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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 1388.PDF
256 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER 2ND, 194s Lympne 1948 Twiss second and G/C. GordonSlade third. No.. 615 Squadron Spitfires then demonstrated thehigh standard of formation drill in the Royal Auxiliary squad-rons. At last the time came for thehigh-speed '' merchants '' to prepare for the main event inwhich there were two jet en- tries. It was a great pity thatthe long-hoped-for meeting between Vampire, Attacker andMeteor did not materialize this year. No Attackers were avail-able, and the Meteor 7 entry with Bill Waterton flying,which stood until Thursday of last week, was, for some unex-plained reason, withdrawn. Very sportingly, de Havillandsat once entered a second Vam- pire to be flown by John Derry. First off was J. O. Ma thewsin the Firefly 4 with a 5min 54sec start over the scratchman, John Cunningham, who flew a Vampire with an up-rated Goblin. Second was Miss L. Curtis in a Spitfire 11, with5mm 2Q.sec start; and third was a Spitfire Trainer flown byF/L. J. Colquhoun, with a start of imin 5gsec. Fifty-four seconds later W. J. G.Morgan followed the leaders in a Spitfire 24. " Wimpey " Wade was the last off of the pistoa-engined machines, with astart of 3 mm 4osec. At the end of the first lap the order had not changed, andafter the Firefly, P\)itfire n and Spitfire Trainer had completed (Top left) Jeffrey Quill shaking hands with F/L Colquhoun, winner of the high-speed race at 324 m.p.h. (Top right) : D. J. Jemmett looks happy as he climbs from his Magister aftfr win- ning his one-design race at 103.25 m.p.h. (Bottom left) : SjL H. S. L. Dundas, D.S.O., D.F.C., with his ground crew, Sergeant £. Pettman and Corporal A. Hearn, standing beside the Squadron flag. (Right) : John Cunningham, second in the high-speed handicap race, won the Geoffrey de Hayilland Trophy, by making fastest time of the day. turn, quickly followed by Wade in the Fury. One felt at thisstage that it would be quite impossible for the jets to catch up. However, as they completed their second lap John Cun-ningham passed John Derry, and their individual turning techniques were unmistakable. Derry approached close tcthe turn and went into a sharp vertical bank, whereas Cunning- ham made a wide sweep around the lasttwo bends of each lap and appeared to maintain his high speed throughout theturn. The handicappers excelled them- selves, for the first four competitorscould be seen approaching the finishing line apparently together and nobodycould tell until the last moment who would be the winner. In fact, JohnCunningham crossed the finishing line a few hundred yards behind the SpitfireTrainer after' a truly brilliant race. Ma thews in the Firefly was third, andDerry's Vampire fourth. Miss Curtis, finishing fifth, went on to beat thewomen's 100-kilometre closed-circuit International record at 313.2 m.p.h.As a finish of the excellent day, the Vampires from Odiham gave a brilliant demonstration of high-speed aerobatics, the most impressivetrick being their change in formation, line astern to Vic at the top of a loop. Their individual slow rolls in line astern,and barrel rolls in Vic formation were a joy to watch, and the fourth machine, which filled in the gaps, made someimpressive low-level runs and inverted climbs. And so the meeting finished on the same high note as it had begun. Tails well up at the start of the Tiger Moth race, which was. won by Pat Fillingham. their first lap Derry took off 31"seconds ahead of Cunningham.Moigan then made his first turn as John Cunningham took off to chase the rest of the field and the Fury came over theairfield as the second Vampire raced down the first leg. On the second lap the Firefly was still in the lead, but the SpitfireTrainer actually passed Miss Curtis over the airfield at the very moment that Derry came in to his first lap in a wide AIR RALLY AT OSI IM>W ITH the excitement of the Lympne high-speed race,Vampire aerobatics and evening party of the previous day still buoying the spirits of many of the visitors, the OstendRally got off to a flying start in every way. The brilliant sunshine which favoured most of Europe over the week-end,encouraged an early take-off on Sunday morning, and before neon a large number of aircraft from England, France,Holland, Denmark and Belgium had arrived bringing the week- end guests of the Ghent Aero Club. At a dinner-dance in the evening speeches of welcomeand replies were made in several languages, and the winners of the arrival competition were announced. Both first andsecond prizes went to Holland ; Mr. R. Uges won a large cup and Mr. E. J. W. Schuller an attractive ornamental bell. Afterthe presentation of these prizes every guest received a hand- some plaque as a souvenir of the international rally, presentedby Count Arnold de Looz-Corswarem. president of the Federa- tion of Belgian Aero Clubs. Both Mr. Victor Boin and Mr.Georges Hanet, vice-president, and chairman and treasurer were present with him. Previously all the ladies had alsoreceived gifts of chocolate and flowers. The British party was lead as usual by Colonel Preston andMr Duncan de la Hoyde, of the Royal Aero Club. The Aero Club de France was represented by Mr. Delandsorne, and theDutch Aero Club by Mr. C. Kolff. The organizing and recep- tion committee; of the Ghent Aviation Club, who proved to bemost genial and considerate hosts, were Mr. Pierre Voortman and Mr. Freddy van Gheluwe, president and vice-president'respectively, and Mr. Guy Fecheyr, the hard-working secre- tary. The kindness and generosity of the Ghent Aviation Outwho, because no currency whatever is allowed to British visi- tors, were obliged to provide entirely for their guests, will notbe forgotten by those who spent such an enjoyable week-end 012
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