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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0114.PDF
FEBRUARY 16, 192a SNAPSHOTS FROM SOUTH AFRICA : On the left are Lady Heath, Mr. Brian Russell and Sir James Heathr standing before the former's Avro " Avian," which was in course of erection at Young's Field, the aerodrome out- side Cape Town. On the right is Lady Heath tightening up the propeller, whilst other energetic workers are seen under the machine and in the rear cockpit. Phillips, Sir Drummond and Lady Chaplin and General McKineny. Opposition to Sunday Flying Following the air meeting, which was held on a Sunday, a long and fierce discussion was waged in the Press on the question of Sunday flying, and Lady Heath says it was probably the cause of the great success of the second meeting when nearly as many people attended. The day was full of incident. With Col. Henderson she was invited to lunch by the Stewards of the Milverton racecourse, 15 miles from Wynberg. The hosts had forgotten, however, to point out that an electrical starting-gate spanned the track opposite the grand stand. Col. Henderson made some gliding turns as he came down before the imposing crowd, but suddenly when about 15 ft. up, six strong wires were struck and the Avro sat down on them, leaving the 4-in. diameter steel gatepost, which was set in concrete, nearly doubled and the wires astray. Strangely enough, no damage resulted to the machine. Col. Henderson had skilfully brought it to rest on the wires, instead of risking an attempt to fly under or over them. Incidentally, says Lady Heath, Col. Henderson's appetite was noticeably absent at the luncheon. After witnessing one race, they took off for Wynberg in very spec- tacular fashion towards the grand stand, for the situation left them with only one direction to rise in. Local journalism described the successful feat as exhibiting " consummate skill " on the part of the pilot. A Pilot in a Week ! Continuing, Lady Heath writes that she saw a lovely bronzed South African girl astride a well-groomed horse on the aerodrome, asking Col. Henderson if she could learn to fly. Within a week, this pupil, Miss Jute, of Johannesburg, had put in six hours flying and was ready to go solo ! Unfor- tunately, she had to return to Johannesburg before it was. possible to do so, otherwise she would have been the first South African lady to learn to fly, and created a record for her tuition period. Col. Henderson said she had never made- one bad landing, and was fit to go solo after only four hours' dual flying. It was her intention to take her ticket with the Club in her own town of Johannesburg. Col. Henderson had about 12 pupils in December, mcst of whom were nearly ready to fly solo. Instead of there arising any friction between his flying school and the Aero Club and flying clubs, they work together in complete harmony, and really find each other a valuable asset. Col. Henderson was reported to have said, soon after his landing, when inter- viewed by the local Press, that he hoped to form regular schools of flying in South Africa, and leave them in charge of South African pilots, taking his own pilots back with him to- England. PROGRESS OF THE AUTOGIRO A New Private Flying Machine IN October, 1925, an interesting demonstration of Senor J. de La Cierva's invention, the Autogiro, was carried out at Farn- borough by Capt. F. T. Courtney, in the presence of many distinguished visitors. Since then the developments of this unconventional machine have been comparatively secret, as is the case with most experimental work. That something was maturing might have been gathered by any regular reader of the Hampshire Aeroplane Club's weekly notes in our columns, for much of the actual flying tests was carried out in their vicinity, and, in fact, Senor de La Cierva became a very active member of the club, with whom he learned or re-learned to fly. His fellow members were also able to experience flights in one of his Autogiros. This incidental association of the club with the activities of the Autogiro arose merely through the machines being constructed by Messrs. A. V. Roe and Co. at Hamble. Others were also constructed by Messrs. Parnall's, of Bristol. As a result o* this co-operation with the former company, there has now been produced a machine that is practically standard. It is an " Avian " two-seater, fitted with a Cirrus II engine, and embodying the Autogiro rota in place of the fixed wings. It has been put forward now by the Cierva Company with potentialities for private flying and club' flying, at a price of ^900, delivery at the Avro works at Hamble, Southampton. It is considered by them that qualified pilots could become quite familiar with the particular features of the machine in half-an-hour and require no special training to enable them to fly it without difficulty or risk, whilst pupils would learn in much less time than usual, and with more simplicity. The risks of making mistakes had been practically eliminated. Senor de La Cierva recently gave a lecture on his machine to the Cambridge University Aeronautical Society. He described the types that had been experimented with, and revealed the elementary features of his latest type. The ailerons, supported by two lateral spars, had been replaced by a small pair of monoplane wings in order to save unneces- sary drag. A various number of blades had been tried, and their shape and pitch angle altered. The top speed of one type had been increased by nearly 20 m.p.h., and its climb with a passenger carried was much better than that obtained at the beginning, when used as a single-seater. (In the Farn- borough tests of 1925, the top speed was then thought to be about 65 m.p.h., and landing speed 20 m.p.h. This increase 102
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