The Mastery of the Air

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Now commenced the most difficult part of the course. The
Caledonian Canal runs among lofty mountains, and the numerous
air-eddies and swift air-streams rushing through the mountain
passes tossed the frail craft to and fro, and at times threatened
to wreck it altogether. On some occasions the aeroplane was
tossed up over 1000 feet at one blow; at other times it was
driven sideways almost on to the hills. From Cromarty to Oban
the journey was only about 96 miles, but it took nearly three
hours to fly between these places. This slow progress seriously
jeopardized the pilot's chances of completing the course in the
allotted time, for it was his intention to make the coast of
Ireland by nightfall. But as it was late when Oban was reached
he decided to spend the night there.

Early the following morning he left for Dublin, 222 miles away.
Soon a float was found to be waterlogged and much valuable time
was, spent in bailing it dry. Then a descent had to be made at
Kiells, in Argyllshire, because a valve had gone wrong. Another
landing was made at Larne, to take aboard petrol. As soon as the
petrol tanks were filled and the machine had been overhauled the
pilot got on his way for Dublin.

For over two hours he flew steadily down the Irish coast, and
then occurred one of those slight accidents, quite insignificant
in themselves, but terribly disastrous in their results. Mr.
Hawker's boots were rubber soled and his foot slipped off the
rudder bar, so that the machine got out of control and fell into
the sea at Lough Shinny, about 15 miles north of Dublin. At the
time of the accident the pilot was about 50 feet above the water,
which in this part of the Lough is very shallow. The machine was
completely wrecked, and Mr. Hawker's mechanic was badly cut about
the head and neck, besides having his arm broken. Mr. Hawker
himself escaped injury.

All Britons deeply sympathized with his misfortune, and much
enthusiasm, was aroused when the proprietors of the Daily Mail
presented the skilful and courageous pilot with a cheque for
L1000 as a consolation gift.

In a later chapter some account will be given of the tremendous
development of the aeroplane during four years of war. But it is
fitting that to the three historic flights detailed above there
should be added the sensational exploits of the Marchese Giulio
Laureati in 1917. This intrepid Italian airman made a non-stop
journey from Turin to Naples and back, a distance of 920 miles.
A month later he flew from Turin to Hounslow, a distance of 656
miles, in 7 hours 22 minutes. His machine was presented to the
British Air Board by the Italian Government.

CHAPTER XXXIV
The Hydroplane and Air-boat

One of the most recent developments in aviation is the
hydroplane, or water-plane as it is most commonly called. A
hydroplane is an aeroplane fitted with floats instead of wheels,
so that it will rise from, or alight upon, the surface of the
water. Often water-planes have their floats removed and wheels
affixed to the chassis, so that they may be used over land.

From this you may think that the construction of a water-plane is
quite a simple task; but such is not the case. The fitting of
floats to an aeroplane has called for great skill on the part of
the constructor, and many difficulties have had to be overcome.

Those of you who have seen an acroplane rise from the ground know
that the machine runs very quickly over the earth at a rapidly-
increasing speed, until sufficient momentum is obtained for the
machine to lift itself into the air. In the case of the
water-plane the pilot has to glide or "taxi" by means of a float
or floats over the waves until the machine acquires flying speed.

Now the land resistance to the rubber-tired wheels is very small
when compared with the water resistance to the floats, and the
faster the craft goes the greater is the resistance. The great
problem which the constructor has had to solve is to build a
machine fitted with floats which will leave the water easily,
which will preserve the lateral balance of the machine, and which
will offer the minimum resistance in the air.

A short flat-bottomed float, such as that known as the Fabre, is
good at getting off from smooth water, but is frequently damaged
when the sea is rough. A long and narrow float is preferable for
rough water, as it is able to cut through the waves; but
comparatively little "lift" is obtained from it.

Some designers have provided their water-planes with two floats;
others advocate a single loat. The former makes the machine more
stable when at rest on the water, but a great rawback is that the
two-float machine is affected by waves more than a machine
fitted with a single float; for one float may be on the crest of
a wave and the other in the dip. This is not the case with the
single-float water-plane, but on the other hand this type is less
stable than the other when at rest.

Sometimes the floats become waterlogged, and so add considerably
to the weight of the machine. Thus in Mr. Hawker's flight round
Britain, the pilot and his passenger had to pump about ten
gallons of water out of one of the floats before the machine
could rise properly. Floats are usually made with watertight
compartments, and are composed of several thin layers of wood,
riveted to a wooden framework.

There is another technical question to be considered in the
fixing of the floats, namely, the fore-and-aft balance of the
machine in the air. The propeller of a water-plane has to be
set higher than that of a land aeroplane, so that it may not come
into contact with the waves. This tends to tip the craft
forwards, and thus make the nose of the float dig in the
water. To overcome this the float is set well forward of the
centre of gravity, and though this counteracts the thrust when
the craft "taxies" along the waves, it endangers its fore-and-aft
stability when aloft.

CHAPTER XXXV
A Famous British Inventor of the Water-plane

Though Harry Hawker made such a brilliant and gallant attempt to
win the L5000 prize, we must not forget that great credit is due
to Mr. Sopwith, who designed the water-plane, and to Mr. Green,
the inventor of the engine which made such a flight possible, and
enabled the pilot to achieve a feat never before approached in
any part of the world.

The life-story of Mr. "Tommy" Sopwith is almost a romance. As a
lad he was intensely interested in mechanics, and we can imagine
him constructing all manner of models, and enquiring the why and
the wherefore of every mechanical toy with which he came into
contact.

At the early age of twenty-one he commenced a motor business, but
about this time engineers and mechanics all over the country were
becoming greatly interested in the practical possibilities of
aviation. Mr. Sopwith decided to learn to fly, and in 1910,
after continued practice in a Howard Wright biplane, he had
become a proficient pilot. So rapid was his progress that by the
end of the year he had won the magnificent prize of L4000
generously offered by Baron de Forest for the longest flight made
by an all-British machine from England to the Continent. In this
flight he covered 177 miles, from Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, to
the Belgian frontier, in three and a half hours.

If Mr. Sopwith had been in any doubt as to the wisdom of changing
his business this remarkable achievement alone must have assured
him that his future career lay in aviation. In 1911 he was
graciously received by King George V at Windsor Castle, after
having flown from Brooklands and alighted on the East Terrace of
the famous castle.

In the same year he visited America, and astonished even that
go-ahead country with some skilful flying feats. To show the
practical possibilities of the aeroplane he overtook the liner
Olympic, after she had left New York harbour on her homeward
voyage, and dropped aboard a parcel addressed to a passenger. On
his return to England he competed in the first Aerial Derby, the
course being a circuit of London, representing a distance of 81
miles. In this race he made a magnificent flight in a
70-horse-power Bleriot monoplane, and came in some fifteen
minutes before Mr. Hamel, the second pilot home. So popular was
his victory that Mr. Grahame-White and several other officials of
the London Aerodrome carried him shoulder high from his machine.

From this time we hear little of Mr. Sopwith as a pilot, for,
like other famous airmen, such as Louis Bleriot, Henri Farman,
and Claude Grahame-White, who jumped into fame by success in
competition flying, he has retired with his laurels, and now
devotes his efforts to the construction of machines. He bids
fair to be equally successful as a constructor of air-craft as he
formerly was as a pilot of flying machines. The Sopwith machines
are noted for their careful design and excellent workmanship.
They are made by the Sopwith Aviation Company, Ltd., whose works
are at Kingston-on-Thames. Several water-planes have been built
there for the Admiralty, and land machines for the War Office.
Late in 1913 Mr. Hawker left Britain for Australia to give
demonstrations in the Sopwith machine to the Government of his
native country.

A fine list of records has for long stood to the credit of the
Sopwith biplane. Among these are:

British Height Record (Pilot only) ... ... 11,450 feet
" " " (Pilot and 1 Passenger) 12,900 "
" " " (Pilot and 2 Passengers) 10,600 "
World's " " (Pilot and 3 Passengers) 8,400 "

Many of the Sopwith machines used in the European War were built
specially to withstand rough climate and heavy winds, and thus
they were able to work in almost every kind of weather. It was
this fact, coupled with the indomitable spirit of adventure
inherent in men of British race, that made British airmen more
than hold their own with both friend and foe in the war.

CHAPTER XXXVI
Sea-planes for Warfare

"Even in the region of the air, into which with characteristic
British prudence we have moved with some tardiness, the Navy need
not fear comparison with the Navy of any other country. The
British sea-plane, although still in an empirical stage, like
everything else in this sphere of warlike operations, has reached
a point of progress in advance of anything attained elsewhere.

"Our hearts should go out to-night to those brilliant officers,
Commander Samson and his band of brilliant pioneers, to whose
endeavours, to whose enterprise, to whose devotion it is due that
in an incredibly short space of time our naval aeroplane service
has been raised to that primacy from which it must never be cast
down.

"It is not only in naval hydroplanes that we must have
superiority. The enduring safety of this country will not be
maintained by force of arms unless over the whole sphere of
aerial development we are able to make ourselves the first
nation. That will be a task of long duration. Many difficulties
have to be overcome. Other countries have started sooner. The
native genius of France, the indomitable perseverance of Germany,
have produced results which we at the present time cannot equal."

So said Mr. Winston Churchill at the Lord Mayor's Banquet held in
London in 1913, and I have quoted his speech because such a
statement, made at such a time, clearly shows the attitude of the
British Government toward this new arm of Imperial Defence.

In bygone days the ocean was the great highway which united the
various quarters of the Empire, and, what was even more important
from the standpoint of our country's defence, it was a formidable
barrier between Britain and her Continental neighbours,

"Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house."

But the ocean is no longer the only highway, for the age of
aerial navigation has arrived, and, as one writer says: "Every
argument which impelled us of old to fight for the dominion of
the sea has apparently been found valid in relation to the
supremacy of the air."

From some points of view this race between nations for naval and
aerial supremacy may be unfortunate, but so long as the fighting
instinct of man continues in the human race, so long as rivalry
exists between nations, so long must we continue to strengthen
our aerial position.

Britain is slow to start on any great venture where great change
is effected. Our practice is rather to wait and see what other
nations are doing; and there is something to be said for this
method of procedure.

In the art of aviation, and in the construction of air-craft, our
French, German, and American rivals were very efficient
pacemakers in the aerial race for supremacy, and during the years
1909-12 we were in grave peril of being left hopelessly behind.
But in 1913 we realized the vital importance to the State of
capturing the first place in aviation, particularly that of
aerial supremacy at sea, for the Navy is our first line of
defence. So rapid has been our progress that we are quite the
equal of our French and German rivals in the production of
aeroplanes, and in sea-planes we are far ahead of them, both in
design and construction, and the war has proved that we are ahead
in the art of flight.

The Naval Air Service before the war had been establishing a
chain of air stations round the coast. These stations are at
Calshot, on Southampton Water, the Isle of Grain, off Sheerness,
Leven, on the Firth of Forth, Cromarty, Yarmouth, Blythe, and
Cleethorpes.

But what is even more important is the fact that the Government
is encouraging sea-plane constructors to go ahead as fast as they
can in the production of efficient machines. Messrs. Short
Brothers, the Sopwith Aviation Company, and Messrs. Roe are
building high-class machines for sea work which can beat anything
turned out abroad. Our newest naval water-planes are fitted with
British-built wireless apparatus of great range of action, and
Messrs. Short Brothers are at the present time constructing for
the Admiralty, at their works in the Isle of Sheppey, a fleet of
fighting water-planes capable of engaging and destroying the
biggest dirigible air-ships.

In 1913 aeroplanes took a very prominent part in our naval
manoeuvres, and the cry of the battleship captains was: "Give us
water-planes. Give us them of great size and power, large enough
to carry a gun and gun crew, and capable of taking twelve-hour
cruises at a speed much greater than that of the fastest
dirigible air-ship, and we shall be on the highroad to aerial
supremacy at sea."

The Admiralty, acting on this advice, at once began to co-operate
with the leading firms of aeroplane constructors, and at a great
rate machines of all sizes and designs have been turned out.
There were light single-seater water-planes able to maintain a
speed of over a mile a minute; there were also larger machines
for long-distance flying which could carry two passengers. The
machines were so designed that their wings could be folded back
along their bodies, and their wires, struts, and so on packed
into the main parts of the craft, so that they were almost as
compact as the body of a bird at rest on its perch, and they
took up comparatively little space on board ship.

A brilliantly executed raid was carried out on Cuxhaven, an
important German naval base, by seven British water-planes, on
Christmas Day, 1914. The water-planes were escorted across the
North Sea by a light cruiser and destroyer force, together with
submarines. They left the war-ships in the vicinity of
Heligoland and flew over Cuxhaven, discharging bombs on points of
military significance, and apparently doing considerable damage
to the docks and shipping. The British ships remained off the
coast for three hours in order to pick up the returning airmen,
and during this time they were attacked by dirigibles and
submarines, without, however, suffering damage. Six of the
sea-planes returned safely to the ships, but one was wrecked in
Heligoland Bight.

But the present efficient sea-plane is a development of the war.
In the early days many of the raids of the "naval wing" were
carried out in land-going aeroplanes. Now the R.N.A.S., which
came into being as a separate service in July, 1914, possess two
main types of flying machine, the flying boat and the twin float,
both types being able to rise from and alight upon the sea, just
as an aeroplane can leave and return to the land. Many brilliant
raids stand to the credit of the R.N.A.S. The docks at Antwerp,
submarine bases at Ostend, and all Germany's fortified posts on
the Belgian coast, have seldom been free from their attentions.
And when, under the stress of public outcry, the Government at
last gave its consent to a measure of "reprisals" it was the
R.N.A.S. which opened the campaign with a raid upon the German
town of Mannheim.

As the war continued the duties of the naval pilot increased. He
played a great part in the ceaseless hunt for submarines. You
must often have noticed how easily fish can be seen from a bridge
which are quite invisible from the banks of the river. On this
principle the submarine can be "spotted" by air-craft, and not
until the long silence upon naval affairs is broken, at the end
of the war, shall we know to what extent we are indebted to naval
airmen for that long list of submarines which, in the words of
the German reports, "failed to return" to their bases.

In addition to the "Blimps" of which mention has been made, the
Royal Naval Air Service are in charge of air-ships known as the
Coast Patrol type, which work farther out to sea, locating
minefields and acting as scouts for the great fleet of patrol
vessels. The Service has gathered laurels in all parts of the
globe, its achievements ranging from an aerial food service into
beleaguered Kut to the discovery of the German cruiser
Konigsberg, cunningly camouflaged up an African creek.

CHAPTER XXXVII
The First Man to Fly in Britain

The honour of being the first man to fly in this country is
claimed by Mr. A. V. Roe, head of the well-known firm A. V. Roe &
Co., of Manchester, and constructor of the highly-efficient Avro
machines.

As a youth Roe's great hobby was the construction of toy models
of various forms of machinery, and later on he achieved
considerable success in the production of aeroplane models. All
manner of novelties were the outcome of his fertile brain, and as
it has been truly remarked, "his novelties have the peculiarity,
not granted to most pioneers, of being in one respect or another
ahead of his contemporaries." In addition, he studied the
flight of birds.

In the early days of aviation Mr. Roe was a firm believer in the
triplane form of machine, and his first experiments in flight
were made with a triplane equipped with an engine which developed
only 9 horse-power.

Later on, he turned his attention to the biplane, and with this
craft he has been highly successful. The Avro biplane, produced
in 1913, was one of the very best machines which appeared in that
eventful year. The Daily Telegraph, when relating its
performances, said: "The spectators at Hendon were given a
remarkable demonstration of the wonderful qualities of this fine
Avro biplane, whose splendid performances stamped it as one of
the finest aeroplanes ever designed, if not indeed the finest of
all".

This craft is fitted with an 80-horse-power Gnome engine, and is
probably the fastest passenger-carrying biplane of its type in
the world. Its total weight, with engine, fuel for three
hours, and a passenger, is 1550 pounds, and it has a main-plane
surface of 342 square feet.

Not only can the biplane maintain such great speed, but, what is
of great importance for observation purposes, it can fly at the
slow rate of 30 miles per hour. We have previously remarked that
a machine is kept up in the air by the speed it attains; if its
normal flying speed be much reduced the machine drops to earth
unless the rate of flying is accelerated by diving, or other
means.

What Harry Hawker is to Mr. Sopwith so is F. P. Raynham to Mr.
Roe. This skilful pilot learned to fly at Brooklands, and during
the last year or two he has been continuously engaged in testing
Avro machines, and passing them through the Army reception
trials. In the "Aerial Derby" of 1913 Mr. Raynham piloted an
80-horse-power Avro biplane, and came in fourth.

CHAPTER XXXVIII
The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service

The year 1912 was marked by the institution of the Royal Flying
Corps. The new corps, which was so soon to make its mark in
the greatest of all wars, consisted of naval and military
"wings". In those early days the head-quarters of the corps were
at Eastchurch, and there both naval and military officers were
trained in aviation. In an arm of such rapid--almost
miraculous--development as Service flying to go back a period of
six years is almost to take a plunge into ancient history.
Designs, engines, guns, fittings, signals of those days are now
almost archaic. The British engine of reliable make had not yet
been evolved, and the aeroplane generally was a conglomerate
affair made up of parts assembled from various parts of the
Continent. The present-day sea-plane was yet to come, and naval
pilots shared the land-going aeroplanes of their military
brethren. In the days when Bleriot provided a world sensation by
flying across the Channel the new science was kept alive mainly
by the private enterprise of newspapers and aeroplane
manufacturers. The official attitude, as is so often the case in
the history of inventions, was as frigid as could be. The
Government looked on with a cold and critical eye, and could not
be touched either in heart or in pocket.

But with the institution of the Royal Flying Corps the official
heart began to warm slightly, and certain tests were laid down
for those manufacturers who aspired to sell their machines to the
new arm of the Service. These tests, providing for fuel
capacity up to 4.0 miles, speeds up to 85 miles an hour, and
heights up to 3500 feet, would now be regarded as very elementary
affairs. "Looping the loop" was still a dangerous trick for the
exhibiting airman and not an evolution; while the "nose-dive" was
an uncalculated entry into the next world.

The first important stage in the history of the new arm was
reached in July, 1914, when the wing system was abolished, and
the Royal Naval Air Service became a separate unit of the
Imperial Forces. The first public appearance of the sailor
airmen was at a proposed review of the fleet by the King at a
test mobilization. The King was unable to attend, but the naval
pilots carried out their part of the programme very creditably
considering the polyglot nature of their sea-planes. A few weeks
later and the country was at war.

There can be no doubt that the Great War has had an enormous
forcing influence upon the science of aviation. In times of
peace the old game of private enterprise and official neglect
would possibly have been carried on in well-marked stages. But
with the terrific incentive of victory before them, all
Governments fostered the growth of the new arm by all the means
in their power. It became a race between Allied and enemy
countries as to who first should attain the mastery of the air.
The British nation, as usual, started well behind in the race,
and their handicap would have been increased to a dangerous
extent had Germany not been obsessed by the possibilities of
the air-ship as opposed to the aeroplane. Fortunately for us the
Zeppelin, as has been described in an earlier chapter, failed to
bring about the destruction anticipated by its inventor, and so
we gained breathing space for catching up the enemy in the
building and equipment of aeroplanes and the training of pilots
and observers.

War has set up its usual screens, and the writer is only
permitted a very vague and impressionistic picture of the work of
the R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. Numerical details and localities must be
rigorously suppressed. Descriptions of the work of the Flying
Service must be almost as bald as those laconic reports sent in
by naval and military airmen to head-quarters. But there is such
an accomplishment as reading between the lines.

The flying men fall naturally into two classes--pilots and
observers. The latter, of course, act as aerial gunners. The
pilots have to pass through three, and observers two, successive
courses of training in aviation. Instruction is very detailed
and thorough as befits a career which, in addition to embracing
the endless problems of flight, demands knowledge of wireless
telegraphy, photography, and machine gunnery.

Many of the officers are drafted into the Royal Flying Corps from
other branches of the Service, but there are also large numbers
of civilians who take up the career. In their case they are
first trained as cadets, and, after qualifying for commissions,
start their training in aviation at one of the many schools
which have now sprung up in all parts of the country.

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