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Aviation History
1929
1929-1 - 0054.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 4, 1929 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AIR SQUADRON By MAJ. F..A. de V. ROBERTSON, V.D. , can't you go lower ; there's my house downthere, and I should like to have a near look at it," pleaded a certain Cambridge don down thespeaking tube to the pilot. " You are not above 1,000 feet, and that's lower than you ought to be," sternly replied thepilot. " You know that low flying over Cambridge is strictly forbidden." The don in question was a seniormember of the University, and one of considerable influence. Hitherto he had been a root and branch opponent of flyingfor undergraduates, and had looked with grave disapproval on the activities of the Air Squadron. He had not beenbackward in complaining of the noise made by aeroplanes overhead, and held, quite rightly, that low flying over thecity should be visited with all the penalties to be found in any code of laws which could be brought to bear. But oneday Wing-Commander V. S. Brown, M.A. (Cantab.), the Chief Instructor of the Squadron, inveigled the said donout to Duxford, just to see the conditions under which the members flew, and then enticed him rather reluctantlyinto an Avro with an instructor as pilot, just to see what flying was like. He was taken over Cambridge, and apoint was stretched by coming down to 1,000 ft. The instructor had been listening to hear if the don would saythat he was feeling sick and wanted to be taken back and landed. The last thing which he expected from a sterndisciplinarian was a request to break all rules by going really low so that the don might have a look at his housefrom the air. Ever since that day the said don has been a whole-hearted convert to flying and a firm friend of thesquadron. Another don, the Rev. Dr. Simpson, Fellow of Trinity,owns his own Moth, and gets a pilot to take him up. But he says that when he can manage his own machine he meansto dispense with that pilot. Those two cases illustrate the spirit which exists atCambridge towards flying in general, and the University air squadron in particular. Cambridge has become airminded, and as the Air Ministry laid down the first object of the squadron as "to promote a serious interest in flyingand its allied subjects," it appears that Wing-Commander Brown has achieved a notable success. Last term the Senatehad to vote on the question of whether undergraduates who were not members of the air squadron should be allowedto fly in term time. The question was becoming acute, because the numbers of the squadron are limited to 75 members, and competition to get in is very keen. Onlythe very best are taken, and so many very good men have no chance of ever becoming members. To cater for theirneeds, a branch of the Suffolk and Eastern Counties Aeroplane Club has been formed in Cambridge, and 18 members ofthe University have joined it. The question was, should they be allowed to fly in term time. About 200 seniormembers of the Senate debated the question warmly, and finally permission was granted by a convincing majority,which included the proctors, of 141 to 65. The further question of men flying their own aeroplanes will probablybe gone into in the near future. Talking of private owners, it was recorded in FLIGHT ofJune 13 that at the air display at Conington the landing competition was won by Mr. R. W. H. Knight in his ownD.H. 53, with the well-known pilot Flying Officer E. H. Alliott second. Mr. Knight is a member of the CambridgeUniversity Air Squadron. When once he crashed his little machine he did the repairs himself, putting in four newlongerons, new plywood, and a new laminated tail skid. It is said that when an A.ID. inspector came to pass thework he was positively amazed at its high quality. The squadron is now undergoing its annual training atOld Sarum aerodrome. The members are divided into three courses of 25 each, and each course spends a fortnight atOld Sarum, living in bell tents (two to a tent), and messing at the station mess. The permanent staff consists of theWing-Commander, who is really CO., Flight-Lieut. T. C. Traill, D.F.C., who performs the duties of adjutant, andfour instructors, while three more instructors have been added for the period of training. In the first week the courseachieved a total of 192 flying hours. Of the 25 in camp, 19 had qualified for flying solo when I visited the stationon June 27, and by this time most probably two more have also qualified. At least one other member of the squadron,who is not on this course, is doing his training in the R.A.F. Reserve (in which most members of the C.U.A.S. are officers),and one day he flew over to see his friends in the camp. He will come there later on with one of the other courseswhen he has finished his training with the Reserve. Rowing men are represented rather strongly in the squadron, buthardly any of them are at Old Sarum now. They are mainly at Henley, and will come to the camp in one of thelater courses. One of the soloists now at Old Sarum, Mr. Mayers, deserves special mention, because he had never Members of the Cambridge University Air Squadron receiving, instruction during, their present annual campi ng at Old Sarum, Wiltshire.
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