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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1074.PDF
24 FLIGHT International, 5 July 1962 Informal briefing: the rules arejsxplained to the five pilots. Right, highly sophisticated flight system developed by Anthony Smith and used in the race BALLON FEST.. At the briefing it was explained that the race would begin at 2.30 p.m. Pilots were to aim for maximum distance during a flight of not more than three hours. It was forbidden to fly within cloud, near airports, over the sea or outside the Benelux countries. A successful intermediate landing at a place beginning with N was worth a bonus of 25km and a similar landing at a place beginning with D counted 50km. Pilots making such landings had to stay long enough to obtain the signature of two witnesses on the ground to prove their arrival. Apart from that, people were free to choose their heights and flight tactics. The take-off sequence, decided by lot, worked out as follows: 1, Smith; 2, Schaut; 3, Steeman; 4, Boesman; 5, Van den Bemden. The last few minutes before take-off worked up to a climax of hectic activity. Tony Smith and our Dutch juryman/witness were already in the basket, which was now only being held down by a stalwart group from the club. The first notes of God Save the Queen were sounded by the Fanfare St Hubertus Dongen. The moment of take-off had arrived, and I was still outside the basket—transfixed in a position of rigid attention and hoping desperately that we would not be released for another 60sec. Our luck held, and so did the stal warts of the Haagsche Ballonclub. I scrambled aboard. All systems were go, and we went. We surged upwards accompanied by a shower of children's balloons, which floated alongside us, and a great burst of applause from below. Gradually the sounds of fiesta died away and were replaced by a silence through which the sounds of the countryside began to filter, punctuated by the creaking of the basket and the rigging. From our altitude of about 1,800ft, at which we had stabilized, we were able to see each of the other take-offs quite clearly. Ben Steeman disappeared from view through the clouds very quickly and we did not see him again. The remaining three stabilized at a rather lower altitude and during the course of the first hour the line-astern pattern gradually changed to a five-mile line abreast as the stronger winds which the more experienced Boesman and van den Bemden had located at 800ft brought them up to us or, in the case of Boesman, very slightly ahead. At the end of this first hour a pinpoint showed that we had covered 20km on a course of 090°, rather a different wind pattern from the forecast 240° 5km/hr. Towards the end of the first hour we ran into cooler air and Jambo started a slow descent at 200ft/min, which was exactly what we wanted to take us down to the faster airstream that we were convinced lay at 800ft. At almost the same moment Boesman and van den Bemden out on our right were unlucky enough to run into a patch of sunlight which brewed up their gas and carried them up to an altitude of somewhere near 2,000ft. Having recovered from our descent (which had carried us down to about 300ft) by throwing out handfuls of sand, we stabilized at 800ft and during the second hour of the race drew some three or four kilometres ahead of the field. By now we v.ere convinced that we had a real chance of winning, but were somewhat uneasy at seeing both Boesmin and van den Bemden, although well behind us, down to a very low altitude and apparently about to perform intermediate landings which might at one stroke have placed them 25 or 50 bonus kilometres ahead of us. And what of Ben Steeman, whom we had not seen since he disappeared through the clouds ? We studied the map in order to select a suitable place for an intermediate landing, but all the places beginning with N and D were passing to one side or the other. Besides, by now the wind had freshened appreciably; and—as we discovered by tearing up and dropping handfuls of paper, much of which reached the ground well ahead of us—the nearer the ground the harder it was blowing From where we were we could clearly hear the sound of it sighing through the tops of the corn below us, and the wind-lanes etched on the crops showed that at ground level it was blowing some 20 to starboard of the track we were making at 1,000ft. It was only during the third hour, after passing to the north of Eindhoven, that we had our first confirmed sight of our ground crew. who had been delayed on some minor roads farther back. By now we were already preparing for our landing and starting a gentle descent towards some fields of corn lying dead ahead. At a distance of some four kilometres a three-second pull on the valve line gave us a descent of about 200ft/min. Over the edge of the field we dropped our 200ft trail rope to break our fall. During the last few seconds the ground seemed to rush up and suddenly we were down in the corn, with the basket, at a steep angle, tearing after Jambo lickety-split. A moment later we were rising to the top of a 200ft bounce. "I think we'll rip this time," I heard Tony say as we came down the far slope of the bounce towards a stretch of peat, rough grass and bushes. The shock of the impact knocked us into a heap in the bottom of the basket, and we were a few seconds slow in ripping. This delay took us up to some 40ft, from which height we seemed to be coming down even faster. There was just time to grab another sandbag and heave it over before we struck once again, depositing sundry cameras, binoculars, bits of rope, empty 7 Up bottles and myself in a heap on the ground. With one final convulsive heave the by now partially deflated Jambo carried its remaining two occupants a further 50yd to the farther side of a dyke. Only a few minutes later Jan Boesman had an excellent view of Jambo stretched over some bushes as he sailed over to establish a well earned victory which was subsequently confirmed by the judges as a distance of 70.5km. The other competitors were subsequently placed as follows: 2nd, Smith 68km; 3rd, Steeman, 66.6km; 4th. Schaut 47.8km; 5th, van den Bemden, 43km. Although the race turned out to be an unusually interesting and pleasant event for the British team, it was a very much more com monplace affair for the others, who manage to participate in quite a number of balloon meetings during the course of the year. There are, of course, thriving ballooning movements in most European countries, with the United Kingdom as a notable exception. Now that we have at least one balloonaut with a current licence and a balloon which is aching to fly if given the opportunity, is it not time for some sort of ballooning event to be held on this side of the Channel, such as an international race during 1963? How about it, Royal Aero Club0
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