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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 2351.PDF
248 FLIGHT, 18 September 1959 Farnborough Week... broke away, to return to Benson: we were then only 25 secondslate, so gaining on schedule. At this point we heard the Hastings calling Farnborough and the Sycamore and Whirlwind report:"Helicopters at gate; five seconds late." (The "gate," for the Transport Command aircraft coming in to the display, was a rail-way junction just south-west of Basingstoke.) We ourselves just then came up to U.3, an embankment, only 15 sec late; and F/L.Graham remarked: "I can't see our yellow cornfield yet; I hope the farmer hasn't mowed it. (After a week's practice, and fourdays' Farnborough participation, the 21 Sqn. crew were beginning to know this route by heart.) F/L. Graham put the boost up to+ 1; the reserve Pioneer broke away; and our navigator said: "You've got half a minute to go; you can start trimming back abit." The yellow cornfield came in sight: it had indeed been mowed; and we came to "the gate"—as F/L. Norton-Craig putit—"right on the button." His pilot said: "I'll keep it just below 90"; then we heard the Britannia catling up control. We heldour height till just over some pylons, before descending for the run across the airfield; then, with two minutes to go, saw thefinal bomb-burst of Treble-One's display, with black Hunters pulling out to all points of the compass. In a minute we werein the show ourselves, with the helicopters ahead and quick glimpses of the Rotodyne and Hovercraft and other aircraft andsome of the 22,000 people below, and in less than a minute out of it: pulling up over the helicopters and heading out on the"escape route" round by Milford and Haslemere. At Whitchurch we sent the two Pioneers home to Upavon and a little later turnedon to course for Benson at a comfortable 3,000ft. At last, Reith and Norton-Craig could relax a bit; for No. 21 Sqn. anotherFarnborough day was over. Saturday, September 12 On the second of the public dayssome 95,000 people saw what not even privileged guests of the S.B.A.C. had been able to see previously, the first public flight ofthe SCI and its change from vertical take-off to forward flight in the hands of Tom Brooke-Smith, Short Brothers and Harland'schief test pilot. This event, together with the daily just-airborne manoeuvring^ of the SR-Nl Hovercraft, gave this year's Show aspecial significance: for in these machines the British aircraft industry has successfully demonstrated its ability to master newdimensions. The news which came from Moscow on this day, that the Russians had sent a rocket boring towards the moon,was one in the eye for the Americans rather than for us; but if. the firing was a purely astronautical act and not partly a well-timed political gesture, the British industry can at least claim to be doing things equally interesting, if less spectacular. On the whole, however, this Saturday of the 1959 S.B.A.C.Show followed much the pattern of previous occasions except that it had a delightful soundless prelude—in the form of skilfulEagle, Skylark and Olympia glider aerobatics—and the weather was more stable and certainly warmer than for many previousyears. Heat brings its own hazard, however, in the form of haze, which in this case persisted throughout the display. Anotherhazard was the fact that most aircraft had to land downwind, and in consequence one wheel of the NA.39 caught fire as a result ofover-braking. However much the flying may thrill the layman inside thespectator's enclosure, seen from the pilots' tent and off-stage where the participating aircraft are parked it appears rather morea matter of nonchalant routine. The pilots, those hard-working men for whom Farnborough provides a well-won public accolade,sit around comfortably in front of the refreshment tent with their wives and families. Occasionally they give a quick glance at Islanders in the sun (or how to show off an aeroplane), with the British public, Jimmy Harrison, and the Vulcan B.2 playing the lead roles
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