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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0983.PDF
FLIGHT International, 21 June 1962 981 individual performances are polished with a spot of last-minute practice flying. The promotional side of the show—posters, advertisements, admission, car park and other arrangements—has been looked after by display organizer Bill Chesson, and a steady stream of spectators is already beginning to fill the public enclosure. The pilots' briefing begins an hour before the show is due to start. In the chair is John Piercy, backed up by safety stewards C. A. Nepean Bishop and Norman Jones, but again the overall teamwork is emphasized as the individual leaders take up the briefing on their own parts of the programme—James Baring, the Turbulents; Lewis Benjamin, formation flying; Pee Wee Judge, balloon-bursting; George Bottomer, parachuting; and Dennis Hartas, demonstration racing. Peter Phillips, pilot of the Cosmic Wind, fastest aircraft in the show, makes a point; "I shall be coming in bang on time, so if the balloon-bursting aircraft could please—"; Pee Wee nods, '"—We'll get out of the way" . . . After the tied-together Tiger Moth formation lands and taxies in, the engine of %X must be kept going for a smart change of pilots prior to the glider-tow take-off ... Following the parachuting, get AZ over to the far side right away so that Benjy's wing-standing rig can be attached . . . These and other, more complicated details are smoothed out in a few quiet words. John Piercy sums up: "The emphasis in the show is timing. Everything has been arranged to fit—but only just. The little bits of dovetailing that are needed—arrange them between yourselves if possible." Chief flying instructor Nepean Bishop adds; "Give your best, skilfully, and without flashiness or dangerous flying," meets the prime Tiger Club display requirements in being at once spectacular and perfectly safe. Benjy himself describes its origin as follows: "In the autumn of 1959 I presented a paper to our chairman. Lovely word that—'paper.' Actually it was three pieces pinned together, and included a simple drawing of someone crouching wildly above the fuel tank of a Tiger, hanging on for grim life to a reins-like arrangement strung back from the leading edge. The footholds were ski-like and designed to prevent the rider going upwards when the plane didn't. Norman took one look at that wild fool on top and said 'The idea's good, but not that way.' And he passed it to Adrian Deverell at Rollasons . . ." Who, as the Air Registration Board, the Ministry of Aviation and display audiences will confirm, did a thoroughly good job. Having proved the feasibility of the scheme, Benjy is now planning to hand over his wing-top position to female club-members Sue Phillips and Juanita Jover. From the lively tailchase which opens the show to the final handicap race, the remaining items on the Tiger Club's bill convey nothing so much as the sheer fun of flying:— Classic Tiger aerobatics by "Bish," who learned to fly in 1929, instructed at No 28 EFTS of the Rhodesian Air Training Group during 1941-44 and has logged some 3,500 of his 6,000 flying hours on the Tiger Moth; The sprightly antics of the Turbulent quartet led by James Baring, cavorting across, around, under the tape and through the toilet paper; Highly accurate and amusing flourbag bombing, including level runs and some spectacular dive-bombing; One of the most frightening "first flying lessens" ever, with Left, Cosmic Wind "ballerina" flown by Peter Phillips. Benjamin, pictured during the Panshanger display The interested observers are display director John Piercy (right) and wing-stander Lewis and John Piercy comes back with the final word: "Have fun." From the two hours of exuberant flying which followed, the Tiger Clut>—and its audience—did just that. This year's programme has two new star turns, one a high- performance display aircraft in the classic racing tradition; and the other a simple but effective variation on the pre-war wing-walking act. Cosmic Wind G-ARUL, alias Ballerina, is one of the "tin triplets"—the other two were Cosmic Winds Minnow and Little Toni—designed and built by a team of Lockheed pilots and engin eers headed by Tony LeVier in 1947-48 for the US Goodyear Trophy races. This aircraft achieved a speed of 188 m.p.h. in the 1950 races in Detroit, and two further examples of the type were subsequently built. Powered by an 85 h.p. Continental engine, the all-metal Cosmic Wind has a span of only 18ft lliin and cruises at 150-160 m.p.h. Ballerina is owned by Norman Jones of the Tiger Club, and is flown by Peter Phillips and by Neil Williams in this year's Tiger Club display. In July, Phillips and Ballerina will compete in the 1962 world aerobatics contest in Budapest: meanwhile, the air craft's flashing performance in the Tiger Oub's display is a hopeful sign. . , The Benjamin/Hartas double-act, with Lewis Benjamin on the wing and Dennis Hartas in the cockpit of Tiger Moth G-ARAZ, Dennis Hartas doing things to Tiger G-ACDC that make even Bish close his eyes tight; and Glider aerobatics, parachute spot-landing, tied-together trio of Tigers, the vintage Arrow Active, and other acts. Visually, these aircraft and pilots tell their own story. Just to make doubly sure that the public knows what is going on, the irrepressible John Blake stays on the end of a microphone through out the show, delivering an accomplished commentary and filling in with the more acceptable of his aviation stories should a pause in the flying occur. Behind the light-hearted approach lies the club's serious purpose—to encourage the general British public to become an air-minded community. The only group of people who could stage an air circus of this kind in Britain at present are the members of the Tiger Club—a club that would not have been formed had it not been for the enthusiasm for flying of Norman Jones. Managing director of a well-known paper company, director of a light-aircraft company, and a private pilot since 1926, he was perhaps the first British businessman to use an aircraft on business trips—a Cirrus Moth, which his company began to operate in 1930. Each of the Tiger Club's displays is a tangible tribute to Norman Jones and his lieutenant, C. A. Nepean Bishop. And the enthusiasm and skill of the club's young pilots are the healthiest thing in British sporting flying today. That isn't bad for a bunch of barnstormers.
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