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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1840.PDF
FLICHT International, 18 June 1964 ]017 Fete Aerienne at Cannes International" PHOTOGRAPHS Looking across the exhibition area towards the club-house at Canne's delightful Mandelieu airfield. The picture was taken from a Hughes 300, one of several Hughes helicopters busily demon- strating throughout the show WITH the usual strongly sporting and competition flavourmuch in evidence, the third Cannes International Light andBusiness Aircraft Show was staged in gay holiday mood from May 28 to June 7 at the delightful Mandelieu airfield on the shores of the blue Mediterranean. Held biennially, and alternately with the Le Bourget Salon, the event has continued to grow in size and importance, and for the moment at least is the only regular exhibition in Europe exclusively devoted to light aviation. With a distinct predominance of single-engined types both in the exhibition and among the visiting aircraft, the character of the show still very much reflected that of the French light aircraft industry. Faced with a high import-tax barrier and stiff competition from the French Government's massive financial support for home sales of the national product, British, German, and other European aircraft manufacturers were notably absent. Nevertheless, pretty well the complete ranges of the three leading American volume- production manufacturers were on show, and the Czechs were there too. For pure spectacle and to set the early-in-the-season "getaway" Riviera clientele talking aviation and wanting to know more, the week began with a spectacular flying display over Cannes' curving golden beaches, heavily laced with military demonstrations. The less noisy presentations by the light aircraft in the show must have set a lot of road-traffic-weary holidaymakers thinking there must be better ways of getting to places like Cannes. It would be hard to imagine a more idylic location for a light aircraft show, accentuated as it was for the editorial team by fast, effortless journeys in the Flight International Baron. From a chilly grey Gatwick to a warm blue Cannes, the 604 n.m. airways flight took just 4hr on 65 per cent cruising power, even with all-the-way headwinds increasing to 40kt in the Rhone Valley. It was a pleasant surprise, too, to find that instead of the clackety-clack of a p.s.p. strip, Mandelieu had been given a 3,500ft hard runway since the last show in 1962. The return journey, with a night landing and 600ft forecast cloudbase at Gatwick, was even faster. The whole exercise was a convincing demonstration of the unparalleled usefulness of a well equipped light aircraft, for it allowed us almost two full days in Cannes with only one night away, so that the aircraft could be back to London in time to do a comparable job on the Isle of Man races for our sister journal Motor Cycle. There can be little doubt that France is the centre of gravity of European private flying as distinct from business flying not only because distances are great, the weather is good, and there are plenty of airfields and places to go, but by reason of the concen- tration of a number of small yet enthusiastic manufacturers on building really cheap, practical, economical, high-performance small single-engined types. Most well known and numerous, of course, are the Jodel family developed by SAN at Bernay and Centre Est in Dijon; others include Scintex with the Emeraude, and Wassmer also with Jodels, though now to a lesser extent. That this is. the right end of the light-aircraft business to enter has been convincingly demonstrated by the powerful Sud-Aviation concern. By choosing one man's promising design (the Horizon) and hiring the man (M Yves Gardan) to supervise development and pro- duction, Sud now hold a commanding place in the business and, with such an attractive design and over 50 aircraft built, are now confidently expecting to sell at the rate of around 200 a year within Europe by next year. Sud, like Piper with the Cherokee, are finding that although most Horizons have been bought with the bigger engine, the lower-powered version is catching on with the flying clubs as a basic trainer. Anticipating the escalating tendencies of the market towards bigger singles and then twins, Sud are almost certainly going to conclude a development and production agreement with MATRA/ Moynet for the tandem twin seven-seater Jupiter 360-6—the initial version of which is now the only French executive twin flying. Providing excellent performance and simple handling, the prototype was making its display debut at Cannes. Although it appeared in an apparently complete state at Le Bourget last June it did not in fact fly until December. An In the Air evaluation will appear in an early issue of this journal. Sales prospects for the already highly successful all-wooden Jodel family must have perked up noticeably following the recent empennage modifications, revised interiors, and new paint schemes much in evidence. The 105 h.p. Potez-powered Centre Est Sicile Record (named for consistently doing well in the round-Sicily air race) and the SAN Excellence (offered with either 100 h.p. Rolls- Royce/Continental O-200A or 105 h.p. Potez) are basically identical and feature the same changes from the now superseded Ambas- sadeur. The most obvious change is the fitting of a bigger and all-flying tailplane and a more stylish swept fin and rudder in place of the rather squat, angular affair on the earlier aircraft. With the The MATRA Moynet Jupiter tandem twin, which Sud-Aviation will probably put into production and market in seven-seat, 2 x 295 h.p. form
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