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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 1791.PDF
JUNE 23, 1938. FLIGHT. WET WOODFORD 617 Private Flying But the Lancashire Aero Club's Garden Party is Not by Any Means Rained Out SINCE the majority of club' flying parties involve atremendous amount of demonstration flying by thesame pilots flying the same machines, it was a distinct relief at Woodford last Saturday to find that not one demonstration in the ordinary sense of the word had been planned for the Lancashire Aero Club's annual garden party. Unfortunately, a somewhat persistent thunderstorm in the area prevented several owners and club pilots from turning up, and the rain was such that the emphasis was laid on the party rather than on the garden. As in previous years, the event was, however, largely a domestic affair, though the afternoon's performances were enlivened by the assistance of the Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club, who did their best in the distinctly sub-thermal conditions. Service interest was accidentally provided by a quartette of Auxiliary Demons which were held up by the weather, the respective crews making the best of a not too unfortunate circumstance. The weather conditions at the time of the commencement of the proceedings may be gathered from the fact that there were only three arrivals in the arrival competition, which was won by P/O F. Harrison, who put a Westland Wallace from Sutton Bridge down on the aerodrome surface at exactly the right time—14.37 hrs.—a remarkable coincidence with an arrival period spread over half an hour. Followed what was known as a Treasure Hunt; the competing pilots had the job of finding and pin-pointing a yellow cross set somewhere within a two-and-a-half-mile '^radius of the" aerodrome. The competitors were timed from the moment of taking off to that of landing, and the winner was he or she who found that which was lost in the shortest time. With the help of Mr. Hagan as an extremely observant observer, we were fortunate in finding the cross ourselves and returned to the aerodrome after an absence of four and a half minutes, thus ail- undeservedly winning the event. The runners up were Messrs. McCracken and Flitcroft—if our spelling bee training can be relied upon. If the sailplane demonstrations had been held a little later on in the afternoon the pilots concerned might possibly have found a little lift in the sky. As it was, Messrs. G. O. Smith (long-standing silver "C") and P. Brown (new silver "C') were winch-launched respectively in the Club's New Gull and Mr. Brown's own Kirby Kite, and could do nothingbetter than return by the most devious possible route to their starting point. From the way in which he released his cableit did seem on one flight that the pilot of the Kite had found a little lift, but he was disappointed and made the best of abad job by shooting up the crowd. The business of the balloon-bursting was both long-drawn- out and hard on the nerves of the more knowledgeable spec- tators who watched members flying two of the Club's Cadets in a series of steep turns with lots of bottom rudder and /or flat turns—the latter designed, no doubt, to enable the pilot to keep the elusive balloons in view. After a certain mis- understanding over who did which, the winner, as everyone could have foreseen, turned out to be P/O. P. M. Brothers, who never lost sight of the target and repeatedly flew at it until the last balloon went the way of all balloons. P/O Brothers, incidentally, was taught at the Club at the tender age of sixteen years, and is now a Gauntlet pilot with No. 32 (F) Squadron; he flew in the Cadet with his father. The runner-up was Fit. Lt. R. T. Gething, who is also a Club member and a pilot of the Long Range Development Flight; later in the afternoon he took up one of the Cadets and gave a straightforward but polished display of aerobatics. With weather and time as the enemies, the height and speed-judging competitions were washed out, and the flying part of the proceedings concluded with a bombing competition. Major Goodfellow's fine work at the microphone fell down here; he insisted that the balloons were filled with oxygen. Needless to say, this event was won by a professional, whose passenger, nevertheless, was handling somewhat unusual missiles in the form of manually released flour bags. The evening's entertainments were concluded only when the few still alert roisterers were finally immobilised as dawn • broke—only, in a few cases, to be more or less galvanised into action again at the sight of a perfectly good car half- way down the bank of the aerodrome road. It may be said in passing that catch-as-catch-can, when played with real eggs, can become a trifle messy as the game proceeds. When they have a party at Woodford they have a party. However, the extraordinary appearance of the Club lounge (seen at mid- day on Sunday) could be forgotten in a Hornet flying perfectly well by itself at 8,000ft. over the clouds on the way back to Hatfield. . .. . ..,; ...... FROM the CLUBS and SCHOOLS LONDOND IKING last week a total of 153 hr. 15 min. was flown, and Messrs. D. J. Mouchotte and G. Wong completed the tests for their " A " licences. Three new members joined. BOURNEMOUTHFor the fortnight ended June 19 a total of 64 hr. 20 min. was flown, this including cross-countries to Bristol, Hayling Island,Exeter and Croydon. Mr. T. Holloway made his first solo. READING Messrs. R. Hope, Samson and R. P. Alston have been busy com-pleting their " A " licence tests. Two machines visited Brooklands for the Garden Party on Saturday. Four new members have joinedthe club. . . . . NORFOLK AND NORWICHIn the commercial school Mr. P. Bayly made a number of cross- country flights and blind-flying trips for his " B " licence. In theGliding Section Fit. Lt. E.M. Withy, Miss W. F. Hudd and Lord Walpole obtained their " B " licences. REDHILLA successful Dawn Patrol was held on Sunday morning. Out of twenty-six attacking machines—one from as far as Devon—onlyfour jiierced the defences. " A " licence tests were completed by Messrs. R. P. Mason, J. Grant and M. Waterfield, and first soloswere flown by Messrs. C. J. Ellis and C. J. Gardner and Miss P. Scott-Harston. Flying amounted to 69 hours. SOUTH COASTThe four-club competition for the Doncaster Trophy was held at Brooklands on Sunday, June 19, and the members of the SouthCoast Flying Club's team participating were Messrs. L. Bellairs, A. (".. Head and S. W. R. Howcll. Mr. Pashley, who is neanngthe completion of his 10,000 hours of flying, continues to hand out instruction Ml machines attended the. Brooklands At Home last&itm-.!;iv. Thirty-four hours' flying was put in by club aircraft. MARSHALL'S Cross-country flights to eleven aerodromes were made last week,during which the flying total was 92 hours. Mr. Barbezat made his first solo and three new members joined. STRATHTAY A flight to the Orkneys, which ptoved rather stormy on the wayhome, made by Messrs. Powrie and Halley, was included in the flying total of 30 hours. Mr D C. Cook, of Anstruther, is a newpilot member. YORKSHIRE Excellent flying hours are being maintained at the YorkshiieAeroplane Club, the total for the month being 24S hours, 104 hours of which have been logged since June 11. The Short Scion tookfive passengers over to see the Senior T.T. in the Isle of Man last Friday. HERTS AND ESSEX With the return of fine weather flying times have shown a greatimprovement, and during the fortnight to June 16 200 hr. 34 min. were logged. A first solo was made by Mr. R. L. Hibberd, and" A " licence tests were completed by Messrs. P. C. Ramachandran, P. A. Mehta, and J. G. Pathare. A competition for the " Yager "Challenge Cup, in the form of a blind-flying test, will be flown of) next Sunday, and a flannel dance will be held on Thursday, June;30. Six new members joined. HANWORTH With three club machines at the Brooklands Garden Party onSaturday, four machines visiting Redhill on Sunday for the Dawn Patrol, and a contingent attending Aldershot Tattoo on the sameday, it was not surprising that a total of 125 hr. 10 min. flying was logged last week Messrs. H. Behrn and De Ritter, the latter of theMidland Bank Flying Club, completed their "A" licence tests, and Mr. Reid (Midland Bank Flying Club) made his first solo."Privileged pilots" badges are now being, issued. Continued at loot of page 610.)
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