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Aviation History
1929
1929 - 0495.PDF
MARCH 7, 1929 Burma, or in the north-east monsoon on the east coast of Malaya, or inthe typhoon season in the Philippines, or in the cyclone season on the Australian coast; consequently we did not experience really bad weatherconditions ; but we could have often got better conditions by flying above the clouds if we could have navigated with reasonable accuracy withoutsight of sea or land. I doubt whether directional \V 'T will solve this problem, as it may be dangerous to use your W/'l above a bad tropical storm when youneed it most, Take-Off " The longest ' take-off ' time was 60 sees., but tin: average with full loadin the tropics was under 40 sees. When the spare boat was tested, after shipping to Singapore, eight months in the- packing cases there, erected andin the open for one month with five hours' flying, its ' take-off' was found to be the same, with the same load and conditions, as the other boats which had!>ecn in the open a year with 300 hours' flying. Risk of Damage " The times the aircraft were most likely to be damaged were when theywere moored in crowded rivers with fast currents, much traffic, and drifting native craft—Basra and Rangoon are examples. The next more serious riskwas when motor-boats tried to come alongside the aircraft, or when steam or motor-boats crowded with sightseers came close to the aircraft withoutrealising that the latter swing quickly when moored in a gusty wind. The local authorities at the ports visited were most helpful iu assisting the FlightIn avoid these risks. Some of the ports visited were very open—Broome and Israelite Bay, for example—and in a few cases the moorings were not secure.Unless moorings have been laid by the harbour authorities, or fishermen, or someone with a good knowledge of seamanship, they should always be testedbefore the crews leave the flying boats to the guard. Help by Ships and Air Stations" The experience of the cruise shows that a flight of flying boats can carry • ml long cruises, under a wide variety of conditions, working independently.•I ships and «horr stations without any serious delays. We received assist - .mcr from ships—for example, H.M.S. Enterprise met us at Bushirc and sentin a boat to help us refuel, and entertained the officers and airmen off duty MTV kindly. Another example is the Philippines, where the U.S. Navy sentlenders to ensure we had every help. We also visited several air bases, and were very kindlr entertained and helped. These ships and air bases,.iii«l the arrau«i.iiioiits they made, were a great assistance Hi the Might, and u'rtMtly increased tlio interest and enjoyment of the cruise, but the Flightvetted «o uianv places where there were no air bases or ships to help us, that I think there can be no doubt that the Flight could operate independently. Refitting in the Open " I •radically all tin- refitting of the aircraft was done in the open, and!lii< was useful experience, but we learnt that, although it can be done in • mergeucy, it is wasteful and inefficient to work without shelter and:.unities. Work on and in flying-boats standing in the open on shore is • Ntnmely exhausting under tropical conditions, far more s<> than when the boats are afloat. In a place like Singapore, when- for considerableperiods there is generally one or more heavy rain squalls each day, the work is much delayed. Such operations as painting, doping or openingup a plane for examination often have to be put off because of the risk of rain before the work is completed, and when the conditions appearfavourable and the work is started, it is often spoilt by a sudden squall wasting the labour and material that has been expended, and leaving theaircraft worse than it was at first. Further, the jury gear used when some part of the aircraft structure is removed for repair must be made strongenough to resist squalls, and handling large aerofoils iu gusts is dangerous. Operation" The refuelling bases for the Flight were selected to give the best shelter available for 'landing,' refuelling, mooring and 'taking off.' No attemptwas made to refuel the boats or ' take off' with a heavy load in the open sea, and I do not think any existing flying-boat, or any one likely to beproduced in the near future, will be suitable for such work unless the conditions are very favourable. Our flying-boats wore a very convenientsize ; they were large enough to live in and to carry all we required, and yet were small enough to handle easily and to operate from rivers, shallowlakes, etc. Boats of greater draught or with a longer ' take-off ' would not have been able to use several of the places that were suitable fur usWe. had, of course, to " take off " sometimes under rather adverse conditions, aud the boats did this very well. Conclusion" 1 have not had time in this paper to express adequately the gratitude which the Flight feel for the kindness, courtesy and help which they receivedwherever they went, for the escorts which were sent out to meet them, or for the receptions and entertainments which were given for them. Oneof these escorts was a cruise in itself, as the Royal Australian Air Force sent the Amphibian Widgeon II (Wing-Commandcr Wackatt aud FlyingOfficer Owen) all the way to Broome to meet us on arrival in Australia and escort us to Melbourne. " I also feel rather guilty for saying so much about the defects whi< litroubled us very little, and so little about the good qualities of the aircraft, engines and other equipment which proved so reliable and satisfactoryMy reason for writing this paper as I have done is that I hope the experiences ot the Flight which I have tried to describe to you may help the developmentot flying-boats. I am sure the makers of the aircraft aud engines wo used are producing others even better than we had. I am also sure that tinofficers and airmen of the Flying and Base Parties I had the honour to command, worked and lived for the success of the Flight with the greatestIn valt v." At the conclusion of the lecture the Master of Sempill. owing In I helateness of the hour, called upon Sir Sefton Brancker aud Lord Thomson for a few remarks, and invited those who wished to raise any points upon thelecture to send their questions or remarks in writing, and these would be replied to by Group Capt. Cave-Browne-Cave in the Journal of theSocietv. DINNER TO GROUP-CAPTAIN CAVE-BROWNE-CAVE I ui.uiwiMu the reading of his paper, Group-Captain H. M. Cave-Browne-i -ivr was the chief guest at a dinner given by and presided over by Lt.-Col. The M.ister of Sent pill. President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, at the>-ivf'v. which was attended by representatives.of the four aeronautical bodies, .' follows : — •\ir Vice Marshal Sir V'yell Vyvyan. Air Vice Marshal Sir John Higgins,\ir Vice Marshal Sir SWtnn Brancker, Air Vice Marshal C. L. Lam be. Sir M.111 ( obham, Air Commodore J. A. Chamier. Brigadier-General Ijord Thoin-~»». Brigadier-General R R. C. Groves. Sir Robert McLean, Capt. P. 1). V l.ind. Commander J. Bird, Major J. S. Buchanan, Majur G. I'. Bulman,Major 1'. A. Bumpus, Wing Commander Cave-Bn>wueCavc, (apt A. G. lor-vlh. Ijml Sempill, Mr. G. H. Coxon, Capt. 1. \V. Gibson. Group-Capt.N I Gill. Mr. A. Marsh Hiliin, Mr. C. R. Grey, Mr. V. H. Jones, Mr. W. O. M.iniiins, Mr. K. J. Mitchell, Major J. P. Rennie, Capt. J. I.. Pritchards-i ret.iry. Royal Aeronautical Society), Sir Verdon Roe. Mr. H. Oswald short, Capl. V. Tyniras, Mr. H.T. Vane, Dr. H. C. Watts, Capt. G. S. Wilkiii-•"". Mr. C. G. H'. W. Winter, Capt. G. Barnett, Mr. E. C. Bowyer. Mr. C. G. i .ilebri»)k. Mr. C. G. Grey, Mr. Stanley Spo«>ner, Mr Stanhopr Spi igg.M.M'.r Oliver Stewart, and Major C. C. Turner. 1 lie Master of Sempfll, in explaining the toast of the evening, said he •••uld hardlv do better than give the wording th.it apin-ared mi the menu.. IMIIDW : " A dinner to honour Group-Captain Cave Browne-Cave, P.S.O., 11 I .< ,, 1 .K.Ae.S,, R.A.F., and through him the officers and men of the u.-v.-il Air 1'orce who participated in the strikingly successful Empire Cruisei lour Supennarino ' Southamptons.' fitted with Napier ' Lion ' engines, "'toiler 17, 1927—December II. 1928. England, Australia, Far East" ' "iitinuiug, the chairman said, speaking personally, he could not refrain "in having also in mind those whose work had specially contributed to the 'ess(,,i result, viz., the Supermariuc Co., Capt. Aclaud, Commander Bird,""I Mr. H. T. Vanr. He then recalled that at the Economic Conference, in ''-:*. General Smuts said : — " ( oniniunicatums arr the essence uf our Empire,«and unless we sticco-dsolving some of the most urgent problems of more rapid and cheaper • •iMiimmcations, it will be almost impossible in the future toehold togetherII vast I mpire, scattered over the whole globe."'I In- statement admirably summarised the cirdm.il importance of linking ""• several parts of the Empire together by means of air transport. Aud1 ii.it letter form of air transport could there be for an island, which was the »tre o[ an ocean state, than the flymg-boat ? To facilitate this development o o International Aircraft Exhibition H R.II. THE PRINCE OF WALKS will open the International \-'•(! Exhibition at Olympia on July IB. At least Great ''"'tain. America, France, Germany and Ttaly will be reprc- •'•iiU-d. 11 has been decided by the Royal:Aero Club to recom- mend that a rally of all clubs and private owners should be; '°ld during the period of the International Aero Exhibition. »d that one day's racing should include the Grosvenor Cup nd Siddeley Trophy. The question of holding the rally <md races at" Heston Aerodrome, Middlesex, has been agreed to, subject to*satisfactory arrangements being made. we possessed the enormous advantages of our maritime organisation .ill overthe world in the shape of sheltered harbours and naval bases. But although admittedly " Transportation was civilisation " and although, obviously, thenew form of transport offered the entire British Commonwealth very special benefits, its development had hitherto been hampered by that scepticismwhich history showed had hampered the development of every innovation in transport. This great flight should go far to convince the commercial com-munity, not only in this country, but throughout the Empire, that the new form of transport was safe and reliable. The flight has blazed the trail forBritish commerce, aud that in itself was a very great achievement ; but it had done more ; it had shown the British flag to the farthest part of ourfarthest Dominion and to all the intervening British DejxMidencies. It had proved that by making use of our sea communications for aircraft operationwe can establish closer political as well as commercial cohesion between the several parts of the Empire and that the aerial arm could reach out to theAntipodes to defend our Dominions and Dependencies in case ol need. It had shown, in a word, that we can, by developing aviation (both military andcivil), give the entire Empire greater cohesion both in peace and in war. Nor was that all, for the value of this achievement extended beyond theconfines of the Empire—great as they were—for this flight over a period of eleven months and half way round the globe, had demonstrated to the wholecivilised world that British machines. British engines, and last but not least. British flying personnel—mechanics as well as pilots—were second l<>none A special effort, however, appeared to be necessary to arouse our commercial community to the importance of this new form of transj>ort.In carrying out this great flight the Government had given a lead which it is up to the commercial community of this country to follow. Group-Capt. Cave-Browue-Cave, in responding, said he thanked them for thereception given him and he could only say that throughout .ill of them were pleased with their aircraft and the engines which never let them down amiso far as the crew were concerned they had had the time of their lives. The Chairman then said they could hardly let the evening pass withoutcongratulating Sir A. V. Roc, one of their guest-., upon the honour just con ferred upon him by the King. Sir Verdon Roe thanked them for their good wishes and said that one thing he would like, to know was whether Group-Capt. Cave-Browne-Cave had foundanv way of preventing the rivet heads from rusting away. A general and more intimate discussion then followed UJKIII the. very enjoyable and instructive evening, O <3> Canadian Club Flying THE Winnipeg Flying Club, which started on May 29, 1928, accumulated 1,005 fixing hours by the end of the year, which involved well over 7,000 flights. Forty-two members, including a dozen ex-war pilots, went solo, and 30 private or commercial licences were obtained. Miss Dorothy Bell, the club's second lady pilot and the fifth in Canada, secured her ticket on January 24, when the temperature was 15° below zero. The first lady to be trained by the club, last summer, was Miss Eileen Magill, and she was Canada, s second lady pilot. 199
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