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Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0611.PDF
OCTOBER 19, 1922 On the summit of Firle Beacon Hill : From left to right : Col. Darby, Col. Ogilvie, Capt. Nicholl, and Mr. Fairey. the hill. He then ran into calmer air, and began to drop. When at a very low altitude over the bottom of the valley the machine was struck by a gust which lifted the right wing. Swinging round to the left. Capt. Broad righted the machine again, but there was no time to get her round into the wind, and he had to make a landing in a cross-wind. From the top of the hill he appeared to make quite a good landing, but afterwards it was learned that he had damaged a wheel of the undercarriage. The duration of his flight was 2 mins. 18 sees., so that Raynham's time was beaten. Capt. Heme got away next, some 20 minutes late, on No. 33 (Margon). Shooting into the air he rose rapidly, and his machine appeared a good deal steadier than Broad's. Heme held his height admirably for quite a long distance, but finally got out of the ascending current, and had to commence a glide into the valley. He seemed to be going well when, close to the ground, his left wing was seen to rise. He then disappeared from view, and it was impossible to tell what sort of landing he had made. Later it was learned that he • had come into contact with a hedge, and when his machine was next seen on the hill its wings were torn considerably, and one of the top bracing wires broken. However, the damage appeared to be to the fabric covering only, and should be easily repaired. Heme's time was 2 mins. 38 sees. As this was his first flight on the machine, his performance was a highly creditable one. In the meantime Jeyes, who had repaired the damage sustained on Saturday, had the Aachen brought up to the top of Beddingham Hill, and about 1 p.m. he was " shot " over the edge. The towing rope appeared to catch in something, and the machine rocked somewhat violently for a few seconds. Then, however, the ropes came adrift, and the machine got away well, Jeyes keeping his altitude for a considerable time. The fact of the ropes sticking had somewhat spoilt the flight, as he lost the few seconds when he should have been getting his height. However, in spite of this he did very well, remaining up for about three minutes. He made a perfect landing in a valley. The Fokker biplane had by now been brought up to the top of the ridge, and as Fokker passed on his way towards Firle Beacon it was concluded that he would make an attempt from there. His method of transporting the. glider is to place it across his Cadillac, and lash it fore and aft, letting it rest and pivot on its central skid. Raynham and Gordon England had by then also decided to bring their machines to Firle Beacon, where the wind appeared strong and seemed to offer possibilities of extended flights. Shortly after 2 p.m. Fokker took his seat in the machine, with Mr, Bewsher as passenger. Then followed a long wait, during which there was much photographing and whirring of cine-cameras. Fokker said he was waiting for the wind to get up. Ultimately he got off well about 2.30, £tnd rose rapidly. Instead of flying out from the hill, as all previous pilots with the exception of Jeyes had done, Fokker hugged the edge of the range letting his machine proceed crab-fashion towards Bostal Hill to the south-east. The machine rose and fell as it got into and out of the ascending air currents. For quite a long period the biplane appeared to be standing still in the neighbourhood of Bostal. It was then seen to turn and com mence its return journey, still at a greater altitude than the starting point. It was hoped that Fokker would be able to alight on the hill from which he had started, but he appeared to drift too far to the north away from the ridge, and to get out of the rising currents. Coming back towards Firle, losing height gradually, he made a right-hand turn into the valley and got ready to land. Just before touching, the machine was seen to approach a small gap in a hedge. The gap being too narrow to let the machine pass, Fokker "jumped" it, and alighted smoothly on the other side, having been in the air seven minutes, which was an extremely fine performance, considering that he carried a passenger. Raynham and Gordon England had not failed to learn their lesson from Fokker's method, and as soon as his flight was concluded, they ran to the top of Firle Beacon to get their machines ready. Raynham got away just before three and rapidly gained altitude, " hugging the coast " as Fokker had done, and drifting crabwise towards Bostal. His altitude increased from time to time, while now and then the machine would drop as it got out of the air currents. As in the case of Fokker, Raynham seemed to remain for a long time near Bdstal, but finally he was seen to let his machine drift to the right, close to the hill, make a left-hand turn, and commence to return. He was still well above his starting-point, and we began to hope that he might gain Firle without losing height, and thus be able to make a second trip. This was not to be, p however, and the machine seemed to get out of the rising air and began to drop. When Raynham saw that he could not regain his starting-point, he glided down wind, passing Firle Beacon at a great pace, some 200 ft. below the top, and finally he disappeared from view. He had by then been up 10 minutes, and it was stated later that his actual time in the air was 11 mins. 23 sees., an extremely fine performance. Raynham told us later that he had a great deal of fun in landing. Apparently, as he turned north and was drifting sideways across the fields, he felt the up-currents from the ridges and hedges, and in this manner he hopped sideways over several hedges, finally turning into the wind and landing smoothly. Everyone was delighted with his performance, and he was considered a certain winner of the Ogilvie Prize. When Raynham had landed, Gordon England made a start, about 3.20 p.m., getting into the air very well indeed, and gaining height as Fokker and Raynham had done. The steadiness of England's machine was remarkable, by far the steadiest flight of the day. " Crabbing " towards Bostal, England appeared to rise and drop more than the others had done, but always on a very even keel. He had gone "a long way towards Bostal when it was noticed that, in spite of his keeping even closer to the ridge than had Fokker and Rayn- ham, he lost altitude rapidly. The explanation soon became obvious. In the excitement we had not noticed that the wind had dropped ; but England's machine, not being of an excitable nature, did notice it, and acted accordingly. Soon he was seen to turn north, and make a landing some distance east of Firle Beacon. His time in the air was 4 mins. 32 sees. This was the first flight of the day to represent a decrease in duration, but it was obviously caused by the failing wind. In the meantime Merriam had had his machine brought up to the top of Itford Hill, from which he had intended to make a flight. All the time-keepers and officials were however, at the eastern end of the ridge, at Firle Beacon, and Merriam commenced to wheel his monoplane Firlewards. The drop ping wind, however, caused him to alter his decision, especially as it was getting rather late. Curiously enough, the wind increased in force again towards sunset, and Fokker, who had brought his biplane to the top of Firle, decided to have another attempt. Although the sun was getting very close to the edge of the western hills, he took off about 4.45, this time alone in the machine. Without going so far afield as on the previous flight, he cruised around, circled and turned, constantly rising and falling, but main taining a fair average level above his starting-point. The sun disappeared behind the hills, although it would probably still be visible over flat country, and still Fokker kept on 6ll
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