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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0075.PDF
FLIGHT, JANUARY 23, 1931 GLIDING THK LONDON Gliding Club.— Sunday was a bitterly coldday on the Downs above Totternhoe, but the wind was fairlv strong and in the right direction to make soaring con-ditions admirable. It had been so for the whole of the previous day and it was therefore not surprising to hear onour arrival that Mr. F. Buxton had broken the British dura- tion record on Saturday with a flight of some '1\ hours. OnSunday, Mr. C. H. Latimer Needham who had, previous to Mr. Buxton's flight, held the record went up and down ashort strip of the Downs until he had completed close on three hours' flying. He has presumably therefore unofficiallyregained his previous record. Quite what good such records do is a little difficult to see, and we feel that they must bedassed with the existing craze in America for both male and female pilots to remain aloft in an aircraft until such time asit drops to pieces. Once a pilot is expert enough to sit on top of a series of uprising currents as were available duringthe weekend at Totternhoe there can surely be very little merit in continuing to do so for as long as the wind holds.Cross-country flights and investigation of the currents over new ground would, we feel, constitute a much more profitableline of action and we hope shortly to hear of both these pilots emulating Herr Kronfeld and flying, say, from Dover to Salis-burv. Of course, these long flights were rather more meri- torious than might at first be imagined, since they weremade on a Priifling, and not a really efficient type of glider, but several of the more efficient type of machines are nowbeing built over here, and no doubt before long we shall hear more about them. One of the first of this new classb the " Scud " which as we mentioned last week has been designed by Mr. Baynes, and made by the Brant Aircraft(n. of froydon. This was tried out for the first time on the same ground the previous week. It was out again on Sundayam! Mr. Marcus Manton made several test flights on it. Aero- dvnamically it is undoubtedly a very interesting little machinedesigned on entirely different lines to anything we have yet heard of, either here or in Germany. With a loading of 3 • 1 lb.per sq. ft., it is some 50 per cent, higher than machines like the " Wien ," but the amazing part about it is that the totalstructural weight has been kept down to 103 lb. It is in the form of a braced parasol monoplane with a diamond shapefuselage. The tail surfaces, that is, both elevators and rudder, arecantilever from the fuselage and naturally balanced by virtue of their rota+ion about a single spar. The value ofsuch a machine as the Scud will undoubtedly lie to a large extent upon its handiness, two hand holes are provided oneach side of the fuselage and it is found that four men can quite easily pick it up and carry it about. 'We understand that the preliminary modifications have taken the form ofgearing down both the elevators and rudder, which has had the desirable effect of making the controls a little less sensitive.Previously, owing to the shortness of the fuselage the machine was rather too touchy for any other than the most expertpilot to fly. During the afternoon several club members made excellent flights on both the Priifling and the club Zoglings.On the latter at least two flights of nearly 3 min. duration were seen. We still, however, cannot quite see the necessityfor such flights being made in an inefficient machine of this type and would have thought that its use should have beenconfined to very short hops from low down the gliding slope in order to familiarise pupils with the use of the controls.To shoot them off the top of such a high hill as there is at Totternhoe must inevitably result, as it did on Sunday,in crashes. Satisfactory and great progress has been made in theclub during the last few months and, in spite of the shortened time of daylight available for gliding during theweek-ends, the number of flights per day has been main- tained within measurable distance of that obtainedduring September and October. The Dagnall prize, which has been put up for the club obtaining the greatest number of"A" certificates, is causing considerable interest, and the club's score of 17 will, it is hoped, give them a good chance ofwinning. Six members have completed the qualifying flights for their " B " licences and are now waiting a chanceto do the final tests. Five of these were trained ab initio by the club. As readers of FLIGHT will know, the threelectures organised by the club have been particularly inter- esting and well attended, and there is no doubt that membershave found a great deal of benefit from these lectures. The advanced group, the formation of which was announced lastweek, has proved to be a great success, and the mechanical method of returning a machine to the starting point hasenabled an increased number of long flights to be made. There is now a considerable number of vacancies in theInstructional Groups for those people who either have or have not had previous aviation experience, and anyone in theLondon district who is interested is advised to write to the Hon. Secretary, London Gliding Club, Empire House, St.Martin's le Grand, E.C.I. (National 8682). COUTHDOWN Skysailing Club.—On Sunday, January 11,•^ this club carried out their usual programme of flying in spite of the fact that their club captain, Flight-Lieut. Brownhad broken his leg the previous v, eek. Several good glides were made and more and more members are increasing theirknowledge of the sport. A three-quarter front view of Brant Aircraft Co's. " Scud." (FLIGHT Photo. 77
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