FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1943.PDF
iS July 1952 59 The first race, of two laps, was for the Grosvenor Challenge Cup (and small replica) and three prizes of £100, £50 and £25 respectively; aircraft weighing less than 750 Kg (1,653 lb) were eligible. First man away was Ogilvy in the well-renovated old Gipsy Major Avro Club Cadet. Twenty seconds later the first pair of Tiger Moths set off after him, to be followed again in 25 seconds by an apparently identical Tiger flown by Hayhow. And so at regular intervals the sixteen competitors took off. Unfortunately both Chiltons and the Tomtit had been scratched. Much of the handicapping was excellent, but some details were not very easy to understand in this or the other races. There were few really unknown quantities; yet, for example, S/L. Loveridge's Hawk Trainer III had to give a whole minute to Donaldson in the Globe Swift, and the Moth Minor, with only 90 h.p. under its small bonnet needed to do about 120 m.p.h. to be in the running. We do not see the details declared on the entry forms but were fortunate for once to pick the winners of three of the races. Remembering past performances, it seems that unless a com petitor is able to go to the same lengths as, say, Fred Dunkerley in cleaning up and fairing—in his aircraft it is better to leave it alone to all outward appearances. In the Grosvenor Race, P. W. E. Heppell, who is a local pilot, flew a Tiger Moth with front cockpit completely faired in, and a little tidying up of struts and wires was also apparent—result, he had to give 4 min 5 sec in handicap and 3 min 20 sec to Tom Hayhow, who was judged to have the next cleanest (though standard) Tiger. His average speed turned out to be 114.5 m.p.h., which was very good, and 10 m.p.h. better than Snook's leather-upholstered mahogany- panelled version, but he finished only seventh. The Moth Minor as a type seems always to be over-handicapped, perhaps because it looks so clean and tidy. Robertson's entry was a pretty single-seater, and it achieved 116 m.p.h. for the race —few people gave it a chance, however, and (but for the Whitney Straights and Loveridge's Hawk Trainer) it was last. Potential dark horses of the Grosvenor race were Gregory in the Plus D, and Donaldson in the Globe Swift, who in fact came fourth in spite of flying part of the first lap with its wheels down. This is the best we have seen the Swift do, and in spite of the buffeting it received—one could see it bouncing and weaving—it averaged 142 m.p.h. Two laps does not give much time for changes of position and in all three of Friday's races few competitors gained or lost by more than a place or two, and these mainly during the last lap. In this Grosvenor race, however, Hayhow pulled ahead at once, was second at the half-way point and finally, a fairly easy winner, having coaxed his Tiger—flown head-down and solo from the front cockpit—into achieving well over no m.p.h. Ogilvy, first man away, went very well on the old Cadet and held off all fol lowers except Hayhow, to finish second. Gregory smoothly and unobtrusively flew his Taylorcraft into a good third place. After the King's Cup Race the Gipsy Major engine in Hayhow's Tiger was stripped and found to have domed pistons, giving a slightly higher compression ratio than that for which he had been handicapped. This resulted in disqualification being announced. D. F. Ogilvy thus became Grosvenor winner, Beverley Snook moved up into the prize money at third and Pat Fillingham (Chipmunk) qualified by place instead of speed for the King's Cup race. Unfortunately, R. U. Hummel in the Whitney Straight, "Sailor" Parker brings further success to Blackburns. He flew Mr, Robert Blackburn's Proctor V entry into second place in both the Kemsley and King's Cub races. i1"% Peter Lawrence in his Proctor I keeps well clear of L S. Loveridge's Hawk Major III round the Woolsington pylon. who would have qualified on speed, lost his chance to compete on Saturday. In fairness, it may be added that had Hayhow's Tiger been fitted with a standard engine it would almost certainly, like Snook's, have been ahead of the Whitney Straight. Full results and speeds are tabulated on page 82. Next came the race for the Norton-Griffiths Challenge Trophy, with prize money as for all three races of the day. The ten pilots were all experienced; most of them were familiar opponents. Jimmy Rush and Marler were mounted as usual, and were not expected to have found much more knotage. Dunkerley is always a danger and since we last saw his Miles Mercury (Cirrus Major III) it has been beautifully done-over with everything fairable faired and the roof and screen dropped as on his magic Gemini. In spite of this, one seasoned customer—Bowles in his clean standard Messenger—seemed particularly well placed with only 1 min 20 sec handicap and only another Messenger and a well- cared-for old Leopard Moth ahead. We put our money on him and expected Hayhow, now flying his many-record-holding and Decca-carrying Aiglet, to get a place, though wondering at the same time if Ron Paine was going to surprise us all, and not for getting how well Chandler's closed-in Hawk Trainer III went to win the last (1950) King's Cup. Matthews-Naper, an Australian with Irish-registered Mes senger, led off with airline Captain Christie of Norway after him in the Leopard, and Bowles not far behind. Marler, Rush and Dunkerley were all off within a 30-sec period in that order, and it was felt that these three would have a grand private race First time round it was apparent that Bowles and Chandler were going very well while Christie and Matthews-Naper were making good enough time to stand a chance. Reports started coming in from the turning points on the last lap, and it was fairly certain that no one would catch Bowles, who was now doing nearly 10 m.p.h. better than the other Messenger. Ron Paine unfortunately cut a corner too close and to avoid being disqualified he turned and rounded it a second time. This lost him his chance of a place in the race, but he was sure of qualifying on speed for the King's Cup. In a few minutes Bowles's cream machine could be seen on the last mile or two bouncing towards the finishing line, over which he dived at nought feet—the winner by a safe margin of seconds. Chandler in his Hawk Trainer popped up over the edge of the airfield, having contour-chased most of the way, and very close behind were Christie and Hayhow. Jimmy Rush, last year's winner, picked up his ro seconds on Marler by averaging 2 m.p.h. faster for the race. With exactly the same speed of 161 m.p.h., Dunkerley was only able to hold his starting position of ninth. The aircraft all landed normally after the race. But what had been happening to Chandler's Hawk? News was round in a moment. He had hit some power cables on the last dash for the line, and a glance at his machine left no doubt that he was a singu larly fortunate young officer even to be alive. (He is a flying officer stationed at Tangmere, and was born in Kenya 23 years ago.) The cables had miraculously missed his prop but one had snapped
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
