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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0883.PDF
FLIGHT, 29 June 1961 895 Club) in Class 1; and James McLoughlin (British Skydivers andRAF Abingdon), Leslie Howe (Ripcord Club) and John Thirtle (RAF Abingdon) in Class 2. John Thirtle did extremely well. He was unlucky with his lastdescent where a misjudgment caused him to fall well short of the target. Before this he had been neck-and-neck with the leaders—Offermann, Chase and Helms. His 800m immediate-opening total was the second-highest score in Class 2. The author and JimMcLoughlin returned the two closest spot-landings of the champion- ship with 68cm and 1m 09cm respectively. In the 800m jump-and-pull event the former achieved the best total score of 385.8 (out of a possible 400) of either Class 1 or 2. A sudden change in wind direc-tion and strength while airborne on one 500m descent, however, caused him completely to fail to score, thus forfeiting the Britishchances of winning the individual Class 1 event (final place, third). Every championship has its little drama, leaving the spectatorsthrilled and satisfied that they have had their pound of flesh. A German landed on a barn roof. The roof suffered substantiallybut fortunately the parachutist did not. The writer had an unfortu- nate accident in the aircraft. His pack came open and was re-closed in flight with the welcome help of Arvin Briscoe (USA). This resulted in the main canopy malfunctioning so he "flew" hisreserve. Both these incidents must be kept in perspective, however; a total of several hundred descents was made without injury. Most modern sporting parachutes are highly modified. By cuttingout one or more panels to a greater or lesser degree, the parachutist is able to give the canopy a very much increased performance. Thisgives one the ability to turn quickly and drift forward at up to 12 m.p.h. in still air. The rate of descent will of course be increased,but not prohibitively so. The modified parachute is stable and does not oscillate. In the British team Les Howe uses a triple-gore type to goodeffect. John Thirtle favours a double-T modification, David Francombe and Douglas Peacock double-Ls and double blank-gores, while Jim McLoughlin, Mike McArdle and I prefer a TU (or conquistador). However, the last-named must be handled like athoroughbred because of its power. If a last-minute turn is too fast Flower-like pattern against a summer sky: a 32ft plain- canopy "drifter" is used to assess wind conditions in the target area before championship drops begin The unusual shape of the German triangular canopy, with single blank-gore, is evident in this picture The Italians were a happy team of clowns, immaculately andidentically dressed and with the most enviable new parachute assemblies. The Swiss were quiet and unassuming. The AustrianClass 1 team contained a very attractive young woman, Helga Sarsche, who was also a competent parachutist. She becameeveryone's darling on the last day by making a 20sec delay from 1,500m while holding hands with Peter Chase (USA)—quite anexciting tangle of arms, legs and feet. I cannot do justice to the American standard, generosity andhumour in just a few sentences. The results at least speak for them- selves. They were a wonderful team and all amicable individualswith a wealth of parachuting repertoire and expressions. A pilot's initial instructions, for instance, might well be: "O.K. Mac, takeher up till she smokes." They gave us advice of sound value on techniques for passing batons in free flight, doubles and trebles(i.e. two or three people holding hands in free fall) and general relative work. We are all raring to have a go at these more spectacu-lar manoeuvres. There is a large discrepancy in standards between the Americanand the FAI parachutist licensing systems, which needs reviewing as soon as possible. Normally civilians are barred from flying inmilitary aircraft. The German Army supplied the H-34 helicopter and so, before being cleared to parachute from the machine, wewere all required to sign forms saying we would not claim in the event of injury or death. The USAF and Army condone a similarpractice. How welcome it would be if the RAF and the Army Air Corps could be persuaded to do likewise. the parachutist will swing out in oscillation due to centrifugal force.If he lands at the wrong end of the swing he will lose valuable distance.The French and the Germans used only single blank-gore canopies because of national laws barring further modification.This is a handicap—with a more powerful canopy one can cover up a multitude of mistakes. Nevertheless the French were veryhighly seeded and their performance, although good, fell a long way short of expectations. Gamesmanship, in the British sense, unfortunately cannot beapplied to international parachuting. There were protests from thelFrench and applications for re-jumps, principally on the groundsof dissatisfaction with the H-34 helicopter. My own view is that I have never dropped from an aircraft so nearly fulfilling the perfectrequirements. On the day after the championships the American team, a Belgian, Les Howe and myself set out to prove our confi-dence in the helicopter. We made three separate runs across, down- wind and upwind from 500ft, and demonstrated the machine'sversatility by all "bombing in" on target. The Germans were relatively inexperienced, many of them usingextraordinary-looking triangular canopies with only one small gore missing. It would be a wonderful parachute for troop-droppingas it has a phenomenally stable and low rate of descent; but its manoeuvrability is sluggish and it is therefore useless for competitionwork. During the air display on the Sunday the Germans' three best parachutists achieved a delay of over one minute from aheight of over 4,000m out of the Burda Staffel Pipers. This is, I believe, a German national record. It was just the tonic that theyand their supporters needed. Three weaving white smoke-trails hurtling earthwards for over 60sec was indeed a gripping sight. Class 1 (Spot-land (1) USA (2) Austria (3) Italy (4) Switzerland '5) Britain (6) W.Germany TEAM RESULTS ing only) points1,811.9 1,346.11,307.2 ... 1,235.9 ... 1,212.5 470.2 Class 2 (Spot-landing and fre (1) USA (2) Austria (3) Switzerland (4) France (5) Britain (6) Italy (7) W. Germany e fall) points3,150.7 2,900.52,849.8 2,653.0 2,433.8 2,235.9 868.8 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS Class I; I, Briscoe, USA, 665.7; 2, Passailaique, USA, 656.5; 3, Johnston, Britain. 542.1; with Peacock tenth and Francombe sixteenth. Class 2; I. Offermann, Switzerland, 1,112.4; 2, Chase, USA, 1,091.6; 3, Helms, USA, 1.087.5; with Thirtle seventh, Howe fourteenth, McArdle fifteenth and McLoughlin nineteenth. "Bombing in" on target, using a TU modified canopy
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