AVIATION NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2955, 2 November 1910, Page 60

AVIATION NOTES.

Great things have been done at recent Jviation meetings; speed, altitude, and ux&tion records have been broken over and over again; but not a single important problem has been solved, and the machines used have been the same a 6 those of a year ago, with the exception of slight improvedesign and construction. The skill of the aviator has greatly increased with practice and under stress of competition, and machines and motors have improved; but the scientific side of aeronautics has not been seen in, or helped by, the public aerodrome. At the international aerial conference at Boulogne one of the French delegates put forward the interesting calculation that there is one fatal accident and two cases of jerious injury for every 3700 miles flown. Itnd, further, that the average mileage of flving per week at the present moment is about 3000. This appears to bo rather a dreadful record of casualties, but when we go into the figures carefully we find a very hopeful tendency. It is quite clear ihat the distance flown at the present time •in proportion to the number of accidents is very much greater than it was a year ago, or even six months ago, and that, too, despite the facfc that it is no longer the man of peculiar skill and riei've that alone is attracted to aviation, which id now. indeed, almost a sport for Tom, Dick, and Harry. A year ago there must have been a fatality for every 1000 miles of flight. In six months this was' reduced to onehalf; indeed, a few weeks ago it was estimated in these columns that the aviation death rate was one in every 2500 miles flown. Machines are beinfr steadily improved, and the dangers that beset the aviator are being better understood every week. The statistics, moreover, do not have regard to the causes of accidents, and it is well to remember that quite a large proportion) of them have been due to gross carelessness, and not to any inherent danger in aviation. - NEWS BY CABLE. LONDON, October 26. The Daily Mail states that the War Office has purchased two aeroplanes of the' Paulhan and Farman type respectively. The Morning Post's Lebaudy airship voyaged, under the charge of M. Moisjons, from Teignmouth to Aldershot in Five hours. On entering the shed the envelope was ripped up, and the airship collapsed. The crash was not serious. October 28. Major Hannerman piloted the Lebaudy airship from France to Aldershot. He j had a splendid voyage, but when Hearing ! Aldershot had to fight in the teeth of I a wind blowing 25 miles an hour. The j accident to the airship was due to the , roof of the shed being too low. October 28. The ■ Government Has acquired the Clement-Bayard airship. The Daily Mail states that Germany has ordered 40 monoplanes, te be com- j pleted early in the spring. Krupps are supplying the Government , with six guns capable of throwing shrapDel to a height of 12,000 ft. October 29. The cost of the Clement-Bayard airship is £IB,OOO. The War Office is pay- j fng £12,500 and private subscribers : £5500. The Baroness de Laroche is recover- i ing. In July the Baroness de Laroche, who ; last October gained fame by flying unaided j ih a Voisin biplane, took her biplane to I Rheims, and attempted to win the ladies' | prize. She was dashed to earth from a■■ height of 150 ft. Rescuers found her under- I neath the wreck of her machine, and she was ' taken to a hospital between life and death, j Her injuries were fractures of the left arm | BJid left hip, dislocation of the Tight arm, : a compound fracture of the lower part of | the right kg, a fracture of the left index finger, and -severe bruises on the head and j body. The baroness withstood the opera- | tion of resetting the fractures with mar- j vellous fortitude. PARIS. October 26. Blanchard, an aviator, fell from a height of 100 ft and was killed. October 29. M. Tabuteau, in a non-stop flight, covered 288£ miles round the aerodrome ' at Etampes in six hours. October 30. The United States Government is negotiating for 10 Farman aeroplanes. ROME, October 27. j Lieutenant Saglietti, while aeroplaning, fell and was killed. ST. PETERSBURG, October 30. i The Government has ordered £3 aeroplanes of various makes. MAGDEBURG. October 26. Lieutenant Gente, while aeroplaning, fell 60ft, and was killed under his machine. NEW YORK, August 28. I During a gale Messrs Hoxsey and Johnstone (Americans) ascended from Belmont Pask, and were blown away. Mr Hoxsey landed 21 miles away, and . Mr Johnstone 55 miles. The biplanes were powerless to make headway against the gale. ! Mr Gordon Bennett is eliminating the trial selection for an American team to defend the international trophy won at Rfoeims by Mr Glen Curtiss. An airship showing red and green lights was seen in a swift current st j Saskatchewan, and was also seen at j Irvine, in Alberta. It is a mysterious J affair, as no such vessel is known to

' have started in Canada or the United States. October 29. Johnstone attained a new altitude of 8471 ft. He aeroplaned to Belmont Park from the Middle Island village, where he was blown by a gale yesterday. Hamilton, Drexel, and Brookens have i been nominated defenders of the Gordon Bennett Oup. Curtiss, winner of the cup at Rheims, was excluded. Aviationists are disappointed at this decision. October 30. Mr Graham© White, driving a 100 I horse-mower Bleriot - Moren machine, I travelled at the rate of a mile a minute | and won the Gordon Bennett Cup for speed. He covered the course—loo kilo- | metres—in Ihr lmin 4 3-ssec. There : were eight entrants —three American j three English, and two French. Radley and Hamilton were both dis- :■ qualified for first place for not complying i with the rules. M. Lsblanc dashed into a telegraph i pole, and smashed the pole and wrecked i his machine. He was injured, but not j seriously. He was going at the rate of 170 miles an hour—a world's record, — I when a gust of wind drove him against | the pole. I Mr Brookins fell 200 ft, the crash being : heard a mile away. His machine was i crumpled up. and the aviator was picked up unconscious, but no bones were broken. He was carried to a hospital, where it was found that his injuries were not serious. Mr Latham's aeroplane was blown over the crowd's heads, and the jpeople became panic-stricken owing to the proximity of the machine. Mr Latham, however, regained control. He gave up the race in the fifteenth round. VANCOUVER, October 26. The balloon America II has not been located. Searchers have left Toronto on behalf of the St. Louis Aero Club. Milwaukee reports state that probably the I balloon fell into Lake Superior. OTTAWA, October 27. A telegram from the lost balloonists announces that they safely landed in the wilderness 277 miles north of Quebec. It is officially announced that the America II (Hawley and Post) wins the Gordon Bennett Cup, covering 1350 milee —a world's record. INTERNATIONAL MEETING. NEW YOUK, October 24. ; Mr J. A. Drexel, the millionaire club- j \ man of Pittsburg, has been declared the : winner of the aviation speed contest. i

October 25. j Mr Drexel made an American altitude 1 record of 7105 ft, but it will probably be disputed. He did not enter for the altitude contest. October 27. Mr Latham, in Belmont Park, flew 10 miles in Bmin, and Mr Albrun covered the same distance in 7min,.but the time is unofficial. It the morning a gale prevented flights. Ootobov 30. Graham White declares that Leblanc would have won the trophy if he had not mat with an accident. Leblanc attained a speed of five kilometres in 2min 44sec. FLIGHTS IN AMERICA. NEW YORK, October 26. Ralph Johnstone beat Mr Drexel's altitude, ascending 7503 ft—a . new United States record. Mr Johnstone aeroplaned above the clouds, and was covered with frost when he descended. Previously he ascended to a great height, but he forgot , his harograph, and the height was not ; recorded. Mr F. W. Radley, an Englishman, in a Bleriot machine, covered 20 miles "across country in 19min 48 2-ssec. The judges believed that the chronometers must be wrong, the speed was so amazing. Mr Latham manoeuvred on the edge of storm clouds, and was in peril, though the crowds thought he was merely showing off. In a rapid descent in the wind, the machine was caught in a tree and damaged, but Mr Latham was unhurt. !

GUIDES FOR AVIATORS. LONDON, October 25. The Daily Mail's Paris correspondent states that for the benefit of aviators whitewashed figures, 60ft square, the first figure showing the distance north or south of Paris, and the second figure showing the distance east or west of Paris, will be established in every village, beginning from Paris to Chalons. Three clever airmen—Mr Radley, Mr Drexel, the American, and Mr Kuller, a "flying Dutchman," mad© flights at Lanark en August 11, in a treacherous wind in which, only a few months ago, it would have been reckoned sheer madness to venture. Relying, however, upon the increased speed which their powerful engine.? now give them, they rose in the air without' hesitation. Mr Drexel flew 10 miles round the aerodrome, relying upon the mighty forward pull of his big Gnome engine. It. was a sufficiently adventurous flight. This'flight and others by Messrs Radley and Kuller demonstrated that with high-sp-oed monoplanes it is possible to fly in any wind short of a gale. Later in the day much anxiety was cauised by the total disappearance of Mr Drexel. At 7 o'clock, in a moment of calm, he decided to make an altitudo flight. For half an hour he mounted, and then at the height- of 6000 ft disappeared in the clouds. Than there was no news of him for two hours. A telephone message finally relieved the airman's friends, and the almost equally anxious public. Mr Drexel had descended on Cobbinshaw Moor, 15 miles away from the aerodrome, after having lost his way in tho clouds and used all hit? Detroi.

The heigth of Mr Drcxcl's accent was worked out at 6750 ft, constituting a record. " I rose very swiftly to an altitude of 4000 ft," said Mr Drexel. "Then I plunged straight into a cloud, and th© earth disappeared from view. I gazed at the aneroid barometer fixed before my driving seat, and saw that I was mounting steadily. Now I had no idea at all where I was. I was alone in the clouds. My motor continued to work perfectly, and so I went on up and up. More than once I fixed my eye orr a small cloud some distance away from me, and so was able to judge that my slant upwards was still rapid. It became almost intolerably cold. My breath issued from my mouth in a, white column of vapour, my- knees and handis seemed almost frozen. My motor, too, began to weaken; no doubt the atmosphere at this altitude began to affect the carburation. I attempted to readjust the mixture of air and petrol, but one of my hands was now completely numbed and I could not use it. Still 1 did not give in, but kept my machine upwards. Tho climb became very slow. The thin air offered less and less resistance to the forward thrust of my planes. I reckoned that in the last four minutes of my climb I ascended only 50 feet. Not only did my progress upwards became slower and slower, but the hand with which I held the controlling lever began to lose all sensation owing to the extreme oold. I realised that I had ccm>3 to the limit of my endeavour.

"Pointingthe bow of my machine downwards, I looked below me. I was high above a bank of clouds which obscured any view of the earth. I let the monoplane fall as swiftly as it would go. What I was afraid of was that I should lose tho use of my hands entirely. So fast did I descend that I swept down 5000 ft in only four minutes. The rapidity of the fall gave mo a singing sensation in my ears. As the earth became exposed to view, I caught sight of a glint of water. I steered for it, imagining it was a loch near the aerodrome, but on coming closer I realised my mistake. I had been carried 15 miles. I made a safe landing in a field nearly a lonely farmhouse not far from Cobbinshaw, on the Caledonian Railway. Beyond a momentary deafness, my one and a-quarter mile climb had no adverse effect upon me, save for the fact that I wa.s almost frozen."