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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 2213.PDF
FLIGHT, 15 August 1952 ILSY 181 Magnificent International Display at Ypenburg Illustrated with "Flight" Photographs OUTSTANDING from every aspect was the two-day festival of military, commercial and sporting aviation held at Ypenburg, the Hague, on August 2nd-3rd. The display, entitled ILSY (International Luchtvaart Show Ypenburg) was the fourth in the annual series organized by the Royal Netherlands Flying Club. Maj. Jan Flinterman, holder of the Dutch national speed and altitude records, supervised the 3£-hour flying programme, which was wit nessed on both the Saturday and Sunday by enthusiastic crowds some 50,000 strong—the total attendance being 25 per cent greater than in 1951. Situated on the main highway between the Hague and Rotterdam, Ypenburg is a compara tively small grass airfield unsuitable for jet aircraft; never theless, the timing of the programme was so precise that jets operating from Schiphol and other large airfields were able to demonstrate at Ypenburg in a non-stop sequence which would not have shamed the Famborough traffic- controllers. To the accompaniment of rousing music from the massed bands of the Limburg Rifles and the Shell company, bluejackets of the Dutch Naval Air Service broke the flags of the participating N.A.T.O. countries and the national anthem was played. Against a fluttering backcloth of bright colours, the Minister for Transport and Waterways then stepped forward with a brief speech declaring the display open; fanfares were played, and as the trumpet notes faded two Sikorsky H-19 helicopters swept into the airfield circuit in a whirl of sound, circled once and descended before the tribunes. The timely arrival of the transatlantic machines, whose previous travels en route to Europe are recounted on pages 187-8, had been prompted by a KX.M. request at short notice to the U.S.A.F. Dutch pioneer Dr. Albert Plesman, president of the airline, soon moved to the microphone to deliver, in English, a short speech welcoming the American pilots. Before the silver Sikorskys' rotors had stopped, 27 Harvards of the Air Training Command flew across the field in four faultless formations spelling "ILSY." As the trainers passed the western boundary, 32 Thunderjets of the Dutch Tactical Air Force sped in from the south with smoky trails, to be followed within seconds by 56 Meteor 8s of the Air Defence Command. Two more Harvards of the Dutch Air Force then appeared, one carrying two red banners at the wing-tips, the other bearing hooks and faced with the formidable task of picking-up the streamers from Harvard No. 1. Each attempt brought a rasping scream from No. 2's airscrew as the pilot increased r.p.m. to keep station. Tense spectators were relieved when, after three runs, the banners were safely flying from the second machine, but before they could relax one of the flags was re-transferred—to the tailplane-tip of the first Harvard. The Dutch Air Force kept up the pace with mock-bombing attacks on the airfield by four F-84S and aerobatics by three more Thunderjets, with a demonstration of fire-fighting between these items. An exhibition by Louis Notteghem, head of the French National Aviation Centre at St. Yan, was the first of several fine individual aerobatic performances. Notteghem flew his single-seat Stampe Special with great precision, a classic figure-eight manoeuvre— made up of a loop and a bunt—being the highlight of his per formance. In addition to stall-turns and very low flick-rolls, he also completed a neat four-point hesitation roll. After two Arguses and an Auster of the Avio Diepen concern had informed the crowd, by means of banners, that "Shell Mex Motor Olie Tegen Corrosie," there was another masterly aerobatic offering—by Gerben Sonderman, flying the silver, blue and yellow Fokker S.14. Sonderman, who is Prince Bernhard's personal pilot in addition to being Fokker's chief test-pilot, had rushed back from Helsinki to Schiphol to demonstrate the Derwent-powered two- seat trainer. Although his aircraft has only half the power of the Meteor, the Dutch pilot made it look almost as fast—without once leaving his line of demonstration in front of the enclosures. His choice of manoeuvres, executed with masterly precision, included stall turns, aileron turns, a spin and a perfect eight-point roll. Within 45 minutes, Sonderman had returned to Schiphol, flown back again to Ypenburg in a Fokker S.n trainer, and demon strated it with equal skill and dash. Leaving their characteristic and spectacular trails of sooty black smoke, four Canadian Sabres pull up in a steep climb over the N.A.T.O. flags. It was in quality much more than quantity that Britain's prestige was upheld at Ypenburg, and for this fact much credit goes to the six Vampire pilots of No. 71 (Eagle) Squadron, B.A.F.O., who performed their aerobatics in a commendably original style. They flew in two sections : three had red fuselages, centre-sections and tailplancs, and the second flight had a similar scheme in blue. Blue section followed red through all manoeuvres after a minute's interval, and the crowds appreciated the chance of seeing double every time the leading trio changed formation from vie to line abreast or astern. After several very tight circuits around the field, the formation joined in the centre for a "bomb-burst" break-away to six points of the compass. George Thornton, who is a production test-pilot for de Havil-land, put up an aerobatic show in a Chipmunk which, it must be admitted, was a good deal more exciting than the glimpses of a blue-painted R.A.F. Canberra which appeared immediately after wards. Silver City Airways aroused great interest by sending a Freighter to the show with two new Hillman cars (the first to be exported to Holland by air) and two Hercules bicycles, which were unloaded before the tribunes. The new owners then drove their gleaming acquisitions round the field to the accompaniment of great flutterings of programmes and handkerchiefs. The Dutch A glimpse of the tribunes from inside Silver City's Freighter as one of the exported cars is driven on to the airfield.
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