Exhibit of Historic Aeroplanes

Abstract

A SPECIAL exhibit of aeroplanes representing an epoch in the history of aviation has been arranged in No. 1 Gallery at the Science Museum, South Kensington, and will be on view for about six weeks. The machines have been lent by Mr. R. G. J. Nash, who has carefully restored them to their original condition and has flown them on various occasions. The exhibit is an interesting supplement to the permanent National Aeronautical Collection which contains such historic machines as the original Wright biplane of 1903 and the Vickers-Vimy trans-Atlantic aeroplane of 1919. A Bleriot monoplane, type XI (Cross-Channel type), was flown by M. Leon Molon at Doncaster in October 1909, where it gained a height record. It has a speed of about 40 m.p.h. and is similar to the machine in which Louis Bleriot made his historic crossing of the Channel from the French coast to Dover on July 25, 1909. Another Bleriot (type XXVII) with a speed of 80 m.p.h. is the original Gordon Bennett Cup racing machine which Alfred Leblanc flew at Long Island, U.S.A., in 1911. These machines represent the aeroplane in an early stage of its development as a mode of transport-o still experimental and confined mainly to exhibition flying and competitions. No degree of standardization had then been reached, and the aeroplane was not regarded as a really proved instrument; the position was still one of uncertainty as to the future of flight. The advent of the Great War in 1914 had, however, a profound effect on the aeroplane, and it produced an intensive development which may be estimated from the example of a Sopwith “Camel” of 1917, a famous fighter scout which was the first aeroplane to be fitted with twin synchronized guns and had a performance undreamt of in 1909, namely, a speed of 113 m.p.h. at 10,000 ft. and a climb to 5,000 ft. in five minutes. An actual wartime Fokker D.VII fighter, which belonged to Jadgstaffel 71 of the German Air Force, also shows the rapid development of the aeroplane for military uses which resulted from the stimulus of war. Another famous aeroplane of the War period is the Vickers-Vimy bomber, which made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic on June 14-15, 1919, piloted by the late Sir John Alcock with Sir Arthur Whitten Brown as navigator, now exhibited in Gallery VI.