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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1114.PDF
204 FLIGHT CORRESPONDENCE The Editor of "Flight" is not necessarily in agreement with the views expressed by correspondents in these columns;the names and addresses of the writers, not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. The First Hangar "— r • "EXPERIENCE has taught me to be wary of any claim to a-'-' "first" in aviation and, indeed, in other matters. Even being reasonably certain about the Western world's accomplishments,there is always Russia to pip on the post; whilst I can assure unbelievers in Russian claims that Turkey, lays claim—if a seasonalChristmas greeting card from a Moslem country is admitted—to flight in about 1650. It is, therefore, with caution that one should read the lucubra-tions of Messrs. Dorman and Courtenay, neither of whom can have been alive when the early civil flights were made—incidentallyand probably by balloon and not by aeroplane or airship. The crux of the matter is the definition of "hangar," civilian or mili-tary. Surely there must have been balloon "hangars" before 1783 : can anyone believe that Leonardo da Vinci did not ihink of sosimple a thing? And, since Icarus used wings, were they not built and hung up in a hangar? Now is the time for Messrs. Gibbs-Smith and Pritchard to drawtheir pens in anger and tell us about the first hanger. London, W.I. B. J. HURREN. I HAVE been much interested in the correspondence as to whichwas the world's first hangar for aircraft intended for civil flying. Mr. Courtenay, in your issue of July 26, says he reckons thatthe hangar of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, erected in 1903 to house their first machine, was probably the world's first civilhangar. But even before that, in 1900 and 1901, that remarkablelittle air pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont—whom it was my privi- lege, as Air Reporter No. 1, to get to know personally—had a shedat Neuilly St. James (just outside Paris) in which he housed his various small airships, with one of which, in 1901, he made hisfamous circuit round the Eiffel Tower. Earlier even than that, in the years away back in 1893 and 1896,the great gliding pioneer Otto Lilienthal had a garage or hangar at the top of his big artificial gliding hill, and in this he housedthe monoplane and biplane motorless machines in which he made those history-making glides, numbering altogether some 2,000. The first sheds used in this country for regular commercialflying were, of course, those of Aircraft Transport and Travel at Hounslow, and by Handley Page Transport at Cricklewood, andthey came into use in the summer of 1919—as I remember well enough, having had to dash from one to the other to describe thefirst civil flying between London and the Continent. Epsom, Surrey. HARRY HARPER. The Real Sister AnnI WAS interested to read of Sister Ann's rejuvenation in yourissue of June 21. As one of the two Dakotas which were used in the last war by the Supreme Commander, S.E.A.C. [LordMountbatten], she is especially memorable to me, because as the nursing sister at H.Q. S.E.A.C. I was the other "Sister Ann" onthe staff. Because we shared the same name I was often associated withher and can remember amusing incidents when our identities were confused. I never flew in her, because it was unnecessary forme to move about in my work, but the Supreme Commander more than once said I should arrange to do so. I regarded it as acompliment to the Nursing Service that such a well known plane was my namesake, and I always had a special interest in her. After the war, when I had left the Service and was nursingin Tanganyika in 1948, I heard of her again. One wet evening I was chatting to a pilot of East African Airways who was strandedin our remote township because of a waterlogged airfield. During our conversation I learnt that he had been the pilot of Sister Annfor some months during the war. He believed she was no longer in use, so it is good to hear that she has got a new lease of life.I wish her success in her new sphere. London, S.W.I. G. ANN RAMSDEN, Q.A.R.N.N.S.R. XXAVING read with great interest Mr. P. C. F. Morgan's letter-H on his company's rebuilding of a Dakota (June 21 issue, page 838), may I seek space to record the following (never beforepublished) additional facts on ex-R.A.F. V.I.P. Dakota FL.510's career? Sister Ann was built at Douglas (Santa Monica) in the springof 1943 as a standard U.S.A.F. C-47A troop/cargo transport, being allocatedU.S.A.F.SerialNo.AC.42-24166 with Douglas C.N.10028.In July '43 she was transferred to the R.A.F. under Lend-Lease, being one of 150-odd C-47As which were given R.A.F. serialsFL.503 to FL.652 inclusive. In August '43 she was ferried by an R.A.F. crew to Nassau, from where she was flown to Takoradi via the well-known SouthAtlantic route in easy stages, arriving there on August 26. Shortly afterwards FL.510 was ferried to Cairo via Khartoum and otherR.A.F. staging posts. Having arrived in Egypt on September 10 —along with considerable numbers of other C-47s destined forthe R.A.F.—she was flown to India to join No. 177 Wing, in which Squadrons Nos. 31, 62, 117 and 194 were then all beingequipped with Dakotas. It appears that FL.510 operated only for a brief period as a troop/cargo carrier in India and Burma because,immediately following the appointment of Earl Mountbatten as Supreme Commander, S.E.A.C., this Dakota was selected as hispersonal transport. Conversion to austere (but certainly comfortable) war-timeV.I.P. standards was, I understand, carried out by a R.A.F. Main- tenance Unit in the U.K. I saw Sister Ann on at least two acca- <•sions at Cairo West Airfield in late '44. Strict R.A.F. "security measures" prevented me from taking a good look inside, but Ibelieve her forward cabin was fitted with eight fully reclining chairs plus a portable "conference table": there was also a rearcabin seating seven persons in non-reclining seats, and a fully equipped galley right aft.Like the majority of World War 2 V.I.P. transports, FL.510 was immaculately maintained: her former drab brown andgreen camouflage gave place to a brilliant natural metal finish and her glamour touch was completed by the name Sister Annbeing painted each side of her nose. It appears the name was originated by the Supreme Commander's R.A.F. crew which, Iunderstand, included W/C. D. Campbell and F/L. Anderson (captain and navigator respectively). As dramatically recorded in Air Marshal Sir Victor Goddard'strue-adventure story The Night my Number Came Up, this air- craft made one of those rare "touch and go" crash-landings on asmall beach at Sado Island (Japan), thanks to the grand airmanship of the crew. This was on January 18, 1946; and several weekslater FL.510, having been repaired by a R.A.F. unit in Japan, was actually taken off from the same beach by W/C. Campbelland his gallant crew. Sister Ann finally returned to the U.K. on December 31, 1947,and until January 1949 was based at R.A.F. Station Bassingbourn. The same month she was "retired from active service." She wasthen flown to No. 8 M.U. at Little Rissingtqn and transferred to "non-effective stock" by Air Ministry, until on November 29,1956, as stated in Mr. Morgan's letter, her semi-scrap "remains" were purchased by his company. She seems to have made her lastflight as FL.510 sometime in 1954, and her total airframe hours were only 1,893 35 min, covering all W.W.2 and post-war servicein the R.A.F.! Nairobi, Kenya. DENNIS M. POWELL. Touche! AS operators of two Miles Hawk T.3 aircraft, we were most**• interested in the National Air Races photograph which appeared on page 67 of your issue dated July 19.Mr. Bailey would appear to have quite a few modifications incorporated in his Hawk T.3, such as the oil cooler under theport wing-root, the generator coyer on the starboard engine cowling, and a much re-designed tailplane! With these "mods" the aircraft should have a considerablyincreased performance, and would we feel, be almost as fast as a Proctor. You might even mistake it for one! Croydon, Airport. P. ELLIOTT.Experimental Flying Group, Ltd. Aug. 5-10. Aug. 18. Aug. 18-25. Aug. 23-25.Aug. 24-25. Aug. 31.Sept. 1-15. SeDt. 2-8.Sept. 5. Sept. 9-15.Sept. 13. Sept. 14-15.Sept. 15. Sept. 16-20. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences: National Naval Aviation Meeting, San Diego, Cal. Swiss Aero Club: International Balloon Meeting Bale. Aeronautical Union of Jugoslavia: International Parachute Contest, Tivat-Boka, Kotorska. Sporting Flying Club: International Rally, Copenhagen. Puv Aero Club: International Rally, Le Puy. R.N.A.S. Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire: At Home. Sixth Anglo-American Conference. Great Britain S.B.A.C. Show, Farnborouqh. (Public Days, 6th, 7th. 8th). Helicopter Association of Great Britain: Annual Dinner, Dorchester Hotel. Battle of Britain Week. Royal Aeronautical Society: 45th Wilbur Wright Lecture: Advanced Education and Academic Research in Aero- nautics," by Dr. Clark B. Millikan. Hon. F.I.A.S., F.R.Ae.S. Popular Flying Association: Rally Sywell R.Ae.S. Garden Party. Wisley. Institute of Metals: 49th Annual Autumn Meeting.
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