Good to see that – critiscism but not unkind just “warts ‘n all”. I hope the folks at MoBA get to see it and glean some use from it.

The old adage “If you are pleased with your visit tell others, if you’re not tell us” is a sound one. Genuine customer comments are gold dust. It’s nice, I know, to bathe in the “enjoyed” comments but the critiscisms are the useful ones.

Roger Smith.

Hi Andy, still working, intermittently, on the list spurred on a little by the intention to attend a forthcoming RRHT Coventry Branch lecture about Napier.
Had a rather cofusing reply from the Science Museum – still attempting to decipher :confused: Certain i wrote the same time to RAFMuseum but have no record in my ‘sent’ box so will write again(?).
Your being jibed about running a Leonides on it’s side – I thought that’s what a lot of them were designed to do 😀

Roger Smith.

Thanks John – useful to have the 1910 reference to “ornithopter”

Roger Smith.

ps which is tagline? the three Bristols or ex-member of Midland A.M.??

…… British Aeroplanes 08-14 ………One entry had me chuckling, “The ornithopter flew sucessfully until it’s progress was arrested by a tree”. John

John, which “British Aeroplanes..” is this and do you know when it was published?

I am intruiged to know when the word “ornithopter” first came into use.

In some long-term research I am doing into the aeronautical work of Major Ross Franklin Moore (ex Indian Army/RE) I have a references to him in “The Aeronautical Journal” over a period of 9 – 10 years. In 1909 he and Mr Handley Page* were both on the Wings Committee of the Aeronautical Society of Gt. Britain (later the R.Ae.S) and jointly submitted a report “Experiments with flapping wings”. Three years earlier Moore wrote a brief article for the AJ “Wings versus aeroplanes”. The “wings” via their flapping motion provide both lift and forward motion whereas “aeroplanes” need the addition/disadvantage of a screw propellor. We might be amused now with hindsight but this was serious stuff.

It therefore seems to be the case that, even in 1909, (near, I assume, to the time when flapping wing experiments ended) the term “ornithopter” was not in use – at least by such an august body as the Aeronautical Society.

Roger Smith.

* The title of the published report has “….and S.H.Page.” I presume this was a typographical error and it should have read F.H.Page – or were there two brothers???

…….I am still not sure what it is from these posts:confused:

No – it took a bit of working out :confused:
Basically, John Aeroclub (post 15) says he found an article in 1937 “Flight” about the Fw 200 with the same photograph as posted in post 1 🙂

Roger Smith.

would the 1974 or 1976 “Wrecks & Relics” list it??? (mine aren’t to hand)

Roger Smith

I think the sense of outrage generally felt here is directly proportional to how close the incident was – close in time, close in that many of us knew of those that died (knew by association) and, in some cases, close by being a witness.

Who here hasn’t watched film of Bluebird crashing on Coniston more than once? that was 40+ years ago. Who hasn’t watched footage of a Hurricane diving into the Channel taking it’s pilot to the deep or a Heinkel and it’s crew perishing on Newsreels? that was nearly 70 years ago.

Regularly photos are posted on this Forum of aircraft wrecks where it seems obvious there were fatalaties. How soon after 9/11 were the first jokes made up?

I’m not defending the posting of the images on Youtube, still less crass comments made by some people that have watched them. We all live in the same World but we are all different – recognise it and move on.

Roger Smith.