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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0842.PDF
SEPTEMBER 13, 1928 ORLY LIGHT fPLANE MEETING Orly, France, Sunday, September 9. iNj'glorious sunshine the preliminary arrangements for the French International Light 'Plane Competition were run through today with haste and keen interest at the Orly Aerodrome, south of Paris. Although, nominally, there was no active programme scheduled apart from the arrival of the machines before 3 p.m., there has been quite a crowd of spectators and they were lucky enough to be the witnesses of an impromptu display of aerobatics by Flying-Officer Atcherley, the R.A.F. officer so well-known for his duets with Flying-Officer Boyle in England. Atcherley flew Flt.-Lt. Soden's " Genet-Moth " " OU " and he excelled himself with exceptionally low rolls and attempts to describe the outside loop. The first two efforts just failed and resulted in two spectacular tail slides after an appreciable suspension in mid-air in the vain struggle to bring the tail under and up. He succeeded at the third attempt, which roused characteristic enthusiasm amongst the French, who included many well- known pilots, here for the competition. They were profes- sionally impressed. Atcherley brought his display to a skilful end by crazy flying to earth. His engine was not quite giving him the required revs, to complete his primary efforts. Entries There were 25 original entries but it is unlikely that more than 17 will compete. Of this number England is represented by five machines. They are Lady Heath's Avro " Avian " (Cirrus III) G-EBZM, Capt. N. Stack on Avro " Avian " (Cirrus Mk. Ill) G-AAAT, Capt. E. W. Percival on Avro " Avian " (Cirrus Mk.III) G-EBYR, Capt. H. Broad on D.H. " Gipsy-Moth " G-EBYK, and Flt.-Lt. N. Comper's CL.A.4. This morning when taking off for a test flight his engine cut out, seemingly due to magneto faults, a few feet up, leaving no alternative but to put the machine down as it willed. The result was a damaged chassis and fuselage. Luckily the French mechanics have promised to actually make another fitting, put new tubes in and bands, and have the machine ready by 10 a.m. tomorrow (Monday) the first day of the competition, in which case it will compete. If this repair is accomplished it will be a real sporting action and imply considerable mechanical skill. Fortunately, they happened to have the suitable gauge material at hand and had completed half the fitting this afternoon (Sunday).' The weighing in of the machines produced primary alarms amongst our machines. After Capt. Broad's " Gipsy-Moth " had successfully conformed to the maximum tare weight of 880 lbs. (400 kgs.) Capt. Neville Stack's Avro " Avian " was found to be 2 kgs. over. His machine was immediately subjected to weight reduction, the cushions being taken out. On the second test it passed and it was found that no weight reduction had really been necessary. Meanwhile Lady Heath's Avro " Avian " went on the scales 3 kilos too heavy. Bustling round feverishly, Lady Heath and her mechanic took off three of the exhaust pipes and also the Jury struts and a tin of gadgets from the locker. When this effect was tried the extraordinary result was 15 kilos under weight! Of course, the mystery was due to a mistake in the original weighing test. The exhaust pipes, Jury struts etc., were re-installed and the machine passed. Incidentally, Lady Heath landed here last night in darkness, after the flight from Lympne. Her passenger was her secretary. She was obliged to fly to Le Bourget this morning to clear customs. Capt. Percival's Avro " Avian " has to go on the scales— at the moment of writing—but he thinks it is lighter than Lady Heath's, and will, no doubt, be able to make adjust- ments if necessary. Capt. Broad came down this morning, having spent the night during the flight from England at Berck. Capt. Stack arrived last night. It should be mentioned that Flying-Officer Atcherley is not here with the Genet Moth for the purpose of entering the competitions. Flt.-Lt. R. R. Bentley was an entry with a D.H. " Moth " (Cirrus III), but he has not arrived. French Entries The French machines naturally predominate in this compe- tition in numbers. For instance, there are no fewer than six Caudron monoplanes entered. They are C. 109 (Salmson 40 h.p. engine) ; C. 110 (Salmson 60" h.p.) ; C. 114 (Anzani 50 h.p.); C. 113 (Anzani 70 h.p.) ; and C. 109 (Salmson 40 h.p.). The first four have been entered by M. Rent Caudron, and his nominated pilots are M. Delmotte, M. Vanlaere, M. Masson, and either M. Gauron or M. Ningler. The fifth Caudron monoplane has been entered by Assurances Syndi- cales des Grands Groupements Regionaux, and the nominated pilot is M. Marcel Avignon. Yet a sixth Caudron will be flown by M. Maurice Finat, the French pilot, who recently set up a new endurance record for light aeroplanes. A Salm- son 40 h.p. is the engine. A very interesting entrant is the French Peyret-Nessler monoplane (Salmson 12/15 h.p.). It will be entered and flown by M. Eric Nessler. This machine was originally a glider. The large centre section of the wing has celluloid covering the spars and ribs, making it transparent, and allowing the pilot a wide upward view. A French " Albert " parasol monoplane entered by the Societe des Avions Albert is attracting much attention. It has a complete three-ply covering on the wing and on the fuselage. The engine is a Salmson 40 h.p. This single- seater has an estimated factor of safety of 14. The first pilot is M. Fisbach, and second pilot M. Magnard. There was a machine in the programme called an Albert monoplane fitted with an Armstrong-Genet 80 h.p. engine, but it has not turned up. Baron Paul Perignon was theentrant, and M. Edouard Albert the pilot. A French cabin monoplane is competing. It has a win- dowed cabin built up to the cantilever wing, and accommo- dates two with perfect ease, placed diagonally across the cabin. The machine is called the Guerchais monoplane, and is entered by the Avions Legers Guerchais-Henriot, of France. It looks a very large machine for only an Anzani 50 h.p. engine. M. Guerchais himself will pilot it. There is a Klemm-Daimler (20 h.p.) low-wing monoplane entered by Carl Sonning of Germany, and also a Klemm fitted with a 40 h.p. Salmson engine, entered by the manu- facturers and to be flown by Robert Lusser. Both machines are two-seaters. During the afternoon, a Pander biplane (Walter 60 h.p. engine) belonging to the Rotterdam Aero Club, dropped in out of natural curiosity, after flying from Le Bourget, where it happened to have made a visit. In it were M. H. Pander (Jnr.) and Schmidt Crans, Chief Instructor of the Rotterdam Club, which now has three Pander biplanes. They left soon to return to Rotterdam. Sir Eric Geddes's Aerial Cruise SIR ERIC GEDDES, chairman of Imperial Airways, has arranged a four-days' pleasure cruise, in a flying-boat, round the western seaboard of Great Britain. For this he has chartered from Imperial Airways the three-engined, all-metal Short "Calcutta" flying-boat (Bristol " Jupiters "). His guests during the cruise will be his three sons, his brother, Sir Auckland Geddes, Miss Isabel Goring, Miss Josephine Wray, and Col. and Mrs. F. R. Browning. The cruise, which is scheduled to start from the air port at Southampton* on September 14, will cover the following route :—Friday, Weymouth, Bridgwater, Tenby (lunch), Anglesey, and the Isle of Man, to Loch Ryan at Stranraer. Saturday : visit to Lord Inchcape (at Glenapp Castle) via Ballantrae, thence to Ardtaraig, Loch Striven, when the party will be the guests of Mr. Irvine Geddes. After this, the cruise will take the form of a " go-where-you-please " one, visits being made to various beauty spots, such as Loch Lomond, Oban, etc., concluding at Liverpool, where the " Calcutta " will be employed on an experimental service to Belfast. Capt. Harry Spencer Killed WE regret to record the death, as the result of an accident, of Capt. Harry Spencer, the well-known balloonist, and head of Spencer Bros. The accident took place on September 9, at Rugby, where, in connection with a hospital fete, Mr. Percival Spencer was making a balloon ascent. The balloon had only just ascended when, owing to a heavy fall of rain, it fell on to the roof of a house. Mr. Spencer climbed safely to the ground, but later his father, Capt. Spencer, clijtnbed on to the roof by a ladder, in order to free the balloon. While doing so, he apparently slipped, and fell to the ground and was instantly killed, in spite of the gallant effort by Mr. W. J. Verrier, of the St. John's Ambulance, to catch him. 778
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