OCR Text |
Show 5MNG LIFE AEROPLANE 1 AwJ-v ,4 A A ,43fte A.. A . . vLvu, OWmikMm s saw 3 -.,.?:.:,.. , K;.f ... .V:7: . ii'-.iV::fi-:-;-,:.i5 '.,.--;::Svi i ::- -i'-:: I ,, ,. j ... .y... - AA - lr-i 11! HE aeroplane's career as a savior of It iSj therefore gratifying to find that the water .... M J lives in large number began as early aeroplane, the hydro-aeroplane and the flying boat ..t as 1911, in the very war in which geem destined to Bave lie. I ::l it first demonstrated its potential!- The hydro.aeroplane began its career as a life- t . ' V . JtlL ty as an instrument of war, and gayr jn 1911 wMle stiu ,n the experimental - j ' ' I 1 tlie reSUlt ShWS thatits Pten' period. It was during the famous Chicago meet f ' ' I tiality was greater as an instru- an aviator lost control while flying over Lake L , . Y , S -L ment of peace a life saver. , Michigan and fell into the water. Three-quarters t'J f ' , Those who followed the develop- of a mUe away there wag a hydro-aeroplane, the i ment of the Italian-Turkish war will remember ear,y Curtis model the prototype of the flying j$$ liow at the very start of the campaign, before the boat circling around and occasionally settling on ""Tax first engagement took place, the newly landed the surface of the water like a big seagull. The Italians were saved from an unpleasant surprise piot of thls craftj seeing the aviator's fall, went H II by the aerial scouts, who observed three advanc- t th rescue. Fying at a mile a minute speed, ;Avrr rPDM nj?niVYfi7 AY A Ing columns of Turks and Arabs of about 6,000 . he reache(J the gpot landed on the water by the Jy7rAf0 men. The Italians, after receiving this informa- 6Ubmerged aeroplane and offered to take the It is, therefore, gratifying to find that the water aeroplane, the hydro-aeroplane and the flying boat seem destined to save life. The hydro-aeroplane began its career as a llfe-saveY llfe-saveY in 1911, while still In the experimental period. It was during the famous Chicago meet an aviator lost control while flying over Lake Michigan and fell into the water. Three-quarters of a mile away there was a hydro-aeroplane, the early Curtis model the prototype of the flying boat circling around and occasionally settling on the surface of the water like a big seagull. The pilot of this craft, seeing the aviator's fall, went to the rescue. Fying at a mile a minute speed, he reached the spot, landed on the water by the submerged aeroplane and offered to take the aviator to land all In less than one minute! Some months later, on March 6, 1912, two aviators avia-tors fell in San Diego bay while flying and their machine capsized. An aviator on the shore saw the accident, jumped on his hydro with his mechanic and flew to the rescue, landing a minute min-ute later by the "shipwrecked" two. The first demonstration of actually rescuing a person not connected with aviation was given on October 10, 1912, by Charles Wald, instructor in the Wright school of water flying, at the Glenwood Country club. A man named Walter Strohbach fell into the harbor from a rowboat in which he was seeking diversion with a friend. The row-boat row-boat was half a mile off the shore at Sea Cliff and fully a mile from the Glenwood Country club, when, miscalculating his position, Mr. Strohbach attempted to sit further on the stern of the boat, with the result that he fell overboard. Although his friend tried to reach his companion, a strong current carried them apart. Shouts along the shore told of the plight of the young man, who was exhausted In the chilly water. Mr. Charles Wald, learning of the occurrence while at the hangar preparing to make a flight, jumped into his machine and flew to the man in the water, who could be seen from the club station. Alighting in the hydro-aeroplane on the water near Strohbach, the aviator first threw a life preserver pre-server to the young man, who was scarcely able to keep afloat, then, bringing the machine alongside, along-side, managed to get him aboard one of the floats of the biplane and brought him safely to the Wright station. Boats leaving the shore did ' not reach the scene of the accident until the hydro-aeroplane was well on its way to shore with the rescued. Mr. Glenn H. Curtiss, the dean of water flyers and creator of both the hydro-aeroplane and flying boat, was the hero of a life-saving act last June, rescuing two occupants of a broken down motor boat with the big four-passenger flying boat of Mr. Harold F. McCormick. Mr. Curtiss and Mr. C. C. Witmer were flying over Lake Keuka in the boat to test it and were running for home ahead of a coming thunder shower when, a mile from shore, they noticed a motor boat in which two men were waving wildly. Curtiss brought the flying boat to the water and stopped near the motor boat. The men said their motor was broken and they wanted some one sent out to row them ashore. Mr. Witmer crawled out on the tail of the flying boat and took a rope from the motor boat, which he held while Curtiss drove the flying boat a mile to the shore. The motor boat was left there and, taking the men aboard, Mr. Curtiss flew back to Hammonds-port. Hammonds-port. The airboat and hydro-aeroplane may be said to be the logical adjunct of life-saving stations and, therefore, absolutely necessary. As an essential es-sential purpose of a life-saving station is to relieve re-lieve wrecks and save people from drowning, speed In doing it is the essence of efficiency. The aeroplane the water kind is revolutionary in this respect. It can fly to the spot where relief is needed at the rate of a mile a minute, and the aiman who sees every detail of what goes on below be-low can either land by the object or rescue or just 4 . , rpj pTI HE aeroplane s career as a savior of II II lives in large number began as early as 1911, in the very war in which J it first demonstrated its potentiali-U potentiali-U . ty as an Instrument of war, and . tlie result shows thatits poten- tiality was greater as an instru-ment instru-ment of peace a life saver. Those who followed the development develop-ment of the Italian-Turkish war will remember liow at the very start of the campaign, before the first engagement took place, the newly landed Italians were saved from an unpleasant surprise ly the aerial scouts, who observed three advancing advanc-ing columns of Turks and Arabs of about 6,000 men. The Italians, after receiving this information, informa-tion, could successfully calculate distances and ar-Tange ar-Tange for their defense. On the following day, October 24, the battle of Sciara-Sciat took place, resulting in the loss to the Turkish army of 3,000 men. During the battle bat-tle two aeroplanes were circling the air. The flights took place above the line of fire, so as to be able to direct the firing of the big guns from the battleship Carlo Alberto and also of the mountain moun-tain artillery. The aeroplanes were often shot at by the guns of the enemy, but with no results. The finding of the enemy was an influential event. The situation at the time was such that without that discovery the Italians would have met with a defeat which might have affected the whole campaign. Thus two men and two old, half worn aeroplanes saved a defeat which might have involved in-volved the loss of thousands of lives as was the case In the Erithrea campaign at a cost of possibly pos-sibly only a few dollars, the price of gasolene and oil. Later in the campaign the aeroplane became a veritable advance agent of peace, being used by the Italian officers to drop manifestoes over, the encampment telling the natives of the Italians' intentions. in-tentions. This is a very important matter, because, be-cause, as shown by France's long campaign in Algeria and Morocco, most of the trouble in colonies colon-ies is due to the natives misunderstanding the purposes of the invaders, who never have a chance to explain their intentions. Again in the Balkan war the aeroplane was a messenger of peace. Perhaps the greatest surprise of the Balkan war was that Adi ianople, the Gibraltar of the Balkans, Bal-kans, which the Turks were supposed to defend to the last breath of life, was captured with little loss of li fe by a comparatively small force. The aeroplane even the old type clumsy machines, manned by untrained pilots, used by the Bulgarians Bulgar-ians deserves the greatest credit for the saving of life and money. The Bulgarian air scouts, though untrained in military matters and poorly equipped mechanically, mechanic-ally, went out over the besieged city and brought to their commanders information which enabled them to attack the weakest spots. Then others messengers of peace, whom humanity should recognize now that they have saved thousands of lives in both the Tripolitanian and Balkan wars soared over the city and dropped messages to the besieged, which if not of peace, made for peace. An admirable feat in saving the lives of BOO French soldiers is credited to a single aeroplane of the French Morocco squadron. In December, 19T2, a column of 500 French troops had been surrounded sur-rounded by rebels to the south of Mogador and for five days some anxiety was felt for their safety. safe-ty. Then Lieutenant Do-Hu, in his Bleriot monoplane, mono-plane, wasible to convey information to the commander com-mander that reinforcements were close at hand, and, encouraged, they renewed their defence, while the rebels, seeing ominousv signs in the arrival ar-rival of the aeroplane, retreated. Life saving in time of peace, while it has not attaiued more than a fraction of the number of lives saved in war, is, perhaps, more interesting to most people than the latter, being closer to daily needs and experiences of the general public. drop life belts, ropes, food, medicine or stimulants according to the urgency of the needs. With all the navies working to develop means for launching aeroplanes from battleships anc receiving them back, it is safe to say that th6 problems connected therewith will be solved verj soon. Then liners will carry aeroplanes to use foi carrying dispatches and for general pilot duties. Just as the water aeroplane is a wonderful aux iliary of the navy, It is a wonderful auxiliary foi ocean liners, promising to afford to passenger-carrying passenger-carrying ships services of the highest kind. The water aeroplane is wonderfully adapted for preventing disasters of the kind which overcame the steamship Titanic, and, in case such disasters take place, minimize the loss of -life. A flying boat on a steamer can rise to investigate unseen dangers ahead. It can do so at night as well as by using the ship's searchlights as the aeroplane's searchlights. In case of the vessel becoming disabled dis-abled the aeroplane can fly to notify other vessels, utilizing the wireless apparatus, with which every flying boat is being equipped In the foreign navies, na-vies, to notify the other steamships of the need or of its aproach. The most appalling thing in the Titanic disaster was that there were a number of steamships within with-in call distance some not as much as 40 miles away which the wireless telegraph did not reach in some cases because it became disabled as the ship sank. A flying boat could have covered the 40 miles in less than an hour, while its wireless plant would have notified the other vessels as it proceeded onward. A flying boat on the vessels that came to the rescue after the Titanic had sunk could have searched the surface of the sea for survivors, its altitude giving it a range of vision of miles, and could have found the survivors where the vessels did not see them. It would thus practically have superintended the work of life saving. Each year there is a long list of people w-ho are drowned from falling overboard from large vessels and who cannot be rescued in time to save their lives, the boat sent to save them reaching them too late to be of avail. A flying boat can be launched and can search for the person that has fallen overboard and can drop a safety belt or land by and pick him up much faster than the fastest life saving boat. The sea is an unknown quantity in many respects, re-spects, and the biggest of steamships is very much at Its mercy, and assistance of the kind w hich the flying boat affords is a necessity. A vessel ves-sel at sea often meets signs of wrecks or It is signalled by craft in distress. At the present time there is no way to Investigate such things without involving a great delay or putting the craft itself In danger through taking It out of Its marked route, which is the safety zone. A flying boat can do all these things for the vessel. It can be launched launch-ed with two men, one of whom searches the surface sur-face of thet sea with powerful glasses. The vessel ves-sel can proceed on 'Its course; the flying boat will overtake It after having discharged Its mission As even a special machine and the equipment cannot cost more than J10.000, it is evident that it is an absurdly cheap factor of efficiency which every ciaft. can afford and should have. |