FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1936
1936 - 1785.PDF
4 FLIGHT. JULY 2, 1936. THE R.A.F. Seventeenth Event of the Series a Great Success 1 in the Programme : Veteran Aircraft Perj\ Illustrated W HEN Fit. Lt. Broadhurst, F/0. MacLachlan, and P/O. Mo/ris, of No. 19 (Fighter) Squadron had landed their Gauntlets after their flight aerobatics at Hendon on Saturday, an eminent Italian journalist, himself a pilot, came up to his host and shook him heartily by the hand, congratulating the whole British nation on having put up such a magnificent exhibition of flying. That incident summarises the general opinion on the seventeenth R.A.F. Display. Its high lights were so very high that everyone went away delighted. The Crowd The crowd seemed to be as enormous as ever. Owing to Court mourning no member of the Royal Family was present, and it was feared that that might have affected the attendance, but if it did the difference was not visible. There was also a great counter-attraction in the Test Match between England and India at Lord's, and there must surely have been many who are equally keen on cricket and on flying, and who found it hard to decide where to spend their Saturday afternoon. But London is, after all, an enormous place, and there are always many thousands to watch any and every really good show. The Hendon Display can hold its own among all the popular events of June. Attendance figures, which became available on Monday, showed that some 150,000 people and about 12,000 cars were present. Feelings about the weather must have been very mixed. Some years there have been complaints that the sky was too bright and dazzling, and that it gave people a headache to gaze up for hours at silvery aeroplanes against a blazing, azure background. Two or three times there has been rain on Display Day, and that is the most depressing circumstance of all. On last Sautrday there was neither glare nor rain, but the air was very hot, and it was full of humidity. Men's bodies were damp and their throats were dry—ladies are better off, for Dame Fashion does not expect them to wear tight collars round their throats. But though the atmosphere was like a not-too-gentle stew-pot, things were not so trying as to prevent people enjoying themselves, and certainly the crowd looked very happy. So far as we know the ambu lance men had an easy day of it. The general spirit of enthusiasm was shown when, after several of the best events, the crowd involuntarily burst out clapping and cheering. One would have thought that an aerodrome crowd was now sufficiently sophisticated to know that pilots in their machines cannot hear applause. Probably they all do know it, but on Saturday the crowd simply could not help itself. Futile or not, the applause burst out spontaneously, because some outlet for the people's pleasure and appreciation just had to be found. Before proceeding to describe the events, it is only
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
