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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0975.PDF
FLIGHT, SEPTEMBER 11, 1931 abrut noon, and a car was sent into Southampton tome<-t him. His flight was to be in the afternoon. The seaplanes Is.248 and S.1596 were then taken out onBontoons to the neighbourhood of Lee, Orlebar going out as usual in the sea-car. This was the first flight of N.248since her return from Woolston after repairs, necessitated bv Hope's accident. Hitherto it has been an invariablepractice for Orlebar to make the first flight in any machine which had just come from the works, but on this occasionhe allowed Long to take the " A " up without testing her himself. No doubt he realised how bad weather had kepteveryone short of flying practice ; but at the same time this incident showed the confidence which the captain hascome to feel in his team, of which Long is one of the most trusted members.Though the " A " type has larger floats than it had two years ago, it has still less floating surface and keel sur-face than the " B " type. It is consequently less easy to handle on the water. The new " B " type floats aresimply enormous, and, to my mind, they make the machine look 'more shapely and better proportioned. Long tookoff at 12.15 p.m., and had to correct a tendency to por- poise in N.248, which he did quite successfully. His runwas roughly 27 seconds. In the air he put his machine through a variety of turns at various angles and withvarying amounts of throttle. The team is working very scientifically on the problem of the best compromise be-tween ithe gradual turn and the sharp " flick " banking turn. Probably every flight adds a little more to theirknowledge. It is noticeable now that even in very sudden vertical banks the pilots seem to find no difficulty in pre-venting their machines from climbing. Long put the "A"fthrough her paces for 15 minutes, which is thenormal duration of a practice flight. A Fine Flight by Stainforth At 12.50, George Stainforth took up the " B," S.1596,and made the most masterly flight which it has been my fortune to witness this year. It was evidently a "re-search •" flight, testing the effect of turns and banks of different degrees at different speeds, much in the wayLong had done for the "A." It was extraordinarily interesting to watch, and to speculate as to what"George" would do each time he approached Calshot Castle. A battery of binoculars followed his every move-ment, watching critically to spot any abnormality in each of his circles. Each one, however, seemed to be a per- fect example of how that particular turn should be made,and each one was different in character from all the others. One almost complete circle was most sensational,so tightly was the S.6 held into its bank and turn. It recalled a fighter showing off some aerobatics. Stainforth,who was making his second flight of the day, stayed in the air a full 20 minutes, which is longer than the usualperiod. From the look of the flight, it seemed that the pilot had nothing more to learn, but in all probabilitythe whole High Speed Flight will benefit by the notes which he produced at the end. Stern duty recalled me to London before I was able tosee the afternoon's flying, but as I ran into some heavy rain showers as I came, 1 fear that Calshot, too, did nothave too good an afternoon. From what I have seen, I am sure that the country can feel the utmost confidencein its High Speed pilots and machines. They will have no opponents next Saturday, but I feel sure that they willput up a perfectly magnificent show of flying. May I be there to see! A Press Canard Before concluding, I must say a word about an incorrectrumour which very unfortunately crept into some news- papers. The Air Ministry issued Press passes to Calshoton condition (among other things) " of refraining from publishing (a) the precise speed which it is hoped the air-craft will attain, and (b) the actual speed which they accomplish on test." One test flight was timed, but thefigures were naturally kept secret. Nevertheless, some correspondents who are not very familiar with flyingmatters somehow or other heard mention of the figure 405. As a matter of fact, this figure had reference to the flowof air through the supercharger, but it was erroneously supposed to refer to the miles per hour of the machine.Several newspapers published the statement that the test flight had achieved a speed of 405 m.p.h. Not only wasthe statement a breach of the conditions on which the passes were issued, but it was a statement for which therewas no foundation. It has raised expectations which may be disappointed. If, when the flights are made over thethree-kilometre course, the average speed is less than 400 m.p.h., the public may regard it as an anti-climax, andforeign nations may think that Great Britain has vaunted herself unduly, and that her pride has gone before a fall.The whole incident was extremely unfortunate and regrettable. TESTING CONDITIONS: Squadron Leader Orlebar going out in a Fairey "Fleetwing" to see if the weather is suitable for the Schneider machines. With him is Mr. W. Lappin of the Rolls-Royce Company. (FLIGHT Photo.) 913
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