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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0589.PDF
6 May 1955 Not a public execution, 1955-style, but a rescue demonstration by the Westland 5-5/ from the R.N.A.S. Brawdy. Downwash from the rotors created quite a stir among the spectators at Fairwood Common. the capricious south-westerly breeze may have upset some of thehandicappers' finer calculations. There were five laps to each race, giving a course distance of42| miles. The layout of the course provided the public with a view of competitors at nearly all stages of the racing; unfor-tunately, very little overtaking occurred, and there were no last-minute surprises. Particularly tame was the opening event, the first round of theAir League Cup—a Proctors-only race which had attracted but two entrants. T. G. Knox, flying his glossy black Proctor3 G-ALCK, not only maintained but increased his 7 sec starting advantage over E. Noel Husbands (Proctor 1 G-AIHG). Starting and finishing order were also identical in round oneof the S.B.A.C. Challenge Cup race, for aircraft capable of at least 160 m.p.h. in level flight. Geoffrey Marler (Falcon Six) scoreda first victory in this event, which was the poorer for the absence of the Sparrowjet, third member of the Dunkerley stable. Flownby Peter Clifford, Dunkerley's Mew Gull was again unable to beat its handicap, taking third place behind Ron Paine's familiarHawk Speed Six. Entry to the Norton-Griffiths race is this year confined toTiger Moths. Five examples were at Fairwood for the first round —a colourful assembly, comprising two silver-and-green specimens(G-ANSH and G-ANSX) from Fair Oaks, pale blue (G-AMTK) and dark blue (G-AMLF) Tigers from Newcastle, and the pri-vately owned black-and-red machine (G-ANOD) flown by the Hon. Peter Vanneck. It seemed that we were not alone in detect-ing few differences between the various Tigers, for the handi- cappers allowed the first aircraft only nine seconds' start on theback marker. This was hard on G-ANOD, for it carried pilot and passenger, whereas its four rivals were flown solo and out-paced it by up to 10 m.p.h. J. H. Denyer, in G-AIVW, set up a commanding lead early in the race and held it throughout. In his bronze-coloured, well-finished Gemini 1A (G-ALZG),P. Blamire won the first round of the Goodyear race (for Geminis only) quite comfortably from throttle-benders Fred Dunkerleyand Nat Somers. The extra 6 m.p.h. conferred by the Gipsy Majors in G-AKDC, the Somers aircraft, was not quite enough forit to catch up with Dunkerley's Cirrus-powered G-AKKB. The next event, round one for the Grosvenor Cup (for aircraft,other than Tiger Moths, capable of up to 130 m.p.h.), produced a newcomer to the air-racing scene—the Agusta-built Bell 47G(G-ANZK) entered and flown by John Crewdson of Rotorfilms, Ltd. It was soon apparent that the helicopter* per se, enjoys noparticular advantage as a racing vehicle other than the ability to fly from its dispersal to the starting line, and a higher initial rateof acceleration when flagged away. Averaging a little over 80 m.p.h., it was soon overtaken by Miss Freydis Leaf's 95-m.pii.Tipsy Trainer, G-AFWT. Second and third places were taken by C. Gregory (Taylorcraft G-AHGZ) and D. Westoby (AigletG-AMMS). This latter, a well-polished red machine, once the demonstration model used by Ranald Porteous, had been entered Last-minute polish tor the Aigiet entered by comedian Jimmy Edwards. by one J. K. O'N. Edwards, D.F.C., better known as comedianJimmy Edwards; of the genial "Professor" himself, we saw no sign. Clearly visible in the goldfish-bowl canopy of their Agusta-Bell, Mr. and Mrs. Crewdson took their disappointment in good part and were still conversing amiably as they rotored home infourth place. Round 1 of the Kemsley Race (for aircraft capable of exceeding130 m.p.h.) was the day's second event for Nat Somers, who moved his Chipmunk G-AKDN up from fourth place to win at137 m.p.h. Scratch-man J. Spiller (Messenger G-AKIN) dropped to second place, and David Ogilvy's Comper Swift Black Magic(G-ABUS), fell back to third. Flying a hooded Hawk Trainer (G-AJRT) in his first race, "Johnny" Johnston finished fourth,followed in by Wheatley's attractive white-painted Globe Swift. All told, a satisfactory if not spectacular start to the season'sracing. Perhaps subsequent meetings will bring more aircraft of greater variety; perhaps die handicappers, too, will have recap-tured fully the prophetic power which has resulted in so many exciting finishes at past races.The brief but effective Service demonstrations at Fairwood Common amply compensated for any shortage of excitement in theracing programme. The star performance was by an R.A.F. Hunter from Chivenor, which arrived in a near-sonic "whoosh"and kept the crowd on its toes throughout the next ten minutes. A Brawdy-based Naval Dragonfly demonstrated both the "scoop"rescue net and the more conventional sling, and the Vampires of 614 (County of Glamorgan) Squadron, R.Aux.A.F., showed paceand precision in their air-drill. The meeting concluded with the presentation of trophies by Mr.S. Kenneth Davies, chairman of the Royal Aero Club. In addition to the prizes listed below, J. N. Somers, as highest-scoring pilot,was awarded the Welsh Air Derby Trophy. 19S5 NATIONAL AIR RACES: FIRST-ROUND RESULTS : * I Aircraft Pilot Air League Cup Proctor 3 Proctor 1 S.B.A.C. Cup Falcon Six Hawk Sp. Six Mew Gull T. G. Knox E. N. Husbands G. Marler R. R. Paine P. Clifford Norton-Griffiths Trophy Tiqer Moth Tiger MothTiger Moth Tiger Moth Tiger Moth J. H. Denyer B. MaileB. J. Snook J. M. Donald P. VanneCk Goodyear Trophy Gemini 1A Gemini 1A Gemini 1 P. Blamire F. Dunkerley J. N. Somers Grosvenor Cup Tipsy Tr. 1 T'craft Plus D. Aiglet JSK Bell 47G Miss F. Leaf C. Gregory J. Westoby J. Crewdson Kemsley Trophy Chipmunk Messenger 2A ComDer Swift Hawk Tr. 3 Globe Swift J. N. Somers A. Soiller D. F. Ogilvy J. JohnstonC. G. Wheatley Place 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 1 1 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 45 H'capm. s. 00 00 00 07 00 00 01 42 03 17 00 00 00 0900 07 00 07 00 00 00 00 02 54 03 29 01 46 06 20 08 33 00 00 01 27 00 00 00 43 01 2301 43 Speed m.p.h. 133.5 129 159.5 177.5 197.8 103.5 103.5101.5 100 94 139 161 167 95 110.5 120 81.5 137 126 128 132132.5 Points H'cap 14 12 14 12 10 14 12 10 8 6 14 12 10 14 12 10 8 14 12 10 8 6 speed 2 1 0 1 2 4 42 1 - _ 1 2 1 2 3 0 4 — 1 2 3 Total 16 13 14 13 12 18 16 12 9 6 14 13 12 15 14 13 8 18 12 11 109
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