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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1281.PDF
JULY 4TH, 1945 FLIGHT A Seafire III perched high ona "P" catapult of the type mounted during the war onmerchant ships. Nearby was the C.I. cordite-operated accelera-tor from which a Seafire was launched at 3]g. Outside in the sunshine aconcourse of aircraft, military and civil, stood on the tarmac—some in drab camouflage, same in polished camouflage,some brightly painted and— it of all—some highly Sshed, gleaming and glitter-ing in all the pristine glory of uncovered metal. Newest of allof them was the Short Stur- geon, a iwin-Merlined, contra-propped, three-seat Naval re- connaissance machine intendedfor operation both from airfield and carried decks. It is alargish aircraft and its weight is probably in the 25,0001bclass, but nevertheless, the quoted speed of "over 300m.p.h." woirid seem to be maskingly conservative. SATURDAY'S FLYING OBVIOUSLY, with three ox even four days of flying on whichto remark, it would be impossible to do justice to a seriesof displays which were undoubtedly the best and most repre- sentative since pre-war years. Indeed, a simple running com-mentary covering the successive moments and manoeuvres of any particular day would make dull and even pointless reading.But for the visitors there were probably half a dozen types which to the majority, would be new, and on Saturday, witha boisterous wind blowing some thirty or forty degrees off the long Farnborough runway, interest was increased, for thoseknowledgeable in such matters, by a study of individual cross- wind technique and aircraft handling qualities during both thetake-off and the landings. The situation was, to say the least of it, packed with interest for any designer who might stilldoubt the overall advantages, particularly in such conditions, of the tricycle undercarriage. By sheer piloting skill and ex-perience and by virtue of the products of the tyre and brake manufacturers, there were no ground loops, but there werecertainly some very hectic moments, as some of the bigger and heavier aircraft with lots of keel surface did their very best toweathercock. Quite a lot of money must have gone up in rubber smoke during the afternoon. From the point of view of the habitue of such flymg displaysthe most interesting events were .probably the catapulting of a Seafire more or less over the heads of the crowd; the extra-ordinary demonstration of slow-flying control by the Martin Baker fighter- the slow fly-past of the B.O.A.C. Short Hytheboat; the demonstration of the Handiey Page Hastings/Hermes with its two starboard airscrews feathered; the rocket-assistedtake-off bv a Griffon Seafire; and the extraordinary way in which the MeteorIV, in one of its near vertical climbs, actually burnt a couple of neat holes in a shallow cloud.Each of the assisted take-off demonstrations took the crowd more or less by surprise. That from the catapult resulted inan aircraft appearing quite miraculously airborne, with the undercarriage up, from a totally impossible direction. Therocketed Seafire taxied quietly down the runway to a line of flags, when the pilot started to open up before firing his rockets ;there was a not inconsiderable explosion of brief duration, and the Seafire was airborne with the undercarriage tucking itselfup in a matter of three seconds or so. The Martin-Baker was swung from bank to vertical bank at a speed which, allowingfor 40 rn.h.p. or so of mid-upper wind, cannot have been much above its stall; previously it had been flying in a series ofstalled falling-leaf manoeuvres. On the very professional display as a whole it would be diffi-cult to comment satisfactorily in a few words. Each aircraft, according to its limitations or otherwise, was shown to the bestadvantage, but for sheer aerobatic virtuosity the Sea Fury might have taken any prize going.The following aircraft were flown on one or all of the days of the display: Avro Tudor II (Thorne) ; ;Avro York (Capt.Griffith) ; Handiey Page Hastings (Sqn. Ldr. Hartford) ; Miles Marathon (Waller) ; Bristol Freighter (Pegg) ; Vickers Viking(Lowdell) ; D.H. Dove (Fossett) ; Short Seaford Sqn. Ldr. Squire) ; Hythe (Capt. Stone) ; Seafire XVII (Lt. Cdr. Brown) ;D.H. Hornet (Pike) ; Bristol Brigand (Gibbs) ; Fairey Firefly (Twiss) ; Hawker Sea Fury (Humble) ; Supermarine Seafang(Quill) ; Seafire III (Lt. Cdr. Brown); Hawker Fury I (Mus- pratt) ; Gloster Meteor (VV/Cdr. Beamont) ; D.H. Vampire(de Havilland); Martin Baker (Sqn. Ldr. Zurako-wski) ; Black- burn Firebrand (Richmond) ; Percival Prentice (Carruthers) ;Proctor V (Saunderson) ; Auster Autocrat (Snarey) ; Miles Gemini (George Miles) ; and Aerovan (Kendall). Incidentally,there were a number of very odd figures and facts in the official brochure, which might have been more carefully checked. (Left) A trailing main !eg with radius arm shock-absorber is used on the Aerovanundercarriage. (Above) The Reid & Sigiist Desford trainer has a beautifully formed blown canopy, and the pitot head acts as a horizon datum for pupil pilots.
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