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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1468.PDF
284 FLIGHT International, 22 August 1963 This Italian-registered Zlin 226 was fown at Coventry by Col Eugenio Salvi of Italy and by Marcel Charollais of France LOCKHEED AEROBATICS... anyone indulges in the sport. The only pilot not apparently affected was the Russian, who maintained perfect muscular control—although he did on one occasion lose control of his right eyebrow. On Sunday afternoon, in conditions which one could only describe as frightful, a flying display was put on for the benefit of the public. It included some ultra-smooth aerobatics from Chevalier d'Orgeix, and some really advanced and precise manoeuvres from the Hungarian Fejes and the Czech Hulka. A formation of four Czech Zlins wisely decided that formation aerobatics was not sensible and confined themselves to flying close to the ground the right way up. It must be mentioned that whenever things became slightly tedious the Spitfire belonging to John Fairey very ably filled the gap. Thus Bank Holiday Monday arrived with the prospect that the Lockheed might have to be abandoned. We stood by our aircraft at lOmin readiness until 11 o'clock. The weather appeared to be clearing and it was shortly announced that the competition would start again at 14.30. James Gilbert and Bob Winter generously volunteered to relinquish their positions until later because there was a possibility that not all the competitors would be able to fly. It was also decided that the final results would be based on the preliminary bouts. Mile Lacour opened proceedings with precision and skill. Charles Boddington as usual kept immaculate position. Eva Kaprasova proved to us why she had beaten nine men in the Czechoslovakian Championships. Chevalier d'Orgeix as usual put up a beautifully positioned and smooth performance although perhaps not quite as accurate as usual. Albert Reusch really flew his powerful Jungmann to the limit to put up a magnificent perfor mance. It transpired that his son Hansruedi just pipped him in the final results. Toth in his Zlin gave a superb display of aerobatics in the vertical plane and his compatriot Fejes was full of new ideas, including an eight-sided loop flown with precision and verve. It was Hulka's afternoon, however, with a tremendous performance of great variety. Compared with other leading aerobatic pilots he managed to pack in almost twice as many manoeuvres. For my own part, in the Neville Browning Zlin, the least said the better. A fluffed opening manoeuvre, 180° out of phase, too great a loss of height and any resemblance to the intended sequence was purely coincidental. C'est le voltige. Flying in the Lockheed is considerably more exacting than some may think. You may have learnt how to carry out individual advanced manoeuvres with skill and precision, but you have still three-quarters of the way to go. In order to avoid repetition it is essential to have a sequence, and this makes positioning very much more difficult. Quite frankly it is childsplay to perform an off-the- cuff display in front of judges compared with flying a sequence. I have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to be able to fly one's sequence practically in one's sleep to be sure of success: to quote Albert Reusch, "It is a matter of training." And talking of sleep, Trebaticky was sitting in his aircraft, engine running, waiting to taxi out for his performance, when he was told to shut down and wait for a while until the weather improved. When they came to start him up again he was fast asleep—ice-cool nerves; or, perhaps, even if they had not woken him he would have performed just as well. The final places were very much as expected:— 1 — Jaromir Hulka 2 — Ladislav Besak 3 — Ladislav Trebaticky 4 — Hansruedi Reusch 5 — Chevalier Jean d'Orgeix 6 — Albert Reusch and Josev Toth It may have been that the final placings would have been different if the displays had been flown off as intended. Suffice to say it is in any case difficult to differentiate between the performances of the top six. Nick Pocock very deservedly won the Pearl Hyde Cup for the best British performance. A question that might well be asked is whether the British will ever win this competition. Of course it is possible but, my goodness me, one would have to be mighty good to do it. One is up against pilots who devote all their time to it. One of them said he had flown 500hr in the Zlin in one year, 400 of which were aerobatics. To give Josev Toth his due, he said he had only practised three hours this year. The Zlin has a greater performance than the Stampe but it is also not so easy to fly. It is more difficult to slow-roll and stall- turn, and it requires constant and full use of the trimmer in the bunting plane. Again to quote Albert Ruesch, "It is not an old man's aircraft." However, the more one flies it the more one likes it. Lastly, what of the Lockheed Championship—what place does it hold in the world of aerobatics. I think it is of the utmost importance because the judging is based on different criteria from the World Championship. The latter is judged on the basis of individual marks for each manoeuvre. The FAI have produced a book with nearly 200 different aerobatic manoeuvres—and, if carried out in the reverse sense, nearly 400. Each manoeuvre is given marks and the aspiring world champion crams as many of the highly marked manoeuvres into his sequence as possible, even if their variations are small. Any form of roll in the vertical plane gets high marks, yet rolling in a circle is not mentioned. No wonder Josev Toth liked the Cosmic Wind when he flew it. Yet who could fail to recognize the masterly ending of Chevalier d'Orgeix's performance when he turned through 90° towards the judges during one-and-a-quarter flicks, throttled back and bowed just as the Very was fired. Nobody disputes the fact that, for the World Championship, individual marking of manoeuvres is necessary. But without doubt it is bound to inhibit artistry and the capacity to perform in an aesthetic sense. The winner of the Lockheed Championship may not be the best aerobatic pilot in the world but he must be an artist. Perhaps that is why Chevalier d'Orgeix has won twice before. This year Jaromir Hulka managed to include the best of both worlds. Reproduced with this article is an outline of his sequence as observed from the ground, so that perhaps people will be able to see for themselves why he is this year's Lockheed Champion. Neville Browning's Zlin 32b Trener Master was piloted in the Lockheed contest by the owner and by Peter Phillips, the author of this article
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