Hendon. Exhibition flights, as per special note.

W. H. EWEN SCHOOL out, but too much wind for pupils. Mr. Ewen brought out 60-h.p. two-seater Caudron and took up number of pupils for instructional flights. Mr. S. Freshney, of Lincoln, also had passenger flight with Mr. Ewen.

Work on Windermere.

The Week-end at Hendon.

The weather, after its week-day calm, again broke out into storm on Saturday, and the ordinary races had to be abandoned. M. Desoutter made an excellent flight at 4.30 on the Gordon-Bennett Blériot, followed shortly afterwards by M. Nardini on his Deperdussin monoplane. Mr. Valentine then made a flight on the same Deperdussin, the first on this machine since last year.

Mr. Richard Gates took the new So-h.p. Gnôme three-seater Farman into the air just after five o'clock. The start to this flight was impressive and startling, the machine banking hard over to the left and then over to the right just after leaving ground. He made a flight of over ten minutes at a height of about 2,000 ft., landing well, with his engine missing badly. The explanation of the erratic beginning was that the controls were almost too stiff to move. Even Mr. Gates, whose muscular formation resembles that of a younger Sandow, fatigued after the flight.

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Mr. Blackburn flew in an astounding manner on the antique Grahame-White school biplane No. 9. This machine, from sheer lack of energy, flies customarily with its tail sweeping the ground and its elevator high in the air. No pilot of whatever skill could make this aeroplane fly in any but a hazardous manner. It should not be flown in high winds.

As dusk was falling a rapidly-arranged race was run off between Valentine (50-h.p. Gnôme Deperdussin monoplane), Blackburn (50-h.p. Gnôme Grahame-White biplane), Desoutter (50-h.p. Gnôme Blériot monoplane), and Turner (50-h.p. Gnome Grahame-White biplane). The competitors finished in this order, after which the remnants of the crowd silently vanished away.-R. T. R.

On Sunday, in spite of the doubtful weather, there was a goodly crowd of people at Hendon to witness the fine exhibition flying which took place, Mr. Lewis Turner starting at 3.30 promptly on the Grahame-White biplane, and doing some fine banked turns, switchbacking, etc. This was followed at 4.5 by a 10-minutes flight by Mr. Nardini, and then Mr. Desoutter at 4.50 went up for 30 minutes. At 5.50 Mr. Blackburn gave an exhibition flight of about 15 minutes, during which time Mr. Turner was up with a passenger. 6 p.m. Mr. Nardini was again giving the spectators a fine exhibition for about 20 minutes, after which Mr. Turner went up again to give an exhibition flight for 15 minutes before taking up another passenger. The last exhibition flight was given by Mr. Blackburn, starting about 7 o'clock.

Mr. Fenwick's Fatal Accident.

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By the death of Mr. R. C. Fenwick on Salisbury Plain on Tuesday, the 13th inst., British aviation has suffered a greater loss than has befallen for a very long time. One may grieve deeply for the death of a personal friend and yet recognise that his departure does not mean the loss of any ideas which would have helped aviation forward. In Fenwick we have lost not only a pilot of more than usual pluck and promise, but a man of ideas, who with proper means at his disposal would have produced new things of great value in the future.

Fenwick was born at South Shields in 1884. The writer first made his acquaintance early in 1910, when he was engaged in the building of a strange type of biplane for Mr. W. P. Thompson, of Liverpool, in Mr. Handley Page's works at Barking. This machine had the engine and pilot slung low down below the lower plane. Though it never became a really successful flier, Fenwick took his certificate on it in November, 1910, at Freshfield, his brevêt being No. 35 and dated November 29th; so it will be seen that though his name was little known he was one of our very early pilots.

Some little time ago he severed his connection with Mr.

The late R. C. Fenwick.

Thompson and Planes, Ltd., and, together with his friend, Mr. Swaby, started up at Freshfield as the Mersey Aeroplane Company, to build the machine on which he was killed.

The actual happening of the accident seems fairly clear. Fenwick had gone out, fortunately without a passenger, to test the machine. At the time it was quite calm. When he reached the first wood on the way to Fargo the wind sprung up suddenly in one gust to twenty miles an hour, four gusts being shown on the anemometer in quick succession. The machine, which was at about 300 ft., was seen to rock violently as the first gust struck her, then she dived as if the pilot intended to pick up speed by doing so. Then she came up, and continued to climb. Again the same thing happened, but this time she refused to come up, and dived plumb vertically for 200 ft., striking the ground nose first and turn

ing over. Fenwick was killed on the spot. It must be remembered that no one except Fenwick had ever flown the machine, and that he and Mr. Swaby had been working practically by themselves, so that they were deprived of the salutary if unpleasant criticisms of other pilots and constructors such as those which have led to alterations for the better in several machines which have had dangerous points as well as excellence in other ways. Also, he was used flying the machine, which had certainly flown some thousands of miles, in the steady sea winds at Freshfield, so naturally a machine might have been produced which, while excellent in many ways, would have control surfaces insufficient to hold the machine in such fierce gusts over the hilly and broken ground of Salisbury Plain.

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Another theory has been advanced as to the cause of the accident. It is known that the rudder bar of the machine was so placed that the pilot's heels rather than the hollow of his foot rested on it. Now Fenwick went up in a pair of shoes with smooth rubber soles, which were presumably wet when he got into the machine off the wet grass. It is therefore quite probable that the second pitch coming so quickly after the first, jerked his feet over the bar so that he fell into the front of the machine on top of the control lever and held it down. The theory is very plausible, and is a strong argument in favour of a safety belt, and a safety elevator bar such as that suggested some time ago.

As it is, R. C. Fenwick, full of pluck and ideas as he was, lies in his grave, a genuine martyr to the progress of aviation, thanks to the supineness of English business men who would not assist his enterprise. After all, it was a better death than dying of starvation in a garret after having one's ideas stolen, which is the lot of too many brilliant brains in this age of commercial piracy. May this be some consolation to poor Fenwick's friends. One can only hope that his close friend and partner, Mr. Swaby, will be able to carry the ideas in the machine to ultimate success, for that would be the best memorial to the gallant little sportsman who has left us. C. G. G.