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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0994.PDF
the machine a full half-mile with the wings folded. It worked beautifully. Other D.H. ' Moth " owners when trying this should be warned to keep the tail about 6 or 7 in. off the ground, or the wings will get scraped. This can very easily be done with the " Heath Patent Tailskid Trolley " !—an arrangement on little wheels I have since patented On Sun- day morning we dug the machine out of this garage and with the help of every caddy the Club possesses took it down to the beach again after the engine had been tidied up. With the Irish Aeroplane Club. There was only a hundred vards run into wind between the coast and the tide mark, but with the chairman of the newly formed Irish Aeroplane club clinging tightly to a strut and praying for all he was worth the machine left the close white waves underneath. That morning was spent in taking the members of the Irish Aero Club up for joy rides. Three members who had never been up before came down with their wives to see the flying—their wives having ostensibly come to keep them from going into the air. What actually hap- pened was that the three wives went into the air before their husbands. Next morning we started for the South. A pilot from Worthydown. Mr. Shepherd, wanted to be dropped at his home Rathagen in Co. Kildare, a lovely little Irish village nestling in a curve of the Highlands. We found the only available large field was in hay cocks, and we had to use a little one less than 200 yards across and surrounded by high trees. We flew among the mountains of Northern Tipperary, and across the great lakes of the Shannon Valley. Lough Derg itself was as beautiful, on that day of rare Irish sunshine, as any Swiss lake could ever be. We could see the high tension cables of the Shannon power system, where the forces of that great river are harnessed for electric power. Limerick itself, great city of my childhood days, seemed to have shrunk into a little town, but it looked most clean and lovely from the air. We followed the winding and turning mouth of the Shannon down to Foynes and Ballylongford till at last the tiny village of Ballybunion—made historic by Col. Fitzmaurice and Capt. Mclntosh from the Atlantic—lay in sunshine. We played about in the air for a long time, diving on the long bathing beaches where, being Ireland, the sexes are separated and there is a men's beach and a ladies' beach. High on the cliff we found the world's most beautiful field, 600 yards every way, waiting for our landing. Ballybunion was wonderful. I have an aunt there who is verv air-minded. She had let her house this summer to Mr. Reid, of Reid Turn Indicator fame, and the Reids and Auntie arrived within 10 minutes of our landing. On the 30th we left Ballybunion and turned our noses northwards towards the Clare coast, diving irreligiously into a sheltered bay on the way—the Bay of Doon—which is reserved for the bathing of the local nuns. We flew northwards over the hills of Clare and over the slopes of Slieve Elva and the blue waters of Galway Bay. From 2,000 ft., the waters were so clear that we could see fishes swimming and could discern, to the left, the littoral shelf 100 yards or so from the coast. The remains of an old aerodrome, Oranmore, lie 7 miles to the West of Galway. OCTOBER 18, 192S To save the labour of my kindly 15.P. petrol people we circled the town a few times and glided into land in a large open space between the town and sea. We were immediately surrounded by a bigger swarm of people than usual, and we found that we had actually landed in the Cladagh, a little district now entirely populated by fishing people, but which, up to 50 years' ago, had its own king and its own royal customs. Galway has a huge future in front of it if it cares to use it. It is the only place north and south, all up and down the west coast of Ireland, where one could build a deep-water harbour with a straight approach from the ocean, and the swamp I landed on half-a-mile away could be made into the most marvellous aerodrome with a little expense of, perhaps, i 1,000. It would be an ideal base for combined trans Atlantic service of liner, seaplanes and aeroplanes. Echo of First Atlantic Flight I sallied forth next morning to find somewhere to come down near Senator Gogarty's house, " Kenvyle," built on an island in the most north-western lake that Ireland owns. It was another perfect day and the high purple peaks of Connemara were too beautiful for description and so was Loch Corrib. Shifting bogs between them made me think with apprehension of that gallant adventure of Alcock and Brown. I went round Clifton and saw the very place where they landed, and the little open space that the Irish Free State Air Force- used when flying to help the stranded French trawlers last winter. With faith in the D.H. " Moth," but qualms in my heart, I turned north-west and flew over the desolate barren land, so beautiful in its austerity, till I found the island home at the uttermost edge of Connemara Fields there were in plenty, but they were the small holdings of the impove- rished Irish peasants, and even with a 30-mile an hour wind blowing in from the great ocean I could not use any of them and had, perforce, to try a little strip of beach in the curve of the bold headland of the extreme north-west. We half taxied and pushed the machine up the steep slopes of the shore and fastened it down with great sacks of stones tied to the wings and tail. Later in the day the tide rose within 5 ft. of the tail. For two days the machine was anchored there while my husband and I lived at the island. We managed to imbue Senator Gogarty with a passionate desire for a light seaplane. A Landing on Quicksand Once during our tour we landed in a quicksand where the machine gently settled down. Fortunately, the only damage done was to the tip of the Fairey-Reid propeller. I was able to taxi but the vibration was so excessive that I was afraid to fly. A long-distance trunk call at 10 p.m., from a remote telephone box in the heart of Ireland, woke the night watchman at Stag Lane. The He Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd., had the spare propeller on the Irish mail at Huston at 8.30 the next morning and it was fitted within 24 hours. It was impossible to take off that night, as sea fog covered the islands only 200 yards off. The next morning we got back to Baldonnel. Finally, we left Ireland with great regret. FLYING CLUB MOVEMENT IN IRELAND THE proposal to form a light aeroplane club in Belfast has created considerable interest, and the project is meeting with wide support. A meeting to consider the whole question was held in the Grand Central Hotel under the presidency of Captain R. L. Henderson. Preliminary arrangements will be made to put the scheme into operation. Brigadier-General Groves, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., Secretary-General of the Air League of the British Empire, intended addressing the meeting on civil aviation generally, and its application to Belfast, and so did Capt. Donald Drew, one of the pilots of the Short " Calcutta," but they were delayed. Mr. H. M. S. Cather- wood is strongly in favour of the formation of a club and has promised it his support. The management of the Grand Central Hotel is also helpful and has placed a room at the disposal of the promoters for conferences and meetings. The provisional committee appointed consists of Captain R. L. Henderson, Mi. W. W. M'Leod, Mr. R. L. Kemp, Mr. W. G. Scott, Captain Bouchier, Captain Herriott, Flight- Lieut. Briggs, Flight-Lieut. Preston, Major Adeley, Councillor D. Cheyne, and Mr. S. G. Haughton. Flight-Lieut. Preston said he had obtained the names of a hundred interested people. With regard to an aerodrome, he thought the Belfast Harbour Commissioners might be willing to consider placing some of the reclaimed land in the Lough at the disposal of the club at a reasonable rental. The club would want flying members and ordinary members. A flying member could pay, say, a subscription of three guineas, and an ordinary member one guinea. A flying member might pay 30s. an hour for instruction, and as one could not learn to fly under twelve hours, this side of the sport would cost a member at least /18. Perhaps ladies could be accepted as members at a 25 per cent, reduction. If they could get enough members whose subscriptions would bring in about £'420 it would be a good financial foundation. There were advantages in having a limited liability air club, and if Belfast adopted this method they might" raise /J2.500 in £1 6 per cent, preference shares, limiting a member to a maximum of twenty shares. If they could get the support of some generous men who would help the club in the way in which Sir Frederick Browning had helped the Liverpool Flying Club, by giving it an aeroplane, then the financial difficulties would be considerably eased. Type of Machines Dealing with the type of machine suitable for a flying club, Flight-Lieut. Preston said that in a country like 924
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