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Aviation History
1973
1973 - 1563.PDF
FLIGHT International, 7 June 1973 867 On the facing page the attitude of the Europa is more typical of Bob Hoover, seen below landing the Shrike Commander. The Harrier makes ever-steeper climbs. Immediately below, the slats help the Rallye to stand on its tail while on the right the Red Arrows play im maculate follow-my-leader. The Hirundo, bottom, led the Agusta parade >k, ^r«m Grumman's Tomcat gave another noisy performance but it was brilliantly executed each day as the aircraft alter nated between loafing in to docile approaches at 120kt and passing at high speed while rotating through the slowest of rolls. Its touch-and-go was a speciality—with the accent on the "go" in a steep, accelerating climb. There were moments when the sky seemed to be full of the Mirage family as one succeeded another in a massive sequence. It was opened by two G.8s, co-ordinating tight turns and vertical climbs from slow passes with lowered undercarriage. The variable geometry was shown through out the subsonic speed range. A pair of F.ls took their place, one being heavily loaded with external stores which appeared to have scant effect on the handling. It was one of these aircraft which achieved the longest and slowest roll of the day and also defied aerodynamic theory by traversing the full frontage of the, crowd in a sus tained vertical bank. The other half of Dassault-Breguet was represented with BAC in the shape of a pair of Jaguars, a clean two-seat and a festooned single-seat ver sion. Mirages were to appear again later in the afternoon when three Ills with bright flames of rocket assistance switched their additional thrust on and off in front of the crowd before clearing the circuit vertically in a rapid climb to contrailing height, where their return to their base could clearly be seen. There were five set-piece team events during the after noon starting with the bravura performance of the Rothmans Pitts. Neatly separating, combining, pairing and flying in mirror the team was widely applauded. The var iety and showmanship of their presentation seems to improve with every performance. The Blue Angels, in contrast, executed precision drill movements, concentrating on the maximum possible overlap between adjacent air craft. Each pass, be it a roll in diamond or a crossover by the two individual men, was an entity and the display lacked the flow and cohesion of the premier European teams. Both the Red Arrows and the Patrouille de France were beyond praise. Subtly different, each gave the crowd a combination of spectacle and artistry, making the maxi mum use of smoke and of the mixing of the main team with two individual men. The Arrows' crossovers were fast and close and their formation changes slick; loops took them just into cloud but they emerged unruffled. Before the Patrouille appeared the Blue Eagles showed that the fixed-wing teams had no monopoly of tortuous smoke trails, dancing and nodding in their slightly un gainly act. It was, naturally, their national team that the French crowd awaited and they were not disappointed. The eleven blue Magisters, with landing lights, ablaze, slid immaculately through their routine and the final pass, which started with eight of the aircraft inverted, drew a gasp as the pairs on either side rolled upright without seeming to disturb the symmetry of the formation. The Patrouille was the appropriate act with which to end the public performance and yet throughout the week the sight of the Harrier demonstrator rising steeply from its parking place in front of the Hawker Siddeley chalet was the cue for the cine cameras to begin to run. The juxtaposition of high speed followed immediately by no speed was greeted with wonder even by hardened Harrier watchers. Though limited occasionally, it was never beaten by the weather throughout the period of the Salon. The first impressions, widely expressed, were that "there was nothing new" in the 1973 show. The judgement was not wholly true; even if it had been, the superb flying by such a gathering of masters would have made it memorable.
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