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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1702.PDF
JUNE I, 1939 ffi$@n* 559 running, there was very little more to be said about it. Avery's V.E.F. or Winter's Gipsy Swift might well have come up through the small field, but, unfortunately, both were forced to re tire. The V.E.F. was suffering from some obscure fuel syphoning trouble, which not only caused its retirement after two laps, but also explained Avery's somewhat queer turning tactics. He would enter a turn steeply and then apparently find it necessary to ease out again. The Comper lost its oil pressure and after the end of the first lap Winter cruised round Konaldsway until every body had got off in the Manx Air Derby, finally making a safety-first rumble ap proach towards the longest run of the aerodrome. The third disappearance, that of Cummings in his Bluebird, might have been much more serious than it was. He was forced down into (or hit) the sea off Peel and swam around for forty minutes before he was picked up. The Bluebird, strangely enough, stayed afloat though on its back, during the period, but finally sank while it was being towed ashore. Cummings was lucky in not being knocked out, since, after the impact, he was under water, and inverted at that. Of the other possible entries, the Luton Major, had been grounded at Speke on its way over, and the Mosscraft had damaged its air screw on the previous day. Reshuffling By contrast the nine competitors in the Manx Air Derby all completed the three laps, and during the period there was the most considerable reshuffling. At the end of the first lap there wen two changes, A. Henshaws' Vega Gull haying overtaken J. M. Barwick's similar machine, and Tommy Rose's Hawk had gained the ten seconds or so which it had given to De Havilland's 1-K.2; the pair of them came round within a few yards of one another. In the next lap tin- Henshaws had moved "P another place, and three of the 'aster machines—Rush's Sparrow hawk, the Speed Six Hawk and the T.K.2—had all overtaken Barwick's Vega. It was during the last lap, as might Sqn. Ldr. and Mrs. Edwards after the former had won the Tynwald race with his ancient Avian—which is seen on the left just after crossing the finishing line at a phenomenally low altitude. be expected, that the real and vital changes occurred. Until then E. W. Percival, flying his Mew Gull from scratch, had only been closing in on the field and was still running ninth. Un fortunately, he could not quite catch the Vega Gull and the Speed Six Hawk, though he crossed the line only thirteen seconds behind the latter, and had worked up from ninth to third place in less than fifty miles. Until the actual results were announced it was difficult to know whether fourth place had been taken by the T.K.2 or by T. W. Brooke- Smith's Miles Falcon. The two crossed the line together, and by the time their positions could be seen from the en closures the T.K was a few yards ahead. The finishing line, however, was in the middle of the aerodrome, and the judges ruled that the Falcon was ahead by one second—which amounts to about the fuselage-length of the Falcon. Side'shows As the Island races finished quite soon after 4 p.m. and the spectatorial attendance at Ronaldsway was .consider able, it was just as well that two other flying items had been arranged. F/O. de Havilland took the T.K.2 up for an aerobatic display at suitably low alti tudes, and Mr. Benno de Greeuw after wards made a jump with a G.Q. parachute from Mr. Ward's Tipsy. F/O. de Havilland's engine-off upward rolls gave a clear idea of the sheer cleanliness of this racing machine, which, in any case, does something like 190 m.p.h. on the mere 130 h.p. of a Gipsy Major. Unfortunately, the wind was not quite as strong as Mr. de Greeuw had estimated, and, after a minor delay which lost him perhaps 500ft. of his initial 2,000ft. or so, he finally came down two fields away from the aerodrome. TYNWALD AIR RACE Pilot H. R. A. Edwards R. L. Porteous . . E. Mole E. D. Ward Machine Starting Time* i Finishing Time* Speed Avro Avian Chilton . Tipsy ... Tipsy hr. min. sec. 0 02 44 0 01 50 0 00 00 0 00 28 hr. min. sec. 1 33 52 1 34 18 1 SO 28 1 40 57 m.p.h. 106J 105 97| Order 1 2 3 i 8 4 » » Pilot A. Henshaw T. Rose E. W. Percival T.W.Brooke-Smith ... C. R. de Havilland 1. Rush C. Napier f. M. Barwick Misses S. and M. Glass.. MANX AIR DERBY Machine Percival Vega GuH Miles Hawk Six Percival Mew Gull Miles Falcon T.K.2 Miles Sparrowhawk Percival Gull Percival Vega Gull B.A. Eagle Starring Time* hr. min. sec. 1 02 24 1 08 55 1 20 08 1 01 17* 1 08 46 1 03 50 0 54 04 1 01 40 0 41 42 Finishing Time* hr. min. sec. 2 00 24 2 00 57 2 01 10 2 01 27 2 01 28 2 01 42 2 02 10 2 05 20 2 06 31 Speed m.p.h. 167| 186| 237 1011 18IJ 168 142 J 152 J 11-7 ' Add to 14 hr. 15 min., the starting time of the hrst competitor away. Some notabilities : From left to right they are Major Alan Goodfellow, Capt. E. W. Percival, Lord Londonderry, Vice-Admiral W. S. Leveson-Gower (the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man), Councillor W. C. Craine (Mayor of Douglas) and Lady Rose Leveson-Gower.
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