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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0688.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 3, 1931 Mr. Lowe-Wylde on hisand Mr. Mole on the Cartland getting ready ti.and find the clouds. Photo.) arbarag 0 * machine which has been christened the Barbara Cartland,since it is the property of Mrs. McCorquodale, were towed up by N.F.S. Moths. These gliders are naturally not soefficient as the Wien, and, although they were able to gain a little height, they gradually lost it afterwards, and camedown, having stayed up for some considerable time. Herr Kronfeld, however, continued to float round and rounduntil eventually Capt. Max Findlay, the Chief Instructor of N.F.S., went up on a Martlet (Genet II) and " shothim down." After his landing Herr Kronfeld was pre- sented by the Duke of Sutherland with the £1,000 chequewhich he picked up for gliding across the Channel both ways during the same day, recently. F/O. H. H. Leech gave au excellent display of well-thought-out aerobatics on the Martlet, and showed that he has evidently learnt a good deal of showmanship from his pre-vious public shows, as all his stunts were done just in the right place in front of the crowd, where they could see himeasily, and where there was no danger at all in the event of his engine cutting out. To emphasise this point hedeliberately cut his engine out before the finish, and subse- quently made a beautiful landing right in front of thecrowd without starting up again. This form of finish does a very great deal to make the public realise that enginefailure does not necessarily mean a crash, and that in point of fact forced landings resulting in crashes are theexception rather than the rule. Ex-King Alfonso was present with a large party andappeared to enjoy Mr. Leech's display most thoroughly. As a further attraction, which was not gliding, Fit. Lt.W. E. Purdin flew the Bleriot monoplane which had been seen at Hendon the previous day. On this occasionhe gained quite a considerable altitude before finally landing in front of the crowd. The last glider to do anything was Herr Kronfeld'sAustria. Readers of FLIGHT will remember the illustrationsof this strange-looking aircraft which we have already published, and will recollect that it has a colossal aspectratio in the neighbourhood of 1:22. It has an amazingly flat gliding angle, and when Herr Kronfeld arrived in it,having been towed direct from St. Inglevert last Thursday evening, it took him some 30 min. to lose something like1,500 ft., while he circled round Hanworth. Herr Kronfeld is naturally going very slowly with such a valuable Below on the right can be seenHerr Kronfeld in the Wien just be- fore making his flight over Han-worth. (FLIGHT Photo.) machine, and has not as yet attempted anything veryspectacular with it. Figures, etc., are not therefore avail- able. It seemed a pity, however, that he did not takeit up instead of the Wien earlier in the afternoon when there was plenty of clouds to hang on to, because now hecould do nothing more than circle round and land. On Tuesday, June 30, Herr Kronfeld made what mustbe the first glider flight over London. He left Hanworth at 1.15 p.m. and was towed up to 1,500 ft.In about an hour he gained another 3,000 ft., and then made his way across London at an altitude of between1,800 and 5,000 ft., finally landing at Great Lines, an open space used as a playground, at Chatham, at 5.30 p.m.,where he was given every assistance by Rear-Admiral Snagge, K.N., who commands the R.N. Barracks, andwho is himself an "A" pilot of Hanworth Club. Herr Kronfeld utilised cumulus clouds for maintaininghis height, and also thermal up-currents, which at times reached 7 to 8 ft./sec.This flight is the longest made across flat country, the previous being that made by Herr Hirth of 3 hr.10 min. over Breslau. :A The Austria amid the hay at Hanworth. (FLIGHT Photo.) 642
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