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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1377.PDF
LIGHT, 21 September 1961 481 ED CLARK'S GIPSY MOTHS Ed Clark and (right) his surviving Gipsy Moth, constructed by de Havillond and as- sembled in the US by Moth Aircraft Corp in 1929 Right, Clark's first Moth, which came to grief during a film sequence in 1956 IF the law of averages had prevailed in the case of the D.H.60,the last Gipsy Moth would have been written off the USregister years ago. While this remarkable airplane (writes an American correspondent) enjoyed immense popularity through-out the British Commonwealth during the late 1920s, it was only moderately successful as a commercial venture in the US, where itwas assembled (and later manufactured under licence) by the Moth Aircraft Corporation, a subsidiary of Curtiss-Wright. Until seven years ago, however, there were at least two British-built Gipsy Moths still knocking around California. These were registered NC916M and N236K, the latter being owned by EdClark of Hawthorne, California. While N236K was operated primarily for its owner's pleasure and amusement, it paid its ownway. From time to time the aircraft was hired out to various motion picture studios for use in aviation pictures, including The LindberghStory, Tarnished Angels and They Came To Cordura. It was in such employment that the Moth abruptly terminatedits lengthy career. Hank Coffin, a well-known stunt pilot, was hedge-hopping it during the filming of an Abbott and Costellocomedy. Preoccupied with watching the signals of the camera crew hovering above in a helicopter, he failed to observe a telephonepole directly in his path. The Moth embraced the pole with terrific force and disintegrated. Again the law of averages was over-ruled:more or less intact, Coffin extricated himself from the debris, mumbling something about where in the heck could he find anotherGipsy Moth to finish the film. Although the Moth was his pride and joy, Ed Clark is a philo-sophical individual and accepted the loss of his aged biplane with equanimity. He remembered seeing a derelict D.H.60 north ofSan Francisco and immediately set out to negotiate with the'owner. Within twenty-four hours he had another Gipsy Moth, which wasfiyable except for an asthmatic engine. Fortunately, the engine from N236K was undamaged and it was quickly installed in thenewly acquired NC916M, which was then flown back to the filming site to finish the sequence without further incident. THE POPULAR FLYING ASSOCIATION'S two-day inter-national rally, held at Fairwood Common airfield, Swansea, on September 9 and 10, drew over 30 aircraft, including a seven-aircraftFrench contingent. Among the French pilots was Monsieur M. Beraud, president of the Reseau du Sport de L'Air, the Frenchequivalent of the PFA, who carried off the Concours d'Elegance trophy with his Jodel D.I99. Mr Norman Jones of the Tiger Clubarrived in the prototype Condor to learn the happy news that he had been awarded the new Challenge Trophy presented to thePFA by the Royal Aero Club for the individual making the greatest contribution during the year in the cause of light aviation. The award for the best-constructed ultra-light aircraft at the rallywent to the Hertfordshire Experimental Group (operating from St Albans) for its Turbulent. At the presentation of the trophiesMr David Armstrong, PFA chairman, said that over 90 members In spite of the fact that supervision of his machine shop keeps himbusy six days a week, Clark manages to get in a few hours of flying every other weekend. He keeps the Moth at a small airport justoutside Los Angeles in a 1 Oft-wide shed between two normal-size hangars. Of course, the wings have to be folded and unfolded. Whenever there is a fly-in meeting of the Antique AirplaneAssociation, Clark usually makes it a point to show up with the Gipsy Moth, and invariably the little biplane flies away with atrophy or two. Sometimes, when the fly-ins are held in distant cities or east of the Rockies, the Gipsy Moth goes by trailer. During the 1960 West Coast AAA Fly-In, Clark and a passengerwere in formation with a Davis D1W parasol of about the same vintage and four other relics of a generation past. They wereflying close, almost within hand-shaking distance. Just as the group was breaking up, a gust of wind caught the Davis and its fuselagestruck the Moth's upper wing on the starboard side, cracking the forward spar and crushing several ribs. The Davis and its horrifiedpilot wobbled off to the airport with a sizeable hole in its side. Clark and his companion, who were wearing parachutes, atfirst contemplated abandoning the venerable Gipsy Moth. But a few minutes' investigation of the controls and handling character-istics indicated that the odds were still stacked in the Moth's favour, and, anyway, the parachutes were nearly as ancient as the airplane.Clark and his companion decided to stick with the Moth for better or for worse and an emergency landing was safely accomplished. Now in its thirty-second year, the Moth is still hale and heartyand its 90 h.p. Gipsy 1 ticks off the r.p.m. as smoothly as ever. Clark has acquired a stock of spare parts sufficient to keep it in theair indefinitely, so it may be a long time to come before the last American-owned Gipsy Moth retires "with wings forever folded." from all parts of the country had joined in the rally, and theirsupport was indicative of the growing strength of the Association. Over 100 affirmative replies had been received following theAssociation's referendum on the possibility of a PFA-organized charter flight across the Atlantic to link up with the ExperimentalAircraft Association. The programme on the first day, carried out in brilliantsunshine, was to include a fly-off for the Masefield Trophy between the McAully Group and the Armstrong Whitworth Group, but thisevent had to be postponed because of magneto trouble in the AWA Group's Tiger Moth. A major part of the landings competi-tions were completed, however, and there was a good deal of local flying over the Gower peninsula. Unfortunately, torrential rainbrought the programme to a halt on the second day of the rally.
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