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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0501.PDF
FLIGHT, MAY 29, 1931 a Ii.mdy thing to have about, especially as the air wasfairly full of aircraft, most of which were concerned with some experiment or other. Squadron-Leader W. S. Caster,M I", took charge of the controls. By his side sat Flight- Lieut J. A. T. Kyde, who will pilot the " Virginia " in asimilar demonstration at the R.A.F. Display on June 27. They both looked remarkably unperturbed as they tooktheir seats. Squadron-Leader Caster said that the first few times that he had been shot off he felt curious sensa-tions something like when a lift starts suddenly to go down' It gave the sensation of leaving one's interiormechanism behind. But they soon found out that the thing to do was to start with the body and head bracedhard back against the seat, and then there was no unpleasant sen-sation worth mentioning. If the body were slack when the accele-ration began, one might get a sudden push in the back, and tht-neck might be jerked. The "Lion" engines were run up.They gave some appearance of life to the bulk of the " Vir-ginia," but the thing looked ex- tremely impassive. With its tailon that awkward-looking trolley, it seemed intended to stay put tillthe cows came home. Through one's mind ran some thoughts ofthe old problem of what would happen if something irresistiblemet something immovable. The squadron leader raised his hand.The ground staff round the en- gines did something ; and thenthings began to happen so fast that one could not take them allin. The outstanding phenomenon was a scream from the engines" as though men fought upon the earth and fiends in upper air."The drums of one's ears wilted and curled up, and what hap-pened to microphones which were close by one trembles to think. From the engines arose a cloud of white steam.When one collected one's senses enough to look at the " Virginia," the effect was equally astound-ing. The dignified monster was careering away down the runway somewhat like an elephant on an Earl'sCourt waterchute. The startled eyes could scarcely appre- ciate the speed. Then there was a shock, as the tailtrolley stopped dead and the tail lifted clear from it. Already the wings were lifting, and the great nightbomber was air-borne. One wing of the machine was rather down, owing to the side wind, but, before the cablestopped hauling, the wheels were clear of the ground. The " Virginia " flew serenely away. The wheeled trolley on which the tail of the machine is supported in flying position. (FLIGHT Photo.) THE TOUR OF FRANCE "S announced last week, the results of the " Take-off " and " Landing " Competitions in connec- tion with the Tour of France, which concludedat Orly on May 10, were not received in time tor inclusion in our last report. We now give these inthe accompanying table, from which it will be seen that the winner was M. Vercruysse, on a Mauboussin mono-Plane, fitted with a 40-h.p. Salmson engine. Here we wouid point out an error that appeared in the table pub-lished last week—and we might add that the error origin- ated from the official lists. Verycruysse was shown aspiloting a Potez 36, whereas his machine was actually the ->lauboussin.These competitions were held at the Orly and Buc Airports shortly after the finish of the Tour of France.For the " Take-off " Competition, machines had to fly over an outstretched cord, held at a height of one metre,at a distance chosen by the contestants. For the " Land- ing " Competition, machines had to pass over the samecord on landing, the distance being measured from the cord to the axis of the wheels where the machine hadcome to rest. Each " take-off " and " landing " had to be effectedon approaching the cord at a right angle, and the machines were not allowed to go outside a " lane " 40 m. (131 ft.)wide, previously marked out. Only 20 of the Tour of France competitors took part inthese competitions. TOUR OF FRANCE: " TAKE OFF " AND " LANDING " COMPETITIONS Pilot. Veroruvsse RipaultRoulin Le FolcavezLabouchere Nicolesco LietardMauler LalouetteBlauger Hilsz .. .'Letartre .. Pegulu de RovinPharabod . . DurandeauCamion LardyBurlaton . . iMartinoff Grillot .. ' ' Machine. Mauboussin Potez 36Caudron 232.. Moth D.H. 60Potez 36 Moth-MoranePotez 36 Caudron 128..Farman 231 Potez 36Moth-Morane Potez 36Caudron 232 . . Potez 36Potez 36 Farman 231Caudron 230. . Potez 36Morane-Saulnier Engine andhorse-power. 40 Salmson 95 Renault " Take off,"min. 50 95 95 Renault . . 1 9285 Gipsy . . 95 Salmson85 Gipsy .. 95 Salnison120 Salmson 95 Renault95 Renault . 85 Gipsv .. 95 Renault. 95 Renault . 1 95 Renault.: 95 Renault . 95 Renault., 95 Salmson . 95 Renault120 Salmson 80 82 90 90 100 74 100 100 HO 95 120 125 80 117 HO 160 12S " Landing,"min. 25 31 50 72 62 68 70 80 82 78 94 72 92 70 76 130 118 120 117 116 AdditionalPremium, per cent. 10 10 10 10 10 rt 10 10 9 10 10 9 9 6 9 9 3 10 10 8 No. ofPoints. 426-80 781-33880-55 890-70892-95 936 07992 • 16 1,023-84 1,040-81 1,103-781,136-65 1,14113,172-48 ,230-56,260-16 ,316-68,570-58 ,612-26,717-68 ,718-33
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