FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0517.PDF
FLIGHT, MAY 29, 1931 NORTHAMPTON 'HE annual pageant of the Northamptonshire Aero Club was held at Sywell on Monday last. In the old days one used religiously to give a list of all the pilots and machines which turned up, but now, since both pilots and machines have multi- plied in numbers, and since the number of machines attending a meeting has increased from a mere handful up to anything in the region of a hundred, it is quite impos- sible in the space which we are able to devote, to give a full list. Time was when the fuel and oil companies possessed only one machine each, and when the number of private owners was very small, but now that several of these firms have three machines each, and the num- ber of private owners is many- hundreds, a mere catalogue of those present at each meeting would become dull and uninteresting, hence the omission of such a catalogue on this occasion. At Sywell, as always, the spirit which reigned was one of quiet efficiency and excep- tional enthusiasm, and the number of aerial visitors was very large indeed. We were glad to see the Brothers Linnell once more in charge of the flying organi- sation, and very ably did they carry it out. There were no hitches and every- thing went perfectly smoothly. Arrangements both in the club enclosures and in the large field allotted to the general public were admirable, and everyone must have enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The programme itself, this year included a greater num- Lord Erskine declares the Meeting open. Mr. Bruce Olney, the " announcer," is on the right. ber of which comic turns, a featurestan* t-hink is altogether praiseworthy since a con- become'&'i0^^ Katies by different pilots canp of aerobatics e boring after a time. almost fell overboard, gave the impression that the hospitality he had received from the club the evening before had been almost too much for him. However, every effort was made to assist him, even to the length of attaching several balloons to his head in an endeavour to keep his heated brow up into the cool air. The " Sywlider " rose extremely well to a height of about 30 ft., but unfortunately then proceeded to crash. With due promptitude the ambulance was on the spot, and several figures danced around the wreckage. The body was hauled from the remains of the cockpit, but un- fortunately two over-zealous members each seemed to want • . to take it in a different direction, with the result that it was dismembered and the sawdust spilled on the sur- face of the aerodrome! Flt.-Lt. Schofield put up an excellent show on an Autogiro, and Mr. Lowe Wylde made several flights on his latest two-seater sail- plane. The star turn was undoubtedly the "wizardly" exhibition of F/O. W. E. P. Johnson. This year he was flying a Lincock, which had been fitted for inverted flying. No description of the way in which he handled his machine could be adequate, and it must suffice to say that it appeared to make no differ- ence to him whether he was inverted or the right way up. Sometime later he also bombed a tank, and after several near shots succeeded in destroying it. The final explosion wrecked the vehicle sadly, and revealed a strangely familiar chassis which we hope will live to perform a similar function next year, for Sywell without that contraption would not be Sywell! The club's instructor, Mr. E. F. Palmer, broadcast a demonstration of flying from a club Moth, andIt wa<; i° " "• umc' Droaacast a demonstration ot nymg lrom a CIUD iviotn, ana to perfonr,+h nate that Mrs- victor Bruce was unable explained his various manoeuvres as he did them. The hfluen™v, *T °Pfnm8 ceremony owing to an attack of parachute descent which was to have taken place could and. DUt Lord Erskine ably stepped into the breach,VOIPfi iirhUJ 11the R W r u wtllch must surely have been trained by At Vh V adcast a fittin8 speech for the occasion,different Jf u- e was a Parade of a large number of aitterent machines, including the Autogiro, Moths, Avians, thes Desoutter. After the parade several not be performed owing to the high wind. The success of a show like this depends very largely upon the co-operation of all club members, who naturally do their best to assist in every way. It would be im- possible to mention all these, whether they were stewards who helped to park the machines or the attractive young ladies who supplied all visitors with tickets and invita- ^dividual d^ glVen a few minutes in the air by way of tions to the dance which was to be held the same evening, The the c<; ration, took_ — form of a cowboy, who from of bali.T™ ° ua L th suPP°sedly shot several of a string the ae--,Vr were anchored to a cord well out on -^rome. After a few failures, some three or four ;,*":>' burst- If the shooting was actually done - -ockpit We would like to congratulate the marks- we nave a strong suspicion that nefarious were from man, but one case we think deserves special mention, and that was Mr. Bruce Olney, who did all the broadcasting, and enabled the general public to get such a good idea of what was going on. Let us hope that although flying meetings may in general become fewer in number, Sywell will continue to become a " better and better " annual entertainment. The Illingworth Cup, for the best display of flying, was ^ th *"n«1 la 'A was •1 , ed- though quite how was difficult to see awarded to F/O. Johnson, and the Sywell Grand National, nobody anywhere near the target! Some- local machine called the " Sywlider," which production of the Wilby Air- :st flight by means of a towcar - It was a weird and wonderful 'Mewnat on the lines of Mr. Lowe Wylde's J y race round a triangular course was won by Mr. W. Gairdner (Puss Moth), who looks after Brian Lewis and C. D. Barnard's interests at Hooton, with Mr. F. Gough (Moth) second and Mr. N. Brett (Avian) third. The A.A. aviation staff deserve praise for efficient way they controlled and assisted in parking the aircraft, a k f ll id h 6 i r*"uucti , K .— ""-- llura ui «"• x^uwc v»yiuc s they controlled d assisted n parking e aircraft, The piiot n ,,ut suitably modified to suit Sywell needs! tas of no small magnitude, as there were some 60 aircraft cockpit, from the way he lolled about and present and these divided into three parks. 479
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
