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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 2179.PDF
i68 Privtae Flying CROYDON GLIDING On July 19 the newly formed Croydon Gliding Club started activi ties with a rebuilt R.F.D. primary; a secondary type is expected in the near future. The club operates on a site only eight miles from Croydon and on the first day twenty-three nights were made by six members. The secretary is Mr. A. Lindsley, 20, High View Avenue, Wallington, Surrey. MADRAS The chief event of interest during June was the arrival of the B.A. Swallow to make No. 4 of the Madras Flying Club's fleet. This docile machine was in operation before the close of the month and was well patronised. A new member, in the person of Mr. Bhuyan from Orissa, was welcomed, and, after an absence of three years, an old member, Mr. J. D. Italia, has come to renew his " A " licence. As for cross-country flying, Mr. D. W. Law and a friend returned from Bangalore on one of the Gipsies on the first of the month; Messrs. J. Mathai and Sundararajan (and Master Parthasarathy) con tinued their flight in the Puss on the second, proceeding from Delhi via Cawnpore, Allahabad and Gaya to Calcutta and finally returned to Madras on the nth via Yizianagram, completing their journey in two final hops of 440 and 450 miles, with four gallons of petrol to spare at the end; on the 24th Messrs. Arya and Sundaram went to Bangalore in the Puss, returning next day; and lastly, on the 29th, the instructor took a charter flight with two passengers to Hyderabad, returning the following day with one. Early in the month the instructor took advantage of a slack spell to go by train to Coimbatore to approve the site of the aerodrome there and thence he went on to Mandapam, near Adams Bridge, to examine sites for an emergency landing ground on the Cevlon route. The ground engineer, while on leave in Bangalore, took the opportunity of examining sites at Kolar Gold Fields for an emer gency landing ground—as well as one for a possible future aero drome there. Seventy-nine instructional hours were flown during the month. A Ramsgate Aviation Camp BETWEEN August 29 and September 26, the National League of Airman is sponsoring an aviation camp to be held at Ramsgate airport. Full accommodation will be pro vided at an inclusive figure of £5 5s. a week. Instructing the Instructor Guide for Flying Instructors (Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. 5s. 6d.) D URING the past few years a number of books have been published dealing with the art of flying. The majority of these, though written by instructors, have been written for the novice and a very large proportion of the pages have been devoted to extensive explanation of first principles. Here we have a book which, though written for instructors, will also be invaluable to the pupil. It covers the sequence of instruction, both in the air and on the ground, for landplanes and for the C.30 Autogiro, while there is a section devoted to instrument training methods. This last gives the most complete yet agreeably terse infor mation on the subject; the demonstrations of compass be haviour, for instance, are most valuable. Seaplane training has not been dealt with owing to the facts that floatplanes and boats have very different characteristics and that the difference in technique starts and finishes on the water. The first part of the guide is devoted to the general conditions of issue of the G.A.P.A.N. instructors' certificates and to re productions of the forms to be completed in each category. The foreword, appropriately enough, has been written by Col. Smith Barry, late commandant of the Gosport Flying School and the originator of the present-day system. POUX at SPEED be primed via the exhaust stubs—and weird were the exhaust notes, varying from the staccato clatter of twins to the snarl of a French four-cylinder two-stroke Ava. On the scratch mark were two 33 h.p. Carden-engined Abbot-Baynes cantilever Poux, one in the hands of Claude Oscroft, instructor to the Aero B Club, and the other of M. Colli. These two were giving 6 min. 59 sees, to the limit man, Robineau, who had a 17 h.p. Aubier-Dunne twin two-stroke. The wind was a gusty one of between 20 and 30 m.p.h.., but all the take-offs were without incident. The tale of the race is soon told. Bret, with the 27 h.p. Ava engine, started third, conceding 2 min. 35 sec. to Robineau, and 1 min. 30 sec. to Lane, who had a 25 h.p. Poinsard engine. He caught the latter, who was travelling high, in the first lap, and the former in the second. It looked as though he would have a clear run to the finish. AUGUST 6, 1936. No Aberdeen Race THE London-Aberdeen Race, which was arranged for August 15, has been cancelled, as the aerodrome exten sions are not quite completed. The Navy is at Home ON Sunday, August 16, the Royal Naval Flying Club is giving an "At Home " at Portsmouth airport between 3 and 6 p.m. There will be a programme of flying events including a '' fifty hour limit'' landing competition and a bomb- dropping competition, which will be open to members of the R.N. Club, the Royal Engineers' Flying Club, the Portsmouth Aero Club and other affiliated organisations. Applications for tickets should be made to the Secretary of the club, c/o Royal Aeronautical Society, 7, Albemarle Street, London, W.i,' before August 12. Pillars of Fire MALCOLM and Farquharson, of Heston, have been appointed sole distributors in the British Isles for the Pillar of Fire boundary light, which is manufactured by the Cardiff Foundry and Engineering Co. These lights are used at both Cardiff and Doncaster airports, and give the approach ing pilot such a good idea of height and distance that a floodlight, it is claimed, is almost superfluous. M. and F. are prepared to quote, however, for floodlighting equipment! Southdown Soaring A WELL-ESTABLISHED sailplane club entered on a new lease of life last Saturday, when the new hangar and clubhouse of the Southdown Gliding Club, at Atlingworth Valley, was formally opened by the Mayor and Mayoress of Brighton. With the facilities now available, it will be possi ble to accept many new members. Formed in 1930 as the Southdown Skysailing Club, the Club kept going throughout the slump which killed so many others. Its fleet now consists of a B.A.C.7 dual-control two-seater, which is virtually a Drone minus its engine; a primary trainer; a Dagling and a Prufiing (secondaries), and one of the beau tiful little Grunau Babies (advanced), with enclosed cockpit. Mr. R. F. Dagnall is the Club's chairman, and the hon. secretary is Mr. A. York Bramble. The site is, perhaps, unique, the Clubhouse lying in a sort of miniature Devil's Dvke, the inner slopes of which pro vide a training ground, while the outer offer a wide choice of soaring facilities according to the quarter of the wind. A snag is a line of high-tension cables across the top of the valley. Only one enthusiast, however, has tested their potentialities. He was being towed into the air by the club's winch-car, when the towing cable hit the H.T. lines. A neighbouring town was plunged into darkness, the car tem porarily had an ignition system undreamed of by Mr. Lucas, and the enthusiast came to earth, miraculously unhurt. Last Saturday's ceremonies suffered somewhat by reason of the weather, but Mr. Kronfeld, in his Drone, appeared out of a cloud as black as a hat, and later gave demonstra tions. He also flew his KRia high-performance two-seater sailplane, taking as passenger the Mayoress of Brighton, who had never previously flown in anv tvpe of aircraft. Mr. E. C. Gordon England, late chairman of the council of the B.G.A., provided a very informative loud-speaker commentary. On Sunday and Monday various Club competitions were flown. Continued from page 157.) and so it proved, only Appleby, in his original Carden-engined Pou, threatening him. Bret won at an average speed of 56.75 m.p.h., with Appleby (59.5 m.p.h.) close on his tail, and Robinean (50 m.p.h.) a good third; all three were in the same half mile or so of sky—a real triumph for the handi- cappers. Oscroft, travelling genuinely fast, was only a fan" fourth at 57.5 m.p.h., but would certainly have been placed had he not wandered from the course early on. He covered one lap at 80 m.p.h. Colli was fifth at 56.25 m.p.h., and Lane last at 43 m.p.h. F/0 Clouston was the only retire ment, coming in after the first lap dripping from head to foot with hot oil from a faulty lubrication lead to the magneto drive on his Scorpion. One more thing remains to be quoted—the inscription on the rudder of M. Mignet's H.M.18: "Flying Flea flies m England—I thank the British Air Ministry—H.M."
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