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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 0703.PDF
versus AEROPLANE A Rhbnadler at Dunstable : In spite of the absence of fixed tail-plane, the very small fixed fin and the highly tapered wing, this machine is remarkably stable. Which Requires the Greater Skill to Fly? it is easy to flysafeiy but very difficult to r J fly well enough to achieve the performance By BELLEROPHON AFEW weeks ago "Indicator" was discussing in Flight the flying of ultra-light machines, and observed of one specimen that the approach and landing required '' semi-sailplane experience which can only be acquired with practice." Passing over for a moment the question of what strange hybrid a semi-sailplane is, this remark must be almost the first to appear in the more solid aviation papers ack nowledging that sailplane experience might be valuable in something other than sailplaning. So I am all the more grateful to Flight for allowing me space to enlarge on this topic. As this article is bound to be based largely on personal experience, I ask to be excused for saying what that ex perience has been. I learnt to fly, on Mark I Cirrus Moths, m 1928, and by 1932 had done a mere 70 hours—on ordi nary light aeroplanes with an hour's excursion into the ough to achieve the perfor of which it is capable. [Enlargement from the film " Prelude to Flight") somewhat terrifying realms of the Comper Swift. I packed up power flying (which to me appealed only as a pure sport) and started gliding in 1933. To date I have done about 45 hours in a variety of sailplanes of all sizes and types. I have not flown a power 'plane since 1932 (except for twenty minutes' dual in 1935), yet I am absolutely certain that sailplane experience has made me a far safer and better pilot all round than I was four years ago. The reason, without any doubt, is that advanced sail plane flying requires a far higher degree of accuracy in the air than anything except advanced C.F.S.-style aero batics and formation flying with power craft. Consider such a sailplane as the Rhonadler—obsolescent now, but capable of a very high performance. This is a cantilever high-wing monoplane with a wing-span of 58 ft. The wing is highly tapered both in plan and thick ness, the fuselage is a narrow oval monocoque with an en closed cockpit, and there is a small fixed fin and no fixed tail- plane at all. Minimum sinking Mr. Philip Wills, holder of the British distance record, and the Abbott-Baynes Scad //, holder of the British height record (piloted by Fit. Lt. Buxton). Scad // is not a high-perfor mance machine, but for height records this is not so important as strong construction and a very high degree of skill in the pilot.
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