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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 2083.PDF
494 FLIGHT CIVIL AVIATION . . . CLUB AND GLIDING NEWS THE Midland Aero Club's plans for a Festival-year "At Home"culminated in a full-length air display at Elmdon Airport, the club having hired the airfield for the day from the M.C.A., whoalso undertook the difficult task of dovetailing the programme with the normal scheduled air traffic. The crowd of 25,000 spectators particularly appreciated thestrong support given by local Service units. Displays by a Tiger Moth team from No. 5 R.F.S. and gliders of No. 48 Gliding School,A.T.C., were followed by the excitement of seeing rocket-assisted take-offs by aircraft of 1833 Squadron, R.N.V.R. There was alsoa remarkable sequence of Chipmunk aerobatics by F/L. R. J. A. Woods of the Birmingham University Air Squadron and someperfect formation work by Vampires of 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron, whose commanding officer, S/L. J. A. Timmis, alsocontributed some sparkling individual aerobatics. This last event, incidentally, also marked the pilot's final appearance in thiscountry before leaving for Rhodesia, and those who normally have to be content with waving a dockside handkerchief on suchoccasions were no doubt staggered by the sonic, vertical and gyratory manner of S/L. Timmis' farewell. Another highlight of the programme was the parachute drop byChuck Thompson, just back from the Yugoslav world contest. Then Mr. Tester in an Olympia sailplane, and Captain Cameronin B.E.A.'s Westland-Sikorsky S.51, demonstrated two more ways of descending to earth. Colourful items were those contributedby "Colonel Crackshot" (who, aiming from a frisky Tiger Moth, not only shot three bottles, but put his foot through the altimettrand nearly shot the pilot as well) and by club-members who bombed an unfortunate individual seen driving his car franticallyacross the airfield. The display ran to time, and something was always happening.The most important participant was, rather unkindly, not men- tioned in the official programme—the Elmdon met. officer, whohad arranged a convenient "high" with sunshine and blue skies and had set the wind straight down runway 07, thus putting all theflying within 200 yards of the gratified spectators. In such weather conditions it is not surprising that the show was a financial success.The commentator, was Mr. Jack Bennett, C.F.I, of the Cotswold Gliding Club. In the clubhouse at the end of the display thechairman, Mr. J. M. Hollander, presented trophies to Messrs. Leadbetter and Penzer, winners of the spot-landing and bombingcompetitions respectively. The success of the day, however, did not go to the organizers'heads, and the club has now settled down again to its usual instructional routine, using two Tigers and two Autocrats.September's flying exceeded the 140-hour mark. Five Private Pilots' Licences have been awarded (three to A.T.C. cadets) andsix more pupils have started their flying training. A BELATED report has reached us of a well-patronized inter-•**• national rally which took place in Iran at the beginning of June. We give some details here, because certain of the rules forthe competitions seem worthy of adaptation for events in this country. The event lasted for four days, the grand finale beingstaged at Mehrabad on June 3rd. Among the 26 entries were to be seen two C-47S and an assortment of Harvards, Hurricanes anda number of American sporting machines. There was also a redoubtable Hawker Hind, which despite its years is apparentlystill giving faithful service. The main event—a navigation contest EARLY BIRD : As mentioned elsewhere on this page, this Slingsby "Tan- dem Tutor" was quick off the mark in establishing gliding records in Southern Rhodesia. Its first test flight resulted in an "altitude" claim. —comprised a series of cross-country flights over distances of about 200 miles, in which competitors were allowed a specified "block" time to reach their destinations. For this contest a magni* ficent gold cup and a cash prize of £1,500 was presented by the7 Shah-in-Shah. It was won by an American, Mr. David Bumnt flying a Piper Cub. The organizers had also devised a new navigation competition with the emphasis on precise pin-pointing and the ability to describe a pin-point accurately. At the briefing before each leg, competitors were handed a sheet of paper on which were written the geographical co-ordinates of three pin-points, plus a rough indication of the nature of each; for example, "a prominent rnan- made land mark," or "an isolated natural land mark near a road running N.E.-S.W." Competitors were then required to write down exactly what they saw at each position. For the landing competition it was decided that, in order to provide more entertainment for spectators and a better test of piloting skill, aircraft would be required to touch down as near as possible to a line marked on the runway, but that those landing short of this line should be disqualified. Throttles had to be closed at a height not less than 1,000ft above the runway, any subsequent change in throttle setting bringing about disqualification. Com- petitors were also informed that the touch-down point would be assessed at the last bounce, so that those accustomed to making an "arrival" instead of a landing would know where they were. Most of the entrants in the rally belonged either to the local flying club or to the Imperial Iranian Air Force. There was also a strong entry of four Piper Cubs flown by American pilots who had been engaged on locust-exterminating operations in Iran. One pilot flew a Macchi 308 from Italy. There were, unfortun- ately, two accidents (to Hurricanes) during the rally, one of which resulted in the death of an I.I.A.F. pilot. The remaining three prizes in the main competition : silver cups and cash prizes of £750, £300 and £150 respectively, were all awarded to I.I.A.F. pilots. A second navigation competition was also won by Mr. David Bump, who received a silver cup presented by K.L.M. Laurels for the landing competition went to Mr. Ahmadi of the Iranian Aero Club, flying a Navion; S.A.S. pre- sented his trophy. B.O.A.C. contributed a silver cup for the contours d'elegance, won by Mr. Darioush Timsar's Navion. Prizes were presented to the successful competitors by the Shah- in-Shah. The organizers of the rally have decided that next year the event will be held somewhat later in the year, probably about the middle of October, in order to reduce the chances of meeting with the rather rough weather with which this year's rallyists had to contend. EARLY this year the Salisbury Gliding Club in SouthernRhodesia purchased a kit of parts for a Slingsby Tandem Tutor glider, and the initial test flight carried out recently by Captain Derek Lane and Mr. Eric Bone, the club's chief and assistant instructors, provided something of a sensation. After their first sortie in the newly erected machine, the two pilots claimed to have established an unofficial Rhodesian altitude record of 9,400ft (4,400ft gained) although the flight was deliberately curtailed because of the large number of club members awaiting their turns to fly. On the same day members of the Umtali Gliding Club also flew in the trainer. They, too, hope to complete work on a Tandem Tutor kit this year. The Salisbury Club's Tutor has subsequently made a flight in which it gained over 6,ooqft of height. . . The Tandem Tutor is;identical with the Kirby Cadet Mark 3 training glider now being supplied to the R.A.F. A photograph appears on this page. A COMBINED gliding and-meteorological expedition organized •<*• by the Imperial College of Science recently concluded an n-day stay at Clwyd Gate, among the hills overlooking Ruthin, Wales. Three Olympia sailplanes were used. The expedition was organized in an attempt to investigate the phenomenon whereby strong winds in hilly country create pressure variations which can cause an aircraft altimeter to give a false reading Tne '^actual height of the sailplanes was found by theodolite observation, and the pilots simultaneously gave their instrument readings to ground observers by radio. r It is understood that some evidence of occasional false res angs was found, but that the information accumulated will require considerable sifting before the magnitude of the phenomenc 1 anQ its probable cause can be determined with accuracy. ^S^& *HH^H
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