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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1229.PDF
FLIGHT, II September 1953 385 CIVIL AVIATION... Five 32-seat Dakotas of Hunting Air Transport were chartered Si!? to„fly °ve' *« »™ enthusiasts from Bovingaon to Brussels on September 1st for a performance at the Palais des Beaux Arts, returning the following morning. * * * Tourist-class fares will be introduced on the London-Johannes burg route on October 1st. As from that date single and return fares on the first-class services (operated by Comets) will be in creased by, respectively, £5 and £9 to £180 and £324 Fares on die tourist flights (S.A.A. Constellations) will be £140 and £252 Maj-Gen. C. J. Venter, general manager of South African Airways, who was due to retire at die end of October, has been requested to remain in his post for another year. This is General Venter's second extension of office. He was appointed to the position in 1945. * * * Piloted by the operations manager of New Zealand National Airways, a D.H. Heron will fly H.M. the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh from Rotorua to Gisborne on January 6th. This will be the only flight of the royal tour not made in die special R.N.Z.A.F. Dakota. Luggage will be carried by a Bristol Freighter of No. 41 Transport Squadron. CLUB and GLIDING NEWS TURISMO: developed from the P.148, the Piaggio P.149 is a light touring and army liaison type, powered by a Lycomirg CO- 435-C2 engine of 240 h.p. driving a Piaggio- designed three-blade constant speed metal airscrew. ONE of the few dual Geminis available in the south of England for conversion-training of private pilots is that operated by Southend's Municipal Air Centre and Flying School. In addi tion, the school has three Autocrats and a Tiger Modi. Regis tered members totalled 212 at the time of a recent visit, and the average monthly totals for flying hours during the summer have been in die region of 270. The full-time instructor, Brian Wales, returns shordy to his native Australia, and no successor had been chosen at the time of our visit—although we gathered that there was no shortage of suitable applicants. * * * A GLOSSARY of gliding slang is being compiled at Lasham, home of the Surrey and Army gliding clubs; contributions from odier clubs and individual pilots are invited. Of purer English, however, are four sonnets, appearing in the current "Lasham Newsletter", dedicated to "Pansy", the Surrey Club's Tandem Tutor. We particularly like die one which reads: Shall I compare diee to a brewer's dray? Thou art less lovely to the intemperate; Nor stern sobriety in judgment may Not hold diy lineage legitimate. Spawn of old Tutor (whom since long ago Still in unsteady solitude we fly) 'Neatii terror doubled, and a double woe Thou bear'st diy subject masters round the sky. Struts, wires and cables, like a forest, hide The secrets of diy floorless imperfection: Thou holy mystery, thou stressman's pride, Sling's ultimate, immaculate conception. Yet for one virtue shall we stay our deep Damnation, and give thanks tiiat thou art cheap. The thanksgiving in the last line may well have arisen from the fact that die author, Pat Wood, is also the club treasurer. On a recent weekend visit to Lasham, much flying activity by both clubs was evident, in spite of the repair work caused by accidents to three of the Surrey Club's machines (two of these at the National Contests). Auto-towing on the E-W runway by the Army club alternated with winch launches alongside by the Surrey Club, litde time being lost between launches. On several occasions, Red-O and Green-O, two of Surrey's Olympias, were outclassed in thermal soaring by Daisy, the club's T21B, and by die Army T21B flown by Stewart Morrison. * * * T HE healthy position of the French ultra-light aircraft move ment was evident at the sixth annual assembly of amateur- built aircraft, held at Epernay (Plivot) Aerodrome over the week end of August 14th-16th. The Reseau de Sport de l'Air, a national organization whose enthusiastic members were respon sible for the construction of the 35 aircraft at the Assembly, has done much good work in making amateur construction of aircraft popular and practicable. The main object of the Assembly was to permit aircraft to compete for the annual award of the R.S.A. Cup, given for the best constructed and finished single-seat aircraft present. A separate competition was held for two-seaters and 13 machines were entered in this class, compared with 19 competing in the single-seater class. The standard of workmanship on all the competing aircraft was extremely high, but the panel of judges finally selected M. Baranger as die Cup winner, with his Turbulent aircraft F-PGYQ. The Turbulent of M. Borea and a Bebe Jodel constructed by M. Desbonoit tied for second place. In the two-seater class M. Guyaton was successful widi his Jodel D112. Second place went to a B80, a parasol wing aircraft widi tandem seating and open cockpits. Third place went to M. Duval with yet another Jodel D112. As in this country, the problem of suitable power units is a pressing one for the amateur constructor in France, who does, however, have the great advantage over the British enthusiast in that he is permitted to use non-type-tested units. This facility has permitted the conversion and use of motor car units, and by far the most popular and successful unit employed in single- seaters is the converted German Volkswagen car engine. Ex amples of other units, such as the Ava two-stroke and the Minie\ were also seen in Bebe Jodel aircraft. Almost all of the home- built two-seaters employed die Continental engine of 65 h.p. The judging of the aircraft took most of Saturday afternoon, and was followed by a flying demonstration of the competing aircraft. The same evening a banquet was held in Epernay. The following morning visits to the Epernay champagne caves were arranged. Flying was resumed at mid-day and members were able to fly each odiers' aircraft. Flights in two-seater Jodel D112 aircraft were given to visiting English enthusiasts, who were very much impressed widi these neat litde aircraft. The following types and numbers of aircraft took part in die Assembly: Jodel (single- and two-seaters), 21; Turbulent, 5; B.80, 2; R.A.14, 2; BrOchet, 1; Prototype Aircraft, 2. These last two aircraft were a single- and a two-seater, and both showed distinct traces of Spitfire influence in the use of an elliptical wing plan. Indeed, die single-seat "Pinocchio" is an almost exact scale model of the famous fighter. The two-seater, built by R. Holleville, is powered by a 65 h.p. Continental (which is most carefully and closely cowled) and the whole aircraft is very clean aerodynamically. The two seats are staggered to allow a slim fuselage to be employed. The landing speed is quite low due to the effect of flaps, and the performance appeared impressive. The resident hosts to the R.S.A. were the local aero club, Les Ailes Sparaciennes, who own a Bebe Jodel among dieir air craft fleet. M. Couesnon, of the R.S.A., who was primarily re sponsible for the organization of the Assembly, found time to enter his own R.A.14 in the competition, and was of great assist ance to the English visitors.
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