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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0668.PDF
SEPTEMBER 16, 1926 BRpSH LlGHG TfyVN6 DEVHQPM6NG& LyMPN6 (DEEGINQ Lytnpne Aerodrome, Friday, September 10.—The eliminating trials for the machines taking part in the competition for light 'planes which commences on the morning of Sunday, September 12, opened this morning at 10 o'clock. Already before that time one machine had " eliminated " itself, i.e., the A.N.E.C. monoplane " Missel-Thrush," which came to grief yesterday through a most trivial cause. Col. G. L. P. Henderson was taxying it along the ground when a wheel hit a slight bump, the rubber shock absorber stretched rather more than it should have done, •with the result that the axle and wheel rose to the limit of their travel. This brought the two projecting ends of the undercarriage leg below the level of the tyre, the tube ends of the leg dug into the ground, and tripped the machine up, causing it to turn over and damage itself so badly that repairs were quite out of the question. Fortunately, Col. Henderson was uninj ured. The loss of the machine, however, was a severe blow to the Air Navigation and Engineering Company, with whom, and with Col. Henderson, all will sympathise very sincerely. This morning as 10 o'clock approached it became obvious that the " Missel-Thrush " would not be the only " non-starter." It was already known that the Halton biplane could not possibly be finished in time to get to Lympne by 10 a.m., but it had been hoped that the R.A.E. Aero Club's " Sirocco " might just scrape through in time, as it was reported to have been tested in flight. However, by 10 a.m. it had not arrived, and the original number of entries, which had already been re- duced by the scratching of the Cranwell biplane (No. 11), was thus further reduced by three, bringing the number of ma- chines ready to commence their eliminating trials down to 12. A large proportion of the competing machines had arrived by air but we think it should be placed on record that Mr. Hinkler brought over the Avro " Avian " with the full load which it is to carry in the competition. This load, by the way, is in the form of two large steel tubes filled with lead which are bolted under the fuselage. For a time there appeared to be some discussion as to whether carrying useful load outboard in this manner was permissible, the wording [" FLIGHT " Photograph DISTINGUISHED VISITORS AT LYMPNE : Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for Air, and Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation, watching the proceedings. of the regulations dealing with useful load being : " Addi- tional weight may be carried anywhere in the aeroplane as useful load. . . ." There were those who claimed that the word in should be taken literally, and that lead-filled tubes carried under the fuselage were not in the aeroplane. It would seem that a better word to have used would be on the aeroplane, since apparently the rule was framed with the object of allowing the load to be placed anywhere other than the seat. The objection was ruled out, and Hinkler will be carrying a couple of tubes weighing something like 205 lbs. each around the South of England for the next week. It is to be hoped that the supports are secure. Shortly after 10 a.m. the official business of weighing the machines, pilots, passengers, ballast, &c, was commenced, the first machine to go on the scales being the Hawker "Cygnet" (No. 6). While some machines were being weighed others were put through the dismantling, hous- ing and re-erecting test, the. first to pass this being the: de Havilland " Moth." AIL machines passed this test without difficulty, the longest time naturally being taken by the Supermarine, " Sparrow," in which the wing has to be taken right off and placed along the port side of the fuselage. The weighing of the machines was a more difficult business, and occupied the best part of the day. Several surprises were brought out by the official scales, and in one or two instances it was only by the A.I.D. granting a certificate of airworthiness for a slightly higher total loaded weight that machines had any load to spare for sufficient petrol to carry them around some of the longer circuits. The Blackburn " Bluebird " in quite a different way, was in a rather peculiar position on account of the C. of A. Fairly early in the day Longton brought it out and demonstrated that to clear the 25 ft. barriers with a run of 300 yards was child's play for this machine, carrying, of course, the full load up to the C. of A. figure. The machine got off like a scout, and would obviously carry another 100 lbs. load without being overloaded as far as performance went. Presumably what had happened was that the C. of A. load asked for, and obtained, was too low, 592
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