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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0101.PDF
27 January 1956 101 The Venom pilots of No. 8 Sqn., who contributed for- mation aerobatics: (left to right) F/O. J. M. B. Munro, F/O. E. T. Dunn, S/L. A. J. Houston, F/O. Carroll, F/O. Perryman. The two last- named had to withdraw at the last moment, owing to indisposition, physical and mechanical. interest to Kenya farmers—crop dusting and spraying. His aircraftwas fitted with a rotor spraying gear and a crop duster, and his demonstration consisted of low runs, both spraying and dusting,at an altitude which at times did not exceed two feet above ground level. His aircraft had recently finished spraying 13,000acres of cereals in the Kinangop area, resulting in a booking for a further 37,000 acres. Another aircraft of the company has ayear's contract spraying red locusts in the Abercorn district of Northern Rhodesia.Two aircraft of Hunting Air Survey followed the crop spraying —a Percival Prince, with reversible-pitch airscrews, flown byCapt. R. W. Brumwell and fitted with an R.C.5 camera, and a Dakota, flown by Capt. Donald Pearson, D.F.C., adapted for aerialsurvey at a height of 28,000ft. The latter aircraft, which is based at Kitale, is at present photographing 20,000 square miles for theDirector of Colonial Surveys. Messrs. Haward Maclachlan and Co., Ltd.. next sent in a PiperPacer from their air charter division, flown by Capt. D. Pharazyn, who demonstrated his aircraft's ability to do tight turns, and a slowrun of 50 m.p.h. still under full control, finishing with a steep climb and a stall turn to land on the runway almost as soon as he hadfinished his climb. It was Capt. Pharazyn who started the Trans- Nzoia Flying Club in May 1952 with a Piper Cub. The next aircraft, and one which received a warm tribute fromthe crowd, was the "grand old lady of Kenya," the D.H.51 Miss Kenya, built by de Havillands in 1925 and shipped out to Kenyain 1926, where she flew in April of that year. In her log-book the first name to appear is that of Capt. (now Sir Geoffrey) deHavilland, who test-flew her in 1925. Still in fine flying order, maintained and flown by Mr. J. S. le Poer Trench, of Airspray(E.A.), Ltd., she demonstrated her short take-off run by leaving— the wind having by now changed direction—across the runway,and was airborne long before she reached the opposite side. At a speed of approximately 70 m.p.h., this delightful veteran showedoff her manoeuvrability, gliding round in steep turns with effortless ease, showing no signs of fatigue after her flight from Nairobi,and landing again in a run of barely 100 yards. A Cessna 180 of Campling Bros, and Vanderwal, Ltd., flown byCapt. J. R. Tuckwell, came over at a fast run, followed by a slow run of approximately 40 m.p.h. before climbing rapidly to acertain height, where it waggled its wings, and the public were asked to guess its height above the airfield, the prize being a bottleof whisky. This thirst-making event was followed by Mr. R. W. Morford of Macpherson, Train and Fenton, Ltd., who gave animpressive demonstration of the ability of the Pyrene Company's foam extinguishers to put out large fires of petrol and oil and ofstacked wooden boxes filled with wood shavings and paper, and soaked in tar. The final R.A.F. contribution followed the fire extinguishing—a Valetta of the East Africa Communications Flight, flown by F/Sgt. Hyland, A.F.M., with P/O. Tomlinson (navigator) and Sgt.Jones (signaller), dropped 12 S.E.A.C. packs to an imaginary police post delineated by a tent and smoke marker. The despatch-ing team, headed by Sgt. Vessey, was made up of troops from the Army Air Despatch Detachment, Supply Depot, Kahawa. Thisaircraft, also, had been engaged in recent operations against Mau Mau, and it was obvious that crew and despatchers were in goodtraining as their packs fell well within the target area. The show was closed by Capt. Norman Waugh dancing tomusic in a D.H. Chipmunk (accompanied on the second afternoon by the writer of this report, who, after the first two minutes, feltthat she would infinitely rather be dancing with Capt. Waugh on terra firma than waltzing through the clouds to the tune of theBlue Danube). A prize of 50 gallons of petrol, donated by Caltex, was given forthe best stand in the show, and won by Colin Hood Insurance (Aviation), Ltd., the runners-up being the R.A.F., with Vickers-Armstrongs and de Havillands tying for third place. B.O.A.C. presented a cup for the best individual demonstration, and thiswas won by Capt. Croft, D.F.C., flying the Dove from Williamson Diamonds, Ltd.; and another cup, presented by the Trans-NzoiaFlying Club for the best-turned-out aircraft, was carried off by Capt. E. Boscovic with his Macchi. Everyone was agreed that the first Kenya Air Show was atremendous success, thanks to the unflagging efforts of Capt. N. Waugh, Mr. Frank Humphris, Capt. D. Pharazyn and many othermembers of the Trans-Nzoia Flying Club. On all sides one heard expressions of appreciation to the Royal Air Force for sendingover the first military jet aircraft to be seen in this part of Kenya, and of congratulations to the organizers for a varied and thrillingdisplay, with the hope that this was but the forerunner of many Kenya Air Shows to come. AUSTRALIA'S KEEN WOMEN PILOTS AT the fifth annual general meeting of the Australian Women' Pilots' Association in Melbourne recently, Mrs. Nancy Walton, founder and retiring president, reported an active yearin which great progress, especially in the international field, had been made. Membership of the Association, she said, stood at121, including one New Zealand member. The Evelyn Follett Trophy, for the most outstanding flying performance by a memberof the Association, was awarded for 1955 to Mrs. Nancy Leebold for her solo delivery flight in a single-engined machine fromEngland to Australia, and the winner of the 1955 Women's Air Reliability Trial was Miss Grace Cavanagh. Trophies for theseevents were presented at the meeting by Mr. Athol Townley, M.P., Minister for Air and Civil Aviation. Joint runners-up inthe Reliability Trial were Mrs. R. G. Casey, patron of the Association, and Pat Redman. Successor to Mrs. Walton aspresident of the Association is Mrs. Nancy Leebold. AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTS IN ANTARCTICA IN the two Mk 7 Austers accompanying the Trans-AntarcticExpedition are fitted standard Kelvin Hughes P12 aircraft compasses with special corrector boxes to allow for the greater"dip" or vertical component of the magnetic field in the extreme Southern regions. In addition, the Smiths directional gyros havebeen specially calibrated for the southern latitudes. Each of the two Weasel land vehicles to be used on the ice-capwill carry a Kelvin Hughes E2 compass. Designed originally as emergency magnetic compasses for aircraft, these instruments havespecial correctors which will help to eliminate the vertical com- ponent of the Earth's magnetic field in extreme latitudes. TheE2s are specially suitable for use at low temperatures as each one is tested before it leaves the makers' factory to function correctlyat 40 deg below zero. The master compass carried by the expedition is a standardKelvin Hughes medium landing compass,
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