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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0672.PDF
FLIGHT Congo Part I: Story of a 10,000-mik on "Darl By 0, After lunch we set to work with shovels to clear away theworst patches of snow. 1EN thousand miles " I can hear the pilots of multi-engined transport aircraft echo. "Why, we shall soon be doing that in one hop and not thinkinganything of it." Maybe so, but with only a little ioo h.p. Cirrus Minor chugging away in front it can be an alto-gether different proposition. This flight was to be the first delivery of an AusterAutocrat to Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo. The Nile valley route was chosen because although the West Coastof Africa is the shortest way little information could be ob- tained in London as to refuelling, airfield facilities, etc. I spent a week in London ob-taining the necessary permits and visas, the only difficulty experi-enced being at the Egyptian Con- sulate, where, before granting mea permit to fly through the Royal Egyptian Kingdom, they wantedto see all the aircraft documents, my licences, and also the visasgranted by the other countries I was flying through. Rather an un-necessary formality, I thought. After waiting in Leicester forten days with my passenger, Mr. J. A. Bond, the weather clearedon February 5th. Rearsby air- field, covered in about sixinches of snow, presented a sorry sight when we arrived. Feelingrather desperate after our pro- longed inactivity in Leicester, wedecided at least to make an effort to get airborne, but things looked rather .black when'we could only raise 3 m.p.h. taxyingspeed at full throttle. With the aid of a tractor and part -of a fence weighted down with packing cases, we managedto compress the snow and to make a runway of sorts 300 yards long. We then made six attempts to get off, butevery time, just as we were nearing flying speed, we hit a soft patch of snow which slowed us up again. Afterlunch Bond, myself and Mr. Hall of the Auster Company set to work with shovels to clear away the worst patchesof snow. We also drained the long-range tank, which made us ioolb lighter, and on the spccfrjd attempt we managed IN January of this year F/L. D. W. Weaver dis- 1 cussed with "Flight " the proposal to deliver an Auster Autocrat by air to Leopoldville. It was suggested that F/L. Weaver should, on completion of the journey, write the story of his experiences. For those who see only difficulties in flying so far and over such wild terrain in a light aircraft this story will be encouraging and stimulating, while for the optimistic or over-confident the recounting of potential dangers may have a sober- ing and chastening effect. Aviation underwriters are said to be particularly apprehensive about accepting insurance risks on light aircraft flying over West Africa. This matter-of-fact story of a successful flight by a young R.A.F. pilot with moderate experience, and carrying neither radio* nor a navigator, may be instructive and encouraging to them also. • Aircraft flying over the Sudan must now either carry radio or fly in formation. at last to unstick and stagger into the air. All alongthe course to Lympne the country below was com- pletely snowbound, and we were beginning to wonderif the "airfield serviceable" report was correct, when, much to our relief, the snow cleared some twenty miletenorth of our destination. We twice had to fly through^*- snow showers, but the only icing experienced was when thetail trimmer became jammed with ice. A few hours after landing at Lympne there was a heavyfall of snow, and we were forced to spend a pleasant five ' days in the Lympne country club adjoining the airfield.On the tenth the weather at Paris was reported clear, although it did not appear any too healthy over Kent.Taking off, we immediately went into .low cloud and flew blind until halfway across the Channel. Bond was rathershaken to see a church steeple flash past the wing. One lands uphill at Toussus leNoble in preference to into wind. The runway is of the metal striptype, and the surrounding ground is exceedingly soft. The Frenchcontrol authorities appeared dis- pleased that I had turned through180 degrees on landing and taxied back a matter of 70 yards to therefuelling point. Their idea was that I should have taxied to theend of the runway and then fol- lowed the track around to control,a distance of about two miles. More Bad Weather We intended flying straightfrom Paris to Lyons, but the French met. people informed usthat the weather was bad on the direct route. Following their ad-vice to go via Dijon and then follow the Rhone Valley south-wards, we encountered heavy rain and low cloud nearly the whole way. Over to starboard on the direct line the weatherappeared much better. Nearing Lyons and still flying at 300 feet under cloud was rather worrying us, as we didn'tknow the exact location of the large aerial masts in relation to the town. As luck would have it the cloud lifted, andwithin a few miles we were in an almost clear sky. runway at Lyons appears to have been laid in large con-crete slabs with an inch or so gap in between each one. It was hard going for our tail wheel, which made the mostawful noise passing over each rut. Next morning we followed the valley down to Avignon?and then on to Nice, thus avoiding most of the high| ground. At one time we had to climb to 10,000 feet in;order to avoid flying through cumulus cloud. The air- field at Nice consists of one runway in very good condi-,tion situated on the seashore west of the town itself. Ger- man prisoners were sweeping for mines on the airfield when *we landed. The necessary formalities having been completed, wetook off for the first long sea hop to Ajaccio in Corsica, • and landfall was made just south of the airfield. Organiza-"tion here seemed one hundred per cent " slap happy" ; I was given a clearance form for the following day duly-,signed by all departments concerned without being given ^r any briefing at all. the petrol Bowser let more petrol flow"? On Sunday, after having our kit turned upside down by theEgyptian Customs, we took off from Luxor and digressed for a few minutes to photograph the Pyramids.
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