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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0653.PDF
JULY 12, 1928 DRIVATE FLYING A Section of FLIGHT in the Interests of the Private Owner, Owner-Pilot, and Club Member PRIVATE OWNERS AT BLACKPOOL THE aerodrome at Squires Gate, Blackpool, is large andconveniently situated to the town. It is on the south side, and possesses a grand stand, but has no apparent shelteredaccommodation for machines. It is but a temporary aero- drome, however, although one learned indirectly that about£5,000 had been spent upon it. The town is" planning to construct a fine large aerodrome of about 600 acres inextent, for which land will be acquired at roughly a mile from the town if a Bill to be presented to Parliament shortlyis passed. It is possible that part of the landing area will be flooded and used for seaplanes and flying-boats. Althoughthe meeting was threatened with wretchedness owing to the preliminary weather, there was a complete and rapid change,and the best conditions remained until the finish. The lady private owners did exceptionally well. Amongst them wereMiss O'Brien, Miss Spooner, Miss Leathart, Lady Heath, and Miss Brown. The Daily Dispatch Nomination Handicapwas won by Miss O'Brien, who intends to compete in the coming Rotterdam air meeting. Miss \V. S. Brown, of theLancashire Club, carried off the Open Handicap, at 991 m.p.h. on her own Avro " Avian III." The finals brought veryclose results, Miss Brown only scraping in by 2 sees., whilst Miss O'Brien, on her D.H. '"' Moth I," won by just I sec.Miss Leathart's Sop with " Grasshopper " won its first heat in the Daily Dispatch race, but was only placed fourth inthe final. The crash of the Parnall "Imp" ("Genet") in the same event was particularly unfortunate, for it wasstarting the meeting well, carrying off the Blackpool Nomi- nation Handicap at 100 m.p'h. It averaged 110 m.p.h.when winning its heat in the Open Handicap. Mr. Norman Jones got the Owner Pilots' Handicap on his D.H. " Moth "(" Cirrus ") at 97 m.p.h., thus sustaining the general per- formance of the private owners. Lady Heath now flies a D.H. " Moth " again since shesold her Avro " Avian " to Miss Earhart, after flying from Cape Town to London on it solo. Her " fleet " fluctuatesconstantly. One period, just before her departure for South Africa last year, she owned four machines ; now it is reducedto one for practical purposes. The S.E.5, which she raced last year, is without an engine. Her altitude record onJuly 10 on the Short " Mussel " seaplane (" Cirrus "), when 13,400 ft. was reached, with Miss O'Brien as passenger,was a better performance than she anticipated by about 3,000 ft. For a few weeks prior to the attempt she hadbeen taking lessons with Mr. Lankester Parker on the " Mussel." The flying clubs, Yorkshire and Suffolk, are feeling verydisheartened by their run of bad luck in racing that has prevailed for a long time. They say that they have wonnothing since the late Sqdn.-Ldr. Longton got the Grosvenor Cup a few years ago, since when, some members believe, their machines have been looked upon as dark horses andpenalised accordingly. It is disheartening to Capt. Beck and Mr. Lowdell, the instructors, for naturally they careconscientiously for the prestige of their clubs and they do not feel happy to find them last at even,- meeting. Whatthe cause of the trouble is it is difficult to say. We believe that some members have voiced their experience to thehandicappers, expressing the conviction that, for instance, they should not have to give a Mark 1 " Moth '' a startnowadays. They feel that they are suffering for the triumphs that attended their machines when they firststarted racing. In windy weather they think that to attend a meeting is mis-spent energy and time, but they carry onbecause they are a sporting crowd. The reason for their experience may be as a Yorkshire member pointed out—that their machines are maintained primarily for school work (they do not keep one standing by purely for racing), sothat they enter races straight from the school grind. Mr. Lowdell won himself into three finals at Hamble this yearwhere the weather was more suitable for him, but then could only get one second. Maj. Cordes, of the Handler Page Company, who flew theslotted-wing D.H. " Moth " at Blackpool, has lately been co-operating with Sqdn.-Ldr. England in the Europeandemonstration of the device. It is the natural policy to allow European pilots to test the machine for themselvesin each country. In Italy he found, like all visitors, a tremendous enthusiasm for aviation and a good impressionof the " slotted wing." A new feature during the Blackpool meeting was theerection of a large weather chart indicating the weather conditions in various parts of Great Britain. This usefulwork was the introduction of the Automobile Association at flying meetings. The board was in the hands of theirrepresentatives who received fresh weather reports at various periods of the day and changed the symbols accord-ingly, so that any departing pilot knew the weather in any of the general directions. Machines arriving at the meetingwere also cared for by the A.A. in a special park, if not desired for racing. This was done free of charge and, weunderstand, for any pilot. About a dozen light aeroplanes were so accommodated. There must have been between 50 and 60 light aeroplanesthere altogether, representing every type, most of the clubs and a good percentage of the private owners. They wereobliged to moor in the open all night, however. The Lancashire Aeroplane Club did a great service to theorganisers by acting as officials on the ground, and, due to their energy, the events were run through with hardly apause. No one got tired of waiting for the next event, despite the number that had to be fitted in. LItfHT rFtANE CLUBS London Aeroplane Club, Stag Lane, Edgware. Sec, H. E. Perrin,3, Clifford Street, London, W. 1. Bristol and Wessex Aeroplane Club, Filton, Gloucester. Secretary,Capt. C. F. G. Crawford, Filton Aerodrome, Patchway. Hampshire Aero Club, Hamble, Southampton. Secretary, H. J.Harrington, Hamble, Southampton, Lancashire Aero Club, Woodford, Lanes. Secretary, C. J. Wood,Oakfield, Dukinfield, near Manchester. Midland Aero Club, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham. Secretary,Maj. Gilbert Dcnnison, 22, Villa Road, Handsworth, Birmingham. Newcastle-on-Tyne Aero Club, CramJington, Northumberland. Secre-tary, A. H. Bell, c/o The Club. Norfolk and Norwich Aero Club, Mousehold, Norwich. Manager,F. Gough, The Aerodrome, Mousehold, Norwich. Nottingham Aero Club, Hucknall, Nottingham. Hon. Secretary,Cecil K. Sands, A.C.A., Imperial Buildings, Victoria Street, Nottingham. The Scottish Flying Club, 101, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. Secre-tary, Harry W. Smith. Southern Aero Club, Shoreham, Sussex. Secretary, C. A. Boucher,Shore ham Aerodrome, Sussex. Suffolk Aeroplane Club, Ipswich. Secretary, Maj. P. L. Holmes, TheAerodrome, Hadleigh, Suffolk. Yorkshire Aeroplane Club, Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorks. Secretary, Lieut.-Col. Walker, The Aerodrome, Sherburn-in-Elmet. Dual LONDON AEROPLANE CLUB REPORT for week ending July 8.—Flying time, 47 hrs. 5 mins Solo Flying : J. J. Hofer, J. H. Brewster, F. C. Fisher, J. C. V. K. Watson,S. Nesbitt, G. Lardcn, E. R. Andrews, I'. A. Wills, R. Sanders Clark, 1'. W. Hoare, Maj. R. M. S. Veal, H. M. Samuelson, J. H. Saffery, E. E. Stammers,Maj. K. M. Beaumont, Will Hay. Dual Instruction : R. S. Rattray, E. H. Thierry, J. Bickley, E. G. Amsden,L. Rowson, J. Eden, Miss H. Cholmondeley, Miss Wilson, H. W. Marlow, A. C. Collins, P. A. Wills, W. Hart, C. \\'. Bonniksen, D. H. M. Symon,J. R. A. Stroyan, B. Carev, Miss Hicks, R. Maurice, B. L. Middleton, E. A. Linsard, A. C. Thomas, Mrs. Thatcher, H. R. Presland, G. Larden. King's Cup and Siddeley Trophy Tour.—The first competitor will leaveHendon Aerodrome at 8 a.m. on Friday morning, the 20th instant. Members 601
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