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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1770.PDF
934 CROYDON TO CAPRI —and Back: a Holiday Journey by Four in a Miles Messenger Part I By T. G. PRYTHERCH D-DAY plans could scarcely have been more thorough thanthose we made for our journey. An expenditure of twopounds ten shillings on maps was a prelude to a foolscap sheet full of place names, statute miles and magnetic courses. Ihad not flown further than Paris before, and the proposed trip Croydon - Rheims - Zurich - Locarno - Venice - Rome - Naples -Pisa - Albenga - Cannes - Lyons - Le Touquet - Croydon seemed as formidable a task as breaking through the sound barrier. I had enormous faith in the Miles Messenger we hired, and apreliminary flight, four up, convinced me that it had almost a Proctor-like performance combined with take-off and landingcharacteristics all its own. With 36 gallons of fuel and a six- channel Plessey radio we felt prepared to face anything—thoughquite late in the arrangements we discovered that our Messenger had been rebuilt with Gemini wings, and the additional 3001breduced our luggage to the resemblance of a packed lunch each. After days of indifferent weather August 8 dawned as one ofthis summer's few good days. After the usual paper work our estimated ten o'clock take-off became eleven. We were off theground after a ridiculously short run, and set course for Dunge- ness in brilliant sunshine. The Channel crossing at 5,000ft fromDungeness to Le Touquet was uneventful, and we reset course over Le Touquet for Rheims. I held a cruising speed of 100 m.pJi., and after two-and-a-halfhours we landed at Rheims to refuel. The next stage, to Zurich, was notable for the sensation of height conveyed by clearing thehills near Basle by 800ft at 6,800ft and then being projected, as it were, over a sheer drop into the valley beyond. My first viewof the Alps was impressive. What I first dismissed as clouds in the sunshine resolved themselves into majestic snowy peakswhich made mankind seem very puny indeed. Four miles from Kloten, Zurich, I managed to make radiocontact, if intermittently, and found it essential on such a busy international airport, where we landed after a Constellation anda Viscount. In deference to the big stuff I obtained radio per- mission to put down on the short grass strip being used by clubaircraft. Radio instructions for taxymg to the imposing airport building were most explicit, and we felt quite important as welined up between a Constellation and a Viscount, watched by large crowds on the three-tier balconies. The landing fee wasthe equivalent of six shillings and hangarage cost 15s a night. With five-and-a-half flying hours behind us we enjoyed a goodmeal in the glass-fronted palace with its background of a moonlit sky, and were oblivious to the cost, which far exceeded a poundsterling apiece. The taxi-driver recommended a good hotel, and at 16s each for bed and breakfast we were satisfied. Our slumberswere cut short by a loud fire-alarm and some church bells at After being "clamped" by weather in an Alpine valley: G-AILL on the disused wartime airstrip at Domat-Ems, near Chur. FLIGHT, 14 December 1956 The Messenger's route— minor diversions excepted. THIS article, we feel, gives a very fair idea of the sort of experiences—of weather, scenery, people and (occasionally) the altogether unexpected —which a light-aircraft user may encounter if he ventures on a Con-tinental tour. The Miles Messenger (Cirrus Major 3) carried four people: the author, who recently founded the Puss Moth Flying Clubat Croydon, and who in pre-war days held an Autogiro licence; Mr. E. M. Bell, A.R.Ae.S., a liaison engineer on Viscount construction, anddesigner of an ultra-light soon to be built; Mr. W. Lofting, an aircraft radio specialist at Vickers-Armstrongs; and Mr. N. Bennett, a recordingengineer and radio "ham." five o'clock. There followed the Continental breakfast of rolls,and then sightseeing and souvenir hunting, capped by a ride on the funicular railway to a hill overlooking Lake Zurich. Next morning we were to encounter our first snag. The clubpilots at Zurich were most helpful, but few had flown in the Alps. Those who had done so favoured the crossing of the St.Gotthard Pass, over 9,000ft up. At 11,000 or 12,000ft, they assured us, we should be all right. Then the met. man warnedus off—the dreaded south wind in the St. Gotthard Pass, the Fohn, caused sensational down-draughts; and we were to seethe wrecked engines of a Twin Navion caught-out in this way, and a hair-raising photograph of a concertina-like Piper Cub.The way we fancied was down the lake to Chur, then via Disentis and the Lukmanier Pass. This pass is some 6,500ft highand all we had to locate the turning-off point was a wooden bridge and a monastery. The mixture control of the Messenger had been disconnected,and we deemed it a prudent move to have this restored immedi- ately. Swiss engineers worked hard for over two hours andinstalled a neat cockpit control. The weather man warned us that bad weather was coming in,and that if we did not go that afternoon we should face two or three days' delay. Our midday take-off became 4.50 p.m., butat last we were off down the runway, loaded with all we could carry. I reached 9,000ft at the easterly tip of the lake and gingerlyentered the next valley. We were 100ft below the sides and fairly filled the valley, leaving vision ahead and down each side of thenose. I was pondering on the futility of keeping to the right in the valleys when I spotted a Piper Cub over to our left, skimmingthe peaks. We joined another valley and almost immediately ran into thick haze. This suggested turning back, for the narrownessof the valley left no margin for error. However, we emerged again into clear weather and were now at 9,500ft. We identified Chur,a town of reasonable size, boasting according to the European Air Touring Guide an airstrip. My idea of a monastery is that it should resemble a church, sowhen we flew over what looked like an hotel with green-tiled roof and white walls, surrounded by houses, we went sailing on.Presently we spotted a lake which was not marked on the map (the half-million map is nigh on hopeless for Alpine flying)-—and simultaneously we were confronted by a sheer rock face that towered above us. Large helpings of flap assisted us to turn ona sixpence and we started back toward Zurich, 100 miles away, feeling distinctly frustrated. We had been so pre-occupied with finding the way (in oneplace, where the map simplified it to three valleys we found seven, all looking alike) that not until the return did we noticethat in the next valley to the west it was as black as night. Upon reaching Chur we were concerned to find that the valley aheadwas enjoying a first-class thunderstorm; and although I had a reasonable petrol supply I could not have climbed above thestorm to reach Zurich. High winds in a darkened valley lit by vivid lightning flashes made only one course possible. Since theAir Touring Guide listed Chur as having an airstrip, I turned
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