FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0967.PDF
19 July 1957 67 TWO DAYS AT THE RACES -for Aerobatics, an Air Display, the King's Cup and the Air Racing Championship "FLIGHT" PHOTOGRAPHS THE crowds that make an annual pilgrimage to Baginton towatch air racing might be forgiven for thinking thatCoventry's municipal aerodrome remains en fete the whole year round. The marquees, the loudspeakers, the enclosures, theaircraft—even the weather—were familiar from last year; twelve months, it seemed, had been compressed into nothing and the.957 Air Racing Championship was a hardly-interrupted con- tinuation of the event the year before. A false first impression. There were new faces and new chal-lengers for the racing cups, a new one-type race, a new and impressive international entry for the aerobatic competition and—as it turned out—one of the best flying displays ever seen in the Midlands, with no fewer than five formation aerobatic teams takingpart. That the air racing season should be sandwiched into two days was to be regretted, but for one crowded weekend at leastthere was a sufficiently ample feast to satisfy the most rabid air racing enthusiast. The handicappers were not slow to seize thisgolden opportunity, and in the second round of the Goodyear Trophy they succeeded in producing what was claimed to be thefirst dead heat in British air racing history. Damp, blustery weather (but with good visibility) faced thecompetitors on Friday for the first and second rounds of the Osram Trophy, the Kemsley Trophy, the Goodyear Trophy and theNews Chronicle Trophy. The last-named, a new "one-type" event for Tiger Moths, was very well supported. First man awayin this brief racing season of 1957 was Bill Bailey, flying a Hawk Trainer from Elstree Aero Club in the first round of the OsramTrophy. The field streamed away to the scatter-point, turned steeply down towards the Bubbenhall marker, and the 1957 Inter-national Air Races had begun. The succeeding races followed quickly; by lunch-time the first rounds had been flown off andanomalies in the handicapping could be corrected before the second innings began in the afternoon. New types tend to sufferheavily from the handicappers, and both the Tnruxton Jackaroos (making their public debut) had been fairly harshly treated inrelation to some of the more race-modified types against which they competed. The racing in the afternoon was consequently rather closer thanin the morning. Knox, Paine and Barker started a Proctor battle that continued throughout the following day and Dunkerley'sSparrowjet began to show its real form—although around four laps of the ten-mile circuit it was slower than the Mew Gull. Andthe second round of the Goodyear Trophy, when Bowles (Miles Monarch) and Denyer (Auster J.1N) tied for first place, producedone of the best race finishes ever seen. There were occasional Bailey's Hawk Trainer 3 leads Blamire's Gemini 1A around the Aero- drome pylon in the Osram Cup. troubles; Appleyard's Chilton broke its tailskid and was forced totaxi tail-high until assistance arrived; and Rush lost a spinner at the start of the Kemsley Trophy. Dunkerley also suffered a spellof bad luck in the morning when he was unable to start one engine of his Gemini in sufficient time; and later when he inadvertentlyturned inside a pylon and was automatically disqualified. Following the racing came the eliminating rounds of the Lock-heed Aerobatic Trophy. Seventeen competitors were each allowed a total of about ten minutes—nearly three hours of solo displaysand a stern physical task for the judges on that cold, damp evening. Saturday's Racing. Saturday dawned grey and overcast, withthe same blustery wind that had caused bumpy conditions the day before. Lighter patches of sky behind wispy fracto-stratus Kemsley Trophy competitors in this line-up include Ron Paine's Hawk Speed 6, Rush's Falcon 6 (less spinner), Marle/s Falcon 6, Crab- tree's Gemini and Barker's Proctor. Laurel-wreathed Fred Dunkerley (right) carried off the rewards accorded to the King's Cup winner who makes the best average speed in both that race and the Osram Cup.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
