Show fe features at ures of OC 4 V t 1 L Y yina caf TH ahr ara aa A r bicz NE flying meeting Is much like another in regard to the na ONE ture of the competitions for which prizes are offered of the seven events announced for the bournemouth Bourne month mouth flying meeting in july 11 two 0 only are at all out ot of the ordinary but the achievement of that much originality is certainly something that reflects great credit on the organizers tor for considerable sums ot of money are necessary not only for arize 1 funds but likewise tor for engaging flying men consequently one has not unlimited financial resources and the public certainly Is always interested to read about though not necessarily to see a monotonous long distance competition Om petition while it delights to be hold the speed competition and the high flights also the tests tor for the rising from the ground in the shortest distance and for or weight carrying there are thus five events which are almost inevitable in the case of any flying meeting held over a closed course as distinct from any of a cross country character we come there fore tore to a consideration of the two points of novelty in the first one seems to see the hand of mr V ker seymer for this Is an alighting corn com petition tor for aviators who come down nearest a given spot after having stopped the engine at a given height in the air it will be seen at once that if properly carried out such ouch a test as this has its useful as well as its sporting side it makes tor for effice ency in also the machine that can land nearest a given spot at any time must necessarily be one safer to handle than those that are not so readily manageable the de tails of the manner in which this corn coin petition will be arranged are not pub dished but I 1 learn that the scheme is to allow the pilots to approach the target as it were from any direction they desire observers will be sta cloned at positions where the motor must be completely shut oft off so that the aeroplane becomes a glider and Is in fact in the same condition that it would be if for any reason in the course of a cross country flight the engine had suddenly failed to work the space on which the machine Is to alight will be marked out in a series of colors each flyer will have three tries a day and the man who makes the best average will be adjudged the winner thus an aviator who comes thrice on the second innermost line will make a better performance than one who comes on the center spot once on the third innermost line once and on the outermost line once be cause the average of the former will be better by this means too lucky flukes will be avoided there is point about such a competition as this namely that it provides a type of event that can be conducted at periods when the flying men do not feel disposed to go tor for the major events the great difficulty in conducting flying meetings in the past has been that come out only when it suits them and those hours are usually the most to the spectators one of the chief points on which the organizers of the bournemouth Bourne mouth meeting are con cent rating attention is the endeavor ing to arrive at some means ba b which provided the w eather neather 1 19 fair they may guarantee that the spectators shall always see flying of some sort an other feature of the boun meeting that Is not usual at flying competitions is the offering of a prize for the flyer who takes tales the longest time in making one lap of a course this Is a n ost meritorious scheme because anything of a flat na ture can be sustained in the air it it is set at a slant and sent fast enot enoich gh through it whereas very great ment in the matter of efficiency is proved by the aeroplane that can fly slowest to say that of course is not feces harily to argue that such a competition da shall be provided at bournemouth Bourne mouth mil necessarily bring out that ma chine on which the lifting efficiency Is best I 1 lor or example it if a flyer comes forward with a machine of very large surface fitted with ith a comparatively light motor and ordinarily designed to carry great weight and it if he has only a few gallons of fuel in his machine and merely himself on board it would be possible for that machine to lift in the air at comparatively a very slow speed whereas a santo dumont mono plane or a cross cros channel type of buerlot monoplane with small lifting surfaces must necessarily go fast through the air nevertheless the fact that there is only one prize for this competition and that that is only only is a good guarantee guarante that it will not be worth any one s while to build or to fake a machine dally to win that money on the contrary we vie may expect a purely sporting competition in which all the various flyers will take part in good natured fashion those who are real ly concerned about britain s position in this new science of aerial tion will find the chief interest in the bournemouth Bourne mouth meeting attaching to the performance of british amateur flyers of whom there are a sufficiently good ly number already to ensure that at least four if not half a dozen rill make a big reputation and quite sur prise the general public by their ability at the annual general meeting ot of the aeronautical society of great britain the members passed by a very large majority a resolution to the effect that an executive elp autive or general purpose committee be constituted to relieve the self elected council of a portion of the routine work and de tails of management that should now be borne by the members of the society themselves and that such a corn com cittee should be elected by the mem bers one halt half of the committee to re tire yearly in other words the mem bers have tha it Is time that the constitution of the society which was quite adequate at the time of its inception about 40 years ag ago should be adapted to modern requirements this of course Is cause for cong ratu lation tor for proud as we e all are of possessing the oldest scientific aero nautical body in the world none can have tailed failed to notice the dire need that exists for galvanizing it into life by the adoption of such a forward movement as has been indicated the duties of the society concern the pur suit of the strictly scientific side of 0 aeronautics the other major bodies concerned with the movement of aerial navigation support it in that lamorand lab labor orand wid eledge its right to that province H MASSAC |