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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0255.PDF
JANUARY 30, 1936. FLIGHT. 115 Private Flying A Praga Agency THE Airwork sales department has obtained the London district agency for the Hillson Praga. Recent demonstra tions of this machine at Heston created a very favourable impression. A "Pou" by Night MR. CLAUDE OSCROFT, the instructor of the Aero-8 Club, recently carried out what is believed to be the first night flight in a Pou- He left thc ground at 8-55 P-m., Janu- arv 11, and circled the aerodrome twice at 1,000 ft., making a landing at 9.15 p.m. in the flare path provided. The Club machine is now equipped for night flying. Holland and the Carden "Pou" MR. J. BACH, an experienced pilot and editor of the Dutch national aviation journal, has made a successful flight on Mr. S. V. Appleby's Carden-engined Pou. He is the third pilot without previous Pou . experience to fly the Carden- Appleby machine. He expressed his satisfaction at the per formance—which appeared to be unaffected by his 190 lb. weight—and he handled it very well. He is negotiating with Abbott-Baynes Aircraft on behalf of friends in Holland for the Dutch agency for the Carden- engined Pou. Abbott-Baynes Aircraft Ltd., and Garden Aero Engines have agreed to wprk together as regards foreign sabs of this aircraft and engine. Another Increase ALTHOUGH 1935 returns have been received from only twenty-seven of the thirty-three subsidised clubs at present inaction, an aggregate membership of 7,738 is shown, as com pared with 7,490 for all the clubs during the previous year, and 4,800 in 1933. Active flying members total 4,271 of this figure, as against the 4,175 at the end of 1934. Still greater increases are shown in the number of flying hours and of licences gained. The twenty-seven clubs flew 39,098 hours—or 3,863 more than all the clubs during 1934. 559 "A " licences, against 506 in the previous year, and 123 "B" licences were obtained. The " B " figure is a good deal more than twice that of 1934. Important to " Pou" Builders THE Air League has just discovered a minor error in the text of The.Plying Flea. On page 128, Fig. 26, the dimen sion from the back of the seat to the cross bar 85 should be 400 and not 350. This is an important dimenaion. The exact position of the cross bar 75 should be determined by lining it up with the cross bars 74 and 85 after the latter has been fixed in the correct position. Fuselages which are already finished must be opened up and modified to provide a bulkhead with cross bar 85 in the correct position. Various points must be observed in preparing Poux for test by the Air League, who have just issued a list for the benefit of those who are taking advantage of the testing scheme. /Aerodromes for All A LARGE number of good reasons can always be suggested to explain the comparative dearth of private owners in this country. Not the least important of these is the fact that aerodromes are not always easy to reach, and are, in any case, somewhat scarce in this country. An owner whose machine is housed at any aerodrome twenty or more miles a way is hardly in a position to make the best use of his machine. the idea of a communal aerodrome or air estate may appear 0 be a little before its time', but, in this case, the supply t »ld aut0lnatically cause the demand. Air Estates, Ltd., °t Manfield House, 376, Strand, W.C.2, believe that the number of private owners will naturally increase if better tacilit ies are provided for them neriy. tins company propose at first to assist private owners ,ac9uire suitable aerodrome sites, with or without houses, of th t'1'S end aSents have been appointed in various parts flvi c.ountry- A very small charge, waived in the case of ^LJL . mem'3ers> ^ made before enquiries are carried out. Starti it will be ng with this work, the company hopes eventually that practical to lay out estates which include a com- : munal aeredrome for sal e m.eantiirie, any property owner who has suitable land e ls mvited to send full details to the company. The Gliding Subsidy AT the annual general meeting of the Aircraft Club, Harro gate, the opinion was unanimously expressed that it was most unjust that many of the pioneer gliding clubs, including the two oldest gliding clubs in the country, namely, the Air craft Club and the Kent Gliding Club, were unable to benefit in any way from the gliding subsidy, and the Aircraft Club requested that the distribution of the subsidy should be sus pended until the matter had been officially inquired into. The Aircraft Club, incidentally, has joined the Federation of British Gliding Clubs. More and More TWO hundred people, it is learnt, have already joined a Glasgow Pou Club. Negotiations for an aerodrome within easy reach of the city are proceeding, and, at present, it is planned to have five machines—two Poux and three B.A.C. Drones. These will be hired at 7s. 6d. an hour. Meanwhile, two Northern enthusiasts have discovered rather a good way of "getting the bugs" out of the Pou before too much work is done. Each is building his own, but, whereas one is starting with the wings, the other is starting on the fuselage, so that they can then share their combined experiences before proceeding. In the words of a friend, " The result, therefore, will be two machines; A with doubtful wings and a first-class fuselage, and B with first-class wings and a doubtful construction in which to sit." Butterfields, of Shipley, the tank manufacturers, now have a staff Pou club, and a firm near Hooton is to be formed Jor the purpose of building these machines. The people con cerned are R. C. Caunce, of the Two Mills Engineering Co., Ledsham, Wirral, Cheshire, and H. Dodgson, of Willaston, Wirral. They have built an experimental machine which appears to have a Scott engine. The F.B.G.C. Meeting THE first annual general meeting of the Federation of British Gliding Clubs was held in London on Saturday, January 18. and was attended by representatives from clubs all over the country. Following a report of the reasons for the formation of the Federation last May, the vice-chairman (who was presiding in the absence of the chairman) gave a detailed account of its activities to date and its plans for the future. He stressed the point that the Federation was not in opposition to any other similar existing organisation, but was formed so that those clubs which, under the new rules of the British Gliding Association, were unable to affiliate with that Association might have a representative body on which their opinions could be voiced. He pointed out that the sub-committee appointed by the B.G.A. to deal with the administration of the subsidy was composed of five members of the two largest clubs in the country and only one representative from the other clubs. The conditions laid down by this rommittee for qualification for the grant were reasonable in themselves but were far too rigid and "exclusive." The clause requir ing five years' security of tenure of a soaring site was particu larly hard on some clubs, and that requiring clubs to raise supplementary capital to the extent of 50 per cent, (in the case of machines) of the amount of the grant claimed was even more difficult. Last September the Federation Council decided that strong action was necessary if the provincial clubs were to see any of the subsidy, and plans were made whereby approved soar ing sites could be shared by Federation clubs—those unable to- secure a five years' lease sharing sites with their more fortunate neighbours. The offer of one such site had already been accepted, and more were likely to be forthcoming. But the most important way by which the Federation was able to help clubs affiliated to it was by enabling them to register as limited liability companies for about ^5 less than any other method that had yet been offered them. This scheme was alreadv under way, and several clubs were about to register through the Federation. The vice-chairman then pointed out that originally clubs requiring Government aid towards hangars and buildings were forced to have these erected and to have certificates of approval signed by architects and surveyors before grant towards them was guaranteed. These conditions spelt bankruptcy for most clubs, but, through the efforts of one of the Federation clubs, they had been considerably modified. Plans for the immediate future were fully discussed but, owing to pressure of time, the details were left to the next meeting.
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