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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0761.PDF
2O April 1950 "... a large crowd had gathered . . . and I immediately announcedthat Paulhan had arrived in Manchester." The Englishman leads a. cheer for his- victorious French rival. tary barracks at Lichfield and ask him to be kind enough to send a company of soldiers to act as a guard. A large number of men soon arrived with stakes and ropes and quickly made an enclosure. I then requested the sergeant in charge to get some more rope and tent pegs and tether the machine down to the ground, as I was afraid the strong wind might damage it. I finally left the field about noon and went to have a meal and rest at an hotel at Lichfield. This was the first cross-country flight I had ever made and the strain was probably greater than I realized, for I soon fell fast asleep. About 3 p.m_ I was awakened by one of my friends, with the alarming news that a gust of wind had lifted the machine into the air and that it had crashed upside down. I rushed out to the field to ascertain the extent of the damage and immediately realized that the entire biplane would have to be rebuilt. I therefore telephoned the railway company at Crewe and ordered a 60-foot scenery van to be sent to Lichfield Station to take the machine to Willesden Junction, having in the meantime obtained permission to use The Daily Mail airship shed at Wormwood Scrubs in which to rebuild it. By superhuman efforts on the part of my mechanics and other assistants, we got the machine into the shed by Monday afternoon, April 25th, and under my personal SHpervtsion the whole time, by working day and night, we managed to get it rebuilt and ready for trial by the early morning of April 27th. During these two days, Louis Paulhan, the experienced French pilot, who had just returned from California, where he had been making exhibition flights, arrived in London with a new Farman biplane, of a later model than the one I was using. Clearly, it had now become a close contest between the two of us; who would be first to reach Manchester and win the prize? This new entry caused great public excitement, and the Press made great publicity of this now international contest. At 5 a.m. on April 27th, I brought my biplane out of the shed with the intention of making a trial flight after rebuilding, but the crowd (of some 25,000 people) was so dense and uncontrollable, that it was quite impossible to secure a space for a take-off. After appealing to them for some two hours without avail, I was forced to return the machine to the shed in the hope that they would then dis- perse. Having had no sleep for the last two days and nights during the reconstruction of the machine, I went at about noon to a nearby hotel and slept soundly until awakened by one of my mechanics at 6 p.m. with the information that Paulhan had started from Hendon at 5.21 p.m. I hurriedly dressed and rushed over to the shed, where many thousands of spectators, having heard the news of the Frenchman's start, were anxious for me to get under way and this time immediately cleared a space for my take-off. Without any previous trial since the rebuilding, I started at 6.29 on the pursuit of Paulhan, who had 1 hr 8 min start on me. I flew on until darkness rendered it essential for me to The Editor of The Daily Mail entertained Louis Paulban and myselfat a- banquet. ... 1 received a very handsome silver rose-bowl. Paulhan is on the extreme right. land while there was still light enough for me to pick out a suitable field; then, at 7.55, landed safely at Roade, in a field, adjoining the railway embankment, having covered nearly 60 miles from London. I soon learned that at 8.10 Paulhan had landed at Lich- field, 117 miles from London, and was spending the night there. It was now quite evident that, unless I could over- take him before daybreak, I stood no chance of reaching Manchester before him. No one had ever made an aeroplane flight at night, and with no instruments or guiding, lights, and with no prepared landing grounds along the route, such a course was highly hazardous. I decided, however, to take this only chance of success, much against the pleadings of my mother and sister; and after making all kinds of preparations for the take-off in the dark, I eventually started from Roade at 2.50 a.m. Owing to a heavy load of oil and petrol, I cleared the high railway embankment and telegraph wires only by a very narrow margin; then I turned north over Roade Railway Station buildings, clearing them by only a few feet. Just as I picked up the railway gignal lights ahead, I put my left hand down to ease myself more comfort- ably in my seat; and, simultaneously, my engine stopped dead and a crash seemed inevitable. Suddenly I realised that the cuff of my heavy jacket must have caught the tumbler-switch which controlled the ignition; in the nick of time I switched on again, and to my immense relief the engine started at once. The road here follows close to the railway for several miles, and I could see the headlights of hundreds of motor cars ahead of me. This gave me renewed confidence that I was keeping my course, for the railway signals were few and far between and it was too dark to discern the tracks. As I flew on at a low altitude to try to pick up the signals, I eventually reached the hills and valleys which abound in this district, and, as dawn approached, I found that the heavy load of petrol and oil I carried made it impossible to gain sufficient altitude to negotiate the high ground ahead of me. Eventually, much to my disappoint- ment, I was forced to land in a field adjoining the railway line. I ran to a nearby signal box in order to telephone to Lichfield to stop my mechanics, who were making their way in cars to Crewe, and to notify them where I had landed. About an hour later, I was informed that Paul- han had taken off from Lichfield at 4.9 a.m. and had landed at Didsbury, a suburb of Manchester, at 5.30 a.m., one hour and twenty-one minutes later. By now, a large crowd had gathered in the field where I had landed, and I immediately announced that Paulhan had arrived at Manchester and that the more experienced aviator had won the ^10,000 prize. A day or two later, the Editor of The Daily Mail enter- tained Louis Paulhan and myself at a banquet at the- Savoy Hotel, London, when the winner was presented with a cheque for £10,000 and I received a very handsome silver rose-bowl in commemoration of the first aeroplane cross- country night flight.
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