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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0888.PDF
FLIGHT. MARCH 31, 1938. C 1 o usto n, Ri-cketts IF, as they say, long-distance record-breaking is dead, theD.H. Comet's latest effort seems to prove that it won'tlie down. Messrs. Clouston and Ricketls, indeed, have made it sit bolt upright. In the process of travelling from England to New Zealand and back, 26,500 miles, in three hours less than eleven days (a steamer would take 80), they have established ten " re- cords." official and/or uncfficial. Their flight : Is the first direct round air trip to N.Z. and back. Beats Miss Batten's (Gull) England-N.Z. time of n days, 1 hr. 25 min. (October, 1937). Beats Miss Batten's 5 days, 13 hr. 15 min. homeward time from Port Darwin to England (October, 1937). Breaks the record set up in the Comet in 1934 by C. W. A. Scott and the late T. Campbell Black for the return trip from Australia, though net their outward figure (2 days, 4 hr. ^^ min., London-Melbourne), in the Mac- Robertson Race. Cuts three days off the Australia-and-back time of 13! days by Cathcart Jones and Ken Waller (Comet) in 1934. Break:. The records England-Sydney, Port Darwin- Sydney, and Sydney-New Zealand It is, of course, hardly fair to make comparisons with Miss Batten's records, achieved solo in a single-engined machine. Actually, four of the new figures will, it is hoped, be recognis- able by the F.A.I, as coming in the capital-to-capital category: London-Sydney, 80 hr. 56 min. London-Blenheim (N.Z.), 104 hr. 20 min. Blenheim-London, 140 hr. 27 min. Sydney-London, no hr. 22 min. It is thought likely that the F.A.I, will be prepared to recog- nise any aerodrome in New Zealand as a capital for such pur- poses. Blenheim—where F/O. Cl&uston's family resides—is at the northern end of the South Island. Out and Home The story of the outward journey was told last week. After an abortive attempt a few weeks earlier, which ended in Turkey with a damaged undercarriage, F/O. A. E. Clouston, with Mr. Victor Ricketts as co-pilot, took the fcur-jrear-old Comet off from Gravesend at 8.17 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15. He put it down at Blenheim 4.57 a.m. on Sunday, March 20. At 10.2 a.m. G.M.T. the next day the machine was in the air again on its return trip. Sydney was reached at 4 p.m. (another Tasman record). At 3^39 a.m. on the Tuesday they left for Darwin reaching there at 2.-59 pm. They took off for Sourabaya (Java) at 1.32 p.m. and left Singapore at 5.47 p.m. next day, Wednesday. Karachi was reached, via Cal- cutta and Allahabad, at 1.42 a.m. on Friday. They left at 2.58 a.m. for Basra, which was attained that'aftemcon, while the opening ceremony at the new airport was in progress They were off again at 10 p.m. on their final and hardest stretch—3,200 miles in 19 hours, with only very brief refuelling stops at Cairo and Marseilles, and no food or sleep. Croydon was thankfully reached at 5.40 p.m. 011 Saturday. LONDON - N.Z.- LONDON in ELEVEN DAYS The Remarkable Flight of Clouston and Ricketts in the D.H. Comet Set down thus in bare figures, that it may be kept on record, the story of the flight sounds, perhaps, prosaic. But against this background may be pictured the actual sensations of» the two men who made it; the ten-hour 2,000-mIle stretches, sometimes protracted to 12 hours by head winds ; the incessant roar, scream and bumping in the cramped tandem cockpit; the desire for sleep ; the anxieties of taking-off from small aeio- dromes in "thin" tropical air v.ith nearly a ton of petrol; fog, cloud and thunderstorms, all of which were en- countered. These things considered, one may marvel at the enthusiasm of people who will do them—and it so happens that quite " uncommercial " enthusiasm has played a large share in the present flight. The D.H. Comet, before rebuilding by Essex Aero, Ltd., for the Damascus Race had Gipsy Six R. engines; it now has Gipsy Six Series II engines with D.H. v.p. airscrews. The machine is mainly of "wooden stressed-skin" construction, with metal fairings. The equipment for the flight included : —Instruments by .Sperry, Smiths. Short and Mason, Reid and Sigrist. and Record Electrical Company. Instrument panel by Essex Aero. Ltd.Controls by M.H.C.. Ltd. Switches, lighting, etc., by Eotax. Harley lauding light. Accumulator by Dagenite.Aircraft Components' undercarriage. Tyres and wheels hy Dimlop. Brakes by Bcndix. Steel tubing by Accles and Pollock. Timber by theI/oudon Plywood and Timber Co. Aluminium by the British Aluminium Co. Elektron by ¥. A. Hughes and Co. Kxhaust manifold material hyHenry Wiggin and Co. Finish by Cellon. Safety glass by Triplex and Splintex. Rhodoid roofing. Irvin parachutes. Sloseley air bags.Gipsy-Six Series II engine with D.H. v.p. airscrews. Superfiexit oil piping. Sparkina plugs by K.L.G. Claudel-llobson earburation. Well-worthy piston rings. Magnetos by Euston Ignition Co. Oil organisation by Wakefieid. Fuel organisation by Anglo-American Oil Co. and theirassociated companies abroad. Preparation of machine by Essex Aero, Ltd. Flight sponsored by Sydney Daily Telegraph. -LENGTH 29V This scale drawing re- calls the layout of the four-year-old Comet. The " rebuilt" dimen- sions are shown
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