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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 1573.PDF
JUNE 18, 1936. Some idea of the number of visitors and machines can be gathered from these photographs, though only about a third of the visiting machines can be seen. In the left-hand picture the Monospar Ambulance can be seen in the foreground, while Mr. Brie is demonstrating the Autogiro. • ' ? %^>1* ^UM) * tBI ^I^BS «P •$• SEASIDE AIRPORT 77*e Official Opening of the Brighton, Hove and Worthing Municipal Airport : A Brilliant Gathering Watches a Well-staged Display (Illustrated by "Flight" photographs) A FTER a morning on which those pilots who had / \ been unable to beg, borrow or steal an aeroplane (in • • order to attempt to win the handsome prize for the sealed arrival competition) found themselves feeling only too glad to be able to proceed by road with a clear conscience, the weather cleared pleasantly for the real pro gramme at Shoreham on Saturday. There must have been something like eighty machines and five thousand spectators on and about the new airport on that day, and most of them were confident enough to appear with neither coats nor hats. The rain held off. Fortunately for the hearts of both arrivals and control officers, a full hour was permitted for this sealed-time arrival competition, and during the official luncheon the winner's name was announced—Mr. S. W. Ogden, who arrived in a Spartan from Lympne just two seconds after the secretly appointed time. Mr. Ogden is working for his " B" licence and no pilot is likely to make better use of the prize money. The Ceremony At the luncheon Alderman F. W. A. Cushman, the chairman of the joint airport committer, said that the three towns had spent some £60,000 on the scheme, and hoped that the money would be returned in advertisement value, even though there could be little hope of a direct profit for some years to come. He read a message from Lord Swinton, and afterwards the three Mayors—Coun cillors Edward Denne, J.P. (Brighton) and C. S. Loadman, J.P. (Hove), and Alderman William G. Tree, J.P. (Worthing)—completed the ceremony. Meanwhile, that veteran "504" expert, Mr. Cecil Pashley, the chief instructor of the South Coast Flying Club, gave an unparalleled display of crazy flying with a Clerget-engined 504N, blipping his motor at crucial moments in order to provide the ultimate thrill. He must certainly know by heart the position of every vertical pro jection in the immediate vicinity of the airport buildings. No less stirring, though in a much less heartfelt fashion, was Mr. "Bill" Thorn's aerobatic display with an Avro Cadet fitted for inverted flying. His show, from bunts to the slowest of slow rolls, was a joy even to those who had seen Mr. Thorn's exhibition in years gone by. No aerobatic pilots can have their inverted banked turns more accurately ordered than his. Of the parade of civil aircraft, little can be said except that the majority of the pilots managed to get out of turn and that a few repeated their '' fly-pasts '' while others were coming in to land. Knowledgeable spectators hoped that the pilots could see all the other machines converging upon them from almost every quarter. The sensible ones curtailed their demonstrations in the interests of safety. The same problem cropped up later while three ultra light machines were being effectively demonstrated to gether. These were the B.A.C. Super Drone (flown by Mr. Kronfeld), the Aeronca (flown by Mr. Hill), and the Putt- nam Pou (flown by Mr. Collins), and each machine has a totally different range of view. Once again, the con verging attacks on the airport buildings by two or more pilots, who might or might not have seen one another, were distinctly emotioning to all, perhaps, but the pilots themselves. Mr. R. A. Brie has learnt no new tricks with the C30 Autogiro, but his demonstration has now been polished up to such an extent that there can be nothing new to learn. One is consistently amazed at the skill with which he handles the throttle during his vertical descents and dead-slow passages in front of the spectators. For the majority of those present thejiisplay of form'J- tion aerobatics by a flight of Gloster Gauntlets from No. 19
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