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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 1224.PDF
430 FLIGHT. APRIL 28, 1938. Mr. Broad- bent waves on his arri- .'. val at Han- worth for the benefit of the news cameramen. The actual flight had ended at Lympne last Friday. BROADBENT AGAIN Miss Jean Batten's Australia—England Record Broken by Nearly Fourteen Hours : Island •--•:•• Interlude BY flying solo between Darwin and Lympne in 5 days 4 hr.21 "min. Mr. H. F. Broadbent has beaten Miss Batten'srecord by 13 hr. 54 min. He was flying a speciallytanked v.p. Vega Gull and, as such record-breaking goes, he took things fairly easily. In fact, he told us, the only really concentrated night flying which he did was that between Jodhpur and Basra, a section which he flew between 8 at night and 8 in the morning (local times). Over the first section of the journey he was fairly well ahead Of Miss Batten's schedule, and at Calcutta, where he remained for twelve hours, he had 600 miles in hand. Thereafter he was something like 400 miles behind, a distance which he slowly recovered until reaching Naples, where Miss Batten rested, while Mr. Broadbent flew right on. On the whole the weather conditions were fairly good, though he actually left Darwin in low cloud conditions and flew blind ioi nearly an hour. The weather reports were, how- ever, favourable, and after this initial unpleasantness he flew the Vega Gull at 8,000ft. in good visibility to Sourabaya. On the way to Singapore thera were a few scattered thunderstorms, and on the following day all went well until he reached Tavoy, where he ran into the south-west monsoon. He was forced to fly right down on the surface until reaching Rangoon and beyond along the coast to Sandoway. . From Rangoon as far as Damascus there were strong head- windi whicn varied between 15 and 50 m.p.h. at operating height. Over India he had to fly at n ,000ft. to avoid the bumps, and his landing at Jodhpur was not according to schedule. Nearly Home The landing at Nicosia, Cyprus, was another unscheduled «ne. The forecast at Athens was not good and Mr. Broadbent decided that he would only fly through if he could do so in daylight. As it happened, the headwinds delayed him. He spent some thirteen hours in Cyprus. On the previous section he had flown nearly 4,000 miles without sleep, and virtually without food. However, as he realised that the record was so near, he was not prepared to risk failure through fatigue. Between Nicosia and Italy the weather was perfect, but as he approached Rome he ran into a severe storm in which the bumps were so terrific that he had to throttle back to an air- speed of 80 m.p.h. and was forced down to 200ft. At Rome he had to wait nearly an hour because two transport aeroplanes were being brought in on radio bearings, but he was eventually permitted to depart after the first machine had got down safely. Low doud on the south coast of France forced him to make a detour, outr generally speaking, the weather across France was fairly good, and from Lyons to Gris Nez he merely followed the beacons. At Lympne the cloud height was about 200ft. and he suffered a (ew worrying moments when he was unable . to see Lympne beacon, which, from his greater height, was naturally obscured by the local low cloud. Had it not been for very strong headwinds of-the 60 and 70 m.p.h. order on the Sydney-Darwin section it is probable that the solo Sydney-London record would have been broken. However, he had to land at Winton as well as Cloncurry, and the entire flight took rather more than seven days. Without the use of a really reliable chronometer, in addition to the normal clock and watch, it is impossible to work on G.M.T. during such a flight. Mr. Broadbent set his dash clock at the local time on leaving each stopping place to provide the necessary time-of-flight information, and set his wristwatch to the local time as he flew so that it would be a guide to the number of daylight hours (or minutes) left on each hop. His adventures on the outward record attempt were rather more complete than were generally imagined. It will be remem- bered that he landed his Vega Gull near the coast at Sesok, on Flores island, at the southern end of the Malay Archi- pelago. He over-ran the somewhat minute landing area, bent his airscrew, and was eventually picked up by a Dutch naval seaplane—a Fokker of 1924 vintage—in which he flew in the gunner's cockpit. Thereafter he was taken by Qantas to Sydney, where a new airscrew had been sent. He returned, also by Qantas, with a D.H. engineer, Mr Wicke, and they were landed on the small aerodrome at Waingapau, on Sandal- wood Island which is about 50 miles from Flores. Thence Mr. Broadbent. the engineer and the precious airscrew were taken in a native boat to Sesok. This little trip took twenty-six hours and, owing to a misunderstanding, they were without food for thr whole period. The airscrew was duly fitted and, DarwinSourabayu SingaporeRangoon CalcuttaAllahabad JodhpurBasrah NicosiaRome Lympne G.IW.T. Arr. Dip.— 17.30 02.49 0&&)10.35 19.40 05.15 06.1512.00 23.50 04!10 04.4010.00 14.50 05.40 07.4014.40 02.55 12.35 13.3>21.50 — Local.* Arr. Dep.— 00.30 12.10 13.3017.35 02.40 11.45 12.4518.00 05.40 09.40 10.1015.30 20.20 08.40 .10.4016.40 04.55 13.35 14.3022.50t - Total Milct. 1,150 855 1,202 640 468 MG 1,676 902 1,224 »4<J MM 125.5 a' 115.5 ;ss 125 \<3J 108 •"'5*113 *•"?- 129 : • 114-^' "••*T ' * These times are approximate t B.S.T after waiting for a breeze which obstinately refused to blow,'- Mr. Broadbent eventually took off downhill with Mr. Wicke' and the machine was just about airborne as it flew over the cliff. The fuel supply ot the Vega Gull consists of two 30-gallon wing tanks, two 17-gallon centre-section tanks and a cabin tank with a capacity of no gallons, making a total of 204 gallons which, at ^ruising revolutions, should give the machine an endurance of about 10 hours In addition to the normal 5^-gallon oil tank the machine bad another 5^-gallon tank in the cabin, immediately in front of what is normally the fron* passenger's seat. Otherwise the machine is quite standard, and the only troubles experienced were duo to mud in the wheel fairings. As a safety measure the engine was given a routine twenty hvt hour-overhaul at Singapore and Jodhpur., The Vega Gull's Equipment. ; Gipsy Six Series 11 engine with E.S.C. crankshaft, Weyburn camshaft, Hofifflannbearings, Wellworthy piston rings, Salter's valve springs, B.T.H magnetos, K.L.G plugs cables by British Insulated Cables, Claudel Hobson carburettors with Amalname traps, Amal fuel pump, and Rotax starter, generator and battery. Sheli Aviation fuel and Patent Castrol XXL. Reid and Sigrist turn and bank indicator;Sperry artificial horizon ; Smith's engine instruments; Rotax generator and starter ; Demec navigation lights ; Dunlop wheels, brakes and tyres; Bambergcrspruce ; plywjjod by the Aeronautical Panel and Plywood Co.; Reynolds special tubing ; jas. Xicklin metal parts ; Titanine finish ; Khodoid windscreen ; Moseleycushions; Rumbnld upholstery; Bendix brakes: Bessbrook labric; Vickers landing light* ; Spliulex glass windows. At the Glasgow Exhibition " THE first private pavilion to be built at the Glasgow Ex-"hibition (opening on May 3), that of Imperial Chemicaf Industries, Ltd., contains a number of features symbolising the many I.C.I, interests The extraordinary light transmitting powers of Perspex play a part in the decorations. With the exception of eight steel girders and the woodwork all the materials used are I.C.I, produced, and even the wood-1! work is chemically fireproofed by an I.C.I, preparation. Another firm's display for the Exhibition had a preview in London on the occasion of a luncheon given by the Moiiu Nickel Company, Ltd. The uses to which nickel can be put have increased enormously during recent years, and an idea OTV its present wide application will be obtainable at Glasgow. Ot particular interest in the aircraft industry are the many metal alloys for all purposes, including machine tools.
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