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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1013.PDF
350 FLIGHT. APRIL 6, 1939 THE ROYAL AERO CLUB YEAR Matters Discussed at the Annual Meeting : Encouraging the Private Pilot THE private flying activities of the Royal Aero Club formed the main subject of the remarks made by the chairman. Sir Lindsay Everard, M.P., at the annual general meet ing last week. He explained that, in spite of the slight falling off in the amount of air touring owing to the unsettled conditions in Europe, a large number of British pilots had attended the various air rallies and tours. Nearly a hundred machines, for instance, visited Deauville. During the year recommendations were made to the Air Ministry for increased Customs facilities at certain aerodromes, though efforts to obtain subsidy assistance for the private owner had not so far been successful. The touring committee was now engaged in examining the problems involved in providing radio facilities for the private owner; at the International Telecommunication Conference last year the proposal that a separate wavelength should be reserved for them was approved. A conference would shortly be held at the Air Ministry to discuss the possible shortage in the future of aero dromes for private owners in the London area. The launching of the C.A.G. scheme had given the General Council of Associated Light Aeroplane Clubs a considerable amount of extra work; at the present time certificates were being issued at four times the rate of previous years. Incident ally, the cost of these certificates had been reduced during the year. A number of record flights were officially observed by the club during the year, and were subsequently recognised by the F.A.I. The first was that of Fit. Lt. A. E. Clouston and Mr. Victor Ricketts to and from Wellington, New Zealand, in the D.H. Comet which won the London-Melbourne race in 1934, during which they established four new capital-to-capital records between London and Sydney and London and Welling ton. Between October 6 and 8, 1938, Capt. D. C. T. Bennett and Mr. I. Harvey flew the upper component of the Short Mayo composite from Dundee to Orange River, thus breaking the long-distance seaplane record by a matter of 783 miles. On November 5, three Service Wellesleys set out from Ismalia, COLLECTED in one room were more, probably, of the important personalities in aviation than had been seen together for many years when the Royal Aero Club gave a dinner last week to Sir Lindsay Everard, M.P., to express its appreciation of his services as chairman of the Club for the last three years, and to mark the honour of a Knight hood recently conferred upon him. To mention only a few names, the list of guests and members present included Sir Kingsley' Wood, Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall, Lt. Col. Sir Francis Shelmerdine and Lt. Col. J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon. Mr. F. Handiey Page was in the chair, and he opened his lemarks in proposing the toast to Sir Lindsay by alluding to the way in which so many of the important people in aviation had managed to find the time to come to an informal dinner of this kind. Thereafter he stressed the importance of the work which Sir Lindsay had done during three years as chairman. In particular he stressed his particular services to private flying, on which Mr. Handiey Page thought, the real future of flying would ultimately rest. In support, Sir Kingsley Wood said how much the Air Ministry owed to Sir Lindsay, who had, in the House, always been on the side of those who wanted the country to look to its defences. He spoke of the importance of the Civil Air Guard scheme—for which Sir Lindsay is a Commissioner— in providing propaganda for aviation as a whole, and hoped that Sir Lindsay's services to aviation would be available for many years to come. During the dinner he sat next to Mr. Handiey Page and he had been told before he arrived that he should be careful in his conversation ; however, he had had a quiet talk with him on the matter of manufacturing profits, and this question had now been amicably settled! In con clusion, Sir Kingsley called on the Chief of Air Staff to make his contribution to the evening's speech-making. Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall complained that he had not, in spite of what Sir Kingsley had said, received any warn ing of this ordeal, and mentioned in the course of a few useful and pointed remarks that Sir Lindsay had recently been ap pointed Honorary Air Commodore of No. 605 (County of Warwick) Auxiliary Air Force Squadron. Egypt, on an attempt on the long-distance record for land- planes. One landed at Keopang, but the other two arrived in formation at Port Darwin on November 7. The non-stop distance of 7,158.5 miles beat the previous record by 853 miles. For this flight Sqn. Ldr. R. Kellett was awarded the Britannia Trophy by the Club. Finally, Sir Lindsay Everard mentioned the flight of Mr. Alex Henshaw in February of this year, when he flew solo from Gravesend to Cape Town and back in a Mew Gull, covering the outward distance of 5,997 miles in 39 hr. 25 min., and the homeward journey in 29 hr. 36 min. Turning to races, the chairman reviewed the King's Cup race which was won by Mr. Henshaw in his Mew Gull at an average speed of 236.25 m.p.h. The London-Isle of Man race was won by Mr. S. T. Lowe (Comper Swift); the London- Cardiff race was won by Mr. G. de Havilland (T.K.2); and the Folkestone Aero Trophy was won by Mr. H. Buckingham (Hornet Moth). Incidentally, the nine members of the long-distance flight, with Capt. Bennett and Messrs. Harvey and Henshaw, were all present at the general meeting, and the Duke of Atholl, the President, handed the F.A.I, diploma to each of them. Sir Lindsay reminded his listeners that all the British Gliding Association's secretarial work was carried out by the Club. During 1938 twenty pilots obtained their "Silver C" awards, bringing the total who possessed this badge to fifty. This higher award was only instituted during last year, but Mr. P. A. Wills obtained one, the " Gold C." To obtain it a pilot had to possess a "Silver C." and, in addition, carry out a distance flight of over 186 miles and a height test of more than 9,843ft. The following new national records for height, duration, and distance were established during the year: — Height (single-seaters), 10,080ft. on June 5 by P. A. Wills; distance (single-seaters), 209 miles on April 30 by P. A. Wills; duration (single-seaters), 15 hr. 47 min. on August 18 by- Sub. Lt. A. N. Young, R.N. ; and duration (multi-seaters), 22 hr. 13 min. 35 sec. on July 9-10 by Fit. Lt. W. B. Murray and J. S. Sproule. In his reply, Sir Lindsay Everard, after an almost inevitable gibe at the chairman's expense on the subject of safety (and slots in particular), said that at this dinner the Secretary of State for Air and the Chief of Air Staff were probably together for the first time He suggested that they should both be made honorary members of the Club. He mentioned particu larly the very good and vital work which is done by the members of the various sub-committees of the Club, and had a word tc say for the efforts of the Secretary, Cdr. H. E. Perrin, who was " capable of dealing with, anybody at any time." As an instance he told one or two stories of the days at Mildenhall before the start of the England-Australia race three years ago. He asked that Sir Kingsley Wood should not hesitate to tell the Club how it could assist the Air Ministry in any matter relating to aviation. After Lord Gorell had briefly proposed the toast of the evening's chairman, Mr. Handiey Page stressed the fact that everybody in the room was intensely interested in aviation which, he hoped, would enjoy peaceful rather than warlike development. Some C.A.G. Figures WHEN presiding at the annual meeting of the County Flying Club, the president, Sir Lindsay Everard, gave some in teresting figures for the number of C.A.G. pupils which have been trained at the various centres. Apparently the Southend Club tops the list with 46 members trained up to the end of February. London Air Park Flying Club have trained 41, the Redhill Club 37, the Bournemouth Club 36, the Portsmouth Club 29, the Hampshire Club 24, the Cinque Ports Club 23 and the County Club 22. Sir Lindsay also mentioned the efforts which were being made to release the younger applicants from their present national exemption. In Birmingham, for instance, it was found that three-quarters of the Civil Air Guard were in this anomalous position. SHOWING APPRECIATION The R.Ae.C. Dinner to Sir Lindsay Everard
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