FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0646.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 1, 1932 BEFORE AND— included were not quite new, and certainly no longer to be regarded as experimental. Taxying out of their enclosure, and rather spoiling the effect of the three gliders, whose " noiselessness " was drowned by the roar of the twenty-odd engines, the fifteen "present and experi mental " machines took off strictly in the order given in the programme. The item had been introduced by three " old friends," the " Autogiro," the " Gugnunc " and the " Pterodactyl," which showed off the particular charac teristics each possesses. Slow-flying and nearly vertical descent were the features demonstrated by the Cierva and the Handley Page machines, while the " Pterodactyl," looking like a butterfly by reason of its new colour scheme, was splendidly handled by Fit. Lt. Stainforth. The perfect loop of the " Pterodactyl " indi cated that there are now few evolutions which this type cannot perform, although it retains the freedom from stalling vices which was the raison d'etre of Capt. Hill's first machine of this type. The fifteen machines from the aircraft park flew around for a short time, but conditions were not very favourable for forming any really useful opinion of their capabilities, nor did the method of taxying out and taking off allow of showing what length of run the different types required. The smaller high-speed types were, as usual, the most spectacular, but to those who make a serious study of development there was, perhaps, more interest in watching the behaviour of the very new types, especially those which had not been seen in public before. Many of the aircraft types which took part in this event were demonstrated at the S.B.A.C. Display at Hendon on Monday last, where one had a very much better opportunity to see what they can do, and readers are referred to pp. 601-603 for our impressions of these. Here it will suffice if we give a list of the types which took part in the fly-past, and a brief mention of such of the types as were not represented at the private show on Monday last. The fifteen machines, in the order in which they took off, were: Vickers "Jockey" ("Jupiter"), Hawker "Osprey" ("Kestrel"), Bristol "Bulldog III A" (" Mercury "), Hawker " Nimrod " (" Kestrel "), West- (" Pegasus "), Gloster Troop Carrier (4 Armstrong Whitworth " Atlas II " Short " Valetta " (3 " Jupiter "), Bristol "120" ("Pegasus "), Vickers "Vildebeest" (" Pegasus "), Boulton & Paul " P.32 " (3 " Pegasus "), Handley Page H.P. 38 (2 " Kestrel "), Fairey Monoplane (2 " Kestrel "), Blackburn ten-passenger biplane (2 " Jaguar "), and De Havilland " Tiger Moth " (" Gipsy III "). Of the machines seen in public for the first time, and which were not flown during Monday's private demon stration, the Boulton & Paul " P.32 " bore a strong family resemblance to the " Sidestrand," the third engine, placed land " P.V.6 " Kestrel "), (" Panther "), AFTER : The Kite Balloon, after the departure of Wing Com. Dummy Sandbags was shot down in flames. (FLIGHT Photos.) in the top centre-section, not being visible from several angles of view. An unusual feature of this machine was the nearly square tailplane and elevator, of an aspect ratio lower than any seen since the early days of flying. The Fairey night bomber, with its cantilever low-wing arrangement and ultra-careful streamlining, was a very fine sight in the air, and represents a new line of attack on the long-range night-bomber problem. Impressions of other types will be found in our account of the S.B.A.C. Display. The Set Piece Although the " plot " laid for the Set Piece this year was very much more war-like than the semi-peaceful ones of the last few Displays, somehow or other we were not particularly thrilled by this event. Personally we were much more excited when our aircraft swooped down upon hordes of many-coloured " Wot Knotts," scattering them in all directions, and then blowing everything up with terrific bangs. The scene this year represented a main aerodrome of the Enemy, situated alongside a disused fort in which large quantities of bombs were stored. (This sounded very promising for a big bang.) The Enemy squadrons having been somewhat worrying, it was decided to carry out a heavy air attack to destroy this base. Thus, a squadron of our Single-Seater Fighters came on the scene, and diving on to the Enemy aerodrome delivered a low machine-gun attack on the occupants. This had the effect of drawing the Enemy Fighter Squadron, which immediately took off in pursuit, and soon we saw the two rival squadrons fighting it out " off stage." Meanwhile our Reconnaissance aircraft (Hawker " Audax " with Rolls-Royce " Kestrel ") came along to have a look at things, and finding the Enemy Fighters " not at home " reported matters to H.Q.—who replied by despatching two squadrons of Bombers (Hawker " Horsley " and Fairey IIIF.). Feeling just a leetle un easy the Enemy sent up a Kite Balloon to see how things stood, but our " Audaxeses " spotted it and rushed in to attack. The Observer of the Kite Balloon (our old friend Maj., now Wing Com., Sandbags, who is now on the Extra Special Reserve) wisely departed per parachute, and shortly 598
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
