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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 2902.PDF
522 FLIGHT International, 2 October 1969 Mr M. H. "Pappy" Spinks of Fort Worth, Texas, learned to fly in 1922 on a Curtiss Jenny which he rebuilt himself. At 63 he is still a keen builder, and at the recent Rock- ford Fly-in his own-design Akromaster was judged an outstanding contribution to aerobatics. British champion Neil Williams has also spoken enthusiastically of Akromaster ("Flight," April 24, 1969). It is expected that the aircraft will be used at the World Championships in Britain next year by Charlie Hillard, who flew it at Rockford Another Soaring Record Claim A world distance-to-a- declared-goal record has been claimed by Wallace A. Scott of Odessa, Texas, for a 606-mile flight he made on August 22, when he flew a Schleicher AS-W 12 from Odessa to Gila Bend, Arizona. The current record is held by Scott at 520.55 miles, but two weeks before his latest flight Alvin H. Parker, also of Odessa, made a 570-mile flight, and it was this distance that Scott set out to exceed (see Flight, September 4). Documentation for Scott's flight has to be approved by the Soaring Society of America, the National Aeronautics Association and the FAI. Wallace Scott is now the second person to have exceeded 600 miles in a sailplane, the other being Alvin Parker. Air Race Delay The fourth round of the National Air Racing Championships will now be held at Shobdon airfield, near Leominster, next Sunday, October 5. A record entry of 33 has been received for the race, originally planned for September 14 (see Flight, September 11) but postponed because of bad weather. The third round (twice postponed) has now been dropped. National Air Race scores to date aire as follows:— F. O. Marsh C. Masefleld M. Hennessy Manx Air Derby 99 85 95 Rochester Long Course 97 99 90 Goodyear Trophy 91 96 94 Total to date 287 280 279 The Leon Biancotto Acrobatic Competition, held at Dax in Southern France from September 11 to 14, and attracting teams from East Germany, Yugoslavia, Spain and France, was won by the East German champion, Peter Kahle. This international competition is held biennially and the victor is considered to be the European champion. Because Neil Williams, who won the competition in 1967, was unable to defend his title owing to the pressure of his work as a test pilot, the British team was selected by an eliminating contest: it consisted of James Black (captain), Carl Schofield and David Gaster, who was taking part in his first international competition. Each pilot was required to fly three sequences, two com pulsory and one consisting of figures of his own choice worth 500 points in the Aresti classification system. Two Briton? (Black and Schofield), four Frenchmen and three Germans went forward to the final, in which they flew two sequences —a further free one and a compulsory "unknown" given to them five hours beforehand. All the competitors flew Zlin 526 Akrobats except the French, who used their standard army trainer, the Nord 3202 modified as a competition aerobatic mount. To make up for their slight disadvantage in this respect, their team, comprising only army pilots, was twice the size of any other. The quality of aerobatics may not have been the equal of that seen two years ago at Dax, but the relative standards of the teams seemed to have changed little. Peter Kahle, Erwin Blaeske and Gunter Borner, second, third and fourth respec tively in 1967, all moved up one place this time. The highest-scoring British pilot was James Black, who was placed fourth, 76 marks behind Borner's total of 17,074. Black did exceptionally well in the two free sequences, in which he was placed respectively first and second. Unfortunately, his overall position was adversely affected by his performance in the compulsory sequences. Carl Schofield was placed eighth and David Gaster fourteenth. It is encouraging to note that the standard of flying which was demonstrated by every member of the British team com pared favourably with that of the other nations. With adequate practice the team should do well in 1970, when the world championships will be held in Britain. Results 1st, Peter Kahle (East Germany), 17,317 points; 2nd, Erwin Blaeske (East Germany), 17,111; 3rd, Gunter Borner (East Germany), 17,074; 4th, James Black (Great Britain), 16,998. HM^u Far left: The Bristol Hot Air Group are now operating their larger Omega 84 hot-air free balloon; it is seen here on a recent ascent from Doddington Hall in the Cotswolds East Germans flying Zlin 526 Akrobats took the first three places in the Leon Biancotto competition at Dax. The victorious trio, were, I to r, Erwin Blaeske, Gunter Borner, and Peter Kahle. See also this page
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