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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0672.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 3, 1931 THE AUXILIARY AIR FORCE: A BOMBER WING COMPOSED OF THE CITY OF LONDON. COUNTY OF .LONDON AND COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX SQUADRONS. ALL FLYING " WAPITIS." (FLIGHT Photo.) provided by handing the machine over to an indifferentpilot. The result might be very different. This is not meant in any way as a criticism of the " Gugnunc."The machine was designed to win a competition, and to be flown in that competition by a pilot who was a masterat getting the best possible out of it. The " Autogiro " was flown very " mildly," and it mayhave been the direction of the wind (blowing from the enclosures towards the aerodrome) which prevented onefrom getting a really good view of the slow descent of the machine. Through having to fly towards the enclosuresinstead of parallel with them, one lost that sense of slow forward speed which is experienced when the machineis seen from the side. In watching the " Pterodactyl " one had the feelingthat the pilot had not had sufficient time on the machine before the Display to become thoroughly familiar with it.Thus the very steep descent with the machine nearly horizontal, as shown at an earlier Display with theoriginal " Pterodactyl " was not observed. The fact that the wing tip " controllers " have disappeared may havebeen partly responsible. In the original machine these " controllers " could be seen trailing upwards when themachine was making a " stalled " descent, and at once indicated what was happening. In the latest type it ismore difficult to follow. Flight-Lieutenant White provided some of the moreobserving onlookers with some amusement while he was waiting at the far side of the aerodrome before takingoff. The door of the cabin of the " Pterodactyl " was seen to be flapping merrily, but whether this was done to cool the *-~~. . pusher engine or to ventilate thecabin was not quite clear. The Inverted Moths The quaint trio had hardlypassed off when five " Moths," with party-coloured red upperwings, were observed approach- ing the aerodrome from goodnessknows where. As they came they went up to the top of a loopand half-rolled over on to their backs in a nonchalant sort ofway, and flew down to the foot- lights on their backs, ft seemedrather a disrespectful way in which to approach the greatBritish public. Then, turning right way up again for a briefspace, they formed a circle, and immediately stood on their headsonce again. They gave the im- pression that they had forgottenwhich was really the right way up for a Motii and a C.F.S.instructor, so they kept on trying both ways, and still could notquite make up their minds. But for the red on top of the wingsthe spectator could hardly tell which way up they were. Onthe whole, the heels-over-head position seemed to come more natural and comfortable tothem. At least that evidently was the conclusion arrived at by the leader, Flight-Lieutenant Embry, for he finallyadopted the head-down position, though the others followed him in perfect V formation with their headsuppermost. The leader was proved right. Streams of hot air were rising irregularly from the aerodrome, and weremaking a fine series of bumps, to which the four following Moths duly responded. But an inverted Moth does notfeel bumps, and Embry flew steadily and sedately through them, while his following oscillated gently up and down.It is rumoured that a tyrannous Air Ministry forbids a pilot to fly upside down for more than five minutes,which is distinctly hard luck on those pilots who want to escape air-sickness by adopting this position. This polished exhibition came to an end all too soon.The crowd could have done with more of it, and so, apparently, could the C.F.S. instructors. No. 204 (Flying Boat) SquadronNo one could accuse the Display Committee of not ringing the changes in a striking manner. From a Mothto a " Southampton " is quite a big jump. In a recent issue of FLIGHT a photograph taken off the Devon coastshowed how well No. 204 (Flying Boat) Squadron can keep formation, and now some 200,000 of the public were ableto note that fact for themselves. The three Southampton* arrived in V formation, and then flew back at a lowaltitude in line astern. This gave people a chance of grasping the fact that they really had no landing wheels, EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH: THE HANDLEY PAGE "GUGNUNC" THE CIERVA "AUTOGIRO,'• AND THE HLLL-WESTLAND "PTERODACTYL" IN FLIGHT FORMATION. RIGHT-HAND CIRCUITS WERE MADE SO THAT THE GUGNUNC•• COULD "MARK TIME" WHILE THE "PTERODACTYL" WENT FULL SPEED. (FLIGHT Photo.) 626
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