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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0829.PDF
520 FLIGHT ANGOLA BY AEROVAN . . . Air Ministry and the French Government to make the flight, he said that we could not go because we had no desert equipment. Finally we were cleared for Ifni, a Spanish possession 80 miles south. We landed in there at mid-day. It is a most remarkable airfield on a cliff 400 ft above the sea and at the side of a 3,000-ft mountain. We cleared again, and at 1845 hr on February 19th we landed at Villa Cisneros after a 4 hr 40 min flight along the desert coast. Followed a first-class night with the Commandant Sanchez, and then an early start for St. Louis. This leg was particularly trying; the first two hours were fine and calm but, as the heat of the day developed, the sand haze came up to about 2,000 ft and for the next three-and-a-half hours the weather was continuously turbulent. After staying one-and-a-half hours at St. Louis for refuelling, we pressed on again for Bathurst, 150 miles away. We touched down at 1630 hr, with visibility about three miles. As we finished our landing run the starboard engine stopped. I restarted it and taxied in to the dispersal area. Next morning I took out the filter bowls and found in each at least a quarter of an inch of sand that had accumulated from the previous day's flying. There was also water in the petrol, which possibly came from St. Louis. We did the necessary cleaning to rectify these troubles. If using a low-octane fuel in Africa one cannot be too careful, as it is often necessary for it to be stored for some months; and in a climate such as West and Central Africa water-accumulation is inevitable. We took off that evening for Bissao, and immediately I left the ground I found that the air-speed indicator had stopped working; visibility was only about four miles; and after a few minutes one engine started to run a little rough again. My co-pilot told me the airfield at Bissao was very small and that there were no night landing facilities, so we returned again to Banthurst. We were having carburettor trouble on one engine and the next afternoon a Portuguese Gemini arrived from Bissao and the flight engineer worked on the faulty unit for about an hour until all was well. We stayed the night at the house of Mr. Rashid, a Lebanese gentleman who gave all of us—by now six people—every hospi- tality ; and in the morning the two aircraft took off for Bissao. The deputy commandant of Bissao flew with me in the Aerovan on this stage, as did the co-pilot, but the co-pilot's wife went with the flight engineer and the commandant of Bissao in the Gemini. Strangley enough the Aerovan arrived first and, after flying' around the town and doing a mild shoot-up, we landed for a well-earned two days' rest and for complete servicing of the aircraft. The co-pilot and his wife decided that they would stay in Bissao for a few days' holiday and go on later to Angola by airline. So, on February 25th, I took off alone for the remaining half of the journey. All went well. On the same night I stayed in Freetown and the next day I went on without incident to Robertsfield, staying at the airfield with Capt. Wagner, vice-president of Liberian International Airways, and his very charming youngAmerican wife. Next day was a cracker. Taking off from Robertsfield at 0700 hr, I flew for 4 hr 20 min to Abidjan and stayed there just to refuel. I then took off for Lagos and 5 hr 20 min later, at approximately 1800 hr, landed in there. Nine hours ten minutes flying for the day! I remained in Lagos for two nights and then, on March 1st, flew to Duala for refuelling. Due to primer pump troubles, I was not able to start one engine and so stayed the night. On March 2nd I flew to Libreville in 2 hr 30 min and then, after another four hours' flying over thick jungles, arrived at Point Noire. The weather during this last day had been 'excellent, until 50 miles before Point J<I6ire, and I had to go out to sea and fly around two of the most violent thunderstorms that I had ever encountered. Fortunately, on arriving at the destination, I found the airfield itself was clear, so all went well. '< On March 3rd, at 0730, G-AKKJ was once more airborne forLuanda and arrived there three hours later, to be met by Mr. Hollis, local manager of the Angola Coaling Company, our sub-agents for this territory. It was necessary for the machine to stay there three days for acceptance by the local aeronautical authorities, which included flying by Capt. Euripides, the Government representative, and Captains Medina and Cruceiro of D.T.A. They all flew the Aerovan and agreed that it was very easy, and should be able to do the work for which it was intended—namely, flying supplies into the small "fisheries" airfields on the coast. On March 6th—and by this time much to my relief—came the last leg from Luanda to Benguella and at 1810 hr AKKJ touched down at the Aero Club at Benguella airfield. The flying club there is run by the local fisheries company and was of particular interest to me because I had delivered their first twin-engined machine— a Gemini—two years earlier. They now have a fleet of two Piper Cubs, a Gemini and an Aerovan and, apart from their club work, do supply trips into the fisheries outposts; they are often urgently called on to make immediate ambulance flights or important busi- ness trips to all parts of the colony of Angola. I was met by Mr. Tuscano, president of this interesting outfit, by his pilots, by the manager of our agents, Mr. Guardardo, and by his assistant Mr. "Tich" Park, who is an ex-R.A.F. squadron leader and a nephew of Air Marshal Sir Keith Park. Under pro- test, they rushed me straight into the bar and everyone was happy. For the next seven days I did joy-rides for the Press and officials. I also made a visit to three of the most difficult fisheries airfields, carrying a good load as a demonstration. In each case the Aerovan was able to land and take-off when necessary in half the available distance. I also did a conversion for Senor Belem, who is to fly the machine while it is in Angola. I went back to Luanda and then from Luanda to Leopoldville by D.T.A. and on to Brussels and London by Sabena, taking two days and three hours. The journey out had taken five weeks. It had been good fun, if a little tiring. FROM ALL QUARTERS Standard-built Avons? SIR JOHN BLACK, managing director of the Standard MotorCo., announced on April 26th that his firm has accepted an invitation from the Ministry of Supply to investigate the possi- bilities of large-scale production of the Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet. A team from the Standard Company is now at the Rolls-Royce works and Sir John Black has undertaken to give a decision within a fortnight from the date of his announcement. Meet Your Neighbour ""ENTERPRISING" is the appropriate word to describe de •*-' Havillands' idea of throwing open the Hatfield factory and airfield to any and all neighbouring residents who cared to go along last Saturday. The success of the whole idea is indicated by the number of neighbours who accepted the invitation—six thousand tickets were issued, but we are quite sure that nearer eight thousand people were present. Quite naturally, the doors to some parts of the factory re- mained locked, but nobody minded: there was too much to see anyway. Housewives were impressed by the all-pervading clean- liness, and children loved the sand-pit, which was the press-tool foundry floor. Handymen-about-the-house looked with admira- tion at the serried ranks of machine-tools, and young and old alike marvelled at the ability of the rubber die-press. The object was to show local residents that the sometimes great amount of noise they had occasionally to suffer was un- avoidable in the vital work beiag carried out there. There is, however, every- prospect of relief in the future from much of the noise associated with the engine test-beds. The company have added a Cullum silencer to one of the beds, and its effectiveness is astonishing. Standing but a few feet away from the exhaust end of the silencer, all that one can hear is a very faint murmur. Outside on the airfield, beneath threatening, livid clouds, were lined up a Chipmunk, Vampire, Vampire Trainer, two Doves, a Heron, and No. 3 Comet; a little way away, on the concrete apron, stood No. 1 Comet. The modest but very pleasant family flying display which went on during the afternoon comprised formation work by three Chipmunks from Panshanger, individual Chipmunk aerobatics by Pat Fillingham, a quiet and gentlemanly demonstration of the Heron by Geoffrey Pike, silky-smooth and almost whisperingly-quiet transits of No. I Comet by John Cunningham and, to wind up the day, a typically polished demon- stration of highspeed aerobatics by John Derry in a Venom. Sea Balliol Adopted THE name "Sea Balliol" has been conferred on the Navaldevelopment of the Boulton Paul Balliol advanced trainer, already ordered in quantity for the R.A.F., and, following deck- landing trials aboard H.M.S. Illustrious, contracts for "a sub- stantial number" have been placed with Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd. on behalf of the Admiralty. A development of the Balliol T.2 (Rolls-Royce Merlin 35), the Sea Balliol differs in having an arrester hook, a smaller-diameter
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