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N .F.S. PageantProgramme.
NATIONAL Flying Services are now repeating their arrangements, which proved so successful last year, when they staged numerous pageants and meetings at the several aerodromes which they control in various parts of the country. The next one is due to take place on Sunday, 7th, at Hedon Aerodrome, Hull, and more than fifty machines are expected to attend.
The pageant will be opened by Sir Alan Cobham, and Lady Cobham will distribute the prizes.
The meeting will commence with an arrival competition, zero hour being 12.45 p.m. The first machine to cross a line drawn across the centre of the aerodrome after 12.45 will be the winner.
After the opening ceremony, there will be a” fly-past” of all the aeroplanes. These will be parked in a special machine park, where the public can inspect them after the pageant is over.
Flying Officer Johnson, a Royal Air Force instructor at the R.A.F. Central Flying School, Wittering, will give a demonstration on the ” Lincock,” the machine in which Flt.-Lieut. Atcherley put up such a fine show in the International Acrobatic Competition at Chicago last year, and Flying Officer Watt, another R.A.F. instructor will demonstrate the ” Martlet,” the small single-seater machine with a remarkable performance, which was described in MOTOR SPORT some months ago.
The Autogiro, in a new and improved form, will also be demonstrated.
Mr. George Murray, a graduate of the Brooklands School of Flying, and one of the best of our post-War stunt pilots, will give a display of inverted loops, spins and falling-leaf on his Gipsy Moth.
Mr. Murray is the representative of England in the International Aerobatic Competition which is being held at Berlin this summer.
The big ” do ” of the whole show will be Staniland on the Fairey “Firefly.” Spectators will have the pleasure of seeing him performing aerobatics at 250 miles an hour.
The new “Civilian Coupe” cabin monoplane will also be flown.
A Club Members’ Efficiency Competition, for the members of the Hull Aero Club, will be held, in which members will perform aerobatics.
New Brooklands Aerodrome.
As Weybridge habitués have probably heard, Brooklands, which has the distinction of being the first civil flying ground in England, is to be considerably enlarged and improved. The proprietors have decided to erect on the aerodrome a new reception station and club house, to be ready for occupation in October, 1931. The premises will provide restaurant, lounge, bars, observation
and control towers and accommodation for executive staffs. These improvements will mark the beginning of extensive plans which have been drawn up to make Brooklands Aerodrome one of the most modern in the country. Certain low-lying ground is being taken in to improve the already good landing grounds and by reason of its situation within easy reach of London, a big future undoubtedly exists for Brooklands.
The Brooklands Aero Club was the first to be constituted outside the London area and its records go back to 1907, in which early days some of the most famous pioneers of air-development were to be found indulging in the most dangerous experiments with their weird aircraft. The Club, at the present time numbers many prominent racing drivers in its lists. Sir Malcolm Campbell, Mr. Kaye Don, George Eyston and many others, frequently avail themselves of the flying facilities offered, and the Club’s planes are in great demand.
The annual subscription for associate membership is one guinea a year, with an entrance fee of 5s., but it is more than probable that these rates will be increased when the new club premises are available.
The Schneider Team.
Enthusiasts who may have felt anxious about the training of the team and preparation of machines for the Schneider Trophy Contest, which takes place in September, may now rest assured that everything is going along according to plan.
The team is now established at Calshot Air Base, and last month the first of the newly re-conditioned seaplanes—the Supermarine S.6.—was handed over. This machine was the actual winner of the race in 1929, when it was flown to victory by the late Flight-Lieut. H. R. D, Waghom, A.V.C. Certain modifications—which remain strictly ‘ hush-hush “—to both the airframe and RollsRoyce engine have been carried out which has resulted in a considerable increase in the maximum speed. This ‘plane together with a sister machine will be used for practice purposes. Meanwhile additional 1931 types are well in hand.
Hawks and His Travelair.
Captain Frank Hawks with his swift-moving Travelair monoplane continues to astonish Europeans with his series of high-speed hops from one county to another, and from place to place. Last month he flew to Berlin from Croydon in 2 hours 57 minutes, and then did the odd 160 miles to Hamburg in 58 minutes. After that he flew to Malmslaett aerodrome, in Sweden, in 1 hour 53 minutes. More recently Hawks has set up another unofficial record by going from Heston to Baldonnel, Ireland, in exactly 100 minutes.
” RUDDERBAR.”