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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0610.PDF
360 FLIGHT APRIL 24TH, 1947 FLYING DISPLAY AT- HALTON although there was sufficient ceiling itwas clear that the pilots of individual jet fighters were going to have sometrouble in keeping Halton in view. No. 2 event of the demonstrationwas high-speed aerobatics in a Meteor III by W/C. Bird-Wilson,D.S.O., D.F.C. He did two polished vertical figures of eight and a welljudged full loop, finishing very low In contrast, for event 3, S/L. Brether-ton, D.F.C., of No. 50 Squadron, demonstrated the Lincoln's ability tofly past on two engines, and finally on the port inner only, the threeothers being feathered. A request that S/L. Bretherton should try athird fly past using only his wind- screen wipers was reluctantly refused. F/O. Carter, of No. 247 Squadron,was next seen and heard approaching on his Vampire. He managed to lookfaster than the Meteor III and executed some good rapid roils. His high-speed fly-past at very low level wasdefinitely exciting. Quite a different type of event followed when threeTransport Command Dakotas, the leader carrying S/L. Smith, of No. 1 Parachute Training School, droppedfifteen fully equipped paratroops simultaneously. The descent made a fine spectacle and a freshening breeze madetheir well-judged touch-down in the middle of the field an amusing acrobatic performance. Three Halifaxes then each dropped thirteen supplycontainers accurately in the airfield, orange, green, blue and khaki parachutes differentiating between the typesof store. A Dakota also dropped panniers. More impres- sive perhaps than even the dropping of the paratroopswas the release at 6,000ft by a single Halifax of a six- pounder gun, its four ammunition containers, a jeep andthe Army gun crew of six, in that order. All landed safely within a small area. " i- lnjihi " phato An outstanding evetit was the droppingby three Dakota^ of parajfroopers from No. 1 Parachute Training School. Another item in a well-balanced programme was the excellent demonstration of a helicopter by S/L. Cable, of the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment. As a finale, Lt. Col. Ketief, A.F.C., of the South African Air Force, flying from the E.F.S., gave a high-speed demonstration on a Meteor IV. On his first fly past he announced by R / T to control that his indicated speed was 595 m.p.h. or over 600 m.p.h. T.A.S. Experiencing diffi- culty with visibility he nevertheless turned round in a minute or so (covering some 20 miles) and flashed past again. There was no doubt that everyone was particu- larly thrilled by the speed of the Meteor, emphasized by the suggestion of vapour trials around the tail and by the way the sound followed the aircraft. Before departing Colonel Retief demonstrated the Meteor's speed of roll. It seems a pity that more of the air-minded public could not have been present at this brief but very good demonstration. The many distinguished foreign visitors could not fail to have been impressed by the events. Round the World Successful Completion of 20,000-mile Flight in the Douglas Invader, "Reynolds Bombshell FLYING his converted Douglas A-26 Invader ReynoldsBombshell, Mr. Milton Reynolds, the American penmanufacturer, has completed a flight round the worldin 78 hr 55 min. This time is 12 hr 19 mth better than the previous one of 91 hr 14 min set up in 1938 by HowardHughes flying a Lockheed 14. There is no true comparison, however, between these twoflights as the routes were different and Milton Reynolds was compelled to fly some 5,000 miles farther to avoid Sovietterritory, having previously been refused permission to land. Neither flight conformed with F.A.I, requirements, and, infact, no official round-the-world record has ever been set up. Reynolds flew approximately 20,000 miles, and the distanceround the Equator is almost 25,000 miles. Times and route are given in the accompanying table. Forcomparison Hughes' route was : New York—Paris—Moscow— Omsk—Yakatsk—Fairbanks—Minneapolis. Only two changesof plan were made by Reynolds and crew after their take-off on Saturday night, April 12th ; Gander was used in place ofGoose Bay, and Adak instead of Anchorage in the Aleutians, both as a result of weather troubles. Stripped of its military equipment and armour the three-seatattack bomber should be rather faster than in military form, when the top speed was 345 m.p.h. at 5,000ft, and its weight,full ' loaded, would now be about 30,0001b. The engines are Pratt and Whitney R-2800-71S, each of 2,000 h.p., and thefuel capacity is over 2,000 gallons. Mr. Reynolds flew as navigator and his pilot was William O'Dom. An engineer, T. C. Salle, was also carried. Forvarious reasons—the fifty-minute turn back to Adak due to severe headwinds, inability to overfly Calcutta, and cumu-lative delays at airports—the original idea of completing the flight in 55 hr had to be modified to 75 hr, which agrees quitewell with the actual timetable. Over certain parts 9i the route average speeds of 350 pwere achieved, and the overall average for the, 20,000 miles, for which the flying time was 64 hr 37 min, works out at about310 m.p.h. Several of the point-to-point flights on the route will constitute unofficial records, and a time of only 7 hr 4 minfrom Newfoundland to Paris is particularly striking. This whole successful flight, whatever its motive, reflects greatcredit on the crew of '' The Bombshell '' and on the makers OL the airframe and engines. (Photograph on page 365.) Route and Times, G.M.T. Airport La Guardia—Gander .. Gander—Orly Orly—Cairo Cairo—Karachi... Karachi—Calcutta Catcutta—Shanghai Shanghai—TokyoTokyo—Adak Adak—Edmonton Edmonton—La Guardia Departed Sat. Sun, Sun. Sun. Mon. Mon. Mon. Tues. Tues. Tues. 10.11 p.m. 2.51 a.m. 10.35 a.m. 8.12 p.m. 3.56 a.m. 10.3 a.m. 6.13 p.m. 00.25 a.m. 00.24 p.m. 10.04 p.m. Distance—approx. 20,000 miles: Elapsei time— 64 hi 37 min Arrived Sun. Sun, Sun. Mon. Mon. Mon, Mon. Tues. Tues. Wed. 2.11 a.m. 9.S5 a.m. 5.52 p.m. 3.2 a.m. 8.5 a.m. 5.0 p.m. 10.00 p.m. 9.25 a.m. 8.55 p.m. 5.6 a.m. Time taken 4hr 7hr 7hr 6 hr 4hr 6hr 3hr 9 hr 8 hr 7 hr 0 min 4 min 17 min SO min 9 min 57 min 47 min 0 min 31 min 2 min lime—78 hr •?; min: Flying Av. speed—approx. 310 m.p.h.
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