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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0592.PDF
272 FLIGHT, 5 March 1954 R.Ae.C. Gold Medallists AN enjoyable and stimulating dinner was given by the Royal Aero Club on >-Wednesday, February 24th, in honour of W/C. Walter F. Gibb, D.S.O., D.F.C., S/L. Neville F. Duke, D.S.O., O.B.E., D.F.C., A.F.C., and Lt. Cdr. Michael J. Lithgow, to whom were presented Royal Aero Club Gold Medals. That the occasion was an informal one in no way detracted from its importance—nor from the esteem in which the recipients (and those distinguished few who have received Gold Medals in the past) are held. Lord Brabazon, president of the Club, briefly introduced the guests of honour, say ing that R.Ae.C. Gold Medals were not easily won nor easily given. He recalled some of the earlier recipients from the first—the Wright brothers—and said that on this occasion "two fast young men and one climber" were to be honoured. The achievements of the three were then read out by Col. Preston, the secretary-general. W/C. Gibb captured the world height record in the Olympus-Canberra, in which he achieved an altitude of 63,668ft; S/L. Duke broke the world speed record at Littlehampton in a Hawker Hunter with Rolls-Royce Avon RA.7R engine, attaining 727.6 m.p.h., and shortly afterwards he broke the 100-km closed-circuit record, in the same aircraft, with a speed of 709.2 m.p.h.; Lt. Cdr. Lithgow later broke the speed record in a Supermarine Swift, also with Rolls-Royce Avon R.A.7R, his speed being 735.7 m.p.h. on a course over the Libyan desert. This was the highest speed achieved by a British pilot during the year, and he therefore received, in addition to his Gold Medal, the Geoffrey de Havilland Trophy. After the presentations the three recipients each made an excel lent brief speech. W/C. Gibb noted that Mr. Cyril Uwins and Mr. John Cunningham were present at the dinner, and it was thus more true to say that there were "three height gentlemen and two speed ones." By request, he then recalled his impressions during the record flight. He said it was very dark above and very light below. He believed that Lord Brabazon's speed down the Cresta Run was about 40 m.p.h.; his had been a little faster, for he had come down from 12 miles high in 12 minutes. This No fewer than three R.Ae.C. Gold Medals were presented for 1953. Receiving them from Lord Brabazon, at the dinner given in their honour, are Neville Duke, Walter Gibb and Mike Lithgow (who also received the de Havilland Trophy). was not difficult on a modern jet aircraft if one shut both motors! W/C. Gibb mentioned that Mr. Piper, his observer, although he was not carried on the record flight, had been on every other flight in the Olympus-Canberra trials and had accompanied him on occasions at above 60,000ft. S/L. Duke said he did not presume to list himself with die earlier recipients of Gold Medals, but he felt mat he was in the same book, so to speak. He thought mat records were a good thing as indicating the measure of achievement. He would like to see the Littlehampton course kept open. British records seemed to come late in the year, and to go really fast one needed high temperatures; but one could still go fast at Littlehampton, and there was no reason why the speed of sound should not be achieved at die heights and conditions at present laid down for speed records. A lot was now known about control at sonic speed. S/L. Duke paid a tribute to those who decided whether to go to the tremendous trouble and expense of attempting to break a record. It was no easy decision. Lt. Cdr. Lithgow added a second correction to the earlier speeches, pointing out that Mr. Eric Greenwood was also present at the dinner, and thus there were "three speed gentlemen and three climbers." Replying to S/L. Duke's "dig" about his record and the heat in Libya, he caused laughter by saying he had expected to have company in Africa but he supposed the cost of freighting an aircraft to Libya would be very high. AIRBORNE NEON IN THE NIGHT SKY ON Wednesday evening of last week, people in London—par ticularly in the southern districts—were surprised to see, in bright green block letters in the sky, an injunction to sample a certain popular beverage. In fact, the lettering was carried on the wings of a Rapide belonging to Sky Neon Aviation, Ltd., of Croydon Airport, who were starting their new advertising service. Previously some 40 hours' work had been done over Lancashire and Yorkshire. The company have two Rapides, G-AHKV (illus trated here) and -GB. Some experiments had been made with smaller aircraft, but they were not found suitable for the company's work. It takes about 48 hours to set up a sign on the supporting frames under the wings; these frames were made by Redwing, Ltd., while Willis Hole, Ltd., fabricated the mounting brackets. Franco Signs, Ltd., were responsible for the complete neon installation. The power requirements, from two Exide 12 V 100 a.h. batteries, are 24V 100 amp, stepped up to 4-5,000 V. The aircraft carries Murphy MR80 radio, S.B.A. and M/F. range. Normal duration of a sortie is 2 hr 45 min. Operation is at a minimum height of 1,000ft, the pilot flying on QFEs from the controlling airfield. The chairman of the Sky Neon company is Mr. D. H. Glover, who is assisted by Messrs. R. J. H. McNeill, T. T. Munns and H. Law, with Major P. B. Lowe as business manager. The opera tions manager, who is also a pilot, is Mr. C. Treen, and the company's otiier two pilots are Mr. P. F. Gurdon and Mr. W. Steel. Sky Neon in action: (Left to right) W. Steel and P. F. Gurdon, pilots; H. Law, aviation director; and C. Treen, operations manager and pilot. DR\HK Os/MJINE
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