FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0462.PDF
FLIGHT, MAY 13, 1932 fall apart, and the airman is entirely free. Another feature of this harness is its adjustability. It has extension lengths which permit the airman to tighten himself in when he wishes to perform aerobatics, or to ease the straps as required. Toggles (" C," see photo) are fitted in the harness in a position convenient to the hand on each side of the seat, and a tug on these lengthens the straps and thus eases their hold. Contrarily, a downward pull on side straps by the seat presses the airman down firmly. A short extension strap on the airman's right shoulder will enable him to lean right forward when it is pulled (see illustration), while a pull on a lengthening strap that sweeps round from the back and is simply tied to a nearby cockpit mem ber will draw him back again. Whatever attitude the aircraft assumes when the airman is stunting, or being badly bumped about in rough weather, the Safety Harness automatically enables him to maintain a correct flying position in his seat, while also permitting him full flexible body control and comfort. There is a special attachment which makes it possible to use the Safety Harness without necessarily wearing the parachute. Inquiries about this new Safety Harness should be sent to the Irving Air Chute of Gt. Britain, Ltd., Letchworth, Herts. This harness is approved by the Air Ministry. MEYROW1TZ LUXOR GOGGLES T UXOR No. 10 model goggles have *-' become exceedingly popular since their introduction by E. B. Meyrowitz, Ltd., 199, Regent Street, W.l, parti cularly because both the lenses and cushions are interchangeable, and it is thus only a matter of a few seconds to substitute tinted lenses for the plain white one. The Dutch Air Force placed an order for a large number of these goggles not so very long ago, and as these proved so satis factory, they have now placed a further order. R.A.F. VISIT TO E. G. BROWN & CO. A PARTY of R.A.F. Officers from ** Henlow visited the works of E. G. Brown & Co., Ltd., on April 27, in charge of Fit. Lt. C. A. C. Fidler. They were received by Mr. E. G. Brown, and after dividing up into three sections were shown by the directors around their automobile, aircraft, and general sheet metal works. The activities of this company were fully described in FLIGHT for October 2. 1931, and since sheet metal work is rapidly becoming one of the most important sides oi aircraft manu facture, there is little to be surprised about in the fact that all the officers found their visit exceedingly interest ing. It is understood that the Officer Commanding the Engineering Course at Henlow has expressed the hope that the visit will become an annual event. ROMANCE '"THIS is the title which has been ^ given by Henly's, Ltd., to a booklet issued by them, with a view to giving people some idea of the past history of their premises and their business. Written in the main by Malcolm Mackenzie, this little volume is extremely interesting, and is packed with facts not usually known. For example, we learn that Devonshire House (the present site of Henly's in Piccadilly) was built by one Kent, in 1735, for the Duke of Devonshire. We find also the fact that Gt. Port land Street is the cradle of wireless, as it was there that David Hughes carried out his famous experiments wherein he received audible signals from a transmitting machine at a distance of about 100 yd. The only criticism we have is that enough space is not allowed to that department of this firm, which is destined before long to be the most important—namely, the Aviation Department. From Cape Town to Clyde. By Richard Humble, with a Foreword by the Master of Sempill. Longmans, Green &- Co.) Obtainable from FLIGHT Office, 5s. 6rf. post free. CO many books about long-distance flights are now appearing that it requires a novel method of treat ment and a novel point of view to recommend any addi tion to the number. Mr. Humble has certainly provided the novelties in his notebook, as we might call it, about the air route from Cape Town to Renfrew. His object in writing the book was not to describe an adventure, but to show how easy such a flight is, even to pilots with very little experience. Before starting from Cape Town for Renfrew, Mr. Humble, a Scot and an old Fettesian, had been flying for about eight months, and his wife for a still shorter time. Moreover, Mr. Humble is not a man in his first youth ; his appearance suggests young middle age. Almost certainly he would have been regarded during the war as past the flying age. Doubtless that made for ripe judgment in his flying, and all the way through his record runs a very sensible disinclination to take avoidable risks. How many of the air tragedies every year are due to the impetuosity of youth! Having learnt to fly, and, judging by internal evidence in the book, having learnt to fly quite well, Mr. Humble decided to come home from Cape Town in a " Puss Moth," with his wife as second pilot. He was so impressed with the ease of the journey that he is now amazed that so little air touring is being done by owner-pilots. Owners in Great Britain need to enlarge their horizon, he says. The only section of his tour on which the weather seemed to stir his bile was that from Heston to Renfrew, and he writes with some feeling about their first sample of British visibility and " the gloom of an alleged good flying day." He concludes:—" Once get into the habit of thinking of London as merely a refuelling station and not as a destina tion, and immediately Europe and the blue Mediterranean appear on the wing tip, and the A.A. are but waiting to arrange everything. We all admit that our weather is the worst in Europe, so why not try a better vintage? Africa itself is no great distance, light planes even now going through to Nairobi every week that we never hear anything about." The book itself is written very carefully on the lines indicated above. It is certainly not a book of adventure. It is only incidentally an interesting record of travel. In the main it is in the nature of a guide book for the benefit of future airmen who may set out from Cape Town for England, and it may also serve as a set of general prin ciples for pilots flying across any country outside Western Europe. It describes the features of the country over every section of the way, and gives advice as to what to do at almost every point. In particular the remarks about when to follow a road, and what to do when the apparent road comes to an end in the bush, and when it is prudent to tackle clouds in the mountains, or sandstorms over the Sudan, and how to deal with each situation, are particu larly valuable. Mr. Humble is evidently not only a very prudent man, but also one with a great power of absorb ing information, committing it to memory, and reproduc ing it for the benefit of those who follow after. The flight over each section of the route is described, and at the end of each chapter is a list of notes which embody the author's conclusions about that section. This sounds as if the book must be rather dull reading for any one who is not actually contemplating a Cape-England flight, and if this were so the author could hardly have been blamed. He would still have fulfilled the object for which this book was written. In spite, however, of his strictly businesslike and instructional attitude, the book is an eminently interesting one to read. It is short and pithy, and when one has started it, one finds it hard to put the book down. Obviously, if Mr. Humble ever has any real adventures, he will be able to write a very striking account of them. It is certainly to be hoped that the occasion will never arise, and it is not in the least likely that Mr. Humble will be to blame if it does. In short, this book is one of the most useful pieces of air propaganda which has been written for a very long time. F. A. DE V. R 430
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
