The Royal Aero Club.

At the meeting of the committee on the 16th ult. the following new members were elected :-Lieut. Reginald Cholmondeley, F. B. Fowler, F. Henry Fowler, W. Hugh Spottiswoode. Total membership to date, 1,396.

R.E.

The following aviators' certificates were granted:-243, V. H. N. Wadham (Farman, Sopwith School, Brooklands); 244, Lieut. P. L. W. Herbert (Farman, Sopwith School, Brooklands); 245, 2nd Lieut. A. Christie, R.F.A. (Bristol, Bristol School, Brooklands); 246, Lieut. H. I. Bulkeley, (Bristol, Bristol School, Brooklands); 247, Lieut. E. V. Anderson (Bristol, Bristol School, Brooklands); 248, R. H. Kershaw (Howard Wright, Grahame-White School, Hendon); 249, Lieut. K. Rawson Shaw (Bristol, Bristol School, Salisbury Plain); 250, R. A. Lister (Bristol, Bristol School, Salisbury Plain).

A letter from the Aero Club of America, requesting the club to sanction the granting of a certificate to Mr. R. B. Russell, was considered, and the necessary permission was granted. The special certificate was granted to 5, Lieut. A. G. Fox, R.F.C. (Bristol biplane). Cross-country course, Lark Hill to Cheltenham and back.

At the request of the War Office the club agreed to place the services of the secretary, Mr. Perrin, at the disposal of the Judges' Committee during the Military Aeroplane Competition, at Salisbury Plain, during this month.

Flights over the Sea. The following resolution was unanimously passed:-" Resolved that aviators shall be prohibited from attempting flights over the sea, beyond the threemile limit, unless suitable precautions have been taken to render their aircraft capable of flotation."

This action has been taken by the Royal Aero Club so that, in the event of an aviator having to descend on to the water, there may be a reasonable chance of his being rescued and thus avoid, as far as possible, a recurrence of the fatal accidents which have happened through flights over the sea having been attempted by aviators on machines that are not capable of floating. The Royal Aero Club feels that it is against the best interests of aviation that unnecessary risks should be incurred, and it will be constrained to take such action as may appear necessary or desirable against any aviator neglecting to take suitable precautions.

Three new Bristol pilots-Mr. Holyoake, Major Higgins and Captain Macdonell.

Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee. The following official representatives were appointed :-Yorkshire, Mr. Stuart H. Hirst, Leeds; Mr. H. E. Harwood, Leeds. East Riding, Mr. J. Wilkinson, Hull; Southport, Mr. Leonard Williamson; Scotland, Mr. J. A. Sillars, Mr. John R. Renwick, and Mr. James G. Weir.

British Manufacturers' Sub-committee.-The ballot for the election of this sub-committee has resulted in the

following being elected :-Aeroplane manufacturers :J. W. Dunne (Blair Atholl Aeroplane Syndicate, Ltd.), C. Grahame-White (Grahame-White Aviation Co.), L. Howard-Flanders (L. Howard-Flanders, Ltd.), H. P. Martin (Martin and Handasyde), Lieut. J. C. Porte (British Deperdussin Aeroplane Co., Ltd.), A. V. Roe (A. V. Roe and Co.), H. Short (Short Bros.), T. O. M. Sopwith, G. Stanley White (British and Colonial Aeroplane Co., Ltd.), Howard T. Wright (Coventry Ordnance Works, Ltd.). Aeroplane Engine Manufacturers :-R. L. Charteris (All-British Engine Co., Ltd.), J. E. Hutton (Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Co., Ltd.), R. J. Isaacson (Isaacson Radial Engine Co., Ltd.), F. May (The Green Engine Co.), J. C. Mort (New Engine Motor Co., Ltd.). At the committee meeting on the 24th the following aviators' certificates were granted:-251. Harold Sweetman-Powell (Burgess-Wright biplane, Sopwith School, Brooklands). 252. Lieut. Hugh Lambert Reilly, I.A. (Deperdussin monoplane, Deperdussin School, Hendon). 253. Air Mechanic William Victor Strugnell (Bristol biplane, Army School, Salisbury Plain). 254 Lieut. F. M. Worthington-Wilmer (Bristol biplane, Bristol School, Brooklands). 255. Capt. Robert C. W. Alston, H.L.I. (Farman biplane, Sopwith School, Brooklands). 256. Lieut. Claude Albemarle Bettington (Bristol monoplane, Bristol School, Salisbury Plain). 257. Capt. Chas. Darbyshire (Vickers monoplane, Vickers School, Brooklands). 258. Robert William Rickerby Gill (Deperdussin monoplane, Deperdussin School, Hendon). 259. Edward Petre (Handley Page monoplane, Handley Page School, Fairlop). 260. Lieut. Francis FitzGerald Waldron (Bristol biplane, Bristol School, Brooklands). 261. H. R. Simms (Avro biplane, Brooklands). The following Royal Aero Club Special Certificate was granted :-6. Capt. P. Hamilton (Deperdussin monoplane). Cross-country course: Lark Hill to Weymouth and back.

Flying in Australia.

Captain" Penfold, the Australian aeronaut, has been kind enough to send cuttings from an Australian paper giving particulars of an attempt to get up a race on June 15th from the Ascot racecourse to Rosehill racecourse, between Hart, the Australian, on an aged Bristol biplane, and Stone, an American, on a Metz (Blériot type) monoplane. There was a strong wind high up, which, of course, the crowd below did not understand. To quote the Sydney Daily Telegraph: "The rising ground overlooking the course was black with free-show lovers, who loudly proclaimed the show a 'frost,' because two men declined to risk their necks by going up on what Hart described as a 'suicide expedition,' but would not risk two shillings of their money on the show." Despite the wind, both aviators pluckily gave short exhibition flights, Hart damaging his machine in doing so.

An Aero Show for 1913.

The Aero Section of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders decided at their last meeting that a show should be held in London in May of next year. It is certainly good news to hear that we are again to have an aeronautical show in this country, but it is rather open to debate as to whether May is the best time or not.

In favour of that date one may argue that May, being the height of the London season, the very best class of people will be in Town, and, therefore, there should be a good gate of the right class. On the other hand, the show in May would probably interfere considerably with ordinary school work, and possibly with the constructional work of the various manufacturers, because May is one of the months in which a great deal of flying is done. Furthermore, by that time any modifications which manufacturers produce as the result of seeing the latest French developments in the Paris Show in October, ought by then actually to be in use, whereas owing to the show it is quite probable that many improvements which might otherwise be in use by January or February may be held back to May for fear of their being copied by other constructors and produced at the show, so that in this country progress may be held back three or four months instead of being held forward. It is also argued against the date that foreign buyers, having seen the French machines in October, will not trouble to come over here in May to see the English machines, and that British buyers will have placed orders in France.

One View of the Question.

A certain well-known pilot who has views on the training of military aviators, was enquiring anxiously the other day what system of training would be adopted at the Central Flying School. As he put it, "I do not mind joining the Flying Corps if I am really going to get the chance of doing some cross-country flying, but I am certainly not going to spend a four months' course learning to count cows from a balloon." This seems to put fairly concisely a rather general misgiving among aviators, but they can rest assured that those in charge at the Central Flying School know rather too much about their job to waste probationers' time in that way. Still, practical training in observation is, for an officer, if possible, ever more important than training as a pilot, for the pilot must always be under the command of the observer, and it is likely thatas under the new French system-a large proportion of the pilots will be N.C.O.'s and men. It all depends on how observation is taught whether it is wasted time or a valuable education.

Mr. Harry Harper's Illness.

His many friends among those connected with aviation will regret sincerely to hear that Mr. Harry Harper, who has collaborated with Mr. Grahame-White in a number of very readable books, and who represented the Daily Mail with marked ability at every important event since the late Hubert Latham's first attempt to cross the Channel, has for some months been seriously ill. Though compelled by his avocation to suit his style to the level which is commonly supposed to be required by the readers of a popular halfpenny paper, Mr. Harper's description of actual occurrences reach a high average level of accuracy, and he can, when permitted, write really well. He is a keen student of the practical side of aviation, and keeps a close record of events as they happen, so that his historical references are almost always correct. His absence from duty recently has been a distinct loss to the readers of his paper, and probably accounts for some of the errors which have occurred in it of late, errors which could only have occurred through ignorance of past and present happenings.

From South Africa.

Mr. John L. Weston, of Brandfort, O.F.S., writes that he intends shortly to open a school at Bloemfontein, where he has obtained very suitable ground. He has been doing some flying lately in Cape Colony, and the following account of one of his adventures in his own words is quite worth recording :"Some weeks ago I was out with one of my machines at daybreak just outside King Williamstown, in Cape Colony. I had to start parallel with one of the boundaries of the local cemetery, which is surrounded by tall trees, the starting ground and cemetery being encircled by hills. The machine rose nicely, but when level with the top of the hills it was struck by a heavy gust, with a side glide towards the middle of the cemetery as the result; within a few feet of the ground, however, it recovered, and just cleared the trees ahead. At that moment a Cape cart occupied by an old lady from a neighbouring village made its appearance from behind a rise. You can imagine what effect the advent of the strange-looking

(With more abject apologies to Mr. Kipling.) What makes the pilot's 'eart to sink, what makes 'im for to swear?

It isn't gettin' up at dawn, an' freezin' in the air.

But it's everlastin' chasin' 'cross the everlastin' ground, While the latest new-joined pupil's goin' round an' round an' round.

O the pup, O the pup, O the evolutin' pup!

With 's silly tail a-waggin' like a tripe-hound in a fit.
'E goes and gets the other side, and there 'e fetches up.
Yes! the pupil on the taxi 'e is absolutely IT.

What makes the poor propeller-swinger curse the very day
When first 'e saw an aerodrome, an' didn't keep away?
It ain't starvation wages, nor eight days' work a week,
It's the startin' up the engine for the newest pupil-freak.
O the pup, O the pup, O the cruel-careless pup!
You've sweated out, an' pulled him straight, an' troubled to
explain,

You've got 'is engine bangin' like a six-shot boudoir Krupp,
An' then 'e goes an' switches off, an' out you go again.

An' when you joins the Flyin' Corps and camps on Sal'sb'ry
Plain,

The same old silly pupil's at 'is silly tricks again.

'E learns Progressive Flyin'," same as Colonel Seely said, An' 'is pet way of doin' so 's enough to tire you dead.

O the pup! O the pup!! Oh the country-crossin' pup!!! 'E goes an' lands upon a 'ill as steep as any 'ouse.

You've got to go an' fetch 'im. Well! It's that what fills the cup,

It's that what puts the lid on, an' asphyxiates the mouse.

'E learns 'is photographin' and 'is meter-ology,
An' 'ow to spot the foreign ships without 'is goin' to sea;
'E then becomes a member of the Royal Flyin' Corps,"
An', just as soon as 'e can get, 'e chases off to war.
O the pup! O the pup! O the used-to-be-a pup!!
You think of 'im a-flyin' in a distant foreign land,
An' keepin' on a-doin' it without a bite nor sup.
It makes you wish 'im back again, for all you 'ad to stand.
C. G. G.

Instructive leaflet free, from Stanley,

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RISTOL PROPELLERS, manufactured and designed in England; used by leading aviators with great success. Greater efficiency, and less cost than the leading foreign makes. Standard types from stock. Special types to order in about eight days.-BRITISH AND COLONIAL AEROPLANE CO., Filton, Bristol.

MACHINES.

HP Gnome Blériot Single-Seater Monoplane

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DWARDS AND CO., Chartered Patent Agents and Consulting Engineers. Chancery Lane Station

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£25 TWO types Tractor Biplane and Mono £50 INCLUSIVE.

NOTICE. We do not push pupils through in two or three weeks, but let them practise and become expert pilots. The owners share breakages.-COLLYER AND ENGLAND, Shoreham Aerodrome.

НЕ

HERBERT SPENCER FLYING SCHOOL, Brooklands Aerodrome, Weybridge. Tuition and practical constructional work, £50. Passenger flights from £2 25. EPERDUSSIN Aviation School at Hendon;

DE Phorough instruction in flying by competent staff thorough tuition £75, including breakages and third party insurance.-Apply to THE BRITISH DEPERDUSSIN AEROPLANE SYNDICATE, LTD., 30, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus, S. W., or at Hendon.

CAUDRON and Percival clarity to

to pupils and certificated aviators wishing to practise apply the AERO CONSTRUCTION CO., Brooklands, Weybridge.

HARDWOODS for Aeroplanes Air-dried Timber,

specially selected, as supplied to leading constructors. Silver Spruce, Ash, Parang, Mahogany, Hickory and Ash Skids, Walnut, Three ply. Laminated blocks guaranteed perfect timber supplied for propellers. WM. MALLINSON AND SONS, 130, Hackney Road. 'Phone 4770 Wall.

AVIATION MAPS, by Alexander Gross contain

features which make them indispensable to all aviators going in for cross-country flights. Maps from aerodrome to aerodrome stocked. Special routes supplied at shortest notice.-PUBLISHERS, Geographia," Ltd., 33, Strand, W.C.

LOOK!

Pair Wheels, Axle, and Rubber, 7ft. Laminated Propeller, Petrol and Oil Tank; all new; £2.- VALKYRIE, Cheltenham.