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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0884.PDF
APRIL 9, 1936. FLIGHT. 375 AN "ULTRA-LIGHT" RECORD Lord SempilVs Fine Out-and-Home Flight to Berlin in a 750 ex. Douglas-engined Super Drone THE flight from Croydon to Berlin and back last Thurs- <•;;. day week by Lord Sempill in a B.A.C. Super Drone with a 750 c.c. (19 h.p.) Douglas flat-twin engine is of outstanding interest, especially since it marks the breaking of a long-standing F.A.I, record in Category 4 (single-seaters weighing less than 200 kg. (440 lb.), non-stop distance in a straight line). The previous holder of the record was the French pilot Fauvel, who, on September 10, 1929, flew an A.B.C. Scorpion-engined Mauboussin a distance of 527 miles from St. Inglevert to Pau. Lord Sempill has hand somely improved on the old figure by securing a straight-line figure, from Croydon to Berlin, of 570 miles. Actually, since he travelled via Calais and Hanover, his mileage was greater than this—round about 600 miles—though it cannot be counted for the straight-line record. He covered the distance in exactly eleven hours, which indicates an average speed of 54.5 m.p.h. The Drone was equipped with a lO-gallon fuel tank—the only departure from standard—and at cruising revs of 2,900 the Douglas engine consumed only i\ gallons per hour; thus the distance was covered on less than 14 gallons, and two gallons were left in the tank. Mast-dodging The most spectacular aspect of the flight, however, was undoubtedly the extremely bad weather on Thursday. In spite of a promising forecast on the previous day " the ceiling was on the floor," and Lord Sempill had to make his way out from Croydon through the valleys. Over the Channel he flew just above the water, and once had to turn suddenly to avoid collision with a ship. Things improved slightly at Amsterdam, but at Hanover there was a tropical deluge. Lord Sempill was received at Tempelhof by, among others, Ernst Udet, the famous German pilot, and Baron Von Neurath, the German foreign minister. The latter, in a welcoming speech, said that flights as this would do much to bring the sportsmen of European nations together. Lord Sempill lunched at the German Air Ministry. On Saturday, without formalities, he climbed into the Drone and set off for home, though this time not in search of further records. The great meteorological feature of Saturday was a north-east gale—too much on the beam to give real assist ance to the Drone, but far enough astern to enable it to make the return journey in only nine hours. Since he was not attempting 3. non-stop journey, Lord Sempill landed a; Canterbury (in a fifty-yard field') to call on friends. His enamel crossing on this return trip was an even more The 750 c.c. Douglas engine of the type used in the Drone. (Flight photograph.) • emotioning business, for he flew only a very few feet above the waves, not because of bad visibility, but in order to gain some respite from the gale, which was gusting at up to 70 m.p.h. at Lympne. He said that he had actually been able to feel the little Drone lifting to the wind currents deflected from each of the big rollers in the Channel. This return trip, which, as already remarked, was achieved in nine hours, totalled between 550 and 560 miles in distance. The equipment of the Super Drone included the following: Stanavo fuel, Vacuum oil, K.L.G. plugs, B.T.H. magneto, Zenith carburetter, Goodyear tyres, Short and Mason instru ments, Korrect petrol gauge, airscrew by the Airscrew Com pany, Rumbold seating, Demec navigation lights, A.C. Sphinx iuel pump, Dove Cloudring. A photograph of Lord Sempill appears on p. 373. General Aircraft Meeting Trie New Supermen AJ the first annual general meeting of General Aircraft, •* Limited, held at the company's offices at Hanworth last ursdav, the chairman, Sir Maurice Bonham Carter, K.C.B., K.C.V.O. almost , pointed out that the trading loss of £29,987 occurred entirely during the first nine months of the company's i-r —",-JV uuiuig cue IUSL nine luoiiLiib ui cue cuiiipctiiy a e> Wore the works and plant were completed for full com- rarH Production, and that delays due to weather were F*nly responsible. Delay also occurred in the production of whi hr°t0tVpe S-.T-18- the dela.y bein8 Partly due to a policy duct Wou'e' ultimately result in more economical cost of pro- speed011 f Tlle macnine< Sir Maurice said, had a maximum iii^i. uel1 over 200 m.p.h., and a cruising speed of 190 ffi-P'h- at 10,000ft., a ' Britain's fastest air liner. Gordon England, managing director of General ' Lrmited, said that prices had been fixed for the con- - performance which justified the claim "*; *e machine was " Mr. E, C. forV^'T"' Sala ™ .Mini<-*.„.' lawker Furies secured by the company, and Air that hari P ^ nad expressed satisfaction with the progress try thg b"'n ™ade. If they did not disappoint the Air Minis- nesS WJ, tllf*ught they were entitled to obtain further busi- Iury CJT the Present expansion went on. The price for the a^e prnfJdCt was sucrl that the company could make a reason- the aU(j-'" M, Schofield, the retiring director, was re-elected, Vote of th" iH6re reaPP°inted, and the meeting closed with a nanks to the chairman and directors. "Flying Adventures," by Walter Mittelholzer (Blackie and Son, 10s: bd.). L IVING in a world wherein history appears to be about to repeat itself yet again, and surrounded on all sides by citizens who are being educated to think of the aeroplane only as a means to destruction or self-extinction, I am still cheerful enough to believe that this latest form of transport will eventu ally bring good rather than evil. One has only to chat with the pilots of half a dozen nation alities who assemble daily at Croydon to realise that the flying man is one of a new international race. He interests himself little in the wranglings of diplomats or in the mouthings of demagogues and would so much rather discuss ways and means for improving the air routes of the world. Walter Mittelholzer himself is one of the perfect examples of the men of the new era. His life is wrapped up, for the present at least, in the work of making Swissair a most efficient and up-to-date organisation, and it would be a phlegmatic in dividual who was not fired by his enthusiasm. That Mittel holzer is a keen and efficient amateur photographer is obvious from a study of many of the Alpine photographs used by Swissair for their brochures, and Flying Adventures is copiously illustrated with the sort of pictures which appeal to flying people. For these alone the book is worth perusal. Spitz- bergen, Persia, Africa, the South Atlantic—where you will. Even Abvssinia. H. A. T.
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