REFLECTIONS   Ed Chenevey

This year we had ten people pay their dues and two of them live down South. For several years I've added Ernie and my son to the list of members sent to HQ. We cancelled three meetings and only three to five people attended the others. The Chapter has been struggling for years now so it seems to me that it is not worth paying $180 dues and insurance to the EAA so that a few of us can get together and talk. We can do that anyway. I'm getting old and tired and I think everyone else is too, so I suggest that we let the Chapter become inactive. I will distribute the Treasury to the Chapter members. Now is the time to speak up!

I recently obtained an issue of Flying from November 1914. This is only 11 years after the Wright brothers first flew. It took them several more years before they could "really" fly. Yet in those few short years before the war tremendous progress was made; twin row rotary engines, streamline monoplanes, four engine aircraft carrying payloads long distances, speeds that weren't seen again until after the War and altitude and distance records that were broken regularly. Once Bleriot flew the English Channel the nations in Europe recognized the significance of the airplane for their security. This issue contains a list of aircraft, engine, and accessories manufacturers. One that I had never heard of was Maximilian Schmitt Aeroplane & Motor Works of Patterson, NJ. Ole Flottorp was already making propellers. A Chapter on the theory of the Burgess-Dunne swept wing biplane tailless seaplane with a 120 HP Salmson radial engine was presented. The American altitude record had just been increased to 17,185 ft by the army in a 100 hp Jenny.

Already there were war stories from Europe. The famous drawing showing British flyers shooting pistols at a German flyer below from the Illustrated London News and the NY Sun is the Frontispiece. Strategic bombing had occurred on both sides; east and west. Zeppelins had been shot down in Poland and the west. The British bombed the Zeppelin hangars at Dusseldorf and Cologne. The Germans bombed Paris, Warsaw, Antwerp, Ghent and numerous other towns. A German Aviatic was shot down by a French airplane with a machine gun, and the citizens of Paris were complaining about not being protected from German bombs. The French had made steel darts which were packaged in boxes of 1000 and dropped from a plane. The Curtis transatlantic flying boat built for Rodman Wanamaker was shipped to England on the Mauretania. Six more had been purchased by private individuals and were being built for future shipment. All this, only eleven years after the Wrights flew a few feet at an altitude of a few feet into a strong wind. And while some flights occurred in Europe, it wasn't until after Wilbur flew in Europe in 1908 that rapid progress was made.

I guess we will decide the future of Chapter 238 at our next meeting. Sad if we let it go. I guess not enough shoot-emup games. I can’t think of what most young people are spending their time with, but to me, compared to what we do, it is all fake. Steve soloed last Thursday. No big deal, just had fun (his words). All he has to do now is keep his nose clean and his grades up to get a preferred position after graduation. Easy for me to say.

The fuel tank for the Hatz is coming together. The bottom section is welded up with the fittings on, The top is riveted to the baffles. All that is left is to weld around the outside and then chase leaks. Some puckering from welding the fittings on. Bondo to the rescue. Next time I will rivet with sealant. I was too lazy to flange the holes for the outlet fittings, result would have been better if I did.

Al