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Aviation History
1971
1971 - 1279.PDF
FLIGHT International, 22 Mr 1971 119 EUROPEAN AEROBATICS THE FOURTH BIANCOTTO AEROBATIC TROPHY THE VENUE FOB THE Trophee Biancotto this year was Carcassonne, home of the Centre National de Voltige Aerienne. For years this has been the Mecca of aerobatic flying in France and it was therefore fitting that this year is should play host to the biggest meeting yet of competing European pilots in an event which follows the form of the world championships. A new feature of this competition was the introduction of a completely free-style sequence in an attempt to widen the scope of the contest and as an experiment prior to the possible inclusion of such a sequence in the world championships, which are to be held next year in France. Twenty-six pilots from eight countries entered the list, with new aircraft specially designed for the purpose competing with obsolescent, but still competitive, Zlins. Initially it was thought that there would be no British entry this year, since there were no aircraft available and the pilots comprising the team, following selection at CFS, had not flown for a month in a competitive aircraft. That they had done any training at all was entirely due to the generosity of David Hart and Micky Astor, who had made their Zlin 526 available to the team earlier in the year, and to a few farmers who had allowed the British pilots to fly aerobatics over their strips. Due to some technical problems, closely followed by the expiry of the C of A, the Zlin 526 was grounded immediately after the selections and the situation appeared extremely gloomy; the solution appeared unexpectedly when the French organisers offered the British team the use of a Zlin 526 from the school at Carcassonne. At the same time the Aero Club de Snecma offered us the use of their well tried Zlin 526 Akrobat which had belonged to Andre Delcroix, and which was a veteran of aerobatic contests. Not to be outdone, the Czechs made available their prototype clipped-wing Zlin 526 AFS which had been demonstrated at the Paris Air Show. The British team finally assembled at Gatwick for departure, where an eleventh-hour telephone call from Bob Mitchell announced the fact that his KZ.8 was operational again after its C of A and that he had been able to obtain some practice—could he come? It was decided to watch him practise at Carcassonne before mak ing the final decision, because this, his first international contest, was going to be more difficult than any previous Biancotto Trophy; one had only to look at the list of competing aircraft to recognise that fact. On arrival at Carcassonne we found the Marcel Doret national competition in progress, but being hampered by strong winds and low cloud. Since these conditions were fairly normal to us, we elected to fly in the borrowed Zlin two-seater whenever the weather prevented the national contest from being flown, thus ensuring that we could practise over the airfield. This school machine was rather short of power for this kind of work, added to which, following the known structural weakness of the earlier Zlins, it was fitted with a lock on the accelerometer which required a special key to reset it, and we had it impressed upon us that the limits were +6g and — 3g. The French were rather surprised to find that we could actually fly the sequences inside the limits, and from then on they stopped worrying. We were hoping to fly the Zlin 526 AFS in the competition but it was grounded at another airfield with engine trouble, so we practised for two days on the 526. On the second day (Sunday, July 4) we were immensely cheered by the sight of the KZ.8 in the circuit, and at last we had an aerobatic aeroplane with a British registration. The Zlin 526 Akrobat Monday, July 5, was official practice day, so our training flights in the school machine were terminated, unless we elected to fly it in the contest. Again, at the eleventh hour, the Zlin 526 AFS put in an appearance and the British team requested a test flight. So as not to be apparently over-generous to the British in front of the other competitors (in terms of practice) the organisers decided that we could have one familiarisation flight of 20min for each pilot away from the airfield, followed by the regulation official practice flight over the airfield. The contest proper began with the known compulsory sequence, where each pilot flew an identical programme. This exercise was to determine how well a pilot could learn a sequence, in terms of framing accuracy, where a direct comparison could be made with other pilots. The sequence was not a pleasant one to fly, as the downwind manoeuvres were extremely distance-consuming, and so the primary parameter had to be maintaining position. Gil de Montes, flying a 180 h.p. Zlin 526F, flew an almost faultless programme and well deserved his first place. The West German, Joe Hoessl, with the revolutionary Akrostar, was very close behind him with a completely different style of flying. The Akrostar apparently required relatively little speed in normal manoeuvres due to its very high power-weight ratio, and in a simple programme did not require the full use of its 220 h.p. Franklin engine. Third was Carretero of Spain in a Zlin 526F, while James Black achieved a creditable fourth place. Williams was not on form on this occasion and was placed eighth, while Mitchell in the KZ.8 was temporarily grounded with carburettor trouble. His practice flight had convinced both members of the team that he had the ability to compete, in spite of being let down by the fuel system. The next group to be flown was the free programme, with a maximum difficulty coefficient of 600 points. This meant
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