FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1873.PDF
5EPTEMBER IQ.TH. I94O FLIGHT 309 SEVENTH S.B.A.C. DISPLAY off and high rate of turn possessed by the Meteor in suchadequate degree. There is no general-purpose fighter superior to the Meteor and no better exponent of its qualities thanStanbury. Geoffrey de Havilland, with the serond of the two D.H.108research machines, was rightly teserved for the final event. In recent months he has been flying this delightful aircraftat progressively increasing speeds and has reached the point where he is able to equal, and even to excel, his classic dis-plays with the Vampire. Not only is the 108 unusually fast but is amenableto the most advanced aerobatics, includ- ing aileron turns. A turn off the runwayimmediately after take-off proved that the 108 is tractable at the lower end ofits speed range. It now has a metal- strengthened cockpit hood and free slots. The 70-foot span of the Welkin IImade it difficult to appreciate that it is, in fact, a fighter, and, judging from Mr.'Penrose's performance, a good one. Without exception the less spec-tacular military machines held interest throughout their appearances. Thematronly Warwick (Mr. Sutcliffe up) took full advantage of its twin 3,000 h.p.Sabres, .particularly on take-off. The deck-landing Spearfish (Twiss) demon-strated the advantages conferred by its ample Youngman flaps, and the aggres-sive-looking Brigand (Cribb) seemed to lose little in speed and agility due toits external torpedo and R/Ps. The Firebrand V (Lawrence) went smoothlythrough a programme of low- and high- speed flying and aerobatics with itstorpedo in place. 1' Mossie '' Aerobatics Mr. Walker demonstrated that thelong-range record-breaking Mosquito 34 does not shun aerobatics, and Sqn. Ldr. Field-Richards likewise put the massive black-and-white Lin- coln through evolutions not generally demanded in service. Two big military transports—the Hamilcar X power-assisted glider (Wood) and the Hastings (Sanders)—performed in becom- ing manner. The Hamilcar handled remarkably well after release from its Halifax tug and the Hastings, immediately after take-off, proceeded quickly on two of its four Hercules. Five trainers—the Buckcaster (Birks), dual-Firefly (Moseley), Martinet (Waller), Desford (French) and Prentice (Carruthers) adequately displayed the qualities of modern instructional air- craft. Waller's machine had full target-towing gear. Finally, tribute must be paid to the impressive performances of the Nene-Lancaster tuibine-jet test bed, which whistled over the crowd at wyell over 300 m.p.h. on its jets alone, and of the A.W.52G research glider, after casting off from its Whitley tug. Messrs. Shepherd and Franklin, who flew these types, did much to impress on foreign guests that the S.B.A.C. can claim as members some enterprising constructors. In any long-period display, during which the more exciting military types are in the majority, it is difficult for the demon- strators of civil types to think of new means of maintaining interest. Obviously, civil aircraft must be inspected and flown in, rather than demonstrated, if they are to be properly appreciated. However, the various pilots circumnavigated the difficulty on Friday by proceeding, with a positive burst of variations of what the A.R.B. calls "asymmetric" flying —both while thoroughly airborne and while taking off. Never have so many aircraft flown for so long with so few available engines in action. For instance, both Thcrne and Sanders, with the Avro Tudor I and the Handley Page Hastings (in place of the civil Hermes) feathered both airscrews on one side and showed off the handling qualities during continuous flying in this lop- I sided power condition, while Waller with the Miles Marathon I. stopped the port outer on take-off and later flew around with T two out on one side. The latter, incidentally, was quite im- ' pressively flung about the sky. Of the twins, the first to'carry out a "cut after take-off" demonstration was Fossett's D.H. Dove. The action was a trifle delayed—because the feathering The wing-floaton the model of the Saund-ers-Roe S.R.- 45 flying boatis bifurcated and retract-able. circuit didn't "take" first time—but the Dove made a com-plete circuit in this condition before proceeding with the rest of the demonstration. Boyd, flying the Vickers Viking,stopped the starboard engine as soon as the undercarriage was on its way up, and later showed that even a civil transportis not necessarily without near-aerobatic capabilities. Most impressive of all, perhaps, was the show put on by an anony-mous B.O.A.C. pilot with the Short Sandringham. Not satisfied with the now familiar slow, low, flaps-out flying,he brought the big boat acioss the field with the- two outers feathered and at much the same slow speed, while "stirringthe pot" to produce a mild ciazy-flying effect. First on the day's programme, and carried out in three fly-past operations, was the Flight Refuelling demonstration— and very effective it was. Messrs. Prowseand Jeffrey flew the two Lancasters low in true Hendon-tied-together precisionafter they had gone away to be linked up for the fuelling, and later brokegently away immediately after crossing Radlett. By way of contrast—and theonly truly civil aircraft flown during the morning—the Miles Messenger gave anice impression of quiet handleability. with its slow flying and short landingsand take-off—to be repeated later in the day by the Aerovan and the productionGemini flown by Miles. The latter, after some initial doubt—perhaps after manymonths of flying with the non-retractable version—finally tucked up its under-carriage. But, in the meantime, it had flown round on one motor with every-thing down. While the A.W. glider and the Hamilcar near-glider (complete withtwo Bren gun-carriers) were finally coming in, Marsh took locally to the airwith the experimental Cierva W-g heli- copter, making its familiar singing noiseas the anti-torque jet compressor did its work. Incidentally and experimentally,the W-Q now has a small fin and rudder. Civil Civilians Leading the afternoon contingent,Snarey's Auster Autocrat, after some tight aerobatics of the old-fashioned kind, flew gently and quietly about—but for rather longer thanhis appointed time—while, later on, Sanderson, with the Percival Proctor V, demonstrated a private-owner-transporttype in a somewhat different category. Difficult enough to show off in any unusual way, the Bristol Wayfarer, flown byPegg, was nevertheless impressive, and joined the other trans- ports in " asymmetric " evolutions, while Clare's AirspeedConsul hung, at one stage, on precisely nothing over the heads of the crowd in a show of good stalling characteristics. Boththese airciaft were interesting in their different classes— hampered though the pilots were by the inevitable effect ofcompeting with the more dramatic and demonstrable military types coming before and after in the flying programme. Mr. Humble folds the wings of the Sea Fury X as he comes to rest after one of the finest aerobatic displays to date.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
