1913 airmanexperience00mellrich

8/6/2019 1913 airmanexperience00mellrich

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THE AIRMAN


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THE AIRMANEXPERIENCES WHILE OBTAININGA BREVET IN FRANCE BYCfAPTAIN C. MELLOR, R.E.WITH AN INTRODUCTIONBY MAURICE FARMANAND EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON : JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEADNEW YORK : JOHN LANE COMPANYTORONTO ; BELL & COCKBURN. MCMXIII


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NOTETHE original title of this book was"THE AIR PILOT." It was, how-ever, found that this title had alreadybeen taken in America. It was there-fore changed at the last moment to"THE AIRMAN."

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BBCCLES


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INTRODUCTIONBY MAURICE FARMAN.

PARIS, le 23 mars, 1913.CHER MONSIEUR MELLOR,

Je viens de lire votre ouvrage sur1'art de devenir aviateur et je ne sauraisvous dire combien il m'a interesse.Les lecteurs y trouveront relate d'unefa^on claire et precise ce qu'il faut fairepour commencer a savoir voler, et aussi,ce qui peut etre plus important encore,"tout ce qu'il ne faut pas faire."

Us y trouveront aussi decrits d'une fagontout a fait pittoresque les amusants a cotesde la vie de 1'eleve aviateur qui sontreserves aux amateurs de ce nouveau sport.

Je suis sur que par sa lecture un grandnombre de jeunes gens seront convaincuset voudront gouter de cette merveilleuselocomotion a travers les airs, et par lavous aurez rendu un tres reel service a1'aviation.

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CONTENTSCHAPTER

I. THE WOULD-BE PILOT iII. ARRIVAL AT THE SCHOOL ... 6

III. A FIRST FLIGHT ..... uIV. I AM ALLOWED TO TOUCH . . ' . 1 5V. BLANK DAYS ...... 20

VI. I TAKE CHARGE ..... 27VII. A VISIT TO THE SALON .... 33VIII. HOW NOT TO DO IT..... 41

IX. FIRST FLIGHT IN A MONOPLANE . . 47X. I FLY BY MYSELF ..... 52XI. I AM PUT BACK ..... 59

XII. I AM PROMOTED AGAIN .... 65XIII. I FLY TEN TIMES OVER.... 72XIV. READY FOR THE BREVET ... 79XV. FINAL PRACTICES FOR THE BREVET . 88XVI. THE BREVET ...... 93XVII. SUBSEQUENT PRACTICE . . . .102XVIII. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES . . . . no

APPENDIX ...... n?


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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSPILOT AND PUPIL READY TO START . Frontispiece

PAGEHOTEL DU GRAND COURRIER, ETAMPES Facing 6PUPIL SEATED BEHIND PILOT, AND HOLDINGTHE SECONDARY PAIR OF HANDLES Facing- 17A LEFT-HANDED TURN WITH PLENTY OF BANK

Facing 29THE DOUBLE-HANDLED CONTROL BAR USED ON

A SCHOOL MACHINE . . . Facing 52A RIGHT-HANDED TURN WITH A FAIR AMOUNTOF BANK Facing 77

THE TAIL SHOULD BE WELL UP, AND FLYINGSPEED ATTAINED BEFORE THE MACHINE isPERMITTED TO LEAVE THE GROUND Facing 93

A VOL PLANE AT A SAFE ANGLE OF DESCENTFacing 108


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THE AIRMAN


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THE AIR PILOTCHAPTER I

THE WOULD-BE PILOT\{iS

1WANTto fly. The question is how

and where. I have just returned fromabroad with a limited amount of leaveof absence, and I want to do the trick

as quickly as possible. If I am unable withinthree months to report to the War Office thatI have obtained my certificate, I shall haveto rejoin my station abroad. I also want todo it as cheaply as possible, for I have hadto pay my passage home, and shall also haveto pay for that of my successor out. Theadvertisements of the various aerodromes inthe aeronautical journals seem to offer allthat one can reasonably demand. The generalquotation seems to be for 75, which includes

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bf* THE AIR PILOTrisks to machine and third party. I inquirethe cost of insuring myself against accidentand death, and receive a quotation of 15per cent. This is not good enough, so Idecide to risk it.

I had written while abroad to some ofthe best-known schools for particulars, andI found the answers awaiting me at home.Some of these were business-like, withprinted forms of agreement, others of thechatty description. On inquiry at the WarOffice I was told that no advice was givenas to what school I should go, or on whatmachine I should learn, except that thebiplane at present was preferred to themonoplane. I had simply to get my certifi-cate in any way I liked, and the War Officewould refund me 75.

I happened to have a friend who had beenflying now for a couple of years, and hada pretty thorough acquaintance with theflying business both in England and France.He advised me to go straight to the lattercountry, telling me I should save time, getbetter experience, and that the prestige of the


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THE WOULD-BE PILOT 3French certificate was higher than the Englishone. I decided to act on this advice, andhave no cause to regret that I did so.At the same time, I cannot say I shouldnot have done as well had I stayed inEngland, nor would my present very limitedexperience justify a critical comparison on mypart between the schools generally of thetwo countries.

Within a week of arriving home I left forParis. I went to what was described to meas a comfortable little hotel, and which 1hoped would be inexpensive. I foundmyself in a palace, the very atmosphere ofwhich smelt expensive, and proved to beso. Next morning I braced myself for astruggle with the Paris telephone system,and after a series of desperate bouts I gotthrough to the Maison Farman at Billan-court, and arranged for an interview withone of the brothers Farman in the afternoon.A long ride in the still- existing, absurdlyantiquated-looking steam tram took me fromthe Place de la Concorde to Billancourt, andI took a seat outside the Farman Office


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4 THE AIR PILOTabout 3 p.m. Some time after 4 Mr. DickFarman arrived, and I arranged in a fewminutes for taking my brevet for 75. Evenin that short time we were interrupted bythe arrival of several visitors on pressingbusiness. One of them was the Ministerfor one of the Balkan States, and desired toexpedite an order for aeroplanes for the seatof war. I was then kindly taken round thevery fine new workshops by Mr. Farman,who explained some of the interesting pro-cesses in the construction of the Henry andMaurice Farman biplanes. It was interest-ing to see how these two brothers continuedto develop their particular creations on theirown lines in the same shops. The shopswere humming with activity, and gave onethe impression of immense human bee-hives.About one aeroplane a day was being turnedout, which was insufficient to keep pace withthe demands. I tried to find out which ofthe two types of machine was in greaterdemand, and gathered it was about the samefor both. I had to choose which type ofmachine I would learn on, and the difference


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THE WOULD-BE PILOT 5between the two is considerable. Duringthe last French manoeuvres escadrilles of bothkinds had been employed. I knew thatmachines of both types had been supplied tothe home Government, but I believed thatthe majority were Maurice Farmans, and Iknew also that a company had been startedin England for the building of the Mauricemachines. 1 decided to learn on theMaurice, which has the attractive reputa-tion of being the easiest and safest for thebeginner. Mr. Farman told me there wasa school at Buc and another at Etampes,to either of which I could go, and that therewas little to choose between them. For theschool at Buc one would live at Versailleswhich was handy for Paris, while Etampeswas an hour away by rail. It struck me atonce that the proximity of the Boulevardsto Buc might prove a fatal attraction, soI elected for Etampes, which was said to bea better ground if anything. There was,moreover, an English officer at the latterschool.


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CHAPTER IIARRIVAL AT THE SCHOOL

istday.

I arrived next day at Iitampes atthe Hotel du Grand Courrier, where Lieut.X, the English officer referred to above,was staying, and obtained an excellentroom at 4 francs a day. The charges formeals were petit dejeuner, 75 c. ; dejeuner,3 fr. ; diner, 3 fr. 50 c. The cuisine wasalways excellent.

After dejeuner the school car started forthe flying ground, which is about fourmiles out of the town. The camion would

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ARRIVAL AT THE SCHOOL 7take about a dozen passengers, and on thisoccasion there were about half that number.Two French officers in uniform were of theparty. They had obtained the ordinarycertificate, or brevet civil, some time before,and were now

trainingfor the "brevet

militaire" which is a very superior affair.Lieut. X was ready to take his certificateat the first suitable opportunity. He couldhave done so before, but was advised tohold on for a time in order to obtain furtherpractice in the volplane and flying generally.At this school, he told me, one is not hurried,nor pressed to attempt the necessary flightsfor one's certificate before one feels confident.The school consists of a dozen large

hangars, containing Henry and MauriceFarman biplanes. The ground is borderedon one side by the main route to Orleans,on the other by a narrow belt of trees aboutfive hundred yards long and five hundredyards away. For the rest, the surroundingcountry is open and undulating, grass andstubble alternating with ploughed land, savefor the relief of a number of small woods


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8 THE AIR PILOTsparsely scattered. The square half mile orso of flying ground proper consists of goodturf, but one can fly over the adjoiningcountry, which is destitute of hedges orfences of any description. The narrow beltof trees mentioned above is used as the longaxis of the oval followed in making a circuit,which is always carried out left-handed.The reason for always going left-handed isno doubt because some machines with rotaryengines turn to the left more easily than tothe right. It is an offence to make a right-handed circuit, unless there is no possibilityof any other machine being about withwhich one might collide.There was a certain amount of wind, andthe Manager and Chief Pilot (in this casethe only pilot-instructor) proceeded to takeout a Maurice and Henry machine respec-tively, and try the air. Remous, or eddieswere reported, unsuited to the training ofthe young idea, so there was nothing to bedone but watch the flights of the "oldbirds." One could not but be struck bythe confident ease with which the old birds


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ARRIVAL AT THE SCHOOL 9take to flight. A comprehensive coup cTceiland they climb into their seats and givethe word to start up. A mechanic depressesthe needle of the carburettor, places thetwo-bladed walnut wood propeller in ahorizontal position, gives it one swing downand darts back and then out to the sideclear of the tail. Two other blue-cladmechanics meanwhile hold the machinewhile the pilot listens intently to the tell-tale hum of the engine and tries the enginecontrol. The pilot raises his hand and themechanics stand clear. The machine movesoff, slowly at first, and then with rapidlyincreasing speed, rolling easily on its pneu-matic-tyred wheels over the smooth ground.The tail rises clear of the ground withthe blast from the propeller, the machinegradually, gets more and more on tip-toe,and leaves the earth with a very gradualrise. A few circuits are made, each buffetof wind seems to be counteracted, and anytendency to tip to one side nipped in thebud. The landings are so beautifully madethat it is hard to see when contact is really


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io THE AIR PILOTmade. The pilots are indeed admirable, butI returned with the reflection that in theirmore humble way, the mechanics uponwhom the engines depend may be equallyworthy of admiration.


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CHAPTER IIIA FIRST FLIGHT

2nd day. This was a Sunday, on which daythe school was generally closed ; owing,however, to the fact that Lieut. X wishedto fly of? his trials, the school was openedin the afternoon, and a " commissaire" anofficial of the Areo Club de France, was inattendance to witness the trials. Mauriceand Henry Farman machines were taken outfor trial spins by the manager and thepilot, who reported the presence of remousin some numbers. The decision was againstLieut. X flying for his certificate that day,but otherwise the normal work of the schoolwas to proceed. The French officers andnon-commissioned officers in waiting for thebrevet militaire took out their Henry Far-mans, and I was told to take my seat behindthe pilot in the Maurice. I turned my cap

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12 THE AIR PILOTround so that the peak was over the nape ofmy neck, and climbed up into my place.The Maurice is provided with a doublecontrol, which permits the pupil to grasp apair of handles on the control bar by puttinghis arms under those of the pilot frombehind. There is also a second pair offootrests working the rudders. I am notpermitted on this occasion, however, to touchthe controls. I am merely to watch thepilot and see what it feels like. Well, offwe go straight into the wind. We runmore and more smoothly, and I am un-certain as to when we leave the ground.We skim along near the ground, rising verygently. Suddenly we shoot up a steep hillin the air. I wonder if it is all right weseem to be climbing so rapidly. Then weflatten out and go horizontally for a hundredyards or so ; then another shoot up, andanother later on, which makes one's heartjump into one's mouth at first. The rushand press of air are terrific. My chestseems to be getting stoved in and my ribsfeel inclined to give way. I have difficulty


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A FIRST FLIGHT 13in exhaling. The smallest opening of thenasal valve seems to give too much air.My blood rapidly becomes super-oxygenated,and I experience a feeling of exhilaration.I should like to shout, or at least say, ha !ha ! but the pressure of the wind is toogreat for me to say anything, and I feelit best to keep my mouth shut. My leftpedal has sunk the pilot must have presseddown his. I look over his left shoulderand see that it is so. We ought to be goinground to the left. I look over the edge ofthe fuselage and see we are going roundrapidly. What a distance we have comein those few moments ! We seem to beabout a mile beyond the end of the woodwhich we are encircling. But as I look weare getting quite close to it. Coming alongwith the wind we do not travel nearly sosteadily. The control is working most ofthe time. We tip sometimes to one sideand sometimes to the other, with now andthen a sudden drop or rise, but none of themalarming. The drops give one a particularlypleasant sensation of the switch-back order,


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H THE AIR PILOTbut more delightful because they are sospringy. The pilot motions me to lookover the edge and look about generally overthe ground. He evidently wishes to see ifI can stand looking down at the groundwhich is rushing wildly past below us, andwhether I am at my ease. I nod and smileto him and manage to convey the desiredimpression, hiding my bursting chest in mybosom. To the quondam balloonist the con-ditions do not seem so strange. But now weare going down. We take a dive whichfelt steep at first, but then we flattened out.Now we are diving again, and it seems asif nothing could prevent the machine bury-ing her nose in the earth. An almost im-perceptible movement of the front stabilisatorcauses us to run parallel with the surface.Are we on the ground or are we not ? Icrane over the edge, but cannot quite see thewheels. Anyhow, we are slowing up rapidly,and the engine has been cut off. We arecertainly on the ground and standing stillall safe. I thank the pilot (in Dutch), andscramble down, rather breathless but happy.


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CHAPTER IVI AM ALLOWED TO TOUCH

%rd day. We started at 6.30 a.m. in theschool motor from the corner of the street,the rendez-vous for all who required to betaken up to the school. The drive of sevenkilometres was desperately cold at that earlyhour just after dawn. The pilots tried theair and decided that it was not for us. I feltrather disappointed, but found consolation inmy goloshes, which afforded one some comfortwhile standing about on the damp clayeyground. The Britishers, I found, invariablywore goloshes, while the Frenchmen seemedcontent to paddle about in thin pointed bootsof the consistency of paper. There wasnothing to do but hang about and gaze atthe sky, and then turn round and glare atthe flag flying stiffly on the roof of one of the

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16 THE AIR PILOThangars. The longer one looked at theanemometer on the roof of the office, thefaster it seemed to buzz round and round.Occasionally one went into a sort of waitingroom provided for the pupils, and warmedoneself at the stove. The attendance thismorning was not in full force a look out ofthe bedroom window at 6 o'clock had evi-dently been enough for some. Time wenton slowly till about ten or half-past, whenwe motored back.At the afternoon attendance things were

more hopeful, and flying started towardsevening. The pupils were taken out instrict rotation, according

to the order inwhich they joined the school. I got up inmy turn and sat behind the pilot as before.The pilot pointed to my cap, which I hadforgotten to turn round. The danger ofone's cap flying off is a very serious one. Itis almost certain to be struck by a propellerblade as it flies backward. A piece is brokenout of the propeller blade which then becomesunbalanced. After that the propeller eitherbreaks up altogether practically explodes


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I AM ALLOWED TO TOUCH 17or continues to whirl round, as long as theengine is running, in a lop-sided manner,bringing a frightful strain on the seating ofthe engine in the fuselage, eventually tearingthe engine out of its place, and causing acatastrophe.

I shamefacedly put my cap torights and pulled it well down.This time I was to hold the control bar by

the second pair of handles provided for thepupil, and plant my feet on the secondary pairof pedals. We were off in a few moments.I found that I did not feel the rush of airnearly so much, nor have I subsequently feltany distress from it at least, not in abiplane.As soon as we were fairly going, I ex-perienced a pleasing sense of security asthough borne on a cushion of air, as if all theair between me and the earth were in thenature of a spring mattress.We made a circuit, and landed without thesuspicion of a bump. Opening the throttlewhile still running along the ground, we soonleft the earth again for a second round. Wehad been flying low up to now, and desirous

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i8 THE AIR PILOTof not letting the pilot feel that I wished tohug the earth, I pulled the control ever soslightly back. I thought that the pilot wouldscarcely notice it, but I was wrong. Hewarned me afterwards that if I pulled thecontrol back we should go up, lose speed,and drop sideways or on our tail. I certainlyhad not meant to do all that at once, butI said nothing, and decided to put no pres-sure on the control in any way next time.My turn soon came round again, and Iwent for another couple of circuits, keepinga satisfactory contact on the controls.

Lieut. X tried a circuit and figure of eightto see if he would take the opportunity ofgoing for his brevet. He flew successfullyand landed nicely, but considered that therewas a trifle more wind than he cared aboutfor examination purposes, and decided towait. He had been declared fit to take hisbrevet a week before, but wished to profit bya little more practice before leaving theschool. He now wished to finish with it,but was not taking any unnecessary chances

wise man.


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I AM ALLOWED TO TOUCH 19We were finished for the day. The

normal dose, I gathered, was a couple oflessons morning and evening of two or threecircuits each.


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CHAPTER VBLANK DAYS

4/A, 5/, and 6th days. For the next threedays there was absolutely nothing to be done

literally nothing. This is excessively try-ing at first, especially when one is particularlyanxious to get on with the job ; but in learn-ing to fly one at the same time learns patience.If I ever asked a perfect loafer, engaged inthe pursuit of his trade, what he was doing,and he answered " learning to fly," I shouldconsider there was a good deal of truth in it.The trouble commenced with a south wind,bringing the rain. In the intervals when therain ceased the wind usually blew harder.Most of us went religiously up to the Schooltwice a day, and passed the painful hourskicking our heels in the waiting-room. Myefforts to make up a four at bridge met with

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BLANK DAYS 21a lamentable want of success. It was con-sidered quite an English game which theycould not be expected to know. I thankedmy stars I could speak French, which wasthe common medium of the polyglot groupassembled round the stove. This was thefirst time in my life I had really found ituseful. Even here it was not really neces-sary in order to learn to drive an aeroplaneunder the instruction of a French pilot.This may sound strange at first, but themovements of control are learnt by holdingthe secondary handles of the control bar,while during flight the greatest linguist inthe world would be inaudible in the roar ofthe engine. It was, of course, of assistanceto clearly understand any instructions givenby the pilot before the commencement ofa flight, and his criticisms or explanationsafterwards.The military element in the party con-sisted of two French officers, two non-com-missioned officers, two ex-non-commissionedofficers (who wished to re-enter the armyas officer-aviators), and two British officers.


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22 THE AIR PILOTThe civilian element consisted of a French-man, a Dutchman, a Swiss, and a German.The Swiss was afflicted with a stiff leg whichnecessitated his sitting up on a sack ofshavings to enable him to get his right footon the controlling pedal. Later on whenthis unfortunate individual tried to settlehimself in the front seat of the aeroplane, hefound he could not manage it at all. Nothingdaunted he went successively to the Blriotand the Deperdussin schools and tried towedge himself into their respective machines,but had finally to give it up as a bad job.It was astonishing at first to note the intimateterms on which French officers and N.C.O.sare with each other the same handshakingsand salutations, an equal place in the socialcircle and in the general conversation. Thepossibility for this must be looked for in a highgeneral level of education and good breedingthroughout the country, In the afternoonthe officers sometimes brought their ladies tojoin the party. The fund of small talkon these occasions seemed absolutely inex-haustible, though occasionally one nearly had


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BLANK DAYS 23a back somersault at the turn taken by theconversation, a turn which an Englishmanwould studiously avoid in the society ofladies. The only people flying the HenryFarmans were those in training for the brevetmllitaire^ while all the new pupils during thewhole time I was at the School came to learnon the Maurice Farman. The school wasoriginally a Henry Farman school, and hadonly recently become a combined one. Bythe time I left popular favour seemed tohave swung round to the Maurice machine.Several of the older fliers in the party con-sidered that the Henry was perhaps the mostdifficult machine of all to learn. It certainlywas a matter of several months' training be-tween the time that the Henry pilots tooktheir brevet civil, and the time of their carry-ing out the tests for their brevet militaire.There is, of course, a very considerabledifference in the value of the two brevets.Until one has obtained one's own brevet, itis difficult to realize how little the ordinaryone means, and how much remains tobe done before one is even a reasonably


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24 THE AIR PILOTsafe

pilotfor an ordinary cross-countryjourney.

It may be interesting to compare the testsfor the two brevets as at present laid down,for they have been changed in the past, andprobably will be changed from time to timein the future, always in the direction ofmaking them more exacting.The ordinary certificate is that laid downby the Federation Aeronautique Interna-tionale, and the Aero Clubs of differentcountries belonging to this association appointofficials to see that the tests are strictly carriedout. The tests consist of two flights of atleast 5 kilometres each, and an altitude flightof at least 50 metres. The course to betaken for each of the distance flights consistsof a series of " figures of eight " round twoposts not more than 500 metres apart.The exact shape of the figures of eight isa matter of taste or luck. Some of thefigures of eight I have seen taken roundthese posts partook more of the nature ofcross-country flights over the surroundingcountry, especially in a strong wind. The


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BLANK DAYS 25altitude flight can be combined with one ofthe distance flights, and this is usually doneto save time. Landings must be " normal "

not of the "pancake" order and after eachdistance flight the machine must be broughtto rest within 50 metres of a previously-indicated point, the engine being cut off notlater than the moment of first touching theground. The above tests have been carriedout by a few brilliant individuals after somethree days' instruction, but the average timemay be put down as six weeks for thosewho wish to get a reasonable amount ofpractice in addition to passing the baretests. It will be seen, therefore, that theordinary brevet amounts to little more than acertificate to the effect that the holder isin a position to commence his more serioustraining as a pilot.The brevet militaire is that of a fullyqualified pilot, and the following are thetests which usually require four or fivemonths' training in the French army. Across-country flight of about 150 kilo-meters without landing, and a return in like


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26 THE AIR PILOTmanner either on the same or a subsequentday. Secondly, a triangular cross-countryflight of at least 200 kilometres, with landingsunder supervision at each corner of thetriangle. Thirdly, an altitude test of notless than 800 metres for at least three-quarters of an hour. Fourthly, an oralexamination on aero-motors and internalcombustion engines generally ; constructionof air-craft ; theory of flight ; map-readingand meteorology.The special certificate of the Royal AeroClub of the United Kingdom is of a similarorder but less searching.

All the French military pilots have obtainedtheir brevet militaire. Only two Englishofficers at present hold a special certificate.It is devoutly to be hoped that Englishofficers will be given the opportunity ofattaining the high standard possessed bytheir French confreres.


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CHAPTER VII TAKE CHARGE

7/// day. There was a touch of north inthe westerly wind, and flying conditionswere favourable. I took my turn behindthe pilot, and as we followed our usualcircuit it seemed to me that I had personallymore effect on the control than before. Infact I seemed to have gradually and uncon-sciously taken charge. I looked over thepilot's shoulder and saw that as a matterof fact he had taken his hands off the control,and was holding them out in front of him.This was extremely gratifying, and I bracedmyself to do my best. I moved the controlin accordance with the movements indicatedby the pilot's hands, which he continuedto hold out in front of him. After roundingthe wood he took my left hand off the

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' ' Flight" Copyrigh t Ph iA LEFT-HANDED TURN WITH I'LENTY OF LANK


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I TAKE CHARGE 29a reasonable measure of precaution, as safetyhelmets have already saved several lives.On the word " contact " given by the pilotthe mechanic launched the Chauviere "/#-ttgrale" propeller, and the trusty Renaultengine started at the first swing. I pushedthe throttle lever down so as to retard theengine ; the propeller speed under these cir-cumstances is insufficient to move the aero-plane and the mechanic can get out of theway of the tail by passing under the tailbooms. I put up my hand as a sign to alland sundry to stand clear, and opened upfull. We left the earth after a run of about60 yards and moved along a few feet abovethe earth. I drew the control slightlytowards me, and we rose rapidly. I thenmoved horizontally again to ensure notlosing speed. One more step up like thisand we were at a height of about 80 feet,which was sufficient for the time being.We swung round left-handed and the machine" banked " up to the right. This was cor-rected by depressing the control to theright, which sends the right-hand ailerons


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30 THE AIR PILOTup and the left ones down, and brings themachine to an even keel. It was better, Iunderstood, to let the machine bank to someextent on the turns, as it thus turns morerapidly. Sometimes the machine fails tobank itself naturally when turning ; one canthen help it by giving it an artificial bankby depressing the control to whichever sideone is turning. The working of the controlfor lateral stability is a perfectly " natural "one, i.e. one cannot help doing the rightthing instinctively. It is just as if one hadthe two wings of the machine under one'stwo hands ; if the right wing comes up toomuch, one just pushes it firmly down againwith one's right hand, and similarly for theleft wing.The flight was uneventful, as the pilottook charge to effect the landing on the con-clusion at the first circuit, and again whenfinally landing after the second circuit. Ijudged therefore that the landing was a moredelicate affair than the other matters, and thisindeed I found to be the case later on, in factmore so than all the rest put together.


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1 TAKE CHARGE 31Lieut. X then took the machine, and

after a trial circuit went out for his brevet.He circled around the two posts alter-nately, making up the necessary numberof figures of eight (i.e. five in this case,the posts being 500 metres apart), andthen had to make his descent. Two menwith flags stood about 100 yards from thepoint near which he had to stop, and about100 yards apart. If the aeroplane was steeredmidway between the two men, and the enginecut off at the same time, the landing wouldprobably be successful. Lieut. X. seemedto me to hold on rather long both as regardscoming down and cutting off his engine.At last he was coming down, but did notseem to be following a line at right anglesto the one given by the guides. He pulledup safely, but alas ! outside the circledescribed with a length of 50 metres asradius and the given point as centre. Hismachine had cut the circle ; its direction,however, was not that of a diameter of thecircle, but a chord to it. A puff of windcatching the tail, when the machine was


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32 THE AIR PILOTslowing up on the ground, had made mattersworse than they would otherwise have been,by slewing the tail in an unfortunate direction.The attempt was therefore held to havefailed by the commitsaire, the official of theAero Club de France, who had come towitness the tests. This result was naturallydisappointing to Lieut. X, but instructiveto inexperienced onlookers.


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CHAPTER VIIA VISIT TO THE SALON

%th day. Every one at all interested inaviation, and who could possibly manageto do so, naturally went to the Salon tosee the " Fourth Annual Exhibition of AerialLocomotion." It was marvellous value fora franc. There one could see examples ofall the more or less famous types of aero-planes, aeromotors, and accessories. Onewas struck by the comparative absence ofeverything appertaining to balloons anddirigibles. The machines holding thevarious records could all be examined,and those with any successes to boast ofpresented a conspicuous list of them. Thearmy and navy had both entered with awill into this exhibition, and among otherexhibits the army showed the complete

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34 THE AIR PILOTtransport and accessories of a militaryescadrille. The escadrille is the Frenchaviation unit, and its personnel and materialare designed with the object of keepingsix aeroplanes permanently in the field.The transport besides carrying the personnelis designed to carry a generous proportionof spare parts, the field hangars, completeaeroplanes dismounted, and workshops. Allvehicles are motor driven except the twowheeled prolongs for carrying aeroplanes,which are attached as trailers by a limberattachment to motor vehicles. The completetransport, set forth in military array as foran inspection, consisted of three motor carsand two motor bicycles (for intercommuni-cation purposes), six heavy cars each drawinga two-wheeled pro/onge, and two travellingworkshops. One of the latter was shownat work with drills, lathe, etc., worked bymotors obtaining their power from a dynamoworked by the engine driving the vehicle.An enormous amount of money and labourmust have been expended in the productionof this excellent organisation, which stood


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A VISIT TO THE SALON 35the test of the last manoeuvres so well.Four escadrilles were employed on each sidein the manoeuvres with some spare aero-planes in reserve ; in all about sixtymachines were in the field. Reconnaissanceswere carried out daily at the hours scheduledon a programme, regardless of weather,and both generals were kept accuratelyinformed of the movements of the enemy'stroops. No serious accident was sustained byany of the pilots, although several machineswere damaged more or less seriously. Theactive aeroplanes all assembled at the placesof concentration, prior to the commencementof the manoeuvres, coming from their variouscentres by way of the air, and afterwardsreturned home in a similar manner. Thisis indeed a wonderful record, and one mightimagine that the French would be satisfiedfor the time being with their presentorganisation and rate of progress. Thisis by no means the case. Throughout thecountry a great campaign is being carriedon

byindividuals and societies for increasing

the rate of progress in aviation, improving


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36 THE AIR PILOTthe material and organisation, increasing thetrained personnel by passing young menthrough the aviation schools prior to theirdoing their military service, and providinglanding-places with hangars all over thecountry, particularly in the neighbourhoodof Paris and of the eastern frontier.The balconies of the Grand Palais pre-

sented the wonderful spectacle of a numberof aeroplanes bought by various provinces,societies, commercial houses, theatres, etc.,and by private individuals, and presentedby them to the Government as a voluntarycontribution in token of their sense of theimportance of French aerial supremacy.This grand national effort could only bemade by a nation, the whole manhood ofwhich had passed through the ranks, andwhich had the enlightenment to understandthe importance of this new development inwarfare, to take a personal interest in it, andtax itself not only publicly but privatelyto attain its ends. It makes one's heartsink to think what a comparatively feebleinterest is taken in aviation in England,


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A VISIT TO THE SALON 37and how much the public has to learn as tothe necessity for the development of militaryand naval aviation.The only British exhibits I found were

the Bristol aeroplanes and a British Breguet.The former were specially well commentedon in the French papers. The Frenchtechnical journals gave one very little idea,however, as to the comparative merits ofvarious aeroplanes and engines ; as eachmachine was described, a note was added tothe effect that it was in the first rank ofsuch machines, if not actually superior toall others.The Maison Roold gave a useful exhibi-tion of the clothing and equipment designed

for the comfort and safety of aviators. TheRoold helmet is worn a great deal in France,being compulsory for military aviators. Iinvested in one, which I found quite com-fortable, but I have not otherwise tested itsmerits. Monsieur Roold showed me a letterfrom a French officer whose life had beensaved by his helmet ; he had been hit onthe head by a cylinder, which had flown or?


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38 THE AIR PILOTa rotary engine. A length of silk wovenmaterial, known as a passemontagne, andlooking suspiciously like the top of a lady'sstocking, is recommended for wear underthe helmet. It is pulled over the headbalaklava-capwise, and is certainly very warmfor its small size and weight. Among theexhibits were a variety of vestments made ofa kind of Japanese paper, or papier Kami,which is waterproof, warm, untearable, andvery light. I have tried a coat and foundit very good, also a pair of gloves whichare worn inside the usual fur-lined ones.Paper socks to put over one's ordinary socksare also sold, but any piece of paper tissuepaper is the best does for this. The ques-tion of keeping warm in the air is a veryimportant and rather difficult one, especiallyas regards one's hands. It is very dangerousif one's hands become so cold that they havenot a proper feel on the control, and accidentshave occurred from this. Most Frenchpilots wear a neat black-leather suit, linedwith camel's hair fleece, consisting of coatand trousers, worn over their ordinary kit.


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A VISIT TO THE SALON 39This is a very practical kit, and does notshow the dirt. It can be got for eighty francsin France, but is much more expensive inEngland. It is a very good tip, if one thinksone will be cold, to put a newspaper underone's waistcoat. One of the models dressedup on the stand looked like a travesty of aman in armour, with his helmet, breast plate,thigh guards, and shin guards. The man-nequin was sitting on an aeroplane seat,which also defended him from shocks fromthat quarter, being constructed on the sameprinciples as the helmet, etc.The machine with the most fighting aspectwas a Henry Farman hydroplane, with aHotchkiss mounted in the bow of thefuselage. The machine was floating in aminiature pond in which some innocent gold-fish were swimming.

All aeroplane constructors are aiming atbuilding machines to meet the wants of thearmies and navies of the world, as these atpresent are the only important customers.A time will come when aeroplanes will beconstructed for a variety of civilian uses,


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40 THE AIR PILOTbut at present ninety-nine per cent, of theoutput is destined directly or indirectly formilitary uses. It is the absolute necessityfor the aeroplane in war, which is tidingthe industry over this present semi-experi-mental stage which must precede the fulldevelopment. The way in which Govern-ment orders are placed may make or marthe industry. In France the difficulty hasfor the time being been solved by forminghomogeneous escadrilles of the various typesof proved merit.


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CHAPTER VIIIHOW NOT TO DO IT

tyh day. On the Monday morning followingmy week-end visit to the Salon I paid avisit to Buc to view the flying-ground there,which seemed to me to be inferior to thatat litampes. The Bleriot School has,however, just removed from Etampes toBuc, presumably in order to be nearerParis. Approaching the Buc ground theR.E.P. machines and hangars were in evi-dence. M. Robert Esnault Pelterie hasrecently retired from aviation. This stepwas forced on him by lack of Governmentsupport, in spite of a record showing manybrilliant achievements in practical flights,which in his case perhaps more than in anyother were the outcome of close scientificapplication.Then came a long line of Farman hangars

41


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42 THE AIR PILOTwhich I visited. As I had to get back toEtampes I did not stay long. Only chancetaxis are to be picked up at Versailles, andI had had to take a "growler" at 10 francsto go to Buc and back. Travelling back inthe train to Etampes from the Gare Quaid'Orsay, one passes the Juvisy flying-groundon the left, which looks very restricted.Arriving again at the Etampes ground itseemed to be an ideal place. The journeyfrom Etampes to Orleans is a very favouritecross-country flight, as one can come downalmost anywhere if the engine fails.

Proceeding to take my lesson, I tried thesystem of rising very gently for a consider-able way, including a turn. This was ex-tremely inadvisable, so the pilot impressedon me afterwards, as a turn takes off somuch weigh that it is asking too much ofthe engine to rise at the same time.

Between my turns I saw the first effortof one of the fledglings at managing themachine alone. After making an uneventfulcircuit he evidently proposed to descend,and began to come down all right. He then


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HOW NOT TO DO IT 43cut off his engine, and at the same time themachine took a heavy list to starboard.This was corrected in time, before the wingtouched the ground. The aeroplane thencontinued to sail along with what weigh ithad left at about 20 feet above the ground,when to our horror we saw that the machinewas slowly rising instead of descending,besides wobbling from side to side. Whenthe machine had almost come to a standstillprior to a rapid descent on to its tail, thepilot mercifully opened up the throttle, andthe trusty engine, picking up immediately,saved the situation by getting flying weighon, thus automatically raising the tail andenabling the control to act. After goinground once more a safe descent was made,but instead of running straight, the machineran round in a small circle, which lookedrather dangerous and must have broughta considerable strain on the chassis. Nodamage was done, however. The explana-tion of the first attempt to land was that,having taken his left hand off the controlto cut off the engine, the pilot unconsciously


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44 THE AIR PILOTbore down with his right hand, thus workingthe ailerons, and causing the machine to dropdown on the right. While correcting thismistake, the pilot pulled the control slightlytowards him, instead of pushing it forwardas he should have done, on throttlingdown ; for even when the elevator is heldperfectly horizontal, the tail will drop ifspeed be lost. The engine would havestarted sooner, but that the pilot pushedthe throttle lever further forward instead ofdrawing it back when he first realized thathe must regain his flying speed. When hefinally landed an unconscious pressure of theleft foot on the pedal must have caused themachine to " circle left."Thus were a whole series of errors

clearly demonstrated ; in fact, a very usefulexposition of " how not to do it."

Lieut. X brought off his tests with flyingcolours, and departed for England the sameday.

Just at dusk a monoplane circled downfrom above, and landed near the hangars. Itwas Gilbert in a Sommer machine. (M. Roger


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HOW NOT TO DO IT 45Sommer is another who has

latelyhad to

retire from the field of aviation through lackof support, in spite of obtaining a consider-able measure of success with his machines;he has returned to his former pursuit of felt-making.) Gilbert got out, a somewhat un-couth figure, looking rather like a Michelinman in his padded overalls, and looked athis engine. The engine was quite cool andin good order. " Look at that engine," hesaid, " forty-one hours it has gone withouthaving to have the slightest thing done toit not even a sparking plug ! " Theengine was a " Rh6ne," a rotary one,similar to the " Gn6me " in general appear-ance. It has given remarkable results withGilbert in his almost daily flights about thecountry. On this occasion he had comefrom Tours in an hour and 40 minutes." Pretty cold up there," he said, pointing tothe sky. We pushed his machine into oneof the hangars and brought him back to thetown with us in the school-car.

I read in the evening paper that Lieut.Sylvestre, whom I had seen starting out on


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46 THE AIR PILOTa B16riot monoplane for his station atBelfort, near the Eastern frontier, had arrivedsafely the same day. The journey hadtaken him from 7.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Hehad had to make two descents on the way,owing to violent storms of rain and hail.This journey was carried out in the ordinarycourse of duty, and such fine feats are sofrequent in France that they seldom call forremark.


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CHAPTER IXFIRST FLIGHT IN A MONOPLANE

day. It seemed particularly cold atthe school that morning. It was, in fact,freezing. I repented after my first roundof having only a thin pair of gloves on, andhurried off to the vicinity of the stove. Myeyes also felt the cold, so on my next roundI borrowed a pair of fur gloves and tried apair of celluloid goggles which I had boughtat the low price of eighty centimes. I eventu-ally found that, although good enough forpassenger work, the curved portions of thegoggles slightly distort one's vision, andthis may constitute a real danger when onehas to bring the machine to land oneself.Several good pilots have told me that, aftertrying everything, they have eventually re-turned to plain glass as the best and safest,

47


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48 TIIK AIR PILOTalthough the use of glass has, of course, oneobvious drawback. M. Pierre Verricr, anartist on the M. F. biplane, always puts evenhis glass goggles up on his forehead beforemaking one of his impeccable landings.Proceedings were varied by the arrival ofM. Perreyon, a noted pilot, in a Bleriot,from the school over the way. He and ourinstructor gave each other turns in theirrespective machines, which was a first experi-ence for each of them on the machine ofthe other. We saw that Perreyon in thepassenger's seat had taken control by theend of the first circuit, for the pilot properwas holding his arms out in front of him.M. Perreyon then kindly gave each ofus a turn in his speedy monoplane. TheGn6me engine was very troublesome aboutstarting. The propeller had to be swungin one case about thirty times before theengine consented to fire. Meanwhile thepistons were from time to time liberallydouched with petrol, a steady flow of whichalso ran from the carburettor, causing acircular patch of frost where it evaporated


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FIRST FLIGHT IN A MONOPLANE 49on the

ground.The Gn6me is all

rightonce it gets going, but requires takingdown after every fifteen hours or so ofrunning to keep it in perfect order. It canhe taken down, cleaned, and mounted againvery quickly, and those who use Gn6meengines which are well cared for, swear bythem.A party of three or four of us hung onto the tail each time the monoplane wasready to start. This ensured the enginegetting up to full speed before a start wasmade, so that the tail when released liftedat once, thus saving the tail skid fromunnecessary rolling work, and enabling themachine to leave the ground more quickly.The job of holding the tail is rather un-pleasant, owing to the blast, which has avery strong smell of burnt and unburntcastor oil.

It came to my turn, and I struggled upinto my seat alongside the pilot through ahole in the bottom of the fuselage, whichis closed by a trap-door. The draughtfrom the tractor screw was terrible, and 1


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FIRST FLIGHT IN A MONOPLANE 51this distress on my next journey, or at anyrate nearly so much, judging by what I hadfelt on the biplane. Well a very jollyexperience when it was all over. I cannotimagine that a machine that goes at thepace this one did can be as safe as a slowerone with more wing surface ; take, forinstance, the question of having to land inour restricted English fields at the greaterpace. At the same time the fastest machinespossible are required for strategic recon-naissance, and the present ban of the WarOffice on monoplanes will require recon-sideration. The number of monoplanesbuilt to-day is greatly in excess of the bi-planes ; both are developing equally strongly,and both will probably be required formilitary aviation.

It rained all the afternoon, so I stayedcomfortably in my room at the hotel, andbrought my diary up to date, instead ofspending a gloomy afternoon in the waiting-room of the school.


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CHAPTER XI FLY BY MYSELF

n th day. A thick mist, which the Novem-ber sun took a couple of hours to lighten,covered the ground. After the fog hadlifted I went for two very wide circuits withthe pilot behind me, and I was then told Icould try a small circuit or two by myself ifI liked. Feeling sufficiently confident I re-plied that I would. With the engine throttleddown, I tried the controls once more beforestarting : forward and backward to depressor raise the elevator ; right and left forthe gauchissement of the ailerons ; right andleft pedals for working rudder to right orleft ; backward and forward the small lever(lying close to my left hand) for opening orclosing the throttle. A wire controlling thepetrol supply had been duly unhooked, andwas all right, and another wire controlling

52


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I FLY BY MYSELF 53the supply of air to the mixture could beleft as it was. There was nothing more todo, then, before starting. The pilot toldme to be careful not to go too high, andnot to mount while turning.

I opened up the throttle to fairly full, andsoon started moving off. I turned themachine gradually while starting, so as tohead it for a straight run on the circuit (Ihad been warned before not to turn themachine too quickly on the ground, forfear of straining the chassis). I kept theelevator horizontal until I saw that themachine had left the ground of its ownaccord, and then, with a thrill of exultation,headed her for the blue ! After a decent rise,I went horizontally again, and then tookanother rise, after which I began turning tothe left. I kept the elevator as horizontal asI could, but I seemed to be getting up to agood height all the same. I shot a glance tothe left, and saw that the wood which I wassupposed to be going round was still there.I was still at the stage when I felt as if myeyes were glued to the elevator, and that I


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54 THE AIR PILOTcould not afford to take them off for lookinground, There was a certain amount of wind,and I had to work the control backward andforward, right and left, a good deal. Theworking of the pedals had not yet becomeautomatic with me, as I often found myselftrying to work the handles round as onewould the handles of a bicycle instead ofworking the pedals. Anyhow, I got roundall right in time, as there was all space toturn in. I saw the starting-point, and thegroup assembled there looked small, and farbelow me. One turn was completed, and onI went with my second. The air below meseemed thick and friendly ; it gave me theimpression it would not willingly let medown. I passed through an eddy fromtime to time, and the incipient dive orrear up of the machine answered readily tothe control, which I worked with a firm,decided movement, without jerks. The airseemed to say, " You have only to hold thehandles in a reasonable way and I won't hurtyou. These little movements of mine areonly to add interest to the proceedings."


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I FLY BY MYSELF 55The side slaps of the wind were less sudden.I felt rocked in the cradle of the air. Thelateral controls rapidly damped out theserockings, in which the air seemed to say," You see, I can blow from all directions, butif you only keep calm and do the right thing,I'll stand by you." It was now time to thinkof coming down. I depressed and put myleft hand on the throttle, and as I descended,gradually throttled down. When a fewyards from the ground, I cut off and flattenedout. At least, I imagined I was going to flyhorizontally for a short distance beforeactually alighting. Much to my horror, Iperceived I was rising instead of movinghorizontally. This would not do. I openedup full at once and got good weigh on againand depressed once more. When within afew feet of the ground I cut off again andflattened out just as I was touching. I madea very fast landing, but without shock Iwas glad to note, and then let the machinerun on to a standstill.

Well, that was a good thing over. 1 hadrun a long way from the starting-point, and


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56 THE AIR PILOTit took a long time for the others to walk up.I was anxious to hear what there was to besaid about my flight. The pilot congratulatedme, but with several restrictions. I had goneup too high in the first place. This wasaccounted for to a great extent by my havingmounted on the turns after all. This typeof machine tends to fmount when turningto the left, and requires to be repressed tokeep it horizontal. This I had not graspedbefore. Then the switch-back landing wasnot all it might have been. I cut off whilestill too high the first time, the almost in-variable mistake of beginners, who see theground coming at them at a fearsome pace,and consider prematurely that somethingmust be done. The second time I cut oflftoo low. However well out.The feeling of responsibility on this first

flight alone was the greatest tax on the nervesI have yet felt in flying, and I felt greatlyrelieved when it was over. I felt the absenceof the pilot behind me much more than Ishould have expected, although latterly hehad been doing little or nothing.


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I FLY BY MYSELF 57In the evening I had a couple of flights

with the pilot behind me, and the feelingof confidence which this imparted seemedto make me do the right thing automatically.

Note. I have talked about cc cutting off"the engine by pushing the lever of thethrottle valve right down ; with a Renaultproperly adjusted, however, this does notcut the engine right off, but leaves it runningjust sufficiently to keep the propeller turningslowly. This is a point of the greatestvalue, as by throttling right down one cutsoff the propeller blast, which is always ob-tainable, however, in a couple of secondsby opening up.With a Gn6me engine the most widelyused aero-motor of the present day whichwill only run at practically full speed, onehas to switch the engine right off, and ifone wants to keep the engine running(as, for instance, during a long vo! plane}one has to switch on at intervals tokeep the propeller turning. If one leavesit too long and the propeller stops, oris turning too slowly, the engine will not


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58 THE AIR PILOTstart or pick up on switching on againDanger !A new carburettor has been brought outby the Gnome Company, which will permitof the engine running at a low number ofrevolutions, but I have not yet seen thisin use. The usual form of carburettor onGn6me engines, such as are used on theHenry Farman machines at the EtampesSchool, consists of a simple pipe and jet ;during its passage through the pipe thestream of petrol sucked in is vapourisedand mixed with air. The amount of suctionrequired to work this simple arrangement isonly obtained when the engine is runningpractically at full speed.


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CHAPTER XII AM PUT BACK

iith day. This was a particularly finemorning for the sport, in spite of theprognostications of all the old birds theevening before, when the sun had gone downin a red setting, and even on the ground onecould feel the wind getting up, while higherup the little clouds

had arranged a handicapaccording to altitude.I took a turn with the pilot behind me,

and we finished with a figure of eight inorder to land against the wind. One shouldalways land against the wind, when there isany to speak of, both because one is steadierand because one brings up in a shorter dis-tance owing to more rapid loss of weigh.A side wind is particularly dangerous to landin, as with diminished weigh the machine is

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6o THE AIR PILOTvery easily tilted on to one wing by a puff,and the effect of working the ailerons isgreatly reduced in any case, they havepractically no time or space in which to actbefore a wing is smashed ; a more or lessdangerous side-strain on the chassis is alsoinvolved. I was told I could take a turnif I liked by myself, and follow the samecourse, which I proceeded to do. The circuitwent fairly well, and I then had to makemy figure of eight. The latter was an enor-mous sprawling affair, covering kilometresof air-land, and not always at the same alti-tude, which is one of the many desideratato be aimed at. I made a nice straightflight home for the hangars at a height ofabout 20 metres. The critical business ofdescent had now to be undertaken, with lefthand on throttle valve and right hand onthe control. I tried to descend gently whilegradually cutting off at the same time. Icame to the end of my tether in both sensesmore quickly than I reckoned on. I didn'tlike the look of it. I did not want to landat that speed, and I instinctively did not


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I AM PUT BACK 61want to rise again without the engine on ;so I opened up again for a slight rise, anddescended again, cutting off the engine. Ilanded safely enough, but fast and beyondwhere I wanted to stop, and ran some waybeyond that again another unsatisfactorydescent of the switchback order.The pilot said this would not do I must

descend more gradually and cut off moreslowly. I felt rather sick about it, but triedto comfort myself with the thought that itmight have been worse. One of the fourthick rubber rings, by which each axle withits pair of wheels is slung to the chassis,had gone, and I mournfully watched theinteresting operation of inserting a new one.I again tried to comfort myself with thereflection that repairs were included in thesum I had paid down.

I was fairly restored to equanimity by thetime I went for another tour, this time behindmy pilot, in which position one has a verymodified command over the controls. Wefollowed the Orleans road, travelling about100 metres high. The usual delightful


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62 THE AIR PILOTavenue of trees bordered the road. I likedthe look of them less in plan than fromany other point of view. We circled severaltimes above some farm buildings where thepilot had some friends, who kept his dog forhim. They all came out and waved, attractedby the insistent call of the engine. Wewaved back to them. The farm buildingswere picturesque enough, but lost most oftheir picturesqueness in plan, like the trees.Give me the soft plough beneath or thegreen fields, and I am with you in yourappreciation of the beauties of the landscape.We moved off at length from the vicinityof bricks and mortar, and flew across somesmall woods. These might have been prettytoo, but their deep shadows seemed to glowerat one. We were soon over these, though,and headed for home. Very slowly wedescended and gently throttled down,skimmed along the surface and imper-ceptibly took the ground.The afternoon was still good for flying,and the pupils had three lessons apiece.There were several moments of interest


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I AM PUT BACK 63during the afternoon. At one time half adozen machines were in the air at differentheights three Bleriots from the establish-ment over the way, and three of our Farmans.Gilbert turned up, and took out the Som-mer monoplane which he had left in ourhangars. Rapidly mounting to about 500metres, he made for Paris for the Issy-les-Moulineaux ground. A new Henry Farmanwas brought out of its shed, and tried byFischer. This was of the latest type, with-out front elevating plane. It had a speciallylarge tank, to hold 390 litres of petrol. Ata rate of consumption of 27 litres an hour,this would be sufficient for 14! hours. Theduration record at time of writing is heldby Fourny on a Maurice Farman 13 hoursand some minutes. It was hoped that thisHenry Farman with Fischer up, would beatthe above record. Being a faster machine(85 kilometres to the hour, fully loaded), itwas also to be expected that it would beatexisting records for distance in a given timefor the longer periods. Thus is the houseof Farman divided against itself. The new


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64 THE AIR PILOTFarman was provided with a "Rhone'*motor, now on its trial in the aeronau-tical world, from which great things werehoped. The long supremacy of the Gnomeas the aeroplane motor par excellence waschallenged. This new rotary engine wouldbe mistaken by the uninitiated for a Gnome.Its chief difference consists in having theinlet valves controlled mechanically insteadof automatically. A possible drawback liesin its having exterior induction pipes for thesupply of the mixture to the cylinders, andthis arrangement might cause trouble in verycold weather.


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CHAPTER XIII AM PROMOTED AGAIN

day. This was another absolutelyperfect morning for aviation. The worstone could say of it was that it was rathercold. As there seemed no sign of the windgetting up, we all tacitly held on for a time,just to let things warm up generally. Oneof the French officers started off on a trialfor his military brevet, on a cross-countryjourney to Tours. He was disqualified onhis last attempt for exceeding the time-limitallowed to cover the given distance. Thiswas due to villainous weather and enginetroubles, the latter including a broken cylinder,which resulted in a damaged propeller.We started going out in turn about 9 a.m.After a turn behind the pilot I was told totake the front seat again, and all went well.

65 F


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66 THE AIR PILOTAs regards control I was told that althoughmy movements were correct, they shouldbe carried out sooner.

I have often noticed, when sitting be-hind a good pilot, that he seemed to havean uncanny knowledge of what the windwas going to do, and started making thenecessary correction almost before the actualarrival of the wind buffet. In explanationof this I have frequently experienced that astrong puff of wind is heralded by a muchslighter one, a sort of advanced guard, andthat if one exercises a good touch on thecontrols checking these light winds, one isdoing the right thing when the real puffcomes, and that one has simply to accentuatethe movement one has already commenced.To obtain the best "feel," one's touch onthe control should be neither too light nortoo hard, much the same as in driving acar.

I was also told again that my landingswere not gradual enough. I knew I shoulddescend gently, with engine on, to abouttwo metres above the ground, and then cut


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I AM PROMOTED AGAIN 67off and flatten out, and gradually take theearth, but I had not yet got the knack.

In the afternoon I had another couple ofcircuits and landings with the pilot, andwas then told to carry on solo. I startedoff, and overtook a covey of partridges,which I chased and passed over ; got roundthe wood in no time, and pulled myselftogether for the landing. I descendedgradually on my last turn, saw that I wastruly horizontal and in the straight for thestarting-point, continued descending, and cutoff the engine at two metres. My idea wasnow to bring off this much-desired gradualcontact, but wump ! that was a nastybump ! I bounded up a couple of yards, buttickled her down by a series of quick depres-sions of the elevator, and ran out quietly. 1then waited to be told off, and prepared to" take it in the neck." It was not as badas I expected, however : rather too high aflight ; still an inclination to mount in turn-ing ; and as regards landing I must keep themachine

goingmuch

longer,after I cut ofF,

before touching ground. Noted for next


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68 THE AIR PILOTtime, but that was what I was trying to dobefore. I was not likely to do it worse,I reckoned, and ought to do it better. Allthe staff came up and shook the chassis andfelt the wires. One of the latter had gone,the right one, from the front of the rightskid to the boom of the lower plane. Itwas only a case of " bang went saxpence,"and was rapidly renewed.

Meanwhile, the other pupils were taken onthe second machine. I was then doctoredup with further precautions, and started onanother run. Nothing eventful occurred tillthe landing. Last time I had landed on anupward slope, which 1 had not sufficientlytaken into account. I cut off at the twometres height, and kept the machine up longenough to land with only a slight bump.This was better, but not good enough, and Ihad landed slightly on the turn, to stopnear the sheds. My mental notes were con-firmed by the words of the pilot, near whomI had stopped. He told me I should havecarried straight on instead of worrying aboutstopping near the sheds.


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I AM PROMOTED AGAIN 69So I went off again, and brought off much

the same sort of landing, but quite straight.I was a long way from home, so I started offon a fourth round. I took a very wide turnthis time, and decided that the only thingleft to try to improve matters was to keepthe elevator perfectly horizontal after cuttingoff at two metres. I got on to the line of thestraight for home in good time, descendedgently, cut off at the right height, and kepther floating at that. This seemed all rightfloating along nicely " must touch soon, Isuppose/* was what passed through my mind.I kept the elevator just nibbling, as it were,at the horizontal, and found myself runningout without having felt the ground. Ihooked up the petrol wire and climbeddown. I received congratulations from thepilot, who confirmed the idea of keeping theelevator horizontal after cutting off, and thusletting the machine settle down horizontallyfor the last two metres of height, while itlost weigh. I felt very pleased at havinggrasped the right idea to work at now in mylandings.


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70 THE AIR PILOTOne of the pupils who started a day afterme, wound up the day with a couple of solo

circuits with perfectly satisfactory landings.Another week, we were told, and we

should be practising for the brevet. Thiswas extremely cheering.The officers and N.C.O.s, practising onthe Henry Farmans, were gradually workingup to greater heights in this good weathercombined with longer periods in the air, andpractising vols planes of moderate height atfirst, but gradually increasing.One of the N.C.O.s showed me

LES DlX COMMANDEMENTS DE I/AviATEUR.1. Ton appareil, examineras

Avant de partir, soigneusement.2. Tous les organes, verifieras

Bien, 1'excellent fonctionnement.3. Ton moteur, tu t'assureras

Qu'il est en parfait rendement.4. De 1'atmosphere, etudieras

L'etat si souvent inclement.5. Ton casque tu n'oublieras,II te garantira surement.


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I AM PROMOTED AGAIN 716. Le depart enfin tu prendras,

Avec sang-froid, courageusement.7. Centre les elements, lutteras,

Mais n'oublie pas d'etre prudent.8. Ta mission tu accompliras

Avec soin et tres s6rieusement.9. Nos TROIS COULEURS tu porteras

Avec joie, partout, triomphalement.10. Et pour la FRANCE sacrifierasTa vie, s'il le faut, glorieusement.

J. A. B.


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CHAPTER XIIII FLY TEN TIMES OVER

day. Decidedly the winter seems tobe the flying season par excellence, andNovember the best month in it in this partof the world. The perfectly still morningscharacteristic of early Novembers are perfectfor the sport. The slight touch of frost inground and air this morning added a joiede vivre.

After the customary minute examinationof the aeroplanes and engines, the managerand pilot tried the air. All being reportedwell, the fledglings were permitted to trytheir wings. I made a circuit round thewood, and effected a landing all right itseemed ; so I opened up again, ran on andgot off, and effected another circuit, landingagain with fair success. There was still an

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I FLY TEN TIMES OVER 73unprofessional ripple about the final stage ofthe descent, and I could generally feel whenI touched.The next pupil then carried on. This

was his second solo flight. The pupils'flights at this stage are naturally of morethan ordinary interest. He went off andgot round all right, but the great query isalways the landing. He cut off high, andthen mounted rather higher. (In takingoff one's left hand to cut off, the remaininghand unaided is very apt to make someslight involuntary movement.) He depressed,however, before it was too late, and after abig ripple, landed with a slight bump ortwo. He evidently thought it all right,though, and was off again on his secondround. He made a similar landing, andcame running up very pleased. The pilottook him somewhat to task.

Flying was over for the morning, as aslight southerly wind had brought up adense fog. Going back to the town, I tooka lesson in driving the school car, from thevery amiable chauffeur.


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74 THE AIR PILOTConditions were excellent in the afternoon,and I did four circuits with landings in rapid

succession.Pupil No 2 had a couple of rounds.

In his final landing he positively soared upafter cutting off, from which position he hadto do a miniature vol plane down. Hebrought it off all right, but the dangerwas that, having very little weigh on, atreacherous puff might easily upset himsideways. He tried again, and this timeagain cut off rather too high, and thensailed along without any loss of altitude.The tail began to drop, and one wonderedwhen he would elect to come down. Thetail dropped more, but mercifully the wholemachine was now settling down. The tailtouched first, which immediately broughtthe chassis to earth with somewhat of abump, but no apparent harm was done.Pupil No. 2 seemed rather more pleasedthan the occasion warranted, but he was ofan eminently French sanguine temperament.

Pupil No. 3, the one who nearly slidback on his tail the other day, then went


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I FLY TEN TIMES OVER 75out. I knew he was nervous, as earlier inthe afternoon he had said he was not goingout any more that day. He seemed to meto smoke too many cigarettes, and had abella-donna look in the eyes. I swung thepropeller for him, usually an easy job onthe stationary Renault engine, compared tothe business of swinging the propeller forthe rotary Gnome. In the latter case youhave to swing engine and all, and it isusually more difficult to get it to fire. Thisbusiness of swinging the propeller is afrightfully dangerous looking thing at first,as the blades begin to fly round almostbefore the man's hands have left, and themadly whirling knives seem to be goinground precious near his face. It is, in fact,an operation in which due caution has to beemployed, the great thing being to avoidslipping at the critical moment, and fallingwith one's head in the fatal disc. Well

No. 3 got off and disappeared behindthe wood, as usual. Suddenly, the hum ofhis engine ceased, and did not start again.I started running for the end of the wood,


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76 THE AIR PILOTand the rest followed, the school car bringingup the rear. A variety of conjectures passedthrough one's mind as to what might havehappened, and as to what possible gruesomespectacle one might be treated. I guessed,however, allowing for the state of mindwith which I credited him, that he hadmerely surprised himself into landing, bysuddenly finding himself too low throughinadvertence ; that he had cut off andlanded instead of rising. We ran on andround the end of the wood. . . .

Well in the open we saw the machine atrest, apparently all right, with No. 3 examin-ing the chassis. This was a great relief.We assured ourselves that both pilot andmachine were all right, and were then treatedto a lengthy explanation, accompanied bymuch gesticulation : how he had made alarge circuit, and was steering in a generaldirection for home, when suddenly tall, dark,and menacing, the great black wood elevateditself before him. Uncertain of making goodhis turning round the end of this menacingobstacle, he thought it better to come down,


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I FLY TEN TIMES OVER 77and had effected a good landing, in spite ofa number of large stones strewn about.

This was an interesting and surprisingyarn. The fact was that he had completelylost his head. The machine was a goodhundred yards from the wood, and thetrack of the wheels extended nearly anotherfifty yards back, and in a direction whichshowed that the descent had been made nottowards the wood, at all, but in the correctdirection for home. There was sufficientroom to have made a complete circle withouttouching the wood or even going dangerouslynear it ; the said wood was only a narrowcopse

of small firs, and a slight draw onthe lever must of a certainty have carriedhim safely over.The pilot then took up No. 3 as apassenger, just to show him how he couldturn, and got badly caught in the eddy ofhis own tail rather a new experience forthe pilot, I fancy.

I made four more circuits, landing eachtime, and taking a greater height duringflight. On one occasion, after landing and


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78 THE AIR PILOTrunning along on the wheels, I hooked up thepetrol wire, with a view to stopping theengine and getting out ; on looking up afterthis momentary diversion, I found to myhorror that I was floating up in the air again !I had got more weigh on than I realized, andhad unwittingly drawn back the control some-what. I depressed immediately and landedgently. As the propeller was still movingI released the petrol wire, and opened upagain just to show I could do better. Thefinal landing really seemed all right, and thepilot complimented me. When comingdown from these greater heights, he said,it was certainly best to throttle down agood deal, on account of the added velocityfrom the descent.

I hoped I had now got hold of the rightideas to aim at in landing. My idea nowwas to flatten out at two metres high, andthen keep the machine not necessarily theelevator horizontal, until she dropped ofher own accord to earth. One then landedon the four wheels, and the tail droppedgently afterwards.


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CHAPTER XIVREADY FOR THE BREVET

Sunday. The chance of a last visit to theSalon was not to be missed. I had a goodlook round from 9 to 1 1 a.m., after whichthe place began to get crowded. I paidanother visit in the afternoon, and wasoccasionally carried off my feet by the crowd.The national enthusiasm over aviation wasmost remarkable, and reached its maximumwhen the band played " La Marseillaise desAviateurs." It is the military aspect ofaviation, with the hope of the success itwill bring them in their next war, whichmakes the chief appeal to the people, andthe success of the show was due in greatpart to the active co-operation of the fightingservices. The number of types of hydro-planes exhibited was another remarkable

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8o THE AIR PILOTfeature. This branch of aviation is advanc-ing with giant strides. The absence ofPaulhan with his "Triad" was noticeable,due it was said to the impossibility of sparinga single machine of the type even for afortnight.

i$th and i6th days. Monday and Tuesday.Wind, rain, fog, etc. nothing doing. I

occasionally got into the seat of a Maurice,and worked the control and my imaginationin unison.

ijth day. Wednesday. Not too bad.The pilot told me to start quick beforethe wind got up. So I pushed off and didfour circuits with landings, all going verywell. I was just beginning to make thenecessary movements automatically, includ-ing the steering with one's feet, which atfirst seemed unnatural.The pilot said I could go for my brevetwhen I liked.A thick fog came up directly I had

finished, and closed proceedings for theday. I drove the school car back underinstruction, and up and down again in


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READY FOR THE BREVET 81the afternoon. Fog prevented any furtherflying.

\%th day. Thursday. Nothing doingagain. This was very dull. I wanderedabout in the workshops, and tried to getsome instruction about the engines. Someof the school prospectuses in England containclauses as to instruction being given in thecare and repairing of engines, etc., but thereis not as a rule much organisation about thispart of the teaching ; nor is this difficult tounderstand, as much attention paid to thisportion of the business would prove a costlyand unprofitable undertaking. It would inany case be hard to arrange and carry out,as the knowledge of the pupils on the subjectvaries between such wide limits. While fewof them are entirely ignorant, many areexperts. In any case there is no examina-tion on aero-motors for the ordinary certifi-cate, such as there is for the French brevetmilitaire> and the expense of instruction inthis subject would be a loss to competitiveschools catering to pass candidates simplythrough the tests for the certificate at so

G


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82 THE AIR PILOTmuch a head. The minimum that is requiredto be known is soon picked up, however,together with the leading features andcharacteristics of the engines with whichone has to do.The two most commonly used engines

in the motor world are the Gn6me andRenault, and their chief points may besummarised as under

Gnome. This is a radial engine of therotary type, with seven cylinders. Thetypes on the market are of 50, 70, 80, 100,140, and 1 60 horse-power. The last threeconsist of two of the corresponding lowerpowered ones worked together on one shaft,the cylinders of the back unit showingthrough the spaces between those of theone in front.The cylinders are of steel, and very thin,

and are made with fins to facilitate air-cooling, which is also greatly aided by therevolution of the engine itself. In practiceit is a very reliable engine, and is generallyregarded as a marvel of skilled designby the engineering world. It requires,


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READY FOR THE BREVET 83however, much attention and specially trainedmechanics to look after it properly. Tokeep it in perfect order it has to be takendown after about thirty hours' running,cleaned, and re-erected. This takes twoskilled mechanics a ten-hour day. Thereason for this constant cleaning arises fromthe free deposit of carbon in the cylindersfrom the burnt oil.The propeller is fixed to a boss on either

the front or back plate of the crank-case,and thus revolves at the same number ofrevolutions as the engine, i.e. at about 1200revolutions per minute.One of the great features of the engine

is the ease with which it can be mountedon any machine, which in a great measureaccounts for the general manner in whichit has been adopted for many different typesof machines. There is an objection froma certain number of people to the use ofthis engine, in common with other rotaryengines, on account of its gyroscopic action.The effect of the gyroscopic action may beslightly felt when making a turn to the right.


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84 THE AIR PILOTIt is very wasteful both in oil and petrol.The weight of a 50 horse-power engine is

only 150 Ib.j or 3 Ib. per horse, and it isthis wonderful lightness which is its greatestadvantage. When one sees one of theseengines starting, and the light frail-lookingworking parts beginning their mad dance,one imagines that the whole thing mustfly to bits with the centrifugal force de-veloped.The price of a 50 h.p. is 4.00.

Renault. This engine is very similar tothe well-known car type except that it isair-cooled instead of being water-cooled.A revolving fan in front of the enginedrives air past the cylinders, while aluminiumshields direct a part of this current upwardsbetween the cylinders. It is a stationaryengine of eight or sixteen cylinders, set V-shaped.The types on the market are of 50, 70,

and 100 h.p., of 8, 8, and 16 cylindersrespectively.The cylinders are of cast iron, and like-wise the cylinder heads ; both of which, and


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READY FOR THE BREVET 85the top of the sparking plug, have fins tofacilitate the air-cooling.

It is a very reliable engine, and requirescomparatively little attention. The accessi-bility of the working parts leaves much tobe desired, but the engine does not oftenrequire taking down say, every 60 hours.The cylinder heads can be removed, andthe cylinders cleaned, valves ground, andcan all be put back by a mechanic in halfa day. If the whole engine has to be takendown, it is a heavy job, and it is awkwardto get it out of the nacelle. It would taketwo good mechanics, with assistance inlifting the engine, three days to take down,clean, and re-erect.The propeller is fixed to the end of the

cam-shaft, and revolves at 900 revolutions tothe engine's 1 800, the cam-shaft being geareddown from the crank-shaft at 2 to I. Alarger measure of efficiency is obtained fromthe larger propeller travelling at a slowerspeed, than from a smaller high-speed pro-peller ; the amount of gyroscopic action isnegligible.


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86 THE AIR PILOTA 70 h.p. Renault uses 7 gallons ofpetrol an hour, and f of a gallon of oil.

It weighs 430 lb., or 6] lb. per horse.The price of a 70 h.p. Renault is 480.From the manager I tried to get somenotes as to the administration of such aschool as this, and received many politepromises.From the clerk I obtained a record ofmy flying time up to date, which was asfollows :

Flying days. Minutes.ist 41 with pilot.2nd ii3rd 64th 154th 23 alone.5th 656th 657th 508th 23

Total 5 hours all but a minute.

The above times were made up of severalshort flights, as a rule, and were generous


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READY FOR THE BREFET 87estimates, I should say, probably to makesure of accounting for all the petrol used.

It was still raining, and feeling very boredI walked back to the hotel. The first fivekilometres were fairly pleasant walking,along a decent road ; but the last two kilo-metres through the town were killing,the paving consisting of very rough stone,about 6-inch cube, very uneven and full ofholes. A mile or two over this tires one out,and one arrives at one's destination feelingjarred all over. One hears much of the fineroads of France, but in our small townsthe roads are infinitely better than this.The effect of this sort of road, whichextends for miles from Paris in some direc-tions, must be nothing less than disastrousto the bolts and springs of cars.


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CHAPTER XVFINAL PRACTICES FOR THE BREVETday. The afternoon proving favour-

able, I was told I could have the machine,and do more or less what I liked with it.So I started off and tried some figures ofeight round a couple of imaginary points.I found I was carried about half a mile toleeward while I was on the turn, which mademy figures rather shapeless. I had got overthe inclination to mount on the turns, andwas now rather the other way, which waspreferable. The pilot told me I would dobetter to work at a higher altitude, so as toallow for sinking on the turns.

So the next time I got up to rather over50 metres, which is the height to be attainedin the altitude test for the brevet, and passedover the wood while making the " eights,"


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FINAL PRACTICES FOR BREVET 89instead of going round it each time. Thismade the figures more stylish. The landing(against the wind) was in each case imper-ceptible, so I felt pretty confident for thetests, which specify " normal " landings.One of the pupils who was carrying outhis tests just before I joined, landed in themiddle of the given circle very exactly,

1913 airmanexperience00mellrich

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