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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0968.PDF
With Col. Preston (Secretary-General of the R.Ae.C.) assisting, the Lord Mayor of Coventry presented awards to F/L. H. B. lies (Championship, and Osram Cup), A. Barker (Kemsley Trophy), W. P. Bowles (Goodyear Trophy) and P. Clifford (Norton Griffiths Trophy, in the Kemsley race). TWO DAYS AT THE RACES ... betokened sunlight not so far away, but little enough reachedCoventry during the day. Leading the Championship as a result of Friday's rounds were lies (M.18) and Barker (Proctor 3) with44 points each, followed by Bowles with 43 and Appleyard with 42. This year the King's Cup did not count for the Champion-ship, except to decide ties, and a win for lies in the Osram Trophy would make him Air Racing Champion for the second successiveyear. Prompt to time, off went Bailey as limit man in the Osram Cupfor the third time, followed a long while afterwards—nearly half a lap—by lies. He stayed at grass-top height while into wind andclimbed only for the scatter-point turn, continued climbing cross- wind and maintained his altitude on the 6,950-yd down-wind leg.Gaining the maximum benefit from the wind and making really precise turns is part of lies' technique. Scratch man Dunkerley,apparently so far behind that it was suggested he was leading the next race (for which he was also entered) began to bring his CirrusMinor Gemini through very fast in the last lap, but he could not quite catch lies, Blamire or Mclntosh, who finished in a very closebunch. And so lies—whose lap times remained remarkably con- sistent in each race—became Air Racing Champion again. Blamire, diving very low in the turbulent air near the finishingline, abbreviated a propeller against the ground and slightly dam- aged the fuselage and a cowling. But he landed safely, arrangedfor a new propeller to be flown out to Baginton, and by some heroic work was ready for the King's Cup in the afternoon.The next race, and the third round of the Sparrowjet v. Mew Gull duel was the Kemsley Challenge Trophy, and for a few briefminutes the sun came out to add a welcome sparkle to the scene. Only one competitor—Crabtree (Gipsy Major Gemini Salman-aged to pull out additional speed, and his unusual tactics of flying low to overtake on the down-wind leg were rewarded; hecrossed the finishing line five seconds ahead of Buster Paine's Red Proctor 1, which on the last lap had in turn fought off close opposi-tion from Knox and Barker. The Sparrowjet went no faster than before (it averaged 196 m.p.h.) but it quite unexpectedly reducedthe time for its standing lap by ten seconds, and so pipped the Mew Gull—throaty-voiced favourite of many—by the same amount. First away in the Goodyear Trophy final were the two air racingnewcomers, the Jackaroos of Heaton (canopied) and Cdr. W. Stuart (crop-sprayer); Hill decided to reserve the Tipsy B for the King'sCup. Last men off were Denyer in the Auster J.1N and Bowles, his dead-heat rival of the day before, 36 seconds behind him in thecream and red Monarch. By the end of the first lap a third biplane had joined the leading Jackaroos, and at the aerodrome pylonMeynell slipped his Tiger Moth neatly ahead to build up a clear lead by the Bubbenhall turn. Next round the aerodrome pylon wasOgilvy, Maggie-mounted, but quite unmistakable with his Comper Swift technique of a rapid, maximum rate turn on to the nextheading. But perhaps his reputation frightened the handicappers; the Magister was never really in the picture. Soon the Jackaroos had been gobbled up by a Monarch as wellas by Tigers. Gregory and Denyer were also up near the front. As they approached the finishing line, Bowles pulled comfortablyahead, pursued by Denyer, Hartas in the glazed front cockpit "Taxi Tiger," and Gregory. Hartas had an Awful Moment cross-ing the line and flew overhead blipping his throttle, obviously worried about his undercarriage. There was then a short fire-engine race, but all was well and Hartas landed safely. Last of the Championship events was the News ChronicleTrophy for Tiger Moths—many of the contestants old adversaries of Tiger Club races. The start was spread out over 1 min 29 sees,measure of the difference in performance of the Tigers over three laps of the ten-mile course. Last away was Arch-Tiger-TimNorman Jones. By the end of the first lap, the leading four were well bunched and soon the whole field was concentrated on twolegs of the course. As they approached the finishing line they appeared to be suspended against the vigorous cloudscape; then,in a tight, low finish, Jones, Vanneck, Pothecary, Donald, Phillips and Oldham roared across the line. An exciting conclusion to theclass racing. This year was the 25th time that the King's Cup has beencontested and a 112-mile cross-country course Baginton-Sywell- Peterborough and back was chosen for the occasion. To qualify,each competitor had been required to complete at least one round of the preceding class races. While the afternoon's air display gotunder way the eligible 36 faced the starter's flag. The visibility remained sharp and clear. Spread over 40 minutes, the start was undramatic. First awaywas Hill in the Tipsy B, followed again by the Jackaroos of Heaton and Stuart. Harris and Pothecary, both in yellow TigerMoths, set off together, but Harris cleared the scatter-point first as the two Tigers climbed well away to gain maximum benefitfrom the tail-wind conponent on the leg to Sywell. Pothecary later managed to overhaul Harris out on the course. Bailey and Ogilvywent off together in similar Hawk Trainers, but Bailey immedi- ately began to pull away. Overhead, the E.P.9 interrupted itsdemonstration while Bowles and Denyer went off, the latter initi- ally off course. Maestro lies, the same as ever, climbed the M.18only at the first turn; he was followed a long while after by John- ston's spatted, canopied, fast Hawk Trainer. And so through thefield until—with a characteristic 23,300 r.p.m. scream of its Turbomeca Palas, Dunkerley's Sparrowjet left the line followedin its pursuit of the leaders by the Mew Gull. The display con- tinued and the tea tents gradually filled. . . . Then, little more than half an hour later, while all eyes wereon the demonstration of a Whirlwind Helicopter, came the sudden characteristic whine of two baby jets from the west, andthe slim white Sparrowjet, so persistently entered and flown by Dunkerley, flashed across the finishing line more than twominutes ahead of the rest of the field to win the King's Cup by a handsome margin. Never before has the Sparrowjet gone sowell and never before has the premier British air race been won by a jet. It averaged 228 m.p.h. to the Mew Gull's 215 andamply justified its long development. After Dunkerley came a terrific finish; Rush's Falcon, Bowles' Monarch, Clifford's MewGull were all covered by eight seconds and then the rest of the big field deluged the finishing line in their final place-graspingdive. It was an enthralling finish, and all too quick an end to the 1957 air racing season. The Aerobatic Competition. In its third year, the BritishLockheed International Aerobatic Competition drew 17 com- petitors from eight countries. An eighteenth entry, the Somers Fred Dunkerley's Sparrowjet—King's Cup winner and fastest entrant.
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