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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1557.PDF
522 U@m? •?, MAY 18, 1939 Personalities in the rain : the Air Minister, Sir Kingsley Wood ; Mr. C. P. Robertson, Air Ministry Press chief ; and Capt. F. T. Courtney. Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Fairey and Mr. Wallace Barr of Cellon. Mr. Fairey, as usual, had put his fine aerodrome at the disposal of the R.Ae.S. of a sea of orange peel and stop-me-and- buy-three wrappers. Last Sunday the Clerk of the Weather tried to solve the problem by putting on the most shocking weather exhibition we have seen for a long time. But he only partly succeeded. The flying programme (under the control of Fit. Lt. Staniland) went perfectly to schedule—only one demonstration machine failed to appear —and fifty-odd private-owner or club aeroplanes were present, though admit tedly many of them had arrived during a disarmingly fine morning. The spectators either crowded the "static" show hangar, sheltered under wings (the Wellington proving popular, and the sharply tapering Albatross less so), or remained battened-down in their cars, a process which involved switching- on screen-wipers or opening sun (sic) roofs if aerobatics were to be watched. Sir Kingsley Wood, the Air Minister, defied the elements, and Capt. Harold Balfour, Under-Secretary, was present also. Mr. A. H. R. Fedden, president of the R.Ae.S., officially received these and many other distinguished guests. On the whole, the civil performers in the flying display were fairly representa tive, though those spectators who took the trouble to go and look would have found some newer and more interesting types in the machine park. It is always unfortunate that military machines with more or less unlimited power, flown by experts in the art of demon stration, should somewhat overshadow the quieter and more sedate exhibitions by civil types. Nobody could say, however, that the first civil machine to be demonstrated did not, by virtue of its small size, prove as impressive as any of the war chariots. This was the white Mew Gull, which was flung about the sky by Capt. E. W. Percival, while a blue Q.6, in the hands of Mr. D. M. Bay, cruised leisurely around—using the word '' leisurely '' in a comparative sense. Capt. Percival opened with a continuous high-speed steep turn round the aerodrome boundary and then proceeded to pull a couple of exaggerated stall turns from the top of vertical climbs, these stalled turns almost entering the realm of half-rolls. Perhaps the most useful, though prob ably unnoticed, demonstration was that in which he changed over from one ver tical bank to another. Sheer diminutive size gave the dives and climbs a most spectacular appearance. Just for once, after hundreds of perfect touch-downs, Capt. Percival held the Mew off a shade too high on his landing, and when the left wing dropped suddenly it was an anxious split second. By this time Mr. Hollis Williams should know all about tricycle technique, and he certainly showed the G.A. Cygnet Mr. "Steve" Melstrom of Shell; Capt. Duncan Davis; Fit. Lt. J. Summers (Vickers test pilot) ; Mr. Geoffrey de Havilland, Jun. (D.H. test pilot) ; and Fit. Lt. Maurice Summers (Gloster test pilot). to perfect advantage both on the ground and in the air. Lightly loaded, his '' cork from a bottle'' take-off showed that the machine had no queer stalling characteristics, and if the ground had not been wet and slippery his high-speed cross-wind, down-wind and up-wind taxying might have been even more im pressive. He made two stalled ap proaches, the second one being particu larly Autogyroptic, and one high-speed landing, using, with bursts of motor, most of the aerodrome. Whatever he did, the Cygnet sat firmly on the ground after touching—and that is what a tricycle is for. During his final approach, carried out very slowly indeed, it was not until the machine was within ten feet of the ground that one realised the quite high rate of vertical descent. Without a burst of engine the long travel undercarriage might have taken it. Altogether, a mag nificent proof of the value, of the tri cycle. Jumping to It Except for the jump start—which caused, by its very suddenness, a certain amount of laughter—Mr. R. A. C. Brie used his familiar technique in the demon stration of the new C.40 Autogiro. He showed its manoeuvrability, flew very slowly while weather-cocking the machine into wind, and made two dead- stop landings, a normal C.30 take-off, and one more jump start. The time taken to run up the rotor to the required jumping speed was surprisingly short, and on his last landing Mr. Brie pretty well dropped down into his appointed parking place, so that he only needed to taxy a few yards. Although it was obvious that Stephen Appleby enjoyed every minute of his eight with the now ancient Scheldemusch, it was not quite clear why this machine should have been given the honour and glory of a sky-show, while other more recent types remained on the ground. Admittedly the Musch is an amusing de vice, but most of its capabilities rest with the tricycle, and the others with a vast amount of slotted wing area. But this three-year-old machine did at least show what can be done by a designer who has gone all out for safety and low- speed controllability. While the Musch was crackling round the sky at low altitude, Capt. A M. Kingwill took the prototype Willoughby Delta round at a reasonable height just to show everybody how much lift can be
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