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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0703.PDF
MAY 8TH, 1947 f LIG HI 409 TWO LONDON-CAPETOWN RECORDS Quarter Circuit of the World in a \T 5-35 P-m. D.B.S.l. on May 1st a standard de Havil- h\ land Mosquito P/R Mk. 34 touched down at Brook- -*- lyn Airport, Capetown, completing an officially timed flight of 6,717 miles in 21 hr 31 min, thus lowering by 10 hr 50 min the unofficial record set up by the R.A F Lancaster Aries I in January, 1946. Average speed of the Mosquito was 310 m.p.h., including the time on the ground. The official record which the Mosquito set out to bejtt was that made by F/O. A. E. Cloustonand Mrs. Kirby •f9nn in a de Havilland Comet, whose time was 45 hr 6 min, in 1937. The Mosquito broke this record by 23 hr 36 min.' Piloted by Australian S/L. Harold Brownlow Martin! triple D.S.O. and D.F.C., and his navigator, S/L. Edward Sismore, D.S.O., D.F.C., and two bars, the aircraft took off from London Airport at 8.4 p.m. oh April 30th. Only two stops were made fo£ fuel, at -El Adem and Kisumu. The splendid co-operation of the ground crews at El Adem must be recognized in replenishing the 1,267-gall, fuel load in under twenty minutes. At Kisumu, in Kenya, the Mosquito was only on the landing ground for twenty-five minutes. On landing at'Brooklyn, S/L. Martin said, "Nothing to report. It was a flight without incident." The de Havilland Mosquito P/R Mk. 34 is fitted with two Rolls-Royce Merlin 113/114 engines developing 1,430 h.p. at 27,250ft, with a maximum speed of 422 m.p.h. at 30,000ft. Brigadier J. J. Durrant, Director-General of the South African Air Force, sent a message to S/L. Martin on the Mosquito's arrival at Capetown, saying, "Heartiest congratulations. Very fast flight and most excellent per- formance." The record-breaking Mosquito was to take part in the air rally held at Johannesburg on Saturday, May 3rd. It will afterwards return to Britain by easy stages. Aries Flies New Route Aries II, the four-engined Lincoln of the Empire Air Navigation School, left Manston, Kent, at 6.57 p.m. last Wednesday and landed at Capetown at 9.54 p.m. D.B.S.T. the following day, thus easily beating the unofficial record of the Aries I. The Aries flew a new route for the Cape flight, via Kano, in West Africa. A. Cdre. H. N. D'Aeth, in charge of the navigation demonstration tour of In the bomb bay of the Transport Command Mosquito 869gallons of fuel were carried in special long-range tanks. waythe Aries, said, "There were no incidents on thedown, and everything went smoothly." Comparative fastest times for the England to Cape flight are: 1937, S/L. Clouston and Mrs. Kirby Green—45 hr 6 min (the official two-man record); 1939, Mr. Alex. Hen- shaw (solo record), 39 hr 35 min; 1945, Lancaster Aries I (unofficial record), 32 hr 21 min ; 1947 (May 1st), S/L. Martin's Mosquito, 21 hr 31 min. Crew's War Record S/L. Martin is the only survivor of the bomber captains selected and specially trained for the raids on the Mohne and Eder dams on May 16th, 1943. He also took part in other low-level attacks on the Kiel and Dortmund- Ems Canals and later served on intruder work over German airfields in Europe. S/L. Sismore served with Blenheims attack- ing continental ports in 1941 and later joined a Mosquito squadron. On his second tour he led the raid on Berlin which stopped Goering's speech to the German people oil June 30, 1943. TIMETABLE The Avro Lincoln Aries 11 from the Empire School of Air Navigation which lowered the Cape record of its predecessor by 5 hr 24 m. Left London - Landed El Adem Took off El Adem - Landed Kisumu Took off Kisumu • Landed Brooklyn - D.B.S.T 20.06 hr. 01.30 hr. 01.50 hr. 08.49 hr 09.15 hr. 05.35 hr.
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