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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1262.PDF
F LIGH'T JULY 31ST, 1947 Britain's Test Pilots-No. 23 Geoffrey Arthur Virley Tyson, Chief Test' Pilot of Saunders-Roe Limited DURING the 1914-18 war Geoffrey lived at Purleyand, as a schoolboy, was thrilled with the flying hesaw going on at Croydon airfield. It was in the days of Camels, Pups and Spads, and the apparc utly carefree existence of supermen pilots made life appear doubly dull when he found himself out of the form room, an articled pupil to an estate agent. Eighteen months was sufficient to sicken him of office life, and in 1925 he took a short-service commission. After a wait of a couple of months he went to the famous No. 5 F.T.S. at Sealand, where the majority of the old-time test pilots went through their ab initio training. Whilst at No. 5 he flew roiary-engined Avro 504KS and the Service type was the Sopwith Snipe. Bill Thorn, now of Avros, was in the term senior to him, and Jimmy Orrell, also with Avros, was an N.C.O. pilot. Turner-Hughes was in'the junior term and "Lena" Lingard,. who in this last war served with the A.T.A. at Hooton, was Tyson's instructor. After passing-out from the F.T.S. he was posted to No. 25 (Fighter) Squadron at Hawkinge, which was in those days equipped with Gloster Grebes (380 h.p. Sid- deley Jaguar engines). The squadron now has Mosquitoes of 3,400 h.p. and is stationed at West Mailing. A pilot of promise, he was posted to the Central School of Flying at Wittering for an instructor's course, flying Lynx Avros, D.H.9AS and two-seater Sopwith Snipes. He eventually obtained the much-coveted C.F.S. Ai category. Geoffrey had by thfs time been in the Service for three years and was then posted to No. 32 (Fighter) Squadron at Kenley, which was one of the first units to have the Siddeley Siskin—the first all-metal fighter in service. A curious system of ab initio training was then in force. A detachment from each of four fighter squadrons, Nos. 3 (Woodcocks), 17 (Woodcocks), 23 (Gamecocks), and 32 (Siskins) forgathered at Upavon and ran a small F.T.S. of their own. Tyson was with No. 32 squadron con- tingent. Lynx Avros were used for initial training, and advan:ed flying was performed on the squadronp' own fighter types. All the pupils were N.C.O.s. This ari^angement, however, ended in mid-1928, and Tyson returned, to normal figlfter- pilot duties at Kenley. ""s»-«_n—"""•''' The last months of his short-service commission he spent as an instructor to the Oxford University Air Squadron. Tyson liked discipline—he still likes it—but he decided to come out of the Service and almost immediately went to West Mailing as the nVing club instructor. He stayed there for about a year and later did the same work for the Scarborough Aero Club. Those were the days of the early beginnings of many aero clubs. Accommodation was usually of the small hut variety, and many is the meal of bacon and eggs that Geoffrey has cooked over an oil stove in almost primitive conditions. In 1933 H. C Johnson (who was then chief pilot of Sir Alan Cobham's Air Circus and whom Tyson had met in No. 99 (Bomber) Squadrrm at Upper Heyford while with O.U.A.S.) invited him to join the show. His first job was joy-riding on a Fox Moth, but after a while he took over the a«robatic flying from Charles Turner-Hughes. New items were devised, such as picking up a handker- chief by a hook on a wing-tip ; diving under a line of flags suspended 20ft from the ground ; looping from the dive and ending the loop under the flags again. On a day with a cross-wind or bumpy conditions, this last act was any- thing but easy or safe. Nevertheless, Geoffrey did it twice a day for two and a half seasons, which constituted sonic 1,200 shows. Apart from all other aerobatics, it has been calculated that while with Cobham's show he did well over 10,000 slow rolls. During the winter months Tyson did some of the flying FOR NEGATIVE ALTITUDES: Geoffrey Tyson prepares to go below sea-level in a diver's suit. NINETEEN YEARS BACK : Tyson flying his two-seater Siskin at Up3vsr? whik on deudment from Kenley.
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