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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0037.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 6, 1933 (1) VICTORS : Fit. Lt. Ivins with his winning old Bristol Fighter, which also carried Mr. Keith Jopp. (2) MUGS : Some of the visiting pilots lined up to receive pewter mugs and other prizes. (3) DEMONS : The Secretary of State for Air inspecting No. 23 (F.) Squadron. He was accompanied by Air Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham and Group Capt. H. J. Hunter. (FLIGHT Photos.) The winner was Fit. Lt. D. V. Ivins, who arrived back at Liverpool with Mr. Keith Jopp as a passenger, Mr. Jopp having had the misfortune to break his undercarriage during the race when landing at Blackpool. The old " Hispano " engine of the Bristol " Fighter " did not seem worried by the extra load ; it just lapped up a little more National Benzole Mixture and romped home four seconds ahead of the next man. We doubt if finer flying has ever been seen at a Flying Meeting than that which the R.A.F. gave us at Liverpool. Someone ought to write a book about their display at Hendon this year. Only in that way could sufficient space be got in which to do justice to their excellence. For the past few years there has been an almost distressing sameness about the Display. It seemed as if they had reached the limit of flying efficiency. By this year, how ever, they had had considerable experience of the Hawker Fury " and " Hart " upon which to draw. They had learnt how best to utilise the amazing speed range of this Hawker-Rolls combination, and the result is that we have had to revise our ideas of aerobatic flying. Before the " Fury " we just didn't have any aircraft which would make a complete roll by a formation of three machines possible, but now it is being done not only b y an isolated flight, but by three flights in squadron formation, and while tied together, too! . On Saturday we had a feast of tie prettiest flying imaginable. No. 23 Squadron carried out Squadron Air Drill with their Hawker " Demon " machines which, like both the " Hart " and " Fury," have Rolls-Royce " Kestrel " engines. In several cases they changed forma tion over the aerodrome—a fine piece of showmanship which was also exceedingly interesting. No. 1 Squadron's flight of three "Furies" did flight aerobatics. They looped, rolled, and made the tightest of turns, just as if they were only one machine. They even changed formation from line astern to flight Vee while halfway up the side of a loop! All their manoeuvres were exact and perfect, but best of all—if we may dare to say there was a best—was their final man<euvre, the " Prince of Wales Feathers." This was carried through in an original way. The three machines dived across the aero drome and then climbed together in a steep zoom. At the appropriate height the leader looped while the wing machines did aileron turns outwards and finally a sort of half-roll with a 90 deg. turn, so that they finished up with all three machines taking up formation in the same direction as that in which they originally came across the aerodrome. The amazingly close formation flying while inverted, achieved by five pilots from the Central Flying School, on Avro " Tutors " (" Lynx ") has already been well illus trated in FLIGHT, and all that was seen in those photo graphs was repeated at Liverpool. They even changed formation while on their backs. Perhaps the fact that the flight includes two rugger players, used to " getting ' f *" ^l^^^Sm''^ ^P**^ % *§f|* 675
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