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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0721.PDF
OVER THE ANDES : Part of the pass flown by Brown on his trip trom Mendoza to Santiago. to bs passed, rises to 22,976ft. Mt. Aconcagua, which has VVoodford Airfield in addition to the club instructing. In 1928 the passion for record-flying persuaded Hinkler to leave Avros, and Sam Brown became the firm's chief test pilot. The Avian was in production at the time, and his first prototypes were the Tutor and the Avro Ten. The latter, for its time, was quite a complicated structure, but it is interesting to compare its 20 or so instruments with the 95 to be found on the Tudor II to-day. Nearly the End The initial flight on the Tutor—or Trainer, as it was then called—was made in September, 1929, and on the 19th of October, on Trainer G.AART, he had a crash which nearly finished his career. The Trainer originally had ailerons only on one plane, and while Sam was doing a PROTOTYPE : The concluding paragraphs of Brown's report after the firstflight of the Lancaster Mk. IV which later was renamed the Avro Lincoln. UNDERCARRIAGE FUNCTIONIHS. Both retraotion and undercarriage down functioning waa quite normal, SLIDE ."€ * This was quite normal and as already stated the lateral control as quite effective at a gliding Bpeed of between 115/120 MPH Indioated. •ATOING. The aircraft was glided in to< land at the above speed, which I think was a little too fast as there was considerable "float" before the machinefinally touched down more or less three-point at an indioated ASI reading of 83 MPH. The elevator was extremely effeotive at this low speed, consequentlywas no difficulty in getting the tail down. Ae already stated the brakes most efficient and the machine was pulled up quite quickly. CONCLUSION. As on all other fypea of "Lanoaoter" Aircraft, thegeneral layout of instruments etc, is excellent. I am of the firm opinion that we have got another "winner" in the Mark.IV,I ses no reason why we should not proceed with performance Trials immediately the slight adjustments have been made tocontrols etc. night Teat Observations, together with a "snag" list, are attached for your iaformati— -slow roll at 500 ft he went into an inverted stall and dived into the deck with engine full on. His memory of events after the realization that "this is the end" is very hazy —in fact, there is a complete mental blank One eyhiulei of his engine was found 209 yards from the main wreckage, and his injuries included two compound fractures of the right leg, a fractured pelvis, a disloiafed spine ami a eul forehead. Despite all this, he wa> test living a«ain In the 21st of May, 1930, and in 1932 compiled 111 (he Kint; -• Cup race on the Avro Mailplane. In this rate he had the mortification of seeing the winner cross the line as he was flagged off—the handicappers had skidded a bit—neverthe- less, he made fastest time by clocking 170 m.p.h. Brown's knowledge of the Spanish language stood him in good stead when, at the end of 1933, ne was asked to take a 626 military trainer and a Cadet on a demonstration tour of South America. While the machines were being erected in Rio he became friendly with Col. Mcllo, a star Brazilian pilot, who got leave of absence to accompany Brown on hi^ demonstration tour with the Cadet in Uruguay and Argentina. In return for his services, Avros agreed to pre- sent the Cadet to Col. Mello, who used it as his private aircraft for over 11 years. The 626 trainer Sam flew over the Andes from Mendoza to Santiago, Chile. This is a difficult journey at any time of the year, but circum- stances dictated that Brown should do it in mid-winter. The mountains are some 23.000 ft high, and the pass rises to nearly 14,500 ft. Add to this the knowledge that the theoretical ceiling of the Avro 626 was under 17,000 ft, and it becomes very apparent that, at its best, the journey was likely to be a sticky one By following the road and rail he should have been in the mountains for just about an hour, but, because these guides were obscured by snow, and a compass is quite useless while winding in and out between mountain peaks,
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