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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 1110.PDF
FLIGHT, NOVEMBER 3, 1932 Three machines were kept engaged in giving " joy rides." At the conclusion of the " joy flights," the pilots of the Madras Club gave a demonstration of stunt flying, which thrilled the spectators. If necessary permission can be secured for the use of the Island ground as an aerodrome. The club proposes to repeat this successful experiment, and afford frequent opportunities for the general public to acquire " air- mindedness." BOMBAY FLYING CLUB The Bombay Flying Club, Ltd., has issued its fourth annual report. The membership of the club at the end of March, 1932, was 268. During the year 22 pupils qualified for their "A" licences. Joy-riding has been very popular—altogether 431 hr. flying have been done at Juhu, Bikaner, Jodhpur and other places. Cross country nights have been undertaken—the greatest amount for any month was 178 hr. Operations of the club resulted in a loss of Rs.17,000— this was chiefly due to the necessity for building up the Insurance Fund, which had been guaranteed by Sir Victor Sassoon to a figure of Rs.20,000, in pursuance of the arrangement which was made when this fund was estab lished. N ATIONAL FLYING SERVICES Bad weather has greatly restricted flying at all N.F.S. clubs during the past week. Nevertheless night flying was well patronised at Han worth on Wednesday, October 26, when four pupils were given dual instruction. At Hull arrangements have been made for a series of lectures to be given throughout the winter. On Novem ber 3 Fit. Lt. N. Comper will speak on the " Development and Construction of Light Aeroplanes." On November 17 Mr. Kier Smith will lecture on " The Napier Lion Engine." On November 5 and 19 two club dances have been arranged, the former to be preceded by a firework display. The annual club ball will be held on December 5. LIOW TO BE AN AIRMAN 1 A Possessing the innate faculty of selective and instinc tive discrimination we are reprinting the following gem from " The Scottish Flyer," the Journal of the Scottish Flying Club. We can only hope that the Australian authority concerned will be able to harmoniously and selectively adjust the grammatical equilibrium of the complex statement: — ' The qualities needed by a successful airman have at last been precisely analysed and clearly expounded. At a flying school in Australia notice was recently given to applicants for admission that they must first give proof of possessing inherent flying ability. Some of the candidates wanted to know in what this ability consisted. They were then told that—' the pilot must possess the innate faculty of selective and instinctive discrimination of the stimuli of the sensormotor apparatus to harmoni ously adjust metabolic changes in physiological equilibrium in such manner as to comprehend and assimilate instruc tion in the attributes essential to perform the intricate and complex operations which constitute the details of pilotage.' [Anyone who can understand this will doubtless find the intricate movements of a joystick mere child's play.— ED.] " IN A SPARTAN "CRUISER" TO ATHENS MR. JOHN LORD and Mr. J. de C. Ballardie, Directors of Spartan Aircraft, Ltd., piloted by Col. L. Strange, have recently made a flight to Athens and back via Belgrade. In FLIGHT for October 27 we were able to re cord their progress as far as Bel grade. Since the date of that article, however, further infor mation has come to hand, and we propose to amplify to a cer tain extent the details of the trip thus far, and also to follow the party to Athens and back again to England. Schedule adhered to The trip was carried through to a definite schedule, despite the execrable weather. This ability to hold to the schedule brought out the undeniable fact that for a trip like this a three-engined machine of this nature was probably the only type with which it could safely have been done. Demonstrations both at Belgrade and Athens were made before, not only civil, but also Air Ministry and Military authorities. In both cases satisfaction, not to say astonishment, was shown by those for the benefit of whom these demonstrations were performed. As we have already recorded, the start was made on October 14 from Heston at 11.30 a.m. The visibility was bad and en route for Paris it was found necessary to turn back in the neighbourhood of Abbeville to make a forced landing at St. Inglevert. After a halt there while the storm passed over, the journey was continued to Le Bourget at 3.50 p.m. Weather-Bound in Paris From then, ensued an enforced three days' wait at Le Bourget owing to the fact that the weather over the Vosges and the Black Forest was quite unsuitable for flying. It is trus an abortive attempt to proceed was made on October 16, but low cloud in the valley of the Marne made it impossible to get farther than Meaux, so a return to Le Bourget was necessitated. Col. Strange, in his account of the trip, pays great tribute to the way Imperial Airways ran their 42-seaters throughout this period of bad weather, and to the fact that they were Date Oct. 14 17 18 21 23 24 25 Ave LOG OF THE FLIGHT Course Heston-Le Bourget Le Bourget-Munirh ... Munich-Belgrade Belgrade-Athens Athens-Pisa Pisa-Paris Paris-Heston rage speed 113 m.p.h. Miles 228 423 570 570 862 712 228 3593 T hr. 1 3 3 5 7 7 2 31 ime mm. 50 15 50 35 40 10 20 40 running to capacity, so much so that on occasion the machines had actually to be duplicated. On October 17 conditions im proved slightly, and a take-off was made at noon. Conditions over the Vosges were still bad, but a gap was found at Saverne, while the Black Forest mountains were negotiated in the region of Strasbourg. Many attempts were made to find a way through the low cloud and stormy conditions to Munich, but this was found to be hopeless, and eventually a landing had to be made near Starnberg. Here the local Mayor, a fine type of German landowner about 70 years old, gave every help, and the following morn ing, round about 9 o'clock, he flew in the " Cruiser " over to Munich aerodrome, where he vouched for the fact that the landing at Starn berg had not been made with the intent of dodging Customs or any other unlawful action. At Munich the party met Herr Kronfeld, the well-known Austrian gliding expert. He was of the greatest assistance, particularly in obtaining a weather report wherein it was stated that a following wind would be found at 12,000 ft. Munich to Belgrade Munich was left at 11.50 a.m., and the journey to Bel grade made in excellent weather conditions. From an altitude of 10,000 ft. the view of the Austrian Tyrol on the right, with the Danube on the left, was really wonder ful, while Vienna could just be seen far to the north. The following wind, as forecast by Herr Kronfeld, held until the Danube was crossed again, but then it developed into a slight head-wind, which was maintained until Belgrade was reached. At the aerodrome the " Cruiser " was wel comed by Col. Stravesky and Mr. " Tommy " Mapple- beck, the Yugoslav agent for Spartan Aircraft. The fol lowing day was spent in demonstrating the " Cruiser to officials of the Aeroput Co. The next day, October 20, was devoted to tests and demonstrations made for the benefit of the Air Ministry. The machine was weighed most carefully and loaded up to the full 5,100 lb., stop watches and barographs were carried, take-off and landing runs measured. A novel suggestion, made by Mr. John 1030
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