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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1801.PDF
PLIGHT, 27 October 1949 THOUGH the Continental visit which ' forms the subject of this article was a comparatively short one in point of distance flown, it contains several useful lessons for private pilots without pre- vious experience of touring abroad. One is that even such a perfect summer as that just past can produce thick weather at inconvenient moments. The writer is a practised ex-A.T.A. and Service pilot; those of less experience would be wise to'disregard the urge to "press on," especially when touring with a family on board. The Argus and its passengers. FAMILY FOURSOME Recollections of a Summer Holiday Flight to France By J. W. Haggas, A.F.R.Ae.S. WHEN I was informed that my summer holiday thisyear would involve taking my wife and youngdaughters, aged seven and three, to South-west France by car, I did not look forward to the journey. " Why not do it by air? " I urged. " So much more con- venient and restful for the children." Thus it came about that I found a Fairchild Argus four-seat cabin monoplane which I could hire for a week for £55, exclusive of fuel and oil, and flew her up to Panshanger one evening at the end of July. The following morning was fine and at 1030 hr we were loading our 150 lb of baggage. It would not all go into the'boot, of course, but there was enough back seat left for my wife and younger daughter. They had flown only once before, but the comfortable car-like interior of the Argus assured confidence. At 1115 we were off and presently crossed the Thames near Gravesend, cruising at 105 m.p.h. indicated, the Warner Super Scarab engine running very smoothly. At 1210 we landed at Lympne and had a good lunch at the Lympne Country Club which adjoins the airfield. Hers we re- fuelled to our full capacity of 50 gallons, which gave an absolute endurance of 5I hours. Since we were clear- ing Customs for a foreign destination the fuel cost was is 8d per gallon and no landing fee was chargeable, which made a generous send-off from the old country. At 1400 hr we took off into a S.W. breeze and climbed awa^y towards Folkestone. Twenty-three miles away over the water the coast of France looked ridiculously close in the clear air, and, after a final check of instruments and magnetos, we headed out to sea, climbing slowly Half- way across, our height was 4,500ft and we levelled off at that altitude, reaching Cap Gris Nez after i 16-minute crossing. By 1450 we were taxying up to ths apron at Le Touquet and 20 minutes later we had cleared Customs and replaced the baggage in the aircraft. The Customs staff were literally waiting to serve us. We had tea and went for a stroll with the children before taking off at 1700 for Tours, 230 miles away to the south-west. The sky was clear as far as the eye could see, the air- smooth, and the countryside full of colour in the evening light We climbed slowly to 3,000ft and settled down to navi- gation. Major landmarks on the river Seine east of Rouen and at Evreux appeared on track and thereafter. course was maintained, with small track adjustments at pinpoints, to Tours. At 1930 we touched down and were pleasantly surprised to be met at the end of the duty runway by a car containing my brother-in-law and family, who led us to our hangar. Tours is well inland, surrounded by wheat country, and enjoys hot, dry summers with skies of the purest blue, the air remaining very clear after long periods without rain. All the house-windows are shuttered and B 23 — one is reminded of the Mediterranean scene. All this was very refreshing to come upon suddenly in the evening of a day that had begun in England. We stayed near Tours for four days, doing some local sight-seeing flights along the river Loire and elsewhere. Then we moved on 125 miles to La Rochelle on the Biscay coast. All too soon my week was up, and I returned the Argus to its base at Blackbushe, leaving my family in France. The machine had given no trouble, apart from gradual failure of the starboard brake, which did not re- spond to local attempts at repair, and necessitated very slow, careful taxying and generous pourboires for assist- ance at the wing-tip. Fuel consumption was 9 gal/hr at 105 I.A.S., ground speed averaging 95 m.p.h. Fuel cost worked out at about 4s 3d a gallon flying internally in France and 2s 2d duty-free when leaving that country" Landing fees were 2s 8d at Le Touquet, is \(1 at most other places, and (later) at Dieppe the charge was ijd ! No landing fee at all was charged on one or two occasions Hangarage was charged for only once, at is 4:; for one night. Maintenance charges totalled 5s for the week, and oil came out at 6 per cent of the fuel cost. Devaluation will presumably have raised the above figures by about 10 per cent. By suitable routing, incidentally, it is pos- sible to operate principally on duty-free fuel. The Argus is reasonably quiet. My family used cotton- wool earplugs and I used Mallock-Armstrong ear defen- ders, which are better, as they leave no singing in the ears after a day's flying. : ,-, ~~ Back to the Continent * At 1530 on August 26th I took off from Blackbushe. together with a friend who was to accompany me to Nantes. There had been fog earlier and visibility was 3,000yd. In the Channel the sea was almost flat calm, and from 3,000ft appeared to merge almost immediately into the haze. In due course Cap Gris Nez appeared and visibility improved to 2-3 miles inland from the coast. At 1730 we left Le Touquet for Nantes; the view was very poor into sun, but better on the driving side. There was doubt whether we could reach Nantes in light and Laval (Entremmes) was our alternate. After Lisieux good landmarks became fewer and about this time it began to rain and became rather dark and depressing. I was con- sidering calling it a day when I glimpsed blue sky beyond the showers and presently it lightened and we could see several miles At 2005 we were over Laval and, though it was still light at 2,000ft, we were too late to make Nantes, 75 miles away Laval is a sizeable grass airfield, with smoother [ itches
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