FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2057.PDF
FLIGHT, 23 September 1960 495 the wreck of the Nord. Practice is resumed at 1110 by Ruesch Jnrof Switzerland. Frank Price is the next performer. In the air, his Great Lakes looks very like the Jungmeister. Rather scrappypractice for the rest of the morning, and in the afternoon, at long last, the competition due to commence. No 1 to take off is the Russian, Studonov, in one of the latestZlin 326s with retracting undercarriage. Blaha, who comes next, puts up his usual perfect performance. Altogether, thirty com-petitors go through the manoeuvres, the Czechs being noticeably better than the Poles, Russians or Hungarians, all using the Zlinof various marks. Of the "foreigners," Verette of France is extremely smooth. The British trio are a little unlucky to comelate in the evening when the light is poor and the airfield markers not too clear, but they perform adequately. Eva Krencova gives us a bad moment when she stays in herinverted spin for 5£ turns instead of 2\, but extricates herself and carries on with her performance with great coolness.B. N. Vasjenko is the only Russian to fly a machine from his own country—a Yak-18P, a very well built aeroplane, but withoutthe class of the Zlin. Weather fair on Wednesday the 31st, and competitors assembledat 0900 to draw lots for the second half of the obligatory manoeuvres. These are similar to the first half, but in the oppositesense, and include a tail slide instead of the outside loop. The interesting question is whether Verette, who was a close runner-upto Blaha yesterday, will keep his good form. And if the Russians, egged on by their trainer, will do better. The British team once again perform adequately, but cannot yetcompete on completely equal terms with the local experts, although it is beginning to be noticed that in grace and fluency the Tigercompares very well with all other types, except perhaps the Stampe. First and second, in Zlins: Ladislav Bezak and Jiri Blaha An affecting ceremony of farewell to the coffin of Leon Biancotto,and the buying of a wreath, occupies the afternoon and incidentally gives us the first opportunity to see a little of Bratislava. Thursday, September 1, and free manoeuvres. We are allwondering how we shall fare in these. A lot of fuss made by the judges and officials, who are the same all the world over—this timeto give the impression of complete fairness by saying that they are not aware of the identity of the competitors (obviously absurd,as even the Zlins are all a little different), but the draw for positions is done in camera. An intense rivalry is clearly developing between the Czechsand Russians. The free style competition is started by Albert (father) Ruesch. Peter Phillips comes No 10, and puts up a mostgraceful performance, unfortunately a little too low, so we think. Frank Price does strange things in the Great Lakes, then it'sJohn Ayers' turn. He stays a little too far downwind but shows a considerable improvement on Coventry standards. The Czechs,especially Blaha, Bezak, and Skacelik, are of course quite immaculate, with Vasjenko in the strange Yak coming best ofthe "foreigners." Now the British team may relax a little; as the finalists consistof eight Czechs and one Russian, all of them have to repeat the two obligatory sequences of four minutes, followed by five minutes'free style. It must be admitted that these high-class aerobatics are like skating—the accurate performance of the figures is of intenseinterest if you understand them, but a little dull to the uninitiated. Indeed, the more expert the performer, the easier the performanceseems. It becomes increasingly obvious too that these competitionsare quite unrealistic unless the same aeroplanes are used by all competitors, and there, as Hamlet says, is the rub. I am quiteconvinced that a good Tiger makes the best competition mount of all, as undoubtedly it is the most difficult aeroplane in whichto give a good performance. The Stampe is another possibility, and, of course, the Zlin. Friday is rather a windy day, but the nine finalists all perform Spectator-density in this picture suggests Farnborough Sunday their obligatory manoeuvres with only the finest degree of fault,Blaha being a close first with a lead of three marks. The marking for the free manoeuvres is subject to a lot of criticism, and onehas every sympathy with the judges (four Czechs, two Russians and one Frenchman). Bezak, Hulka and Skacelik are all markedhigher than the favourite Blaha. Presumably Blaha made some small mistake not noticed_ by me, or perhaps his 16-point roll wasnot appreciated by the judges. This brings the final result to Bezak first, Blaha second. A slightly disappointing result to theCzech populace, I imagine; Blaha, with his good looks and cheery personality, is a national hero to them.* * * The final days we spent in trying out one another's aeroplanes.The British trio were able to test the Zlin 226, and Blaha and Hulka both saw what they could make of our Tigers.Undoubtedly two facts emerged from the very pleasant week that we spent in "assisting" at the World Aerobatic Cham-pionship, and in this respect we have to admit that, from the point of view of quality and the number of entries, the Czechsmaintained their rather broad claim. These facts are (1) that properly organized and run, these high-class aerobatic competi-tions have a great future; and (2) that a lot of thought and planning must be put into them. The Czechs have gone quite a long waywith their obligatory and free manoeuvres. The question of aeroplanes is going to be a burning one.Obviously, at the moment there is nothing to touch the Zlin. In the Yak-19 the Russians have produced a more powerful aero-plane, but it seems to be too big and heavy. Verette and Charollais were unable to show that the Stampe could compete, but themachine seemed to have a good chance. The Jungmeister (no longer in production) is too short, andcannot be thrown about with the grace of the Zlin. The Tiger has not enough power, but was the most graceful aeroplane there,and, as the Czechs discovered, was far more difficult to aerobat than their Zlins. Probably we shall have to follow the exampleof the Sailing Olympics and choose one, two or three types and make all competitors use them in the same classes. Alternatively,have a limit of horsepower. It is obvious that, if these international aerobatic competitions catch on, the amount of horses which acompetitor may use must be limited. This is, in fact, what hap- pened at Bratislava. At the finish were eight Czechs, all usingZlins, and a Russian using a Yak. The finer points of the way the Czechs handled their machines was most fascinating. The Russian,who many thought was only in the final for political reasons, could not really be compared with them. On the score of the general organization of the championship,one can give nothing but praise. The sad accident to Biancotto delayed everything for 24 hours, but the briefing and planningwere put through with the minimum of fuss and to the maximum enjoyment of competitors and onlookers alike. CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS: POINTS SCORED Pos. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pilot and nationality Ladislav Bezak (CZ) Jiri Blaha (CZ) Frantisek Skacelik (CZ) .. Jaromir Hulka (CZ) Boris N. Vasjenko (USSR) Zdenek Beseda (CZ)Jiri Stoklasa (CZ) Ladislav Trebaticky (CZ) Juraj Souc (CZ) British team placing::— 27 28 29 Peter Phillips John Ayers „ Charles Boddington Obligatory manoeuvres 350.67 353.66 346.60 332.49 336.15 308.48306.58 348.28 320.32 253.30 223.74 188.89 Free-choice manoeuvres 350.00 340.00 340.80 343.60 311.20 333.00331.80 282.40 304.00 193.60 198.00 166.40 Total points 700.67 693.66 687.40 676.09 647.35 641.48638.38 630.68 624.32 446.90 421.74 355.2?
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
