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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0959.PDF
FLIGHT, SEPTEMBER 23, 1932 the enclosures—and by the roadside. Suffice it to say, Mr. Sayer's handling of the " Fury " was greatly complimented on all sides by the many experienced R.A.F. officers who were present. Apart from much activity in joy-riding on the part of Capt. C. D. Barnard with his well-known " Spider " and the Thanet Aviation, Ltd., with their Avro, a very enjoy able afternoon was brought to a close by the distribution of the prizes. Grp. Capt. Sydney Smith, in calling upon the Mayor of Ramsgate, Alderman C. Nixon, J.P., to present the prizes, expressed the regrets of Sir Philip Sassoon at not being able to be present, and a great hope that in the near future the Isle of Thanet would have a municipal aero drome of its own. The Mayor, in reply, said that all were sorry that Sir Philip Sassoon had not been able to come. He explained that his own views on aviation had of late undergone a great change. He felt that sooner or later a municipal aerodrome would have to be estab lished, and he proposed to do his utmost to bring it about as soon as possible. (We should like to con gratulate the Mayor on his wise views.—ED.) He then proceeded to hand to Lt. Col. Strange the handsome Isle of Thanet Cup, a replica and a cheque, cheques to Mr. Percival and Mr. Sparrow, and the Pav Cup to Mr. Percival who had achieved, in addition to the fastest speed in the race, 139^ m.p.h., the best performance, other than the winner's, on handicap. The Isle of Thanet Cup was given by Vye & Son, the Kentish Grocers, the replica by the Broadcast Relay Service, and the Pav Cup by Mr. H. E. Bawn. The meeting over and the weather now commencing to be unkind the visiting aeroplanes hastily departed. The writer was fortunate enough, owing to the good services of Mr. Percival and his speedy, comfortable " Gull," to find himself close handy to home at Croydon aerodrome 38 min. later! The trip was very bumpy, but the " Gull " appeared to need little attention by way of maintaining trim, and even though not at present having an exhaust pipe it is not the possessor of an undue number of " decibels." W. D. A WOMEN'S FLYING 1 MEETING •* H|—'HE Women's Engineer- \J) HI ing Society, who at the 111 suggestion of Lady Bailey have formed an aviation section, held an air meeting in connection with their Tenth Annual Conference at Atlantic Park, Eastleigh, near Southampton, on Sunday, Sep tember 18. Owing to a very re grettable streak of misplaced puritanism on the part of the municipal authorities, the organi sers were not allowed to bring the general public into the meet ing, except free of charge, with the result that they had to con tent themselves to a small but select party of invited guests. Atlantic Park is quite an excel lent aerodrome, and we hear rumours that it may shortly be the home of one of the well-known South Coast flying clubs. The hangars are still in reasonably good repair and bear romantic evidence, in the shape of notices in many languages, of the days when the shipping companies had perforce to use it as a dumping camp for the crowds of European emigrants who fled their own countries after the war to seek fortunes in the U.S.A. (who knows but what it may have sheltered Scarface Al or others of his ilk!). Visitors by air had, we gathered, a very sticky trip, as the clouds were down on the hills in most parts of the country, and this kept the numbers of aircraft very low, but those who came by road fared better, for despite rain which made things unpleasant they had no difficulty in finding the way ; A.A. notices at every corner led them straight to the aerodrome.—Mr. Ivor McClure, who has made the aviation department of the A.A. what it is, surely deserves recognition as one of aviation's benefactors. The Dowager Lady Swaythling opened the meeting, and the women who had flown down were presented to her. These included Miss Aitken, Mrs. Victor Bruce, Mrs. Chalmers, Miss Spicer, and Lady Bailey. Mrs. Shelmer- dine, who had nobly come all the way from London by road, Mrs. Mollison, who arrived somewhat later in her special " Moth," and last, but not least, Miss Mollie Olney, of the Northamptonshire Aero Club, to whom had been entrusted the organisation of the flying programme of the meeting. Lady Swaythling graciously repeated part of her speech for the sound film people, whose ineffi ciency prevented them getting their record at the right time, but whose nerve did not prevent them bluntly re questing a repetition of the speech! The programme be gan with a fly-past, and this was led by Lady Bailey in (L to R) Miss Olney (who organised the flying), Miss Spicer (a licensed ground engineer), Mrs. Victor Bruce, Mrs. Mollison, Mrs. Shelmerdine (Col. Shelmerdine, the D.C.A., was unable to be present), Mrs. Chalmers, Mr. J. A. Mollison. her " Puss Moth " (" Gipsy III "), which, incidentally, she landed more gently and artistically than we have seen most men land similar machines ; following her came Mrs. Victor Bruce, with Fit. Lt. Pugh, in her " Bristol Fighter " (Rolls " Falcon ") ; Mrs. Micklethwait, " Moth " (" Gipsy I "), who had flown down in easy stages from Yorkshire ; and Miss Aitken, who had brought her " Moth " (" Gipsy I ") over from Gatwick. Shortly after the fly-past Mrs. Mollison arrived, and was presented by the President of the Women's Engineer ing Society, Miss E. M. Kennedy, with a very complete Rotax lighting set, as a wedding present. Mrs. Mollison had spoken during the Tenth Annual Conference of the Society, in connection with which this present meeting was being held, and had voiced the opinion that women had far better stick to the work for which they were fitted than attempt to get jobs as ground engineers (a statement with which we heartily concur—ED.). Her affirmation that one G.E. could easily look after 20 aeroplanes does not seem quite so sound, however, and we cannot imagine the hard-working G.E.'s of the flying clubs about the country being very pleased at such a contention. How ever, despite her views, Mrs. Mollison has accepted Vice- Presidency of the Society, and will therefore be the next President. Mr. J. Mollison himself arrived in his well-known " Puss Moth," Heart's Content, shortly afterwards. A local branch of the S.M.A.C. showed well the advance which has been made in the construction of model aero planes during recent years, and many of their models made extremely stable and long flights despite the gusty wind. Bombing from the air caused some considerable 895
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