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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1323.PDF
14 September 1956 475 With Avon-smoke marking its passage, the Hunter 6 carrying four under-wing tanks flashes across from Laffan's Plain. it had been announced that Air India had specified Rolls-RoyceConways for its three Boeing 707s; that B.O.A.C. had also named the Conway as the powerplant for its 707s, as yet unordered; andthat Hunting Clan Air Transport had ordered one Britannia 310, with an option on two more. THE PUBLIC DAYSL IKE the way the world ends in T. S. Eliot's poem, Farn-' borough 1956 went out not with a bang but a whimper. It ended officially when, at the stroke of five on Sunday after-noon last, Jock Bryce took off his Viscount—not to show off its lines in most un-airline-like steep turns, but to disappearbetween the sodium lights and into thick autumnal mist over Laffan's Plain, heading for his home airfield, Wisley. Whatwas left of a crowd of 125,000, who had valiantly and expectantly reached the S.B.A.C. Display that morning through rain as piti-less as an Indian monsoon, saw the Viscount depart; many thousands had already straggled to the station, or boarded theircars and coaches, since the flying display petered out at ten past four and aircraft which had not already flown were reducedto taxying down the waterlogged runway like so many manne- quins displaying rainwear. The pilots—heroes all, on this appalling day—had done theirbest to entertain their faithful public. Soon after one o'clock a Canberra was airborne to examine the weather; then aSkeeter did some entertaining waltzing up and down; next an R.A.E. Hunter (F/L. Geoffrey Shaw up) showed how absurdlyeasy it is to fly upside down when going very low and very fast; and at 2.45 Oliver Stewart announced that the official flyingwould start on time. It did; but within an hour the conditions had become almost too bad even for test pilots, so cancellation was not unexpected. The final word was not said until the fourR.A.F. Canberras (so impressive on preceding days in their sleek formation) had been talked down singly out of the surround-ing gloom, and until S/L. Gellatly had done his incredible stuff in the Fairey Ultra-Light (though he was in cloud below 1,000ftand almost invisible at the other end of the runway); then Oliver Stewart spoke the sad epitaph of Farnborough 1956: "It hasbeen a terrible regret to all of us, this week of bad weather." Regrettable indeed; for had the elements not been so unkindall week, this might have been a record Farnborough. On Friday, first of the public days, there were 14,800 people there, comparedwith 60,000 on the corresponding day last year. But by 10.30 a.m. the huge exhibition marquee was already quite crowdedand, even though conditions were far from ideal, with gusting chilly winds and a 2,500ft cloud-base (the brilliant 43 Sqn.Hunters were disappearing into cloud in tight formation and coming out of it still tucked together), the flying programmewas achieved—with the exception of the two F.D.2s due to essay a supersonic cross-over. Would they, we wondered then, be ableto manage it at the week-end? Saturday turned out to be nearly the sort of day we mighthave ordered—sunny and dry, and with a clear sky, though still a little unsettled-looking. Farnborough looked gay and carnival-like, its blue and white tentage, flags and banners reminiscent of a mediaeval tourney; the marquee so bulged with people inthe hot morning that some pre-display flying—by a silver Avro 707 and a Hunter, amongst others—was put on to draw some ofthem away. By afternoon the enclosures and terraces—as seen from the pilot's dispersal, and through the windows of JockBryce's Viscount, looking down from a steep turn during a 4j- minute ride—were black with people. Indeed, some 95,000—not nearly so many, however, as there could have been had the week been finer—had come to see all there was to see, andwere well rewarded. Not only were the R.A.F. Hunters and Can- berras at their best—the former giving a beautiful encore betweenfive-twenty-five and ten to six, like maestros proudly showing off their art—but the two F.D.2s flew and (although they could not dotheir act) produced the week's first official supersonic bangs. Would they be able to do their stuff on Sunday? Alas for expectations. Sunday morning was so wet that thepublic "invaded" many private caravan enclosures to shelter, so shrouded in mist that it looked as if there could not be anyflying at all. That there was is tribute enough to the pilots, to whom (as always at these wonderful shows) our warm thanks aredue. Thanks, too, to all who had any part in organizing and running this 17th S.B.A.C. Display. Had they not been playedsuch a scurvy hand by the weather, this probably—from the public attendance point of view, at least—would have been themost successful Farnborough ever held. Mr. C. F. Uwins, president of the Society, praised both publicand pilots and discounted rumours that the display might be held biennially. "So long as 120 nationalities are represented and theindustry's exports go on rising," he said, "we have no reason for making the Show less frequent than at present."What is needed is that traditional (but elusive) early-September fine weather. Perhaps in 1957 there will be an unlimited cloud-baseand the Show will end—thanks to Slade and Twiss—with no whimpers but a bang. Representing extremes in take-off speed at lower left and lower right respectively are one of the Fairey F.D.2s (actually the speed record holder) and one of a pair of Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneers, bearing the markings of K.L.M.'s Dutch New Guinea associate.
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