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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0085.PDF
FLIGHT, 18 January 1957 85 THE AERONAUTICAL BOOKSHELF "Panic Takes Time," by T. W. Willans. Max Parrish and Co., Ltd., 55 Queen Anne Street, London, W.I. Price 15s. HOW many activities can a man squeeze into his life? TerenceWillans seems to have been trying to answer this question since the day when, as a 16-year-old orphan, he emigrated to Australia.Now, in Panic Takes Time, he looks back on the events which have led him to his present position as Britain's most experiencedtest parachutist. The teenage Willans grew up the hard way—in the Queenslandoutback, where he picked up such mixed skills as horse-breaking, shooting, ploughing, fencing, cotton-picking, fishing (with gelig-nite), tree-clearing and—as the junior member of a travelling rodeo —rough-riding. The outbreak of war in 1939 brought him back to Englandwith an ambition to become an R.A.F. pilot, but this was frus- trated by a colour-vision test; so he joined the Army.Willans graduated rapidly from horses to tanks and then to parachutes, and it was during his early days in the 4th ParachuteBattalion that he acquired the now-famous nickname "Dumbo." It happened on an outdoor exercise. "I am not really designedfor running," he recalls, "and one day on a particularly hectic gallop I found myself leading my platoon from something like ahundred yards to their rear. Our company commander was rather more athletic than was good for any of us, and having trottedlightly to the top of a hill, he stopped and looked back. . . . 'Come on, Dumbo,' he shouted, 'unfurl your ears and fly!' " Thiswas a little unfair, the author adds, "because my ears are said to be very small. . . ." Dumbo parachuted and fought in Italy, Southern France andGreece, remaining an Army parachutist after the war to develop new techniques and equipment. His last three jumps beforeleaving the Army (with the rank of major) were made in a little over three hours. By now he had developed a taste for manuallyoperated parachutes and was performing regularly at air displays. Some of his most memorable jumps were from the Tiger Mothwhich he co-owned with the late "Doc" Morrell, with Neville Duke's Tomtit joining in the act. In November 1949 Dumbo made the first live trial of abarometrically operated parachute, stepping out at 15,OOOft to fall free for 52 sec before the automatic release functioned. Eightmonths later he tried out the Mk 2 barometric release, this time from 25,000ft. But despite his choice of occupation, Dumbo hasalways been liable to air-sickness; and on this occasion, having spent most of a 71-sec free fall in a spin, he succumbed. So the book takes us, by the way of various other adventures, toDumbo's latest—the first live test, just a year ago, of the Folland ejector seat. Already both the test and the equipment haveproved their worth. Between jumps the author has found time for a remarkablevariety of pastimes, the objects of his apparently unlimited enthu- siasm including guitars, tape-recorders, cameras, guns, cars andhydroplanes. And he is a very capable writer, as Panic Takes Time proves. Our only criticism of this immensely likeable auto-biography is that there is not enough of it—particularly on the subject of parachuting. Some illustrations, too, would have beenwelcome. R. J. B. "How I Became An Air Stewardess," by Cynthia Arpthorp. Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., Edinburgh 9. Illustrated. Price 6s. V1ISS ARPTHORP traces her career from the post-World1Ti War II pioneering days in British South American Airways, when the cabin crews had to struggle with inadequate equipmentin converted Lancaster bombers, to the comparative luxury of her present employment with British Overseas Airways. When Miss Arpthorp is being truly herself her story is amusing,instructive and enthusiastic. She gives practical advice on how to follow her example, and rightly stresses that the work is hard andits compensations, though many, are well earned. She gives entertaining descriptions of some of the countries she has visitedand of some of the extra-ordinary flights in which she has participated. There are times, however, when the shadow of her company'spublic relations officer lies darkly on the page; there are some, too, when his blue pencil could have been applied with vigour.We would question, for instance, the advisability of giving almost four pages of a book on air transport—and those at thebeginning—to the subject of air sickness. And the list of British airlines employing air stewardesses is neither accurate norcomplete. Finally, we have searched maps of the Middle East, whichhave been all too close at hand during recent weeks, and can find there no common Soviet-Iraqi border—yet. P.S. "Golden Wings," By Alison King. C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd., Tower House, Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.C.2 Illustrated. Price 15s. WOMEN did many brave and admirable things in the last war,carrying out Civil Defence duties in the blitz, courageously parachuting into Occupied Europe, and flying all types of aircraftas members of the Air Transport Auxiliary. Yet even under the most hazardous conditions they seemed to have retained theirfemininity; and certainly in the air a Special Providence seems to have watched over them. Miss King (who is now director of the Women's Junior AirCorps), in her story of some of the women pilots in the A.T.A. describes how one of them landed safely at Hamble in a Hudsonthrough a rising balloon barrage, and how another took a Fair- child into Rochester, and a Stirling out, through balloons hiddenby low cloud. Most remarkable of all, a young woman flying a Barracuda off the east coast of Scotland found herself in clouddown to sea level, ditched the aircraft, sank in it to the bottom, opened the hood and rose to the surface, started to swim for shore,was picked up by a fishing smack which appeared out of the mist, and within an hour was back on dry land. But fortune, in such cases, quite justly favoured the brave andfair; for the women pilots of the A.T.A. did a plucky and invalu- able job. Their determination, skill and abundant sense ofhumour (which got them over many difficulties) are admirably recounted by Miss King. With excellent descriptive powers andthe ability to tell a good story, even against herself, she vividly records the spirit of those adventurous days. H. W. Aeronautical History in Pictures. Published for the Science Museum by H.M. Stationery Office. 2s net (postage 3d). 'THIS 32-page booklet, lavishly illustrated with 65 photographs, -•- provides a compact, attractive and easily studied history of flight, from the Montgolfier hot-air balloon in 1783 to guided missiles in 1956. It forms an admirable commentary on the exhibits in the National Aeronautical Collection at the Science Museum, South Kensington, London, S.W.7. Copies are obtain- able from there or from sales offices of H.M. Stationery Office. OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED Indian Skyways Aviation Directory of Asia, 1956. Aeronauti- cal Publications of India, Ltd., Gandhigram Road, Bombay 23. Molecular Flow of Gases, by G. N. Patterson. Chapman andHall, 37 Essex Street, London, W.C.2. Price 60s. Piece of Cake, by Geoff Taylor. Peter Davies, Ltd., 38 Bed- ford Square, London, W.C.I. Price 15s. Wing Leader, by "Johnnie" Johnson. Chatto and Windus,Ltd., 40-42 William IV Street, London, W.C.2. Price 15s. A. V. Roe, by Edward Lanchbery. The Bodley Head, 28 Little Russell Street, London, W.C.I. Price 10s 6d. Extinction Bomber, by S. B. Hough. The Bodley Head, 28 Little Russell Street, London, W.C.I. Price 11s 6d. No Moon Tonight, by D. E. Charlwood. Angus and Robert- son, 105 Great Russell Street, London, W.C.I. Price 12s 6d. The Analysis of Structures, by N. J. Hoff. Chapman and Hall, 37 Essex Street, London, W.C.2. Price 76s. The Devices of War, by Norman Kemp. T. Werner Laurie,Ltd., 1 Doughty Street, London, W.C.I. Price 18s. Men, Rockets and Space, by Lloyd Mallan. Cassell and Co., Ltd., 37-38 St. Andrew's Hill, London, E.C.4. Price 18s. Lubrication of Bearings, by F. T. Barwell. Butterworths Scientific Publications, 88 Kingsway, London, W.C.2. Price 50s. Fly for your Life, by Larry Forrester. Frederick Muller, Ltd.,Ludgate House, 110 Fleet Street, London, E.C.4. Price 18s. Aviation Cartography, by Walter W. Ristow. Card Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. Price 85 cents. The Exploration of Mars, by Willy Ley, Chesley Bonestell and Wernher von Braun. Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd., 1 Tavistock Chambers, Bloomsbury Way, London, W.C.I. Price 30s. Jim Bartholomew of the R.A.F., by Duncan Taylor. Chattoand Windus, Ltd., 40-42 William IV Street, London, W.C.2. Price 8s 6d. Journalist in de Lucht, by Hugo Hooftman. N. V. Uitgeverij "De Kern," Amsterdam, Holland. Supersonic Aircraft, by Hugo Hooftman. Arti, Alkmaar, Holland.
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