The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-07

pdsseu since the world EaSpeu al the news that a man had flown from Calais to Dover, a performance that today scarcely merits a paragraph in the news papers Neither yedrines nor Beaumont then had taken out his pilots certificate, and Englands only airman of real con- sequence was Claude Grahame White, though these islands also claimed the daring but always unlucky Latham who was beaten across the channel by Bleriot, and finally killed by a wild buffalo in Central Africa.
 Tn 1910 it was then that young Hamel, who already had become known to fame to some extent daring motorist, and who had been bitten badly with the aerial fever, started off one day for Pau, where Bleriot's flying ground is situated and there proceeded to teach himself to handle an aeroplane. That Is literally what happened" he remarked to me out at the aerodrome the other day. while pretty Beatrice Hozier, a sister-m-law of Win ston Churchill the first lord of the ad- miralty. was tying scarf round her head, preparatory to a flight with him. Tn these days" he added pupils at schools of aviation really get careful instruction but at that time they took one's money and let him learn what he could by himself, and if he broke his neck so much the worse"
 Took to Flying
 Hamel, however, took to flying as a chorus girl takes to lobster and coming back to England, soon became known as one of the most daring of the airmen who have made the Tendon aerodrome both famous and fashionable, and who then in- cluded Robert Lorraine, the actor-aviator, J. H. D. Astley. who was killed under such tragic circumstances at Belfast: Claude Grahame White, who now seems to prefer building aeropanes to driving them, and Barber, Sopwith, Valentine and B. C. Hucks today HamePs only English rival at the business of looping the loop.
 Having mastered the art of flying. Hamel began to take part in races, and scored his first real success in May, 1911, when he won the big handicap air race from Brooklands to Brighton, In which all the English cracks of the day took part. Hamel was scratch man and cov- cred the 40 miles in 57 minutes and 10 sec- onds. A few months later he represented England in the Gordon Bennett race and made good showing against the French cracks, and in September of the same year he again drew public attention to himself by carrying the worlds first aerial post from Tendon to Windsor being the only one of four aviators to venture the flight against turbulent wind and cov- ering the 19 miles at the rate of 105 miles an hour. The mall bag which he then car ried contained letters to the King and other members of the royal family, greet ings from the postmaster-genera to for eign postmasters, letters from ambassa- dors and cabinet ministers, and screeds written by the general public-9000 in all.
 It was in October. 1911. that Iamel first flew across the channel, the immediate object of this flight being to bring a new 70 horse power Bleriot from It's inventors country residence, near Boulogne, across the Bleriot school, near Tendon.
 High Altitude
 Practically all the way from France to Canterbury" said the. airman afterward,i q travelled at an altitude of between 5000 and 5000 feet, the highest l have ever been. I did it just for the fun of the thing. When in the middle of the Chan nel l could not see the coast on either side. It was good sport trying to dodge the thick banks of fog which seemed to be travelling everywhere"
 Hamels first cross-channel flight with a passenger was made, as has been said, in April, 1912 and attracted worldwide attention. A little later he won a big cross-country handicap race and big al- ttude contest, and in June of the same year he flew in the French Air Derby as tho representative of England. This was the circuit of Anjou, 6s2 miles over a tri- angular course with a passenger, and Hamel, in the first round looked like a winner. but in landing he managed to smash his propeller and one wheel, and had to withdraw.
 Between this flight and his great one | from Dover to Cologne, came half a | dozen or more crossings of the channel. both with and without Miss Trehawke l Davies one of the former being accom- | plished in 12 minutes. Also a wonderful | cross country performance between Bir- mingham and Tendon, when Hamel set up new record, flying the distance of 1 100 miles in Just short of 90 minutes. In 1 September of the same year. too. he won the great aerial derby around Great | CT London which was watched by over | 100000 people, beating such experts as | Hucks, Verrler, Hawker and Marty, and | covering the 941k miles in one hour, 15 | minutes and 491s seconds. In this race he saved the situation in an eminently char acteristic way. While crossing the | Thames at West Thurrack, a screw at | taching a petrol tap worked out and the cap fell off The aviator was obliged to hold a finger on the oriiice for the re- 1 maining 40 miles of the journey, and he declares that it was pretty stiff at the | finish.
 Is Trick Flyer
 Hamel, however, is at his best as a trick flyer. On a Bleriot he has no rival, except perhaps the Frenchman, Garros, and the stunts he can perform in the air
 
 able paddock enclosure" at Tendon with smart people eager to see this modern gladiator risking his life whenever it is announced that Hamel will be flying. More than once he has been lost to view in the clouds, and in September, 1912, he rose to height of over 20O0 feet and re- mained for nearly two minutes almost stationary, receiving when he descended, a tremendous ovation from the excited crowd that packed the aerodrome One day last year. too, just before flying with Miss Trehawke Davies from Dover to Tendon, Hamel flew halfway across the channel to meet the steamer that was coming from Calais and that had one of his friends. Ellis Sassor, the wit, on board. When they sighted the steamer, Hamel planed down from a height of loOO feet in a beautiful spiral, and then circled round and round the packet boat. after which he and his fair passenger flew on on their way back to London. Perhaps the closest call that Hamel ever has had came while in March, 1913, he was making an exhibition flight at Sanger, In North Wales. and fell from height of nearly 200 feet. The big crowd supposed 1t was about to witness n disaster and sey-