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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1172.PDF
286 FLIGHT •A. • ft.-; ran MM COVENTRY'S DAY ... Focke-Wulf Stieglitz was the last of the morning items. Duringthe lunch interval, work progressed on the Mew Gull, Buster Paine having ofFered the 7ft airscrew from his Proctor as a replacementfor that of the Mew, which was 3in smaller in diameter. This was fitted, and checked on a subsequent air test. Although, unfortunately, we were not to see Gerben Sondermanas a contestant in the Lockheed aerobatic contest, he vigorously bade farewell with a dashing display in the Fokker S.14 beforeflying it back to Schiphol. First afternoon act of the programme proper was a potent, polished performance by six Sea Hawks of800 Squadron, who burst in to begin a superb show, formation runs by four machines plus low individual cross-over beat-ups. An S-51 Dragonfly of 705 Squadron, R.N., next proceeded todemonstrate its winching abilities, which were duly appreciated by the crowd—although its subsequent tendency to fly aroundduring other items on the programme, drowning the commentary and blowing pieces of Baginton over the assembly, was not. Theprogramme continued with appearances by four Canberras from Marham and a Shackleton from St. Eval, together with what theprinted programme listed as "Event 10. Sensational aerial trapeze act by ANDRE JAN, THE HELICOPTER GIRL." Putting asideany temptation to employ such phrases as low-drag aerodynamic bodies, streamlined double-curvature fuselages and the like, wewould record that the Agusta-Bell 47G from which the trapeze and Miss Jan were suspended was flown by John Crewdson. Sharp contrast—essential for a well-balanced show of any kind—was next provided. In turn came Olympia sailplane aerobatics by George Thompson of the Coventry Gliding Club; steady runsby a B-29 of the U.S.A.F.; and a lively aerobatic performance by F/O. B. A. Clayton in a Vampire T.ll. For the 1955 King's Cup race, the top fifteen pilots in this NATIONAL AIR RACES —FOURTH ROUND (BAGINTON) ANDFINAL PLACINGS Place I No. Pilot .B.A.C. Challenge Cup92 9796 98 G. Marler P. S. Clifford R. R. Paine F. Dunkerley Soodyear Challenge Trophy 1 85 I J. N. Somers 2 80 P. Blamire — 84 I F. Dunkerley (emsley Challenge Trophy J. N. Socners i. R. Johnston D. F. Ogilvy A. J. Spiller W. H. Bailey D. W. Phillips 47 43 41 40 46 48 Norton-Griffith Challenge Trophy23 2422 2821 25 J. H. Denyer J. M. Donald P. Vanneck L. R. Wiiliams B. Maile B. J. Snook •rosvenor Challenge Cup9 35 11 D. Westoby Miss F. M. Leaf C. Gregory A. A. Bough Mr League Challenge Cup69 68 65 67 T. G. Knox A. Barker A. S. K. Paine E. N. Husbands Aircraft Falcon Six Mew Gull Hawk Sp. Six Sparrowjet Gemini 3 Gemini 1a Gemini 1a Chipmunk Hawk Tr. 3 Comper Swift Messenger 2a Hawk Major Hawk Major Tiger Moth Tiger Moth Tiger Moth Tiger Moth Tiger Moth Tiger Moth Aiglet Tipsy Tr. 1 T'craft Plus D Autocrat Proctor 3 Proctor 3 Proctor 1 Proctor 1 H'cap Speed 00.00 2.05 1.08 160195.5 167.5 withdrawn 02.10 I 161 00.00 | 134 withdrawn 01.46 01.27 00.57 00.35 00.00 138 134.5 128.5 123.5 117.5 withdrawn 00.10 00.10 00.02 00.00 \ 00.14 00.07 02.46 00.00 01.53 01.40 00.00 00.00 00.32 00.05 105.5104.5 103 102.5 103.5 102 119 94.0 110.5 disq. 137.5 136.5 142 136.5 Total pts. 5053 5212 58 52 26 71 48 48 21 6 15 67 39 45 9 58 28 58 38 58 6 61 40 27 30 Finalplace Left: Round the pylon in the Norton-Griffiths race for Tiger Moths. Above: French victors in the aerobatic competition, F. d'Huc-Dressler (third), L. Biancotto (first), A. Hisler (second). Opposite page: Foreign aerobatic visitors are, from top left round the clock, Stampe S.V.4A, Si pa Minijet, Focke-Wulf Stieglitz, Bucket Jungmeister. Far right: This year's British Air Racing Champion, J. Nat Somers. year's British Air Racing Championship were competing over four laps of a 17-mile circuit. The machines varied from the Tiger Moths of Vanneck, Maile and Denyer, at about 107 m.p.h., to the Mew Gull flying at twice this speed. Thus it was only as Vanneck came round the pylon, after completing two laps in the lead, that Clifford in the Mew Gull was flagged away on take-off. The gaps continued to close, and Clifford moved up steadily, but at the final turn in towards the field Vanneck was still leading. The close group of dots gradually approached and became an assorted gaggle of aircraft with, it seemed, Vanneck a certain winner. At the last moment, however, shooting out of the grey haze and through the other aircraft like a sharp white bullet, came the Mew Gull, to win the 1955 King's Cup in one of the closest finishes this race has ever seen. Vanneck was second and Johnnie Johnston third: a special prize should certainly have gone to the handicappers. Engine trouble had forced Ogilvy to make an emergency landing just short of the finishing line. The results arc listed on page 279. The finals of the aerobatic competition followed. The Lockheed Aerobatic Competition.—Belief that the judgesof the British Lockheed International Aerobatic competition would have an unenviable task was borne out in the event, which tookplace on the Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. The winners must all have been within a mark or two of each other. There was admiration for Santiago Germano, who had comeso far and whose Argentine-built Focke-Wulf Stieglitz only left its crate at 1 a.m. on the day of the elimination event. There waspleasure that such a wide variety of aircraft were present to com- pete for the international title. There was also disappoint-ment that Gerben Sonderman was prevented from competing. Few were present on the Friday to see Sonderman's masterlyhandling of a difficult situation during practice. While he was inverted, and after he had sensed some electrical trouble whenhis radio faded, the flame went out in his Nene turbojet. On regaining level flight he appeared to try to relight, but withoutsuccess. He then brought the Fokker advanced trainer round and made a beautifully judged dead-stick landing, rolling up almostto his chocks in front of the tower. It seems that the quill-shaft driving his generator had sheared. Power was soon consumedin the batteries, and then the fuel dried up because the booster pumps faded out as he was flying inverted. Some enterprisingwork by friends at Coventry had the S.14 serviceable by Saturday. The first round of the competition started on the Friday evening. Francois d'Huc-DressIer led off in the Stampe S.V.4A biplane. TheRenault 4PO5 engine was modified for inverted flight; and, like die other foreign competitors to follow, the Frenchman made great use ofthis quality in bunts, outside loops and other inverted manoeuvres. His set figures—slow roll, loop, half roll-off-the-top, were all included in anon-stop variety of unusual and composite turns, very hard to identify and evaluate separately. All were competently executed with very fewerrors, and it was no surprise later to find his name among those of the six finalists. He was notable for using only a small area of sky. W. H. Bailey (Miles Hawk Trainer), G. R. I. Parker (Blackburn B.2Trainer) and F. C. Fisher (Tiger Moth) were much handicapped by lack of power and of inverted-flying carburettors. Their displays, evenallowing for this, were not such as to put them in the running. Leon Biancotto, of France, using the same Stampe as his compatriot,snapped straight into a continuous whirl which, so far as we could see, comprised one-and-a-half flick rolls into an inverted dive, rolling into ahalf loop. Without pause, a stalled turn and inverted flight followed, then a bunt and Biancotto's version of a flick roll on top of a loop(closely resembling the Porteous avalanche, but less flat). His manoeuvres continued in quick succession, well positioned and most competentlyexecuted, until the yellow Very indicated five minutes up. For the final, we felt sure. R. L. Porteous, in a very clean Auster J5L Aiglet (Gipsy Major 10)next took the arena—one of the favourites on reputation, but using a standard cabin aircraft by no means ideal for aerobatics. He opened
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