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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0232.PDF
SiyJ FLIGHT, 20 February 1953 LIGHTWEIGHT versus HEAVYWEIGHT Whale-spotting from a Light Aircraft: A Vivid Account from Australia DUE to the seasonal migration of the Humpback whale, the catching season is comparatively short, being 3-34 months of the year, July to early October; there fore whale catching is carried on at a rather fast tempo during the time available. The whaling company employs three catcher boats, plus myself with the Auster Aiglet, and whale catching is carried out every day, weather permitting. As the station is based at the most western point of our north west coastline, we experience a certain amount of rough weather. In the 1952 season the station did not catch the allotted 600 whales; the total catch was 536 and this was mainly due to rough weather conditions. The normal procedure is for the catcher boats to leave their moorings and pass through the passage in the reef at dawn. I follow very soon after; that "soon after" part causes quite a little leg-pulling, the catcher-boat crews wanting to know why I am not out over the sea, with whales sighted for them, as they come through the reef. As it happens, I am the first man on the station to have breakfast, followed by a twenty-minute drive over seven miles of rugged trail to the landing strip which is near the coast south of the station. I take off as the sun cracks the skyline and fly out over the reef, just after the boats. The boat crews, on the other hand, have their breakfast at a much more gentlemanly hour, after getting out to sea. They are all very nice fellows really, and quite often invite me down for a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, as they well know, I cannot accept the invitation. Each of the catcher boats, the shore station and the Auster are fitted with radio telephone, and the hunt for the humpback goes on. This is carried out either north or south of the station, depending on the run of the whales and as far as twenty miles out to sea. Here, more than any other time, my faith in the Auster and her Gipsy Major engine are put to the test—there must be no doubt in one's mind concerning possible failure. Flying altitudes vary according to weather conditions. When it is fine and calm I fly up to 1,000 ft. In rough weather I am com pelled to fly low, the rougher the weather the lower I have to fly, my minimum being 200ft at speeds mainly around 60 m.p.h. When I spot a blow I inspect the whales for type, number and size and report over the radio telephone to the catcher boats, giving details and position; the catcher boats then race in for the chase and kill. During the actual chase, the aircraft assists to a large extent, giving directions over the radio as to the whales' position, heading, etc. Believe me, I see some very exciting battles. TWO IMPORTANT LECTURES DETAILS of two important lectures are announced by the Royal Aeronautical Society. The ninth British Common wealth and Empire Lecture, on June nth, will be delivered by Sir Hubert Walker, C.B.E., chairman of West African Airways Corporation, whose subject will be Some Problems in the Develop ment of Air Transport in West Africa. Three months later, on September 14th, the 41st Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture, briefly entitled Structures, will be given by Professor N. J. Hoff, F.R.Ae.S., F.I.Ae.S. Professor Hoff is Head of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, N.Y. NATO CO-OPERATES WITH ASLIB THE Aslib Aeronautical Group states that it has received gratifying encouragement in its work by a request from the Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development (AGARD) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to par ticipate jointly in the Group's second annual conference. As a result, some alterations in the conference programme previously announced have become necessary, but all the papers which have already been promised will be presented. The con ference will be held from Friday, March 27th, until Tuesday, March 31st, at the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield. Delegates will assemble on the Friday evening. The A.G.M. of the Aslib Aeronautical Group will be held on the Saturday morning, and in the afternoon there will be a session on the cataloguing of aerodynamic data, with special reference to the Dutch scheme set out in N.L.L. Report No. 116. The conference dinner will be held in the evening, preceded by a cocktail party. On the Sunday, there will be a full-day discussion on a common THERE can seldom have been a more convincing tribute to the reliability of the modern light aircraft than the story below, related in a letter to Auster Aircraft, Ltd., from Mr. J. Pekin of Maylands Aerodrome, Perth, Western Australia. Mr. Pekin owns an Aiglet, which he uses on whale-spotting expeditions for the Nor-West Whaling Company, whose station is at Point Cloates, 660 miles north of Perth. The makers of the aircraft, incidentally, state that over 100 Austers are now in use in the Antipodes, on a great variety of duties ranging from "flying-doctor" operations to whale-spotting of the kind described on this page. Contrary to the belief of many people, the whale is really a very agile animal. I have repeatedly seen 40-ton humpbacks rush out of the water and do a very neat half-roll before hitting the water again. Occasionally, with the more aerobatic-minded fellows, they can nearly complete a full roll—a very thrilling sight, particularly when the 40-50 tons of beef hits the water with a crash and splish that goes 30ft into the air. For whale-spotting purposes, I have developed the old tech nique of flying wholly and solely by the seat of my pants, com pletely disregarding instruments, except for oil pressure. There are so many things to do—keeping the boats advised; watching the whales both on the surface and, for as long as possible, under the surface; scanning the sea for any other blows that may appear; endeavouring to keep three catcher boats busy. The result is that the Auster and I have grown to be one complete unit, the remark of a passenger one day being "She turns over the whales by her self." At times I felt as if she did, too. Many and numerous are the occasions in these warm waters when I have seen up to one hundred sharks of lengths up to twenty feet attacking a wounded or killed whale. They can consume a 40-ton whale in thirty minutes ! It still has the power of sending cold shivers up and down my back, and rather forcibly presses home the need for good maintenance. Being a certified engineer, and doing all my own maintenance during the whaling season, I can assure you that I take particular care over maintenance details, particularly the fuel system. Flying the Auster, I left Perth for Point Cloates on July 2nd and returned on October 12th. During those 103 days I flew 680 hours 25 minutes. All this flying, with the exception of approximately twenty hours, was done over the sea. Having completed about 2,000 hours on the Gipsy-Major- powered Auster, covering a large variety of work, I have come to trust the reliability of this combination above all others. As a one man, one aeroplane, self-contained unit, this whale spotting episode of 680 hours flying in 103 days will, I venture to think, take some beating. international system for indexing, abstracting and cataloguing all aeronautical reports, and representatives of NATO states have been asked to give their views on these problems and to contribute papers describing present practice in their own countries. A film show will follow. The Monday will be devoted to further dis cussion of points arising from the Sunday session; and the final meeting, on the Tuesday, is for AGARD delegates only, to decide on the action to be taken on the matters discussed. The chairman on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will be Professor A. A. Hall, Director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment. The conference fee will be £1 5s., including preprints, member ship of the College club, and transport from Bedford railway station; board and accommodation will be provided at £1 5s per day. Further particulars may be obtained from Mr. C. W. Cleverdon, College of Aeronautics, Cranfield, Bletchley, Bucks. A.F.R.AE.S. EXAMINATION RESULTS THE Royal Aeronautical Society has announced the under mentioned list of names of candidates successful in the December, 1952, Associate Fellowship examination:— Part I (Home).—D. G. A. Bridgnell, D. R. Brodie, K. G. Draper, J. W. Drife, D. ]. Frater, D. R. Henbest, J. L. Johnston, T. C Lee, J. MacNaughton, K. J. Neeves, K. G. Page, N. R. Reddy, D. J. Richard son, R. D. Sana, B. Singh, R. P. Stanford, I. K. Trundley, P. Shu-Yan Wong. Part I (Abroad-).—W. K. Aiyadurai (Melbourne, Australia), K. S. Chandrashekaran (Bangalore), S. Singh (Delhi), A. Subrahamanyan (Bangalore). Part II (Home).—P. J. Farmer, D. W. Pickston, C. R. Raynham, D. Rowe, P. Simpson, I. H. Smart, F/L. G. Wood. Part II (Provincial"*.—A. G. Creak (R.A.F. Cirencester), W. J. Hanlon (Belfast), W. F. Meichan (R.A.F. Aldergrove). Part II (Abroad).—A. F. E'-Kerdani (Heliopolis), P. Krishna Iyer (Madras), R. B. Lai (Madras).
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