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Aviation History
1930
UNTITLED0 - 1268.PDF
FLIGHT, OCTOBER 31, 1930 FAIREY AIRCRAFT FOR GREECE AN order has just been placed with the FaireyAviation Co. by the Greek Government for abatch of Fairey " III F " aircraft (Napier " Lion " engines). These machines will be fitted withfloat undercarriages and employed as seaplanes by the Greek Air Force.This order is the result of a series of demonstrations carried out with a Fairey " III F " in Greece lastsummer, and we think the following notes regarding these demonstrations may be of interest. The" III F," piloted by Mr. McMullin and with Mr. C. B. Baker as engineer, left England for Greeceon July 30, and arrived at Brussels the same day. Here a stop was made to allow the Belgian Authorities an oppor-tunity to inspect the " III F," which they did with consider- able interest—all the principal general officers commandingthe Belgian Air Force being present. Next day the journey was continued to Vienna, via Frank-furt, and from here they flew to Belgrade (in 3 hr. 10 min.) onAugust 1, where, once again, the machine was demonstrated to theauthorities—in this case of Jugo Slavia. After this a flight ofjust over three hours brought them to Salonika, whence, afterrefuelling, they flew direct to Tatoi Aerodrome, Athens, in2 hr. 15 min. Here there were several reconnaissance and single-seater military aircraft of different nationalities on the same mission—so the " III F " was likely to be up against some hot competition. The first few days at Tatoiwere devoted to a detailed in- spection of the machines by theGreek Military Commission, and the construction of the " III F "was openly admired on all sides. After this, flying demonstrationswere carried out, which embraced a climb, speed run, etc., atvarious altitudes, and a number of general demonstration flightscarrying Greek officers. The de- monstrations were concluded onAugust 17 with complete success. The next stage of the demon-stration, viz., to transfer to float chassis and give seaplane demon-stration, presented a very serious difficulty. The aerodrome at Tatoi lies about 25 milesfrom Phaleron, the Naval Seaplane Station on the other side of the City of Athens, and over rather difficult and insome places rough roads. M A suitable field where they could \ land safely near Phaleron, could not be found and, not feelinginclined to chance an accident, the wings and tail plane of the " III F " were removed, and with the aid of anexcellent crew of Greek sailors, the machine was towed behind a lorry to the base. It was rather a hair-raisingtrip, as the road wound round some very steep corners, with sheer drops in many places,and overhanging trees threaten- ing damage to the top centresection. Phaleron was reached, how-ever, after a long and trying day, and, the floats having beenfitted, the next few days were spent in demonstrating to theGreek Naval Department and carrying officers and officials fordemonstration flights. After a few more trips as a seaplane, the pro-blem arose of getting back to Tatoi as a landplane. In order toavoid another long tow, a piece of ground was located just behindan aircraft factory near the base, and from here they took offwithout difficulty. The Greek pilots were impressed with thistake-off, for at first they doubted if the " III F " could get awayfrom so small an area. Thus, while it took about twelve heart-breaking hours to get from Tatoi to Phaleron, to get back tookonly ten minutes ! The demonstrations over, Mr.McMullin flew back to England, the journey, via Uskub, Bel-grade, Vienna, Nuremberg, Cologne and Croydon, beingaccomplished in 14 hr. 35 min. " Throughout the trip," said Mr. McMullin, "we had notthe slightest trouble with either the aircraft or the Napier ' Lion XI ' engine, and although it entailed a lot of hardwork, Baker and myself enjoyed ourselves heartily." In the top picture is the Fairey "III F " at Phaleron Bay; In the centre, Mr. McMullin (pilot) has a heart- to-heart talk with the Greek General. In the last two photos we see the " III F " as a land plane, being transported from Tatoi to Phaleron. 1196 " ' '•"""' •-
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