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Aviation History
1974
1974 - 0707.PDF
FLIGHT International, 9 May 1974 The author and his wife at Simenti, a lush airstrip on the River Gambia. Shortly after this picture was taken three elephants crossed the runway 591 Private Flight . ;'"' *':v ^i§§ ]MM .'!•... ||! mm ismmmmmm The West African Rally As an institution the air rally is almost as old as aviation itself. Over the years it has taken many forms: flights around Germany and France, nights to Malta or the Channel Isles and the famous Deauville Air Rally, where you land at the fair resort and quickly forget the aeroplanes, devoting the next few days to sun, good food and beautiful surroundings. Some of these air rallies have been ambitious affairs, but the recent Avions Robin marathon to West Africa must surely rank among the most ambitious of all time. Like so many great ideas, this one resulted from a chance remark. Serge Darroux, the French owner of La Residence, the principal hotel in St Louis, Senegal, bought a Sicile Record some years ago. With it he made several trips between St Louis and Perpignan in Southern France, in itself no little achievement on 100 h.p. Now gradu ated to a Robin HR100 Royale, Serge Darroux felt moved to ask the Dijon manufacturers: "Why not an air rally to St Louis?" Plans were made, a programme emerged and the itinerary went some thing like this: February 8 Meet at Perpignan for briefing and start of rally. February 9 Perpignan to Marrakesh. A little matter of 1,000 miles if the weather allowed direct flight over the mountains. Several hundred miles longer if not. Night stop at the fabulous La Mamounia, surely one of the finest hotels in the world. February 10 Conducted tour around souks (markets) and other places of interest, followed by dinner in a lush Moroccan restaurant. February 11 Up at 6.30 a.m. for the flight to St Louis—1,320 miles in one day, with stops at El Aaiun and Nouadhibou. Official reception, with the French Consul-General as host. February 12 Trip up River Senegal in native pirogue to village named Gandiole, where the locals live in mud By ALAN BRAMSON huts and the women are beautifully dressed in colourful robes and match ing turbans. (Here the children followed us around begging, not for money but for bon-bons, while the women asked if we would take them back with us to work in our homes. A special party that evening featured African dancers.) February 13 Fly to Dakar, transfer to the Diarama, a splendid ultra-modern hotel. Take the boat to L'lle de Goree and visit one of the first of the slave- trade centres. Dinner that evening at a nearby country club where we would be entertained by a first-class troupe of African dancers and drum mers (very spectacular). February 14 Depart 7 a.m. for Simenti, a nature reserve some 360 miles south-east of Dakar. Airstrip in the bush has no tower or approach facilities but an NDB was laid on for us. Temperature at this point was 105°F. Trip into the bush, followed by a night in a brick-built native-style rondeval and the usual splendid dinner. February 15 Second trip into the bush, then lunch before the return flight to St Louis, where they laid on a big farewell dinner for us all. February 16 6.30 a.m. start for home landing at Nouadhibou, El Aaiun and Agadir, where a night stop was planned at the Club Mediterranee. February 17 Return home. Expressed in practical terms this was going to be a test of stamina for the pilots and their passengers, if not for the aircraft. Some 50hr of flying over not far short of 7,000 miles would be called for, all within a period of 12 days, but even on paper the itinerary looked intriguing. In the event it was to exceed our expecta tions. We met as arranged at the Park Hotel, Perpignan, where Pierre Meynard, sales director of Avions Robin and our guardian angel throughout the trip, briefed us in a mixture of French and excellent Eng lish. (He learned to fly at Sywell during the war.) There were three HR100 Royales from England, two Royales and a DR400 Regent from France and two Regents from Ger many. A common radio frequency was agreed and this proved a source of endless entertainment during the long stretches over featureless desert. Ambitious tyros Relatively inexperienced readers of Flight should not imagine that an admittedly ambitious rally of this kind is beyond them. Of the 24 people in the rally 13 were pilots. Few had more than l,000hr, most had less than 500hr and one German girl had yet to attain her double century. There are, however, certain musts, and it goes without saying that good airmanship is vital. Several thousand miles of uninhabited mountain and desert is no place to become lost or run out of fuel. We were required to carry life- jackets, red flares, smoke generators, a pocket compass, a torch, waterproof matches, four 8ft strips of white material for ground signals in case of forced landings in the desert, first- aid equipment, dried fruit and as much water as possible. In our aircraft we carried 2gal to be shared among four of us in an emergency. After leaving Agadir, single-engined aircraft are required to remain within 10km of the coast, either inland or over the sea, and, while this is a sensible regu lation, it adds many miles to the journey. In Africa wind changes can be very strange—a complete reversal in direction between, say, 2,000ft and 4,000ft. At this time of the year the most likely weather hazard (if it may be called a hazard) is sand haze, which is much like a good old English inversion but browner. Fuel is not available in the Spanish Sahara so we filled up at Marrakesh,
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