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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1784.PDF
438 Britain's Test Pilots C.F.S. at Wittering tor an instructor's course. The C.F.I, at that time was S/L. J. M. Robb (now Air Marshal Sir James, A.O.C. - in - C. Fighter Command). On pass- ing out from C.F.S. with an A.2 certificate, Marsh-became an instructor at No. 2 F.T.S. at Grantham on Siskins and Atlases before returning, in May, 1929, to C.F.S. as a Flight Sergeant instructor on the staff. It is interesting to recall that amongst his pupils at C.F.S. was one F^Q. Whittle, who of late years has been responsible for putting Britain in the forefront in the matter of jet propulsion. The early 1930s were a period of financial stringency, and chances of re-engagement as a pilot were rather remote. Realizing this, Marsh decided to take his release after n£ years' service rather than go back to his trade as an engine fitter. Believe it or not, gratuities in those days were on the basis of £1 per year served ! Marsh took his discharge with £xi 10s gratuity and an A.I instructor's certificate. For nearly two years after this he worked very hard as a club instructor to the Hants Aero Club, and for a short while to the Scarborough Aero Club in the same capacity. The Don Juan de la Cierva, the man responsible for the Autogiro, and whose basic rotor design is the heart of every present-day helicopter, was a member of the Hants Aero Club, and it was because of this association that Marsh flew his first rotating-wing aircraft—a C.19 Autogiro. In 1932 the late "Dizzy" Rawson left the Cierva com- pany and Reggie Brie, then appointed flying manager, wrote to Marsh asking him to join the company as instruc- tor and demonstration pilot. Testing the Bristol 171 To popularize the Autogirp, ab initio courses of instruc- tion were given for £35 and conversion courses for "fixed wing '' pilots for as low as ^5. He put over 80 ab initio pupils of all ages and nation- alities through theii courses, and amongst the " fixed wing " pilots was Raoul Hafner, who hag been responsible for the design of the new Bristol helicopter. Marsh is test-flying this machine for Bristols and has to-date made some dozen or so flights totalling 3'hi 40 min. The next series of tests will be for forward speed. After.having been with the Cierva company for a year or so, he started to help Senor Cierva with the test-flying of the then-new direct-control Autogiro, and later the "jump start" model Senot Cierva was most unfortunately killed in an airline accident in 1936, and this necessitated Marsh taking over the entire responsibility for flight-testing. At the same time he was doing all the testing for G. and J. Weir, Ltd., who were designing special Autogiros under licence. C. G. Pullin, who looked after this side of Weir's activities, is uo'-v chief designer and managing director of Ciervas. Marsh recounts with some zest an experience he had whilst testing the Weir W.4. In its original state no amount of rotor revving or taxying would get it unstuck, so an appeal was made to the "Boffins." To use Marsh's own expression, "they just climbed the pylon, altered two screws and, taking straight off, I turned over on my back without any effort." The W.4 never came to anything. For many years folk speculated as to whether an Auto- giro could get on its back in the air—and if it did, whether the rotor would stop and fold up. Marsh answered these queries in 1935, when he was putting a seaplane version of the C.30 through its paces at the Marine Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe. OCTOBER IGTH 1947 The Weir W4 "jump-start " Autogiro which turned over on its first take-off. Starting at just over 5,000ft -and diving with engine ofi at about 95 m.p.h., the rotor blades developed a most violent flutter, and the machine half looped on to its back The fact that Marsh had no parachute with him was of little moment, because he could not have got safely through the rotor blades whirling beneath him. Sitting tight or rather suspended by the harness—he waited for what might happen. However, after losing some 2,000ft in the inverted position, the C.30 righted itself, and Marsh was able to park it back on the water all in one piece, despite the rotor blades having been severely damaged by ballast having fallen from the front seat whilst in the inverted position. The flutter, too, had done a lot of damage; the plywood surfaces of the blades were all misshapen and broken. Shortly afterwards, whilst flying another C.30 prototype at the R.A.E., Marsh had an almost similar, though not quite so hectic, experi- ence. The machine had blades of the same design and con- struction, and that was the cause of the trouble. Back in the Service Shortly before the outbreak of war Marsh went to the States to do some experimental flying for the Pitcairn con- cern, who were producing Autogiros under licence and, having been commissioned in the R.A.F.V.R. in 1936, he was called up in January, 1940. After a refresher course at C.F.S. he was posted to the R.A.E. to do rotating-wing research flying, but the exigencies of war caused our long- term research programme to go by the board soon after he got there, and he went on to ordinary flying. In April, 1941, he took over the Radar Calibration Squadron from Reggie Brie, and this unit he commanded until its disbandment in 1945. The squadron was unique in that it was the only rotating-wing unit in the Service until the advent of the American helicopters, and nearly all the original helicopter pilots who went to the U.S. for instruction were drafted from the squadron. Marsh did not go himself, but was given his first helicopter dual in a Sikorsky R.4 by "Jeep" Cable, who was one of Marsh's earlier ab initio Autogiro pupils. Leaving the Service for a second time early in 1946, he rejoined the Cierva Autogiro Co. as General Manager and Test Pilot and has concentrated on flying the Cierva re- search' helicopter and, lately, the Bristol 171. The next big job for him will be the Cierva Air Horse which is now on the way. Marsh was a founder member of the Helicopter Associa- tion of Great Britain and was its first chairman. He has 6,200 flying hours in his log books about 50/50 fixed-wing and rotating-wing—on 70 types of normal aircraft, 22 types of Autogiros and five helicopters. His licences include Pilot's A and B and 2nd Class Navigators, and he holds the G.A.P.A.N. Master Instructor's Diploma. He is also the rotating-wing representative on the G.A.P.A.N. Panel of Examiners. For his work in the Service he was awarded the A.F.C. and was twice mentioned in despatches. J
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