feet in the air ”!

I, always blame my friend and partner in this scheme for our non-success. He had a turn for mathematics and I never questioned him on these matters, and so took it for granted when he informed mo that by pedalling hard I ought to work up at least 3) h.p., which would bo sufficient to get the required lift!!! I joined up at the outbreak of war and found myself with the gunners on the ALsue in September, 1914. I saw little of flying then, but in 1915 and onwards increasing numbers of aeroplanes could be seen every day. The old desire awoke in me and grewi steadily as I watched our machines go over. T was determined to fly, but to got transferred to the R.F.C. seemed impossible; eventually, however, I succeeded and started on my training. 1 was fortunate in having no difficulty from the first, for 1 took to flying like a duck to water, with the result that I was made an instructor three weeks after I started to fly. On the subject of aviation in the ILA.IT. 1 will not

dwell, as so many competent pilots have already written on it at great length. After the Armistice my one aim was to get started in civil aviation, and with this in view I was demobdised in January, 1919. I know that I should have a difficult job in getting an appointment with an aviation company as pilot, but did not realise the immensity or my task until 1 discovered that there were about 22,000 pilots to bo demobilised and about twenty-two civil pilots’ jobs to bo filled. Luckily there were thousands of pilots who never wanted to ily again, but even so I was not in the running for a civil pilot’s job. During February and Alarch of 1913 I visited the existing aircraft companies daily. I must have ridden hundreds of miles on my motor cycle, and generally returned homo at night with the net result of perhaps getting, my name put on a couple of waiting lists. A few months ago, during one of my (lying trips, I happened to drop in at a certain company’s aerodrome. I was the guest at lunch of the managing director, who was very interested in the many stories I had to tell about the various big stunts I had pulled off. He then wanted to know how I originally started in civil aviation and how it was we had not mot before. So I told him about my dreary search of 1919, and how one of my most disappointing days was when I had journeyed down to his works and, after waiting a very long time, was granted by himself a two-minute interview, in which be informed me that I had not enough experience and gave mo the impression that I stood littlo chance in civil aviation! I think that it was these continual rebuffs that made mo so defiant and determined to make a staid somehow. At last, owing, no doubt, to my persistency and enthusiasm, Major Jack Savage (of sky-writing fame) gave me a chance. At that time he was commercial manager to tho British Aerial Transport Company, a.nd had been very pleased with tho letter I had written in reply to his test, namely: “What I should consider was tho finance and organisation necessary to run an aerodrome for short flight purposes al a seaside resort.” And so he gave mo a job, prospecting, for joy flight sites for tbo edging season. During Alarch, 1919, 1 visited nearly every town on the East Coast, and marched for miles and miles round the environs of each resort, searching for a suitable site for an aerodrome. Alany town councils were interviewed, and just as the whole scheme was about to develop the company altered their politics and my job was ended. About this time I got in touch with a concern which, if it achieved nothing else, gave me my first chance of flying in civil aviation. I refer to a very noble effort, the ‘Aerial Register and Gazette,’ long since closed down. Like a good many oher ventures in aviation, although sound in principle, it was before its time. Mr Newton, the promoter, whoso tragic death from fever in Bombay wc all regret, had a sound scheme by which all employees in aviation could register themselves in his paper, and their abilities would thus bo circularised all over the world.

One morning, very depressed, I fell into his office in Duke street and; stated ray case. He seemed very hopeful, and somewhat cheered I returned home. For several weeks I continued to search, and almost every other day visited tho offices of the ‘ Aerial Register and Gazette ’ —in time the staff got to know rao quite well. Eventually, an inquiry for a pilot came along, and I think through always being on the spot I. was given the chance of the job.