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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0388.PDF
174 FLIGHT. FEBRUARY 13, 1936. ROSE SHOW —and a Good One : Flt.-Lt. Tommy Rose, in the King's Cup Miles Falcon (Gipsy Six) Lowers the England-Cape Time to 3 days, 17 hours, 37 minutes FLIGHT LIEUTENANT "TOMMY" ROSE, flying down to the Cape on business, has broken the record for the trip. He left Lympne early last Thursday morning in the Miles Falcon Six, with which he won the King's Cup last year, and which, in fact, is the machine in which he was flying to the Cape early in January when he was forced down in a snowstorm near Abbeville. His course lay down the eastern side of the African continent, whereas Mrs. Amy Mollison—the former holder of the record, with a time of 4 days, 6 hr. 53 min.—took the western and shorter route. Even so, "Tommy" has managed to knock 13J hours off that figure. His 180 m.p.h. Falcon, of course, is a much faster machine than that of Mrs. Mollison. The stepping-off point for the flight was Lympne, which he left at 12.25 a.m. last Thursday morning. The Falcon carried 120 gallons of petrol—permitting ,a range of well over 1,000 miles—and some luggage. "Tommy" wore an Irvin and the well-known smile. By 9.20 a.m. he was at Malta—an hour ahead of the record time. He refuelled there, left at 10.40 a.m., and was at Cairo at 5.15 in the evening. His engine is said THURS. FRI. wmmmmmm^m SAT. •• SUN. •mammww MISSED IN STORM AT 6 P.M. LANDED NEARBY. RETURNED TO REFUEL 8. LEFT AT 6 A.M. /JOHANNESBURG ORIA WEST |6.3p.M.ffe$|fyr:-- The map. Each day's progress is distinctively indicated by the line. The man. The machine will be found on p. 166. to have cut out through lack of fuel the minute he touched the ground. There was a little matter of a forced landing in a volcanic district on the way from Cairo (due to a petrol leak caused by unsecured luggage breaking a pipe), and by the time he had reached Khartoum a good deal of time had been lost. The time from Cairo to Khartoum was just over 14 hours. Shortly after mid-day last Friday he took off for Kisumu (Kenya) and reached it at 5.30 a.m. on the third day of the flight. On the next stage—to Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia—he was literally forced down by a tropical cloudburst, even though the Gipsy Six was held wide open. Luckily, an open space appeared and he managed to put the Falcon down at full throttle. For some time before this the machine had been skimming tree tops under conditions of almost no visibility. He spent the night on a nearby ranch, but was unable to get in touch with the aerodrome at Salisbury because the telephones had been upset by electrical storms. Next morning he experienced greatest difficulty in taking off—the altitude was about 5,000ft. —although the Falcon had only one-third of its full petrol capacity. On returning to Salisbury it was discovered that a wheel fairing had been split during the attempt to rise from the rough ground. Almost Washed Out The next portion of the flight took him into tropical deluges and at one time he feared he was lost. He was able to find Mafeking, however, and there to take on twelve gallons of petrol, which enabled him to carry on to Kimberley. There after the flight to Cape Town was uneventful. He touched down at three minutes past six just as darkness was falling, and was met by 3,000 enthusiastic South Africans. In a broadcast from Cape Town last Monday night—a fine piece of work by the B.B.C.—he mentioned, as one of the high lights of the trip, the view of Paris at 2 a.m. from a clear sky. The '' wave-hopping '' crossing of the Mediterranean in a rain storm at about 50ft. was obviously, regarded as being " ?°M0 good." He sent a message of gratitude to his friends at Read ing, and ended with the characteristic remark that, if if nas still raining in Rhodesia, he would be " coming back on a bicvcle." p.. Viscount Swinton, Secretary of State for Air, has sent fit- Lt. Rose the following message: " Hearty congratulations o your excellent performance." The equipment of the Falcon and its Gipsy Six engine in cluded the following: . ClaudebHobson carburetter, B.T.H. magnetos, K.L.G. piu<£ Weyburn camshaft, Auto-Klean strainers, Fairey metal a screw, Shell fuel, Castrol oil, Bendix brakes, Palmer tyre , Smith's instruments, Short and Mason " Sestrel " comI?Lj Sperry blind-flying instruments, Rhodoid cabin top nu)U" . by Plastilume Products, Rumbold upholstery, Bam be e spruce, Saro plywood, Titanine finish, and one of the Harley landing lights.
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