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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0004.PDF
f FLIGHT, JANUARY 4. 1934 ORGANISERS : Kaimakam V. H. Tait Bey, Commandant of the Egyptian Air Force, Mr. J. L. Shand, and Russell Pasha, Chief of the Egyptian Police, all of whom worked hard to make the meeting a success. On the right, Sir Quintin Brand, Director-General of Aviation. (FLIGHT Photos.) real interest. Owing to the fact that carefully checking of all the weight carried and the fuel remaining in the tanks had to be made, the officials did not allow anyone other than those actually engaged on these tasks to approach the machine park. It was not, therefore, possible to get either photographs or pilots' impressions as soon as they landed. They all arrived, at intervals, and only, as already explained, M. Fremont's machine fell by the wayside. There yet remained the speed race, which was being held the following day, and certain of the competitors had to complete the preliminary tests. The Savoia Marchetti had, for example, to make its landing and take-off on the Nile, being an amphibian, and this it did after the race, with unfortunate results. Apparently it slewed badly on landing and seriously damaged a wing- tip, with the result that it was unable to complete the prescribed tests and was subsequently disqualified. An un- fortunate result, because this machine caused quite a large amount of interest. It was fast and beautifully made, but the speed appeared to have been obtained by sacrifice of landing speed. Despite fitting a form of Zap type flaps the take-off was not impressive, especially from hot desert aerodromes. The Safety Factor test very definitely favoured multi-engined machines, as they only had to maintain height with one engine switched off for 12 minutes to gain full marks. Both the Spartan " Cruiser " and the " Dragon " had no difficulty whatsoever in doing this, and it was, therefore learnt with regret that the " Cruiser " was unable ultimately to take part in the Circuit. Saturday was brilliant but gusty when the Speed Race started at noon. The start of the race was without incident. Tht-re was no unanimity as to which way to turn after taking off, but most made a half-turn to the right as the course lay at 90 deg. to the starting line in that direction. An ingenious arrangement had been evolved by Fit. Lt. Little, who with many other R.A.F. officers had taken some of their leave during the period of the meeting and volunteered their services. There is no doubt that the smooth running of everything on the aerodrome was due to Fit. Lt. Little and his band of marshals. The starters were divided in groups between flags of various colours along the whole length of the starting line—• which, as it was Almaza aerodrome, means umpteen metres long. Each group was given a starter, who acted in- dependently of the others, so there was never any occasion for competitors to have much cause for worry due to starting at the same time as the machine alongside them. This removed hectic heart beats from the spectators! The loss of performance in this part of the world was very evident in a start like this, and even old hands at the game like Sqd. Ldr. Soden took no undue risks with climbing turns of the kind one frequently sees in England. The first machine back was M. Maillet's Potez, but it was soon realised that he had dropped out of the race, ALL-FRENCH : M. J. Puget and his Sahnson engined Farman, winners of the Speed Race. (FLIOHT Photo.) 8
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