FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0826.PDF
PRIVA OCTOBER 27, 1927 FLYING A Section of FLIGHT in the Interests of the Private Owner, Owner-Pilot, and Club Member MY AIR EXPERIENCES By THE DUCHESS OF BEDFORD SOME time in the early 'seventies, as a small child, I was taken to see the wreck of a " flying machine," as it was then called, on the South Downs near Amberley. The designer was vaguely said to have flown " the height of a house " and then crashed and, overcome with disappointment, taken his own life. I cannot claim that my interest in aviation dates from the Spectacle of this sad little glider lying wrecked on the hill- side, but neither did it act as a warning. Many years were to elapse, however, before I saw another flying machine, and then it was the aeroplane in which Bleriot flew over the ^Channel. A few wiseacres said that, like Webb, he would be "the last to do it. The War brought many aeroplanes and 'even an occasional Zeppelin over our quiet corner of the -Midlands, and it was always considered the correct thing for •feweswls to rush and tell me when they were within hearing. A very definite longing did then arise to try what flying would be like for myself. But it was not to be supposed that those most interested in my remaining on earth would welcome this entirely new departure. The way had to be carefully paved with constant reiteration of my aspirations, gradually growing into definite expressions of a determination to try it. But how to try it I had no idea until a friend suggested " Imperial Airways." So in 1926 to " Imperial Airways " I went, with the request that they would provide me with a machine in which to fly from Croydon to my home. Their first suggestion of an enclosed machine not being at all in accordance with my idea of emulating the birds, we finally came down to the " Moth." " Imperial Airways," moreover, kindly volunteered to send somebody down to report on the landing ground, but said that a " Moth could land almost anywhere." But when that " somebody" reported later that the best landing-place seemed to be the garden immediately in front of the house, adding that in the event of the ground being wet, the tail skid might mark the lawn, I was a little puzzled at the accom- modating ways of even a " Moth," for in no part of the garden is there a space of 50 yards clear of trees, ponds, fountains, bushes, or flower-pots. However, the only place I had quite definitely made up my mind that my pilot should not land me in was a large open paddock of many acres wherein roams a herd of American bison. So to Croydon I went on a stormy afternoon, and was duly strapped into my " Moth." A long run all round the aero- diome to please my pilot, who preferred to rise up-wind, and then my dream of years was realised and for the first time I flew ! Now, those who do not want to fly generally have three very definite objections to it : they have no " head for heights," they do not wish to be air-sick, and they fear the feeling of coming down that one gets in a lift. To these I invariably reply that on earth I have no head for heights. I greatly dislike a narrow footpath on a steep hillside, the involuntary passage down which leads to broken bones. I cannot look over towers and precipices with any comfort, and do not greatly relish a ladder ; but, for some reason I cannot explain, unless it be by the security of one's position (I do not allude to the strapping in, for I have only been strapped in on two occasions since), one feels nothing of this in an aeroplane. As to air-sickness, I have only been in an enclosed machine for very short flights, and though in the " Moth " my pilot has on one or two occasions remarked " A little more of that and we should both have been ill," we have had that little and more also later, and I was not air-sick. If he was, he was safely behind me and I was not aware of it. The motion of flying is so different from the endless monotonous rocking of the ocean wave that at present I have a clean bill of health. " Qui vivra verra." Of the feeling as of descending a lift there is none, and I think that would only happen in involuntary descents. What I Have Gained And now for what I have gained by flying. Before the war I had a yacht, but the war took her and, fond as I aim of seeing the world, journeys by train are anathema to me. Therefore, but for restricted travels by ocean liner and motor- car, I thought my travelling days were over. My first long venture was to Scotland. Starting at my own time (no. my pilot's, for pilots are not punctual people, having too many irrefutable excuses to draw upon when in need). I arrived in a field close to my Scottish home in 3£ hrs. ; less time than the train would have brought me. Visions of travel abroad once more seemed possible, and the spring of 1927 saw the little " Moth " starting on a trip of three weeks' unadulterated enjoyment to Tangiers, via Paris, Bordeaux, Biarritz, over the Pyrenees to Burgos, Madrid, Seville, Jerez and home by Malaga, Grenada, Barcelona, Lyons, and Paris. The next flight of interest was to see the eclipse of the sun, and we really did see it ! There was no necessity to go to the area of crowded hotels, for by rising a little earlier, we could fly into the zone of the eclipse from a less frequented neighbourhood. Xothing could have been more unpromising than our start in a fog which almost precluded the idea, of flying at all, but in a short space of time we were wafted above the clouds to a height of 10,000 ft. There, in an absolutely clear sky, with a panorama of clouds below us, which did but add to the beauty of the scene, we had an uninterrupted view of the eclipse, incidentally, it is fortunate that there is not to be another for 200 years, for obviously the sun was very cross about it, as he has hardly been seen in England since. Once more in the summer a short flight was taken to Naples via Paris, Lyons, Turin, Verona, the Lido, and Rome, the return journey being made by the Riviera. We crossed the Alps at just under 14,000 ft., basked in the sun on the Lido, peeped down into the Coliseum, the Baths of Caracalla and the Crater of Vesuvius, revelled in a glorious view of the Bay of Naples at sunset, looked down upon the terrible forest fires then raging on the Riviera, and met the Mistral, which tossed us about like a feather. And all this in an eight days' flight of some 3,500 miles. At home, the little " Moth " has taken me many short flights for business and pleasure. " But is not the scenery from an aeroplane terribly dull '. I have been asked by friends. If it is, then I am afraid I have one of the " little minds " which is " pleased by little things," for I never have a dull moment in the " Moth," from the time I leave the ground ; no, not even over the coal fields and manufacturing districts of England ; and as to the scenery, in many of our longer flights, it has been wonderful beyond description. But why do I write all this for the readers of FLIGHT, who need no inducement to fly ? I am reminded of an episode which occurred in one of my tours abroad. Seated in the hall of an hotel, waiting for a car to take my pilot and myself to the aerodrome, an enthusiastic lady came up and introduced herself to me, saying that she must con- gratulate me on my flight, because it was " so brave and wonderful " of me to venture on it. I was just beginning to feel a little elated at the torrent of flattery which, out of the kindness of her heart, flowed down upon me. but I had an uncomfortable feeling that it was not making quite the desired impression upon the rather matter-of-fact and very experi- enced companion at my elbow. The suspicion was justified a moment later when, as she turned to leave, he remarked— " What an extraordinary idea ! One would think you were the first woman to fly ! " In the language of aviation, I" flattened out." So it is with all diffidence that I submit the record of my first year as owner of a " Moth," my only excuse being that I do so at the Editor's request. 748
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
