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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0939.PDF
13 July 1956 useful dry thermals quite near the site, however, including anold faithful to the north-east which allegedly maintained exactly the same position in any wind-direction. Soon the field was quietagain and relatively deserted, almost all sailplanes and trailer crews having begun their journeys. Ames in the CanadianBreguet 901 returned to the field after a control linkage in his air-brake mechanism had jammed, but was launched again, aftera replacement had been made, at 2 p.m. The first landing reported was that of Dubs, the Swiss WLM.IIpilot, who had made 117 km to the north-east. By the end of the afternoon, there were many numbered pins in the map inthe operations room, and they formed a definite if straggling line in the general direction of Nancy and the "top right-handcorner" of France. As news of later landings was received, the line of pins dog-legged to the north-west, running along just be-low the border of Luxembourg and Belgium. Some 30 machines had each flown between 300 and 400 km. It had not been easy all the way, however. On the north-easterly flights from St. Yan there had been a dead area around Dijon. Those who had successfully passed Dijon had all goneon farther than Chaumont. The day's farthest flight was made by Jose Cuadrado in one of the Argentine team's Skylark 3s,covering a distance of 431 km to a point (directly north of St. Yan) near Maubeuge. The two-seater list was headed by theTurkish Ka.2b which, however, had ignored the director- general's warning and had landed in Luxembourg. Its distanceto the border, 372 km, was counted for scoring purposes. Of the British team, Goodhart and Foster in the T.42 hadachieved 197 km; Geoffrey Stephenson (Skylark 3) 327 km and Philip Wills (Skylark 3) 119 km. Many pilots did not returnfrom their retrieves until the following day, Sunday (and the Turks from Luxembourg not until late Monday night). An un-shaven and tired-looking Paul MacCready arrived back at lunch- time on Sunday, and reported that his 389-km flight to Mczieres(Saturday's second-longest distance) had been made in two legs, to the north-east, and then north-west along the border. Con-ditions were good until about 4.30 p.m., he said, after which he had managed to stay up, drifting along with a very light southerlywind, until 6.15 p.m. A close third to Cuadrado and MacCready was Gorzelak ofPoland, flying a Jaskolka Z, whose achieved distance was 388 km. The Polish two-seater Bocian Z did well, too, covering369 km, while third in the two-seater class were Rain and Stepanovic in the Yugoslav Kosava (364 km). Foster andGoodhart were placed eighth in the two-seater class. Among the day's flights was one of 335 km to Metz airfield(previously declared as his goal) by Frank Brame, of the Canadian team, flying a Geier II. This flight added a diamondto Brame's "Gold C" badge, and set up a new Canadian national goal-flight record. Brame confirmed that conditions as far asDijon had been tricky, with little other than dry thermals, but that after that point there had been plenty of active cumulus.He had arrived over Metz with 3,000ft in hand. Sunday, July 1. As many pilots and aircraft had not returnedto St. Yan, Sunday was declared a rest day. Many hundreds of people from the surrounding district, unaware of this, came alongto spend the afternoon at the airfield, in spite of Camphill-style downpours from a brace of king-sized thunderstorms. The visitorswere treated to flying display of superb quality by the resident pilots of the St. Yan centre. The Stampes of the Patrouille de St. Yan gave their customaryformation display which, although already seen several times by 85 Saradic, flying the shapely Meteor, one of the three Yugo- slav entries (right), and. below, the Bre- guet 901, flown by 1954 champion Pierre. the gliding contin-gent on the airfield (the team normallypractises its routines at 8 o'clock everymorning when the weather is good),was still a joy to see again. Other itemsincluded a boister- ous Minijet demon-stration, sailplane aerobatics, a solodisplay by a vintage Morane Saulnier,and a 40-second de- layed drop by twoyoung parachutists, one of whom cameuneasily close to literally "droppingin" on the director- general — in hisprivate office. Monday, July 2. Most occupants of the tents and huts ofSt. Yan were awakened early this morning by a fierce gale and driving rain, which caused many pilots and crews to dash fromtheir tents to the line of trailers at high speed. The high winds passed quickly, however, although the rain stayed to give againthe impression of Camphill—the main difference being that the mud is a lighter, yellower colour at St. Yan.At the morning briefing it was announced that there would be no flying that morning, but possibly in the afternoon. Behind thecold front that had passed over so violently was a region of polar maritime air, which would give unstable conditions all day.A goal race to Boutheon aerodrome, near St. Etienne (a distance of almost exactly 100 km) was announced when pilots reassembledfor the second briefing at 1.30 p.m. Winds would be from 260 to 300 deg, take-off would be in the order of the previous day'sfinal positions, and (the met. man summed up) "All the way, instability."Cuadrado, wearing a smart checked cap in addition to his blue- and-cream Skylark 3, was first to be launched, on a westerly take-off at 2.15 p.m. In quick succession the other machines followed, but it was soon apparent that few, if any, would be able to getaway from the site from the first release. The cold front which, lying north-south and moving slowly east, had been expected bymany pilots to assist them (provided they could fly along the easterly edge), had moved across too quickly, and the sailplaneswere being released into the region behind the frontal cloud. Just after Stephenson had taken off in his flame-coloured Sky-lark 3, some 12 minutes after Cuadrado, a Breguet 901 was seen circling low and coming in to land. This was the beginning of asteady stream of returning gliders, and by 3 o'clock almost every- one was back at the launching area. Wills had delayed his take-off, but he, also, was unable to find lift. The only machine to stay up after the first launch was the T.42, which could be seencircling beneath a very dark cu-nim to the north of the field. Behind the front was a large area of clear sky, and most pilotswere waiting for the approach of the better conditions indicated by a line of cumulus to the west. The rush for second launches began at 3.20, with Thomson'sred Olympia, No. 15, first in line. Although quite a number of aircraft subsequently needed a third launch, cu-nims were build-ing up near the site now, and beneath them groups of up to twelve machines could be seen circling and climbing rapidly. The T.42landed to take advantage of a second release-time and the improved conditions; it was obvious now that a large amount of cloud-flyingwould be required of pilots completing the course. The final tows were made by the Stampes into the teeth of alocal thunderstorm and, soon after, the remaining ten circling sailplanes were swallowed up into the dark grey mass of a massivecu-nim. Those on the ground crossed their fingers, and began to wait for news.By early evening, there was a straggling line of pins on the map, most of them more-or-less on the right track. Ten single-seaters and six two-seaters had failed to leave St. Yan, however, while a large number had failed to reach farther than half-way,and were scattered around the Roanne area. It had been a good day for the Americans, all three of whose aircraft had reached
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