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Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0648.PDF
OCTOBER 18, 1923 flying against a light wind the machine simply descended likea lift. In the stalls there was no violent movement, and the machine dived and regained flying speed with a surprisinglysmall drop. Thus, should a pilot accidentally stall the machine at about 50 ft., there seems to be every probabilitythat she would still have plenty of room to regain her normal attitude before touching the ground. The stability seems tobe extraordinarily good, so much so, in fact, that Squadron- Leader Maurice Wright had removed the cross-level from hismachine, as it was not required. He never bothered about lateral control in normal flying, as the machine, if tilted by agust, righted itself without any assistance from the pilot. Another point in favour of the " Wren " is that, with thefuselage projecting forward as it does under the propeller, it is impossible to smash the latter, while for all practical•purposes it should be equally impossible to turn the machine over on landing. Altogether the " Wren " is one of the mostamazing aeroplanes ever constructed, and absolutely the only criticism that anyone could possibly level against it is that forcross-country flying it might be found a little slow. As against that must be set the fact that the machine is as near " fool-proof " as any aeroplane we have ever seen. The propor- tioning of fin surfaces, dihedral, control surfaces, etc., seem tobe as near perfection as one is ever likely to attain. The aero- dynamic efficiency is extraordinarily good—must be so inview of the performance attained with an engine of but 398 c.c. capacity. The " Wren " is not a racer, but when thathas been said all has been said that could be brought up against it. About one hour before the official closing time Mr. Pierceyreturned from his altitude flight on the A.N.E.C. (No. 17), and his barograph, when corrected for temperature, showedthat he had reached a height of 14,400 ft. On landing Mr. Piercey, who may be assumed to have been numbed with theintense cold at the great height at which he had been flying, overshot the mark somewhat, and was still going at fairly highspeed on the ground when approaching the enclosures. Capt. Rogers, a representative of the British Petroleum Company,flung himself against one of the wings of the machine, thus causing it to swerve. In so doing he was winded and bruised,but he prevented the machine from running into the railings. Instead it collided with the tail plane of the de HavillandNo. 8, which was damaged. The wing tip of the A.N.E.C. also suffered somewhat, and a final attempt by James to beatMacmillan's speed figure had to be abandoned. Some time later Capt. Hamersley landed on the Avro biplane, and thecorrected reading of his altimeter was recorded at 13,850 ft. The Prize WinnersThus ended the first British light 'plane meeting, and the final figures attained gave the following results and prize-winners :— The Duke of Sutherland's prize of £500 and the Daily Mailprize of £1,000, offered for the greatest distance flown on one gallon of petrol, are divided evenly between Flight-Lieut.Longton, who flew the English Electric Company's " Wren " (No. 4), 398 c.c. A.B.C. engine, and Mr. " Jimmy " James,who piloted the A.N.E.C. monoplane (No. 17), 700 c.c. Blackburne engine. The mileage attained by both was87-5 m.p.g. The Abdulla prize of £500, offered for the greatest speedattained, was .won by Capt. Macmillan, who was flying a Parnall " Pixie>" with 750 c.c. Douglas engine. Macmillan'sspeed was 76 • 1 m.p.h. The prize of £200 offered by Sir Charles Wakefield for thegreatest height attained was won by Mr. Maurice Piercey, flying the same machine used by James in winning the economycompetition (A.N.E.C. monoplane, No. 17). Piercey's best height was 14,400 ft. "' The two prizes of £150 each, offered by the Society of MotorManufacturers and Traders and by the British Cycle and "• Motor-Cycle Manufacturers' and Traders' Union, for thegreatest total mileage covered during the meeting, was won by Mr. Bert Hinkler on the Avro monoplane, with 700 c.c.Blackburne engine, who covered 80 laps of the course, of a * total distance of 1,000 miles. A prize of £100, offered by the Duke of Sutherland and ~members of the Royal Aero Club for a landing competition, was awarded to Capt. Hamersley as an appreciation of hisfine performance in taking the little Avro biplane, 500 c.c. . Douglas, up to a height of 13,850 ft., the gusty wind having „prevented the landing and getting-off competition from being ' held. The Duke of Sutherland has already intimated his willingnessto offer another prize next year. This will probably be for two-seater light 'planes, His Grace being of the opinion thata machine that will carry a passenger in addition to the pilot should have a wider appeal than the single-seater. In thatcase the limit on engine capacity will probably be increased to about 1,200 or 1,500 c.c. It is also understood that Sir Samuel Hoare has intimatedthe probability of the Air Ministry offering a prize next year, so that the holding of light 'plane competitions seems to bein a fair way to become an annual event of considerable importance. .-':- .-.. The Supermarine " Sea Eagle " Weathers a Gale DURING the fierce northerly gale which swept over thesouthern half of the British Isles during October 3 and 4, the Supermarine " Sea Eagle " flying boat, employed on theBritish Marine Air Navigation Company's service between Southampton and Guernsey, had an excellent opportunity ofdemonstrating its seaworthy, and airworthy, qualities. The " Sea Eagle " left the air-port at Woolston on its usualvoyage to Guernsey on October 2. On the return journey in the evening, when about half the distance had been accom-plished, the machine ran into an exceptionally heavy storm, and the pilot, Capt. F. J. Bailey, thought it advisable to returnto Guernsey, which was safely reached. The machine was moored out for the night in the harbour. Instead of moderating, during Wednesday the gale increasedin force, and both sea and air traffic was held up. During the period that the " Sea Eagle " was lying at her moorings onWednesday the air-speed indicator in the pilot's cockpit gave a reading of 45 m.p.h., yet the " Sea Eagle " rode safely at itsmoorings and braved the storm undamaged. On Thursday afternoon the weather moderated somewhat,and the opportunity was taken to commence the return trip to Southampton, which was safely accomplished, against astrong head wind, in 2 hrs. 15 mins.—the normal time taken for the journey being 1 hr. 30 mins. Referring to the " accident " to one of the Supermarineflying boats on the Channel Island service last Saturday, as some rather misleading statements appeared in the Press wegive herewith the actual facts of the incident. On Saturday afternoon Capt. F. J,. Bailey, accompanied by a mechanicnamed Linsdale, left St. Peter Port, Guernsey, on the return trip to Southampton. Capt. H. C. Biard, with five passengersand a mechanic, followed on a second machine two minutes later. When about five miles off Alderney, Bailey's machine(G-EBGR) was compelled to descend owing to engine trouble. Seeing his colleague's plight, Biard also descended, with the object of rendering assistance. Being unable togive any help, however, and observing that the other machine was riding the water well in spite of a very choppy sea, Biarddecided to put back to Guernsey, which he accomplished safely. Shortly after, a motor boat was sent off to assist the othermachine, which in the meanwhile had cast out its sea-anchor and was patiently awaiting help. Bailey fired S.O.S. signalsat intervals, and after about five hours, during which time the machine rode the rough sea in fine style, the motor boat Litarescued the captain and " crew " and towed the machine, safely and undamaged, into Alderney Harbour. Gordon-Bennett Balloon Race THE official result of the balloon race for the Gordon- Bennett Cup is declared as follows :— .' ...... _ - ^: .: ., •-.'..,... „; Distance • :-;v-v"i -.:,_-:.: ••.-.•-.-•......•./*.;•.• ' -^.;.^~ji- _•':- covered. ~'r-v~;-:i~.-*-_ :'.""•• •" Kms. ;* --•>''.. 1,005 ••.. .. 546 '.,'•:" .. 328.. 282 .. .. 175 1. 2.3. 4.5. 6. Belgica (Belgium) .."'..Prince Leopold (Belgium) Helvetia (Switzerland) ..Hesperic (Spain) Picardie (France)U.S. Navy 6,699 (America) 648 7. Banshee III (Great Britain) .. .. .. 139 8. Douro (Spain) :. 1349. U.S. Army S.6 (America)* 130 10. Zurich (Switzerland) 8511. Geneva (Switzerland)* 67 12. Savoie (France) 6413. Femande (France) 57 14. Polar (Spain)* 34* Disasters overtook the balloons occupying the ninth., eleventh, and fourteenth places. Margaret (Great Britain),which covered 875 kms., was unplaced owing to having descended in the sea. I
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