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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1540.PDF
282 FLIGHT International, 23 August 1%2 of 500? First flight of the D.H. 125 (two Bristol Siddeley Viper 520s), de Haviliand's jet successor to their best-selling Dove, took place at Hatfield on Monday, August 13 THE D.H. 125 FLIES ^ After the landing Mr John Cunningham, de Havilland director and chief test pilot, congratulates his colleague Chris Capper (left). On the right is Mr C. T. Wilkins, de Havilland director and chief designer Taxying out. ABOUT a month after roll-out, the final preparations are at last complete. On the previous day—one of the busiest Sundays at Hatfield for some time—the D.H. 125 had been successfully taxied, braked and hopped. She seemed, as they say, eager to fly. Earlier this particular day (Monday, August 13), Mr Joe Good win, responsible for the design under Mr C. T. Wilkins, is observed assisting with his deputy, Mr Bill Hampton, the final touches that Frank Reynolds and his flight test boys are making. At about mid-morning the 125 is towed out of the big Comet flight hangar and Chris Capper and his observer John Rye (Sea Vixen testers usually) embark to begin their pre-flight checks. Just before lunch they make a final high-speed taxi run. Reporters and photographers (some less understanding than others concerning the mysteries of first-flight delays) withdraw to the fire department of the Comet hangar where a sumptuous luncheon is served. DH Top People sit at the top table. At about 2.30 p.m. the fire hooter empties the tables. The D.H. 125's moment of proof is near. Capper taxies her out smartly to the end of-the 6,000ft runway. There she stands for a moment, only her high tailplane visible over the rising ground, intently watched by the people who designed and made her. As on all first flights, hearts beat just a little faster. All the sums have been done, and of course they are right; even if they aren't they cannot be done again now. Sir Aubrey and Lady Burke are there; so is John Cunningham, just back from a Comet delivery. For the first time in many years he is a mere spectator at a DH first flight, having delegated this one to Capper, whose first first-flight this is. She unsticks at 2.50 p.m. in less than 2,000ft and climbs confidently away on a dead straight course towards the north-east, under carriage down until she is lost to the eye. The crowd—not quite as big as when the Trident flew on January 9, because it is works- holiday time—waits for the big homecoming. Fifty minutes later she returns, precisely on a 180 out of the same bit of sky. Landing? No, her wheels are up, and anyway she is downwind. A fly past at about 175kt. She looks elegant, despite her rather unstylish paint scheme. As she touches down a senior DH salesman is heard to remark: "Well, there she is—the first of five hundred?" He could be right, if the 125 sells as well as the Dove, still in production after 17 years and a run of 529. One, a visitor parked round the back of the hangar, belongs to Bristol Siddeley, who have already placed an order for the 125. The crowd mills around as she taxies to a stop outside the Comet hangar. She looks no different except for a fly-spattered nose and windscreen. Capper and Rye oblige the photographers; thence to the Comet hangar with Sir Aubrey, Cunningham, Wilkins and Goodwin for a Press conference. Capper handles that one well too, though perhaps a trifle more nervously than he did the maiden flight of the D.H. 125. .liftoff... . there she goes,
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