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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0690.PDF
SEPTEMBER 8, 1927 PRIVA I FLYING A Section of FLIGHT in the .Interests of the Private Owner, Owner-Pilot, and Club Member SEVEN COUNTRIES IN EIGHT DAYS By IVOR H. McGLURE To discover the conveniences or difficulties of touring byair in Europe I persuaded a friend of mine, who is an experienced and able pilot, to spend his fortnight's holidaythis year in an attempt to visit with me fifteen countries in a " Moth." We made no more elaborate preparations than woshould have done had we been travelling by car, and we carried the little luggage that we needed with us. Onenecessary precaution that we took was to carry a small quantityof the currency of each of the countries, as banks havenot yet established branches at even" aerodrome. On July 29 we left Stag Lane aerodrome and landed at Lympneand Le Bourget for customs formalities. At Le Bourget we tried to fill up with petrol at the wrong hangars. It cost us adelay of an hour and a half. On previous occasions I have filled up and paid at the pump nearest to the Customs Houseand been away in under half-an-hour. That night we landed at the military aerodrome of Tours, 4| km. to theN.N.E. of the town. The commandant makes it a point of honour to extend a cordial welcome to visiting aircraft, and 1have always enjoyed every- possible assistance when I have landed there. The aerodrome is large and the ditch that runsacross the eastern portion need worry no one, as the hangar for visiting aircraft is at the western end, next to the largeshed marked RAVT. As it is a military aerodrome the formalities for paying for petrol are a little elaborate and mayoccupy a quarter of an hour. Mobiloil we had to fetch from a garage in town. Next morning we were given an accurateweather forecast for our route and soon emerged from rain and low cloud into fine weather. We landed at Bordeaux for petrol. The aerodrome that we chose is the State aerodrome atTeynac, 10 km. to the west of Bordeaux, in preference to the military aerodrome further to the west at Souge. The aero-drome has an indifferent surface, with a small pond in the middle, and is nearly surrounded by trees. Nevertheless,it is large enough to present no difficulties. The organisation, as at most State aerodromes in France, is good, and there is avery welcome canteen. Thence we flew to Biarritz, leaving the big wireless masts south of Teynac on our left, over theimmense forests of the Landes, beautiful and fragrant, but inhospitable to aircraft. Biarritz is a very bad aerodrome, and,though there is a guardian, it is not official. It is small, the surface is very bad, there is not even a wind stocking, andthere is no meteorological station. From Biarritz we intended to get to Madrid next day, and we asked the guardian totelephone for information about the weather, not only in the Pyrenees, but beyond them in Spain. Next morning theguardian was still doggedly, hopelessly and vainly trying to get Bordeaux on the telephone. He then tried Pau, which hadno information about the weather over the frontier. So we went without. This was our first lesson on the subject offrontiers. We flew over San Sebastian and followed the railway, but in two hours we were back in Biarritz, defeatedby the clouds in the mountains. Too many pilots have been killed in these conditions to make any risks worthtaking. Meteorological information, there an absolute necessity, is utterly lacking. While we went to fetch moreoil and petrol, unobtainable at the aerodrome, Mile. Bolland, the well-known French pilot, most goodnaturedly spent two 0 40 80 120 i«J 200 2*0 MO 320 BUR60SC S P A I "N '~--'-l MR. McCLURE'S TOUR.—This map traces the interesting effort of Mr. Ivor McClure, a private-owner of a "Moth," to cover fifteen countries in fourteen days. An unfortunate mishap in a night landing at Buda Pest brought the tour to an abrupt close. He had managed to accomplish about half his programme,for he had covered seven countries in eight days. To overcome an uninvited sojourn in Spain it became more or less necessary to " escape." Continental air touring obviously presents many difficulties yetwhich would seem to demand official co-operation between countries to banish them. Mr. McClure noticed that "frontier" feeling in places which does not always make the appearance of foreigners very welcome. 636
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