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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2056.PDF
494 FLIGHT, 23 September1960 Bratislava Diary IMPRESSIONS OF THE WORLD AEROBATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS BY NORMAN JONES PARTY left Redhill at 0900 hours on Thursday, August 25,in dull weather and good spirits—Peter Phillips and JohnAyers in Tigers, and Charles Bodington, Denis Cheesman and self in the Jodel D.140 Mousquetaire, plus a terrifying amountof luggage and spares, which the Musketeer carried with such ease that sne became known as Porthos. Stopping at Lympne to fillup with as much petrol as possible to save our slender funds, we took off for Gosselies at 1055hr in showers and poor weatherbut good visibility. Arrived Gosselies at noon. A dullish place —juke-box cafes and a number of sad looking Americans—enlivened, however, by a visit to Nipper Castle, where they are making a splendid job of turning out Tipsy Nippers for themultitude. Mr Tips and an old friend, Bernard Neefe, did the honours in the short time available. Fascinating to see a factorytake shape which one day may rival Morris or Renault. Left Gosselies for Frankfurt at 1500—a good crossing of theArdennes, but the fun began when we got to Rhein Main Airport. Airliners of all shapes and sizes were taking off and landing, andControl was too busy to look out of the window. We could not get contact on the radio for over twenty minutes, but, mirabiledictu, no incidents, and finally landed as respectable as a maiden aunt, on instruction from the tower. As fuel was getting short,the two Tigers had to be unconventional and force-land on a grass patch. However, the officials at Frankfurt seemed to takea pride in handling unusual types of fliers and made little or no bones about sending us off next morning between a Boeing 707and a Caravelle, although I think I did detect a slight note of relief in the radio operators' final instruction to close down.(N.B.—For other private fliers who want to see Frankfurt, go to Egelsbach, not Rhein Main.) Schwabasch was the next step for refuelling the Tigers, as thehaul to Munich seemed a little too long. This is an interesting grass airfield—American Army to the south, and a charmingBavarian glider club to the north. Also, the last word in indoor barbecues—just the thing for many flying clubs. Munich is the same as Frankfurt, but rather more civilizedfrom the light aeroplane point of view. Met Frank Price with his Great Lakes Special on his way to Bratislava, too—180 h.p.Warner Scarab, vintage 1936. Frank had his machine flown in pieces to Munich and was erecting it himself in the hangar.Spends his time crop-dusting and doing aerobatic displays. A formidable competitor to some of the Czech and French aces.We are looking forward to seeing him perform. On August 27 flew on to Linz, where we heard that competitorsCharrolais and Ruesch had already gone through. Recommend Linz as a port of call for private fliers. Customs, bar, andrestaurant all in one, and most convenient. Left Linz with many good-byes from our Austrian friends afterour three aerobats had each gone through their paces in good form for the last leg to Bratislava. The Danube here is lovely,and the Austrian countryside made a forced landing quite tempt- ing. The Iron Curtain was invisible and seemed to be guardedonly by buzzards flying at 3,000ft. Bratislava has two airports—the Customs one with a very goodrunway, and a grass one where the competitions were to take place. Both seemed to be more or less occupied by the military,and all had lots of assorted Yaks, Zlins, Antonovs, etc. Our two Tigers in formation on the Musketeer, we landedfull of joy and jollity, to be met by a charming English-speaking Czech called Vera. Customs, currency control, etc., all verythorough, though cheery. We were told that there would be 33 competitors, so the judging was going to be quite a thing. NineCzechs, seven Russians, two Swiss, three British, three French, one German, four Poles, three Hungarians, one USA. The Tiger Club team with the author (who is the club's chairman) Left to right, Peter Phillips, Charles Boddington, Norman Jones, John Ayers, Denis Cheesman (ground engineer) Bratislava is very hot. All the competitors are being put upin the same hotel, so briefing on the Sunday morning is pleasantly conducted over beer, tonic water and apples. Am very taken withthese Czech interpreter girls—nice to look at and very intelligent. Am sure they must have come out top in their class. Consideringthey know nothing of flying or aerobatics they are making a wonderful job of explaining the very detailed judges' rules. Each nation is occupying a separate table and discussion islively. We are learning a lot. All the Czech pilots, including the delightful and good-looking Blaha—the local champ—are doingtheir very best to make sure that the advantages of local knowledge are minimized. On Sunday afternoon there is a grand air display with all theconcomitants with which we are getting familiar—the Pole who hangs in his glider vertically under a helicopter; massed glidersin formation; ninety parachutists with coloured canopies all jump- ing together (the programme says 180, but I count about 90);numerous separate aerobatic shows, including three Migs (the programme says seven). Unfortunately, in spite of attemptson the part of the Aero Club to keep the show amateur and purely sporting, the need to attract the crowd and the presenceof bigwigs does lead to a certain amount of flag wagging and marching, which may destroy the "brothers and sisters in sport"idea that seems so promising. However, on the Monday the competition proper starts. TheBritish team—Ayers, Phillips and Boddington—certainly do not overrate their chances, but we are learning a great deal. One ofour Tigers developed a slight defect yesterday, so Denis Cheesman is in his element. Tragedy struck this afternoon after the British trio had putin some quite impressive practice, which I think surprised some of our Continental friends. That gay and lively French gentleman,Leon Biancotto, whom we had got to know and admire, fails to recover from an inverted spin in his Nord and is killed instantly.No doubt there will be an inquiry and the cause established. Our whole sympathy goes out to the French team and MadameBiancqtto. Practice will be resumed tomorrow, and the first series of obligatory figures will be taken. These consist of flick rolls,inverted spins, stalled turns, etc., all carefully planned in a sequence, which the competitor has to go through exactly, whilehis evolutions are confined strictly to a "frame" marked out on die ground. Each competitor carries a barograph to ensure thathe or she does not exceed the height limits—a maximum of 800 metres and a minimum of 100. On Tuesday morning, in slightly subdued and thoughtful mood,the competitors assemble and draw lots for starting. Lots of delay is caused by the "commission" from Prague trying to sort out Teams relaxing: the Russians (left) and the Czechs. The two gi'ki Jirina Lockerova and Eva Krencoia, competed in the Lockheed Trophy contest at Coventry this year
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