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Aviation History
1929
1929 - 0924.PDF
FLIGHT. MAY 2, 1929 MR. DOWNES SHAW'S SOLO TOUR TO FRANCE AND SPAIN [The following is a summary of the diary kept by Mr. A. H. Dowries Shaw, Chairman of the Bristol and Wessex Aeroplane^ Club, during a recent solo tour in his own " Cirrus-Moth." Limited space forbids its publication in full, which we regret, because it is a most interesting diary, with very useful in- formation for private owners of Mr.Downes Shaw's experience. We have extracted the essence, however.—ED.] Lympne, March 17.I GOT through to Croydon yesterday without any trouble. I had to keep below 1,000 ft., and by Chertsey it looked rather thick. Then came on here and landed to get the latest reports. I took ofi again and tried various levels over the water even going quite low, but found it difficult to get any real horizon, especially as the sea was quite calm. I believe I could have got across by going up to 4,000 ft. and over all the stuff, but everyone was prophesying very good weather today so I spent the night here. Abbeville, March 17. I got across all right and as the sun was nearing the horizon, came in here and hope to make Paris early tomorrow morning. Paris, March 18. I have got here at last—a day late. I filled up the tank to the brim at Abbeville this morning and took off at 8.45. All went well until half-way between Abbeville and Poix, when the rev. counter needle first started failing and then began jumping all up and down the scale. So I throttled down at once and landed in a field alongside the road. Then walked to the nearest village and rang up an Englishman (George Nash)* who keeps a garage in Abbeville and who had driven me in and out overnight. I am now certain the cause of my forced landing was an air lock in the petrol feed, as afterwards I came straight through to Paris on a perfect run. Bill Bailey (of Cardiff) landed here this evening from the South of France. Curiously enough, he also had to come down today owing to air lock in his " Gipsy-Moth." Nimes, March 21. Having the most amazingly interesting holiday that ever was. Here I have dropped in this evening on a place of which I have hardly heard the name before—only stopped here because it has an aerodrome and I can't get any farther south before sunset, and I find the town has a modern aerodrome, 10 mins. drive from the centre of the city, with an aero club, a school for civilians as well as military " nits," 6 or 7 Morane-Saulnier-Clerget monoplanes in use, as I arrived, by the school and the club, the " A " licence pilots of which were going up in succession with their best girls to show them the amphitheatre and other beauty spots from a fresh viewpoint. I left Paris yesterday morning and flew to Dijon, 2| hrs., then to Montelimar, 3J hrs., when the position of the sun seemed to make it advisable to stop. Barcelona, March 22. Well, I have got into this country and am glad to be here. Barcelona is obviously a most interesting city and will stand a lot of exploring. I propose staying here over tomorrow, then perhaps making a trip southward and spending a few more days here on the way home. The route Nimes-Perpig- nan is over very flat country or water all the way. Perpignan is the Customs aerodrome on the French side of the frontier and a thorough sell when you ask for a drink or a bite of food. Every other French aerodrome of importance has a restaurant, but at Perpignan unless you have a couple of hours to spare for a trip to the town and back, you must go hungry. At all the French aerodromes they are very good about weather reports. They write them out—unsolicited— for your route and hand them you for keeps. Marignane actually took the trouble to write mine out in English. The Director of the Aerodrome at Perpignan strongly advised me not to fly round the Pyrenees, but to cross by the pass which all the air liners followed, so I did. I rather fancy it must be the same pass as Hannibal used in his march on Rome—an interesting thing to look up when one gets home. The Pyrenees looked grim and the air was distinctly bumpy, but once through, one travelled over flat or gently undulating country up to half the distance from Barcelona. All highly cultivated and scarcely any grass visible. I followed the regular air route right through and for the latter half it hugged the coast, the country inland _j* Mr. G. Nash is a useful man for private owners in that district. He isa very able mechanic, is agent for I.A., Ltd., and the Air Union. His charges are quite moderate. Address : 82-84, Rue de Lillier, Abbeville. being very rocky. One could come down in most cases on the narrow sandy beach, but there was not much else for forced landings. It has three of the tiniest aerodromes I have ever seen and all lie together 16 kms. from the city. Conversation on the aerodrome was rather difficult but the Spaniards made themselves most charming. I was put into an Air Force bus which happened to be taking the lads from the school into the city. They did all they could for me and steadfastly declined anything savouring of a tip. Flying in Spain is in a most backward state. This is the second largest city in the country, and its aerodrome is a tiny field with shocking surface and ten miles out of the town. Other aerodromes in the country are smaller and worse kept. Distances between are great (my next hop southward would have been 280 miles with nothing but rocks and beach to land on) and the country when not actual mountain, com- prises small ploughed fields with deep ditches or ravines in between. Toulouse, April 1. France is very energetic in its efforts to cater for the travel- ling population. This is just a good hotel in a provincial city. The cuisine is superb. On leaving Barcelona on Saturday I climbed as quickly as possible to 6,000 ft. At this height one felt few qualms and could cut off corners with equanimity. I crossed the Pyrenees at 6,500 ft., over the identical pass used by Hannibal in his march on Rome and the Visigoths in their invasion of Spain. There was a period of about 3 mins. during which, had the engine failed, I could have glided either into France or into Spain and in either case landed on level ground. Spanish flying facilities are most primitive and they have yet to acquire the spirit of camaraderie which is such a marked feature of aviation in Britain, France and Germany—but one thing must be recorded with gratitude. During my eight days' stay in Barcelona I was, as an aviator, the guest of the Spanish Government, and no charge was made for landings or hangarage. I landed at Perpignan (very stony, like all the Aerodromes in Southern France), then made for Nimes which was reached 15 mins. after sunset. The original programme was to fly back round the West side—Toulouse, Bordeaux, Tours— but the H's. have been held up at Romilly. I had promised their relations I would fly round that way and see them. So on Sunday morning I left Nimes for Lyon. On landing at Lyon I found the H's. started off and had actually left Lyon southwards 50 mins. before I arrived. Now the route from Lyon to Paris is dull and featureless and I have done it three times. There was still time to get back to Nimes, spend a night with my friends and then take up the original proposal of returning via Bordeaux to Paris. So I filled up with petrol and turned straight back, this time flying at 3,000 ft. to take advantage of the wind and doing the trip in 1 hr. 43 min. as against 2 hrs. 50 mins. northward in the morning. A delay en route and at Carcassonne ruled out the original idea of getting through to Bordeaux so I landed at Toulouse for the night. On the way one could see the hedges in bloom and after landing here I saw for the first time this year some evidence of spring. The may is in leaf, the hawthorn and the orchards are in bloom and the corn i> nearly 2 ft. high. Paris, April 4. I got back here yesterday (Wednesday) evening which was strictly to the original schedule. Since leaving England 1 have not once been held up by weather. My last letter was written from Toulouse. I left there Tuesday morning in a North-West wind and rather bumpy atmosphere and flew over the Garonne to Bordeaux—all very interesting. At Bordeaux the wind had got in to the North, and it was beginning to fee! cold. I left Bordeaux northwards and from there to Angou- leme had to fly round and between successive April showers. Barring these, the air was wonderfully clear and it was not difficult—after passing each shower—to check ground marks and pick up the route again (Michelin maps are excellent for cross-country work). This made the flying interesting, but between Angouleme and Poitiers it became terribly dull. Bare, flat country without even a river to look at and only a long straight route nationale to follow. I was weary and again, as on two other evenings, came the feeling tna vibration in the fuselage was above normal. I suppos when tired the body is more sensitive to such things ana probably that is the whole story. Anyway, for ease ot boay as much as for ease of mind I throttled down to 1,600 rev. and at an easy 60 m.p.h. ambled over the last 40 miles inw Poitiers. It was then near sunset so I unpacked ior night. A Breguet came in just afterwards with two trcn 364
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