FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1530.PDF
634 FLIGHT,' 19 October 1961 SPORT AND BUSINESS... Competition nerves blighted the first day of the championships.Usually staid performers persisted in believing that the strong winds of the previous day still prevailed, and there were manyinstances of undershooting the target on landing, due to selecting an exit point that was too far upwind. Les Boddy just missed thecircle in this mariner, but both Robin Letts and Ron Griffiths performed well, with landings of 13m and 8m respectively. The seniors fared slightly better, with landings of 6m by NormanHoffman, 7m by the writer, and 45m by Peter Lang. At the end of the first round both British teams were in the lead, and the succeed-ing days were to witness a similar position. In the junior individual contest, Ron Griffiths fought for the leadeach day with Richard Deutch (Austria) and Lino Trettel (Italy), whilst the senior lead alternated between Norman Hoffman andthe writer, with Helmuth Konig of Austria striving to separate us. Without exception, every competitor made at least one howlingblunder which resulted in a poor jump, and there were many regrets expressed at the policy of no longer discounting the worst attempt.The wind was quite unpredictable, ranging in the space of thirty minutes from dead calm to the maximum permissible speed of8m/sec. It was left to Robin Letts to provide the most exciting spectacleof the contest. On his final jump he opened the parachute in a poor attitude, and several lines snaked over the top of the canopy,divid.ng it into several inefficient lobes. The fluttering bundle of washing spiralled earthwards at an alarming rate whilst spectatorshoarsely entreated Robin to open his reserve (chest) parachute. He finally succeeded in inflating the second canopy, but thenfound that his d imiged main parachute caused him to spiral across the field away from the target. With commendable presence ofmind, he used the American patent quick-release shoulder buckles to jettison his main 'chute, and descended the rest of the way on hissmaller (24ft) reserve canopy. On the way he caught up with his drifting deployment sleeve (which separates from the parachute onopening) and nonchalantly tucked it under his arm. Not satisfied with this demonstration, he contrived to land on his head, withfeet quivering in the air, only 28m from the target centre! The Italian team had meanwhile gained a commanding lead in the juniorsection, so there was no sense in accepting Robin's gallant offer to jump again. On the morning of the final day the senior team had a clearpoints-lead over their nearest rivals, the Austrians. Helmuth Konig had edged his way into second place in the individualrating, and British placings were now: Norman Hoffman first, the writer third and Peter Lang fourth. An average jump wouldconfirm this position, and it was just conceivable that we might achieve 1st, 2nd and 3rd. But is there not a proverb about countingchickens? Peter Lang jumped first, and scored full marks for length ofdelay. Unfortunately, he opened farther upwind than he had intended and had to blow-in all the way to achieve a landing of21m. His previous jump had produced a touchdown of only 1.7m, so he was understandably disappointed. I followed, taking off in a wind of 8kt for the climb to 4,000ft.At dropping height we turned into wind and with throttle almost closed puttered over the airfield. As I climbed out onto the Cessna'sstep, I noticed the parachute of Wielund Ruhmer (Germany) alight outside the circle, so I rapidly scrambled inside and bade thepilot make a second circuit. During this second run-in I asked myself why Ruhmer had missed the target. The wind nrght havedropped or changed direction; his aiming may have been poor, or 'Portrait of a disgusted Briton whose gamble failed" (Mike Reilly's own caption for this picture) he may have opened too low and left insufficient time to blow-intowards the cross. I scanned the ground beneath for signs of smoke, but the former obliging bonfires in neighbouring fields hadall died. From this height it was impossible to judge the wind accurately by watching the small flags on the airfield, so I finallydecided to gamble on the recent met. forecast being accurate: it had confidently predicted rising winds, and my previously estimatedexit point of 350m upwind should permit me to tack accurately to the cross. The target slid underneath for a second time, and 30seclater 1 stepped into space and started my stop-watch. Even as I adopted the familiar spread-eagled stable position and felt thecomforting rush of upswept air, I found myself wondering whether Ruhmer could possibly have made a steering error. He wasunknown to me before the contest, and it is misleading to judge an unknown jumper's capabilities. Exactly at 15sec I pulled the ripcord, and, as the opening canopyslowed me to a near-halt, I found myself gazing down at a limp wind-sock—the breeze had died! Despite all my efforts I couldonly achieve a landing of 112m. Norman Hoffman followed and made an identical error inselecting his exit point. He was further unfortunate in losing 30 penalty points for opening on the 16th second.This unhappy last jump resulted in individual placings of Lang fourth, Reilly seventh and Hoffman ninth. The closeness ofthe scoring between first and ninth may be judged by the fact that we were still able to retain our lead in the team contest with a finalscore of 2,519.8 points, compared to the Austrians' total of 2,467.1. The senior individual title went, deservedly, to Helmuth Konigof Austria, with Harald Zurcher (Switzerland) second and Pietro Gaffis (Italy) third. Richard Deutch (Austria) captured the junior title, with Griffithsin second position, and Lino Trettel (Italy) third. Boddy and Letts finished eighth and ninth respectively. The British success must be seen in perspective, for the resultsmight have been different had the East Europeans and Americans com- peted. However, it was a well-deserved win in which all membersplayed an equal part. There was never any doubt that our equip- ment was, at last, adequate for the task. Perhaps the nicest com-pliment was that fact that our parachuting technique was imitated by most other teams. Surely an encouraging omen for the future! THE IRISH PARACHUTE CLUB'S annual rally, held tradition-ally on the Sunday following Battle of Britain Day, has become an eagerly anticipated annual event. Weston Farm is a combinedfarm and airfield only seven miles from the heart of Dublin, bounded on one side by a reservoir and on another by a golf course,and it may well be the only spot in the British Isles where one finds a cow and a Tiger Moth occupying adjacent stalls! This year, in addition to the Irish competitors, there were fourentrants from the American Forces in Europe (Golden Arrow Para- chute Club, Germany), two from Scotland, and a dozen fromEngland. The fair sex was charmingly represented by Maureen Brown (Scotland) and Detta Gormley and Mary Lawler of Ireland. Competition is of secondary importance in this delightful event-,and the main emphasis is on exchanging ideas and entertaining the large crowd which flocks from the city and neighbouring country-side. However, to add spice to the entertainment, an informal spot- landing contest is held during the afternoon, with the result deter-mined by each competitor's best land.ng, irrespective of how many jumps he makes. Competitors may jump from any height they wish, either singly,in pairs, or in sticks, and are encouraged to perform aerobatic manoeuvres in free fall. Most jumpers used smoke-flares, andthere were some easily discerned examples of good "tracking" (moving horizontally in a glide before opening the parachute)The Americans had brought their own Otter aircraft, and chose to jump from 10,0C0ft, whilst the remaining jumpers used Austereand Tiger Moths and had to be content with altitudes of up to 7,000ft. Standards—both in free fall and precision landing—haveimproved since last year, and a closely fought contest ended with Norman Hoffman (Sky-Divers) winning for the second yearrunning with a landing of 5m. P.F.C. Chace (US Army) was second with 7m, and Mike Reilly third with 7|m. Irish hospitality was as excellent as ever, and the whole occasionwill certainly be remembered with pleasure by all who attended. M. B. R. RESULTS of the Scottish Parachuting Championships held on September 22 and 23 were as follows: Open Championship: 1, Mike Reilly (Ripcord Club); 2, Terry Jickells (22 SAS Regt); 3 Lt Col R. D. Wilson (22 SAS Regt). Native Championship: I, Jim McDiarmid; 2, Dr Charles Robertson; 3, Jim Currie.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
