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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1715.PDF
FLIGHT, 6 bclober 1949 479 The Saab Safir, to which frequent reference has been made in Flight, is a Swedish - designed - and - con- structed private - owner aircraft. selected volunteers and receive no salary.The instruction in the Central School is free, but the instructors in residencehave to pay for their lodgings. Affiliated flying clubs, at present num- bering some 55 and spread all over the country, have a standard organization, recommended by the K.S.A.K. and fol- lowing the treble arrangement of power, gliding and model-flying sections, though there are certain clubs in which one or two sections are inoperative. Of the 55 clubs, only 30 are granted subsidies, in order to concentrate the assistance in- stead of spreading it over the whole number. All the State-aided clubs have their own gliding schools, but the re- mainder, despite lack of subsidy, succeed in keeping their training going. Regis- tered model-flying clubs, at present numbering about 400, have, on an average, a membership of 20 each. In order to provide them with well-trained instructors, the Central Organization has arranged a number of model-flying-instructor courses, mainly at Alleberg. Although the Government has not yet seen fit to renew its annual grants for power-flying, ithere are about 15 clubs which have obtained the permission of the Civil Aviation Board to establish and operate schools. Gliding, since it is subsidized, naturally forms the larger part of the club movement, and a brief review of activities may be of interest. The elementary gliders, which, as a rule, are delivered to the clubs in assembly kits, are put together by the pupils themselves under the supervision of fully trained instructors, usually during the winter months, when, also, equipment is repaired and made ready for the summer season. The programme for the flying season is arranged by K.S.A.K. and is sent out to the clubs, which prepare from it their syllabus for courses and programmes of competitions and displays. In some districts, schools continue to operate during the winter if nearby frozen lakes can be used. As a rule, the summer season begins in May, when the Central Soaring. School at Alleberg opens with courses for beginners and also for more advanced pupils. Alleberg is in an ideal position geographically, with two suitable slopes for soaring, good thermal conditions and ideal surrounding coun- try for landings. Since they began operations, the club schools have produced about 4,400 "A," 2,500 "B" and 1,500 "C" diplomas, 650 soaring certificates, and 170 silver "C" and 3 gold "C" distinctions. In 1946 a course was arranged in collaboration with the Air Force for young soaring pilots who were in the advanced stage of flying training at the Cadet School at Upsala, in order to discover what direct advantages might be obtained from soaring as a preliminary stage in Service flying training. . . During the year club competitions include; a national soar- ing contest which is run from May to September; a contest for the scaring championship, with entrants both from the clubs and from the Air Force, which takes place at Alleberg or other suitable locality and lasts about ten days ; and a team com- petition for pilots without certificates for power-flying. Model flying is likewise encouraged by competitions, which spur the boys on to working hard and studying technical con- ditions with a view to constructing new types for the contests. To augment the interest, five different kinds of distinctions have been established: iron, bronze, silver, gold and "elite." Apart from the small inter-club contests-there are a few yearly competitions arranged by the K.S.A.K., such as the National Model Flying Competition, which runs for about two months and results in the '' survival of the fittest,'' who then assemble to show their skill in a final contest; a Championship in Model Flying, open only for picked competitors (i.e., those holding an "elite" distinction); and a winter competition arranged in more or less the same way as the championship. As a whole, the K.S.A.K. has succeeded in creating an organization to encourage air-mindedness amongst the people, which is its primary function. It has also succeeded in its secondary function of supplying good personnel material for the two main branches of aviation, the Air Force and the civil air lines, and in providing opportunities for useful and enter- taining activity by young people in their leisure time. Launching a " primary " from one of the long slopes at Alleberg. n 29 S. E. ESLER A SEVERE blow was sustained by British aviation in theaccident to the Avro 707 delta-wing research aircraft on September 30th and the resulting death of Avro's deputy chieftest pilot, Mr. Samuel Eric Esler. Esler, who was 31, leaves a widow. He joined A. V. Roeand Co., Ltd., in June, 1948, and was responsible for a great deal of flying on Tudor aircraft; especially notable was hisclimb to 40,000ft in 47 min. in the jet-propelled Tudor 8. In the absence in Canada of Avro's chief test pilot, Mr. J. H.Orrell, Esler was made responsible for all flying on the Type 707. A Belfast man, Esler was educated at Skegoniel School andBelfast College of Technology. Before the war he was a car salesman in Belfast and a sergeant in the R.A.F.V.R. Com-missioned in May, 1942, he served in No. 120 Squadron, Coastal Command, and was awarded the D.F.C. on December 4th,1942, the citation recording that he had damaged two enemy submarines and that on three occasions he had taken part inoperational sorties necessitating almost continuous blind flying owing to extremely bad weather. The Avro 707—a vital link in the chain of British aero-nautical research—began its taxying trials at Boscombe Down on September 3rd, and during one of these tests made a shorthop a few feet above the ground. The first flight was delayed bv an unfavourable wind until the following evening, whenAir. Esler was airborne for twenty minutes. On September 6th the 707 arrived at Farnborough for static exhibition at theS.B.A.C. Display and at the time of the accident it was on a flight from the Royal Aircraft Establishment. The crash—•the cause of which is not known—occurred near Blackbushe and the aircraft is understood to have been almost totallydestroyed by fire. Avro research with delta-wing aircraft will continue.
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