EDITOR'S NOTES

In this book author Geoffrey Dorman reviews aviation's first half century, in which he was involved from the earliest years. A nephew of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, Mr Dorman was personally acquainted with some of the aviation pioneers, including the Wright brothers. He saw active service as an RFC pilot during the First World War.

There is a wealth of detail in the book and the text includes items such as record flights and winners of races and prizes. The author's views are—not unreasonably—often subjective rather than objective, being coloured by his obvious enthusiasm for aviation in general and British aviation in particular.

The author's optimistic outlook for British aircraft design and manufacture could be said to have been justified in the case of military equipment but less so for civil aircraft. In the years after publication of this book only the Viscount, and to a lesser extent the BAC 1-11, could be truly said to have been successful commercially. Without doubt interference from politicians was at least partly responsible for this less than ideal outcome.

While some of Mr Dorman's predictions for the future are not unexpectedly wide of the mark others are uncannily close to how things have actually developed.

We have been unable to trace the current copyright owner(s) of this book. If the owner(s) object to its availability on the Steemrok website, please write to comms@steemrok.com and the file will be removed without delay.

Julien Evans
Editor
Steemrok Publishing
2024
steemrok.com








FIFTY YEARS FLY PAST
From Wright brothers to Comet
By
Geoffrey Dorman, A.R.Ae.S.
First Published May, 1951


Copyright, 1951, by
FORBES ROBERTSON, LTD.





The world's first practical jet fighter. The prototype Gloster "Meteor" with those responsible for its creation. Left to right: John Crosby Warren and Michael Daunt, test pilots, F. McKenna, Managing Director of Gloster Aircraft Ltd., Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the gas turbine, and George Carter, designer of the Meteor.       



To Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Douglas of Kirtleside, G.C.B., K.C.B., M.C., D.F.C., my oldest friend in aviation, 1910 to 1950; whom I first remember as Sergeant W. S. Douglas of Tonbridge School O.T.C.
Semper eadem!
PREFACE


WHEN I was managing the Information Bureau of the Royal Aero Club in 1946 I looked for a book which would give me the figures and facts of famous flights, records, and races of the past, so that I could turn up the answers to questions I was asked. Apart from C. C. Turner's "Old Flying Days" and Lockwood Marsh's "History of Aeronautics", both published over twenty years ago, I could find no such book, so I decided to write one.

To do this has taken four years. I have partly relied on my memory, but have checked facts and figures from Flight and The Aeroplane, and All the World's Aircraft. That ever ready help in time of trouble The Aeroplane Directory and Who's Who in British Aviation has been a constant source of verification. Facts about the Wrights' first flights are from Kelly's biography, and the translation of Ader's account of his Avion "flight" is from Marsh's history. For the past eleven years I have kept a personal diary which has been of great help.

l have been able to be present at, or take part in, many events and flights, and to fly about the world on the airlines, mainly because I have always aimed at establishing a high nuisance value for myself, and then giving value. If I were left out of anything either by design or mistake, I made a perfect pest of myself to the people or firms who ignored or had forgotten me, but when I have been on a flight or at some function, then I have always tried to give value by subsequent publicity sooner or later.

Those who feel they have been left out of this book, or treated inadequately, can console themselves that they have been spared being plagued by me! Later I shall write further chapters, so the choice is open either to put up with me, or be left out.

Griffith Brewer [Note 1] kindly checked the facts about the Wright brothers and the founding of the Aero Club. The facts I give about the latter are not always in accordance with what I am told are in the minutes of the Club. But minutes are only infallible to bureaucratic minds and I prefer to rely on accounts told to me by participants soon after. My thanks are due to Air Commodore J. W. F. Merer for reading the Berlin Air Lift, Lord Ventry for reading the Airship chapter, John Grierson the Jet chapter, Alan Marsh the Rotary Wing chapter, and F. A. Dismore for reading the chapter on records. My thanks also go to Alex Duncan of R. K. Dundas Ltd. for reading the first typescript. He made valuable constructive suggestions, which I incorporated.

This is mainly a history of British aviation with facts from other lands when they impinge on the story.

Omissions have, of necessity, been many; for the canvas is too small on which to paint the whole vast picture. Selection has not been easy.

I have hardly touched on the wars of 1914 and 1939. Many volumes have been written on the former and many are being written on the latter.

Parts of some chapters have appeared in Flight, The Aeroplane, Aeronautics, the Royal Aero Club Gazette, Canadian Aviation, Tangmere Times and Air Reserve Gazette, to the editors of which I gratefully acknowledge courtesy for reproduction.

The year 1951 will see the Golden Jubilee of the Royal Aero Club, and 1953 will be the fiftieth Anniversary of the world's first power-driven, controlled aeroplane flight. So, now that aviation is reaching its first half century, the new generation may find interest in looking back to see how it all began. The past seems so refreshingly real to me.

I would also like to thank R. E. Hardingham, Secretary of the Air Registration Board, for an almost unlimited supply of A.R.B. obsolete registration cards with the aid of which I have made my index; this will, I hope, make the book more airworthy. Thanks are due also to Captain H. S. (Jerry) Shaw, head of the aviation department of Shell Petroleum Ltd., for his account of the first civil flight between London and Paris, in Chapter 8 (Those Were the Days), which he wrote specially for this book.
GEOFFREY DORMAN.
30 Redburn Street, Chelsea, London, S.W.3.

1st January, 1951.
CONTENTS
Click on the blue dots to access the various items directly


  Preface
     
 Contents
    
 List of illustrations

  Foreword by the Right Hon. Lord Brabazon of Tara, P.C., M.C., F.R.Ae.S.

 Introduction to the Author, by Tommy Rose, D.F.C.. A,R.Ae.S.

  1     The Birth of the Aeroplane

  2     Early Flying in Europe

 3     The Balloon Goes Up

  4     Royal Aeronautical Society

  5     Flying the Channel

  6     Flying Grows Up

  7     London to Paris  

 8     Those Were the Days

  9     — And These are the Days Now

 10   Aviation Becomes More Commercial

  11   The London Air Ports

  12   First Aerobatics and Parachutes

  13   Service Aeronautics

  14   Military and Commercial Trials

  15   First at Tangmere

  16   Flying the Atlantic

  17   England to Australia

  18   England to South Africa

  19   Flying Round the World

  20   Kingsford Smith's Flights

  21   The Schneider Trophy

  22   The Gordon Bennett Aviation Cup

  23   The Aerial Derby

  24   The Britannia and Segrave Trophies

  25   The King's Cup Races

  26   Flying Challenge Trophy Races

  27   Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

  28   World Records

  29   F.A.I. and Royal Aero Club Medals

  30   Gliding

  31   The Light Aeroplane Movement

  32   Per Ardua to the Comet

  33   The Rise of the British Aircraft Industry

  34   The Air Shows

  35   Jet Propulsion

  36   The Berlin Air Lift

  37   Into the Second Fifty Years

  38   Rotary Wing Flight

  39   Airships

  40   Women in Aeronautics

  41   Aviators' and Other Certificates

  42   Fulfilment — 30,000 Miles in 26 Days

  43   The Close of the First Half-Century of Flying

  Postscript

  List of Abbreviations

  Notes
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
     

 00   The prototype Gloster "Meteor", with those responsible for its creation
    
 01.   Orville Wright making the first flight

  02.   Louis Blériot, having flown the Strait of Dover

  03.   The Hon. C. S. Rolls, a founder of the Royal Aero Club

  04.   Harold Perrin, Secretary of the R.Ae.C., 1905-1945

  05.   A. V. Roe, second Secretary of the Aero Club

  06.   Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker, K.C.B., Director of Civil Aviation, 1922-1930

  07.   Cadet camp at Farnborough, in 1909

  08.   Farnborough, in 1949, with a flying-wing landing

  09.   Captain Sir John Alcock and Lieutenant Sir Arthur Whitten-Brown, the first to fly the Atlantic direct

  10.   — their Vickers "Vimy" (Rolls-Royce "Eagles"), 1919

  11.   The DH18, in 1920

  12.   Interior of the DH18

  13.   Vickers "Viking" amphibian (450 h.p. Napier "Lion"), 1921

  14.   Sir Alan Cobham, alighting on the Thames, 1926

  15.   The first real airliner: Handley Page "Hannibal"

  16.   The racing de Havilland Comet, 1934

  17.   The first fully successful de Havilland biplane, 1911

  18.   The first jet airliner: prototype de Havilland Comet, 1949

  19.   Short "C" class "Empire" flying-boat, 1937

  20.   The B.O.A.C. marine air port at Southampton with "Solents" on the water and R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth at her berth

  21. & 22.   Stewards Frank Emery (B.O.A.C.) and Harry McLean (B.E.A.)

  23.   B.O.A.C. Short "Solent" flying-boat, 1950

  24.   Air Commodore J. W. F. Merer, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Berlin Air Lift, 1948-1949

  25.   Wing Commander Tim Piper and Group Captain Brian Yarde, in the control room at Gatow Air Port, Berlin

  26.   The single concrete runway at Gatow which carried most of the Berlin Air Lift traffic into Gatow for nearly a year

  27.   F.J. ("Jeep") Cable, A.F.C.

  28.   Alan Marsh, with the Author, in the Cierva Air Horse, 1950

  29.   Bristol "Brabazon" airliner alighting after its first flight

  30.   Canadair 4 ("Argonaut"), the first airliner built in the Commonwealth to go into service

  31.   de Havilland "Albatross" of 1938, from which the Ambassador was developed

  32.   Lockheed "Constellation", the American intercontinental airliner

  33.   The first turboprop airliner, the Vickers "Viscount"

  34.   Airspeed "Ambassador" airliner, for B.E.A. in 1951
INTRODUCTION BY
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD BRABAZON OF TARA.
P.C., M.C., F.R.AE.S.


THE BOY AT school to-day must find it hard to realise that one has not got to be a very old man to remember a time when the possibility of flight was looked upon as impossible. In fact the whole development has occupied under fifty years, and the time at present is rather critical, for this reason, that soon there will not be any people who had first-hand experience of the early events and who can speak of them and about them with full knowledge with the recollection that they were present.

It is for this reason that the book by Geoffrey Dorman is particularly welcome at the present time, for he has been known intimately by all the flying world for many many years, and there is very little that could be told that he cannot tell us.

I am, indeed, full of admiration for Mr. Dorman for the reason that you may think that this subject of flight which has been going on now, as I say, for nearly fifty years, is a narrow one, but that is not at all the situation; it is a very broad one when you think of its many separate channels of civil aviation and military aviation to-day. Each one of them could have a book devoted, very easily, to itself.

Geoffrey Dorman starts right at the very beginning. He puts many of the very early exploits down in his pages and gives a most interesting account of the early efforts of organisations like the Royal Aero Club and the Royal Aeronautical Society. Very right that that sort of thing should be put down on paper, wrapped up with the names of men who tried to direct policy in those early days and in fact did it very well.

The canvas that he covers is a very big one and he paints with the detail of a Canalleto. The result is that this is almost a history of aviation in all its branches and for that reason, to any student of these last fifty years who wishes to be reminded of what occurred at any time, this book will be of great interest; to anyone else who is unfamiliar with the history of flight this book will be a Bible and a reference work that should be read by every man and also be in his library.
BRABAZON OF TARA.       





INTRODUCTION TO THE AUTHOR BY TOMMY ROSE,
D.F.C., A.R.Ae.S.


GEOFFREY DORMAN has been in aviation two years longer than I have, and I have known him most of that time. If any man ever deserved the title "Enthusiast" he is the one.

Having obtained his Ticket early in 1915 and survived, he underwent a course of Free Ballooning and his Aeronauts' Certificate No. 44 entitled him to be blown about the world in a balloon. This fact should also have automatically entailed membership of Colney Hatch! [Note 2].

For ten years after the First War, Geoffrey served on the staff of the Aeroplane under the greatest aeronautical journalist of all time, C. G. Grey. This association may have permanently furrowed his brow and greyed his hair, but the end of the period found him one of the most accomplished air correspondents in the country.

In 1939, despite his prolonged fight and the fact that he had been medically assessed as "fit for pilot duties," the Royal Air Force decided he was too old for flying, a fate that befell many of us.

Geoffrey Dorman's great enthusiasm for any job of work connected with flying at last found something to absorb it when he joined the A.T.C. and subsequently spent practically every evening of the war instructing its members.

As soon as A.T.C. gliding started he became a gliding instructor and his Saturdays and Sundays during this period must have been the longest ever—anyway they made the rest of the week's work seem child's play. This joyful period of his life came to an abrupt end in August 1944, when something blew him out of the sky—he "went in" from 400 feet and broke a thigh. Well, when one is over fifty this sort of thing cannot be done with impunity and he is now almost a landlubber.

This book is absorbing because it is written by a man who has lived not only through this period, but actually in each event, and has known every personality in its pages. My only regret is that samples of the Author's own inimitable dry humour do not appear on every page. Perhaps it is as well, for, being kind-hearted, he would not wish to put Punch out of business.
TOM ROSE       


CHAPTER 1

THE BIRTH OF THE AEROPLANE

The Wright brothers—the news breaks—Ader's Avion—Langley's "Aerodrome"—Wilbur's death 1912—Orville's death 1948—Griffith Brewer.

IN THE last years of the nineteenth century and in the first years of the twentieth, several inventors were working along independent lines to achieve controlled flight with machines which were heavier than air and which depended for their support on either flat or slightly curved surfaces.

Although there have been various claims for the honour of having flown first, it is universally now conceded that the first heavier-than-air controlled power-driven flight was made at Kittyhawk, North Carolina in the United States of America by Orville Wright in a biplane designed and built by himself and his elder brother Wilbur. This machine was powered by an internal combustion motor which developed about 12 h.p. which was also designed and built by the brothers.

The brothers had taken their "Flyer", as they called it, from their home at Dayton to Kittyhawk in North Carolina on the Eastern seaboard of the United States where they had been making gliding experiments. They never called the Flyer the "Kitty Hawk", which name was a much later invention.

By December 1903 they had erected the biplane and all was ready. As there was not much wind blowing, the Wrights decided to take the machine to Kill Devil Hill nearby, so as to get extra speed for launching, by running down the hill. 14th December 1903 was a bright, cold clear day. They tossed as to who should make the first attempt, and Wilbur won. He started down the hill, climbed a few feet, stalled, and settled down on the ground after only three seconds. There was slight damage, enough to prevent more attempts that day. Repairs were not complete till the evening of the 16th.

On the morning of 17th December 1903, that historic day, there was ice on the puddles and a wind was measured as blowing from 22 to 28 m.p.h. But the Wrights were anxious to continue experiments so that they could be home for Christmas. Orville said that with his later experience, he would hardly have risked a flight on a tried aeroplane in such a wind.

It was Orville's turn first that day. Because of the wind they decided to start from level ground. The flight lasted 12 seconds, but it was the first sustained flight in history under its own power in which an aeroplane had flown and landed at the same level again. Wilbur made the second flight—13 seconds—then Orville flew for 15 seconds. Wilbur made the last flight of the day which lasted 59 seconds—a real flight covering 852 feet against that stiff wind.

When they were standing discussing the flight, a gust blew the aeroplane over and damaged it so severely that the possibility of further flights that year was at an end.

The Press of the world were incredulous. A few papers published inaccurate accounts. Some inferred the Wrights used an airship with a gasbag. The Daily Mail printed a 12-line paragraph near the bottom of a column. This read:
BALLOONLESS AIRSHIP

From Our Own Correspondent
New York, Friday, Dec. 18.    

     Messrs. Wilbur and Orville Wright, of Ohio, yesterday successfully experimented with a flying machine at Kittyhawk, North Carolina. The machine has no balloon attachment, and derives its force from propellers worked by a small engine.
     In the face of a wind blowing twenty-one miles an hour, the machine flew three miles at a rate of eight miles an hour, and descended at a point selected in advance. The idea of a box-kite was used in the construction of the airship.


Thus was perhaps the most epoch-marking news story in history reproduced by the most up-to-date newspaper of those times. It was most inaccurate; for the longest flight of the day—and for many months after—was 852 feet. The speed over the ground, against that wind, which was really blowing at a speed from 22-28 m.p.h., may not have been more than the 8 m.p.h. reported, but the airspeed was about 30 m.p.h.

Practically no other papers in England or anywhere else reported the flight. There had been many claims of flight by others, which were not well founded, so the Wrights were not believed.

Wilbur Wright, commenting on the feat, said that it was "the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself into the air by its own power in free flight, had sailed forward on a level course without reduction of speed, and had finally landed without being wrecked."

This flight was the result of much scientific research and experiment. Wing shapes had been tested in a wind tunnel of a primitive kind, as also had propellers.

Though the work of the Wright Brothers still has its detractors, the Wright biplane in almost its original form was a real flying machine, for in a few years flights of over an hour were made on it with only minor modifications. The world's first flight of more than one hour was made on 9th September 1908, when Orville flew for 1 hour 2¼ minutes at Fort Meyer.

Two other inventors claimed to have made flights which pre-dated those of the Wrights, but their claims could never be established. And in any case their "flights", unlike those of the Wrights, ended in disaster.

The earliest claim was made by the Frenchman, Clement Ader, who first studied the problem of powered flight in 1872. Ader claimed to have "flown" for a distance of 164 feet on 9th October 1890. The machine was wrecked at the end of the short hop because of lack of control. That the craft was barely airborne seems to be confirmed by the fact that while some, including Ader, say the hop measured 164 feet, others claim that he "flew" 109 yards, which was presumably the nice round figure of 100 metres! His motive power was a steam engine said to develop 20 h.p. which drove a 4-blade tractor screw.

On 14th October 1897 trials of a new machine named the "Avion" were made at the French military establishment at Satory in the presence of General Mensier, General Grillon and Lieut. Binet. In an account published in Paris, Ader described what happened. He wrote: "After a few metres we started off at a lively pace; the pressure gauge registered about seven atmospheres; almost immediately the vibrations of the rear wheel ceased; a little later we only felt those of the front ones at intervals. Unhappily the wind became stronger suddenly and we had some difficulty in keeping the Avion on the white line of the track. We increased the pressure to between eight and nine atmospheres, and immediately the speed greatly increased, and the vibrations of the wheels were no longer noticeable . . . The Avion was then found to be freely supported by its wings. Blown by the wind it tended continuously to go outside the intended area when it found itself in a very critical position. The wind blew strongly across the direction of flight, and the machine though going forward drifted quickly sideways. We at once put over the rudder to the left as far as it would go, at the same time increasing the pressure still more, to try and regain the course. The Avion obeyed, recovered slightly, and remained for some seconds headed on its intended course, but it could not struggle against the wind; instead of going back, it drifted further and further off course, towards the School of Musketry which was guarded by posts and barriers . . . Surprised at seeing the earth getting further and further away and rushing sideways at a sickening speed, we stopped everything. All at once came a great shock, splintering, and a heavy concussion. We had landed!"

The official description by onlookers credited the Avion with just a few hops, while others said that it never really left the ground properly. The real truth may lie in the fact that the French War Ministry refused further aid. Though, in view of equally discouraging actions (and other things) by other governments to some of the real pioneers of flight at later dates, that really does not prove very much.

The consensus of opinion is against the claim of Ader to have achieved free controlled flight. Many of those who have taken the air after Ader, and especially those who, taking up gliding, have done their first "low hops" and have thought they had reached a height of 20 or 30 feet when in fact they were not very much more than two or three feet up, will appreciate how easily Ader, a complete novice at flying, might have thought he was really flying when he was only making quite short hops.

No doubt his pioneer work deserved the niche he made for himself, not only in French aviation, but in world flying history. As a tribute the French War Ministry, some years later, decided that all French military aeroplanes would be called "Avion" in his honour. The term is now used for almost all French aeroplanes. But it must be remembered that it was a French general who, after witnessing the episode, testified that the Avion did not really fly.

It seems exceedingly likely that, if Ader had more skill and experience, the "Avion" would have flown. But he made the error of trying to take off down wind. Then he was blown right out of his prepared area by turning across wind, and the subsequent side drift would have caused the crash whether he hit the posts or not, for he had little control.

Another claimant for the honour of having made the first flight was Samuel Pierpoint Langley, who, when secretary of the Smithsonian Institute of America, built a monoplane which, he claimed, would have flown in October 1903—two months before the Wrights' first flight—had not launching accidents prevented it.

Subsequently, in 1914, parties who were interested in proving that Langley really would have pre-dated the Wrights if it had not been for the launching accidents, rebuilt Langley's "Aerodrome" as he named it; flights were made at Hammondsport, in America. Griffith Brewer of the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom, who was an old friend of the Wrights, went to America to investigate the Langley claims. He found beyond dispute that a number of important alterations had been made to the "Aerodrome" in order to make it rise from the water.

The Smithsonian Institute (which might be compared with the Science Museum in South Kensington, London) insisted on exhibiting the "Aerodrome" with an inscription inferring that it was the first heavier-than-air machine to fly. So in 1928 Orville Wright accepted a proposal made by the South Kensington Science Museum to loan his machine for five years, or until it was withdrawn by him personally. That is why so many people were surprised to see the original historic Wright flyer in London until 1949. As the Smithsonian admitted in 1940 that the Wrights were the first to fly, Orville asked the Science Museum to return the flyer to the Smithsonian when the war was over. It has been replaced in the Science Museum by an exact replica made by the students of the de Havilland Technical School.

Discussing Langley's efforts with Griffith Brewer, I said that Langley's case that he made the world’s first flight seemed a very weak one. Brewer replied that his case was as weak as his "Aerodrome", the wings of which broke under the load each time it was launched. Langley worked on the mistaken assumption that an aeroplane could not fly if loaded to more than 1 lb. per square foot of wing. I said to Brewer how fortunate I had been to have come into contact with the Wrights in the flesh. He paid me the fine compliment that it was fortunate also for the Wrights, as I was such a fair and sympathetic historian.

Besides being the first to use wind tunnels and to experiment scientificially, the Wrights were very advanced thinkers. Now, fifty years after, we are beginning to adopt some of their first ideas as things new. They realised that it was easier to keep airborne on limited power than to get off the ground with low power. Their early aeroplanes were assisted in take-off by means of a weight which was allowed to fall from a portable derrick about 20 feet high. A rope from the weight passed over snatch-blocks to the front of a rail and along the rail to the front of the aeroplane. When the pilot gave the "ready" signal the motor was opened up fully and the weight was released. This pull of the falling weight, exerted on the aeroplane, helped the meagre horse power of the motor to give the aeroplane greater acceleration. The rope was in fact not attached to the aeroplane itself, but to a trolley, on which the aeroplane rested, and which ran along the rail. When the aeroplane reached the end of the rail and was airborne, it left the trolley behind. When it landed, it came to rest on skids which formed the undercarriage. The disadvantage was that the aeroplane had to be brought back to its rail before another flight could be made. Inventors of aeroplanes later fitted their machines with wheels so that they could take off again from where they landed. The advantages of the Wrights' methods were that a greater weight could be kept airborne for less power, for the weight and extra drag of wheels were eliminated.

Now, although retractable undercarriages have eliminated the disadvantage of extra drag, commercial airline operators are investigating the advantages of having some sort of launching trolley as an undercarriage; the complication and weight of retraction detracts from the payload. And modern airliners, with a multiplicity of more reliable powerplants, should not be forced down away from their destinations, or from some alternative prepared landing ground.

As to assisted take-off, in the 1914-18 war this method was tried for getting aircraft from the decks of ships. Catapults were tried and have since been used on service. Rockets were used during the 1939-45 war for getting heavily-laden bombers off the ground. The Mayo "Composite" was another successful method of assisted take-off, and other methods are being tried for commercial purposes.

As an example of how, many years later, men were thinking once again on the same lines as the Wrights in 1903, this item appeared in the Evening News in February 1929, more than 25 years after the Wrights had adopted assisted take-off.
CATAPULTING AN AIR LINER

EXPERIMENTS IN AMERICA AND GERMANY

By Our Air Correspondent

     Experiments are being conducted in Germany and America to decide whether it is practicable to launch a commercial air liner into the air by some power other than the engine-power of the machine itself.
     For many years certain small ship-fighters have been launched by a form of mechanical catapult.
     Ordinary air liners, such as the Armstrong Argosies and the Handley Page 16-seaters, can fly on half their available power. Much power is therefore wasted in getting the craft into the air.
     A heavily laden aircraft, when the ground is very wet and heavy and there is little or no wind, may require a run of a mile or more to get off the ground.
     The difficulty here is to give the machine its initial speed to overcome the resistance of heavy ground.
     Various types of catapult which will impart to an air liner its initial velocity, and so assist the take-off, are therefore being tested.
     Herr von Opel's famous rocket device is also to be tried.


In 1912 Wilbur Wright contracted typhoid fever of which he died on 30th May 1912 at the age of 45. He did not live to see his invention reach a stage at which it has revolutionised the world, nor did he live to enjoy its financial benefits.

Orville Wright, who died on 30th January 1948, had a narrow escape from death once. On 17th September 1908 he was flying at Fort Meyer, U.S.A., carrying as passenger Lieut. Selfridge of the U.S. Army, who had been seconded for duty to learn something about  flying. One of the twin propellers broke. The machine fell from a height of about 60 feet. Selfridge was killed and Orville broke a thigh. That was the first aeroplane fatality.
CHAPTER 2

EARLY FLYING IN EUROPE

The official mind—first seaplane—Gordon Bennett Race—Santos Dumont—first records—Moore-Brabazon—Cody—Gnôme Motor—a painful airlift—A. V. Roe—first hour flight in Britain—Aero Club makes flying rules—accident investigation—London to Manchester.

THE Wright Brothers carried on with their experiments. Although the credit of having made the first flight goes to Orville, the general impression which one received through the papers was that Wilbur, who was about four years older than his brother, was the dominant partner. Griffith Brewer said that they were a team who worked together. Each flew as much as the other, and neither could be said to be more of an originator than the other.

By 1907 the Wright biplane was a practical flying machine. An offer was made to the British War Office. Haldane, who was then War Minister, wrote in reply, "the War Office is not disposed to enter into relations at present with the manufacturers of any aeroplanes." That was a fitting preliminary to the state of the official military mind in Britain and to the action of the War Office in 1912, when flying by Territorial officers was disapproved; and an offer by Mr. (later Sir) Frank McClean to lend two aeroplanes and provide instruction for such officers, was refused.

Another ardent and successful experimenter in the United States, and chief rival to the Wrights, was Glen Curtiss, who, in 1911, became the first man to build an aeroplane which would take off from and "land" on the water. In this connection I think it is better to use the word "alight", for "landing on water" is surely a contradiction in terms. The French use the terms "aterrisage" and "amerisage". Another contradiction in terms, which is much used to-day, frequently by the B.B.C., is the phrase "flying at a low height"; sometimes, to avoid that, people say "at a low altitude", which is surely just as wrong. "Flying at a low level" is more correct.

For many years till after 1914, nearly all aeroplanes flying in the United States were either Wrights or Curtisses, though a number of European aviators visited the States, mostly with French aeroplanes. In the autumn of 1910, Claude Grahame-White, fresh from the fame gained when he so gallantly lost the London-Manchester prize, won the Gordon Bennett race for Great Britain, flying a Blériot monoplane driven by a Gnôme motor at Belmont Park, New York. His successful rival in the Manchester race, Louis Paulhan of France, had visited the States in January 1910 with a Farman biplane and at Los Angeles had broken the world height record by reaching 3,990 feet.

Meanwhile flying experiments bad been made in Europe on independent lines from those of the Wrights. As we have already seen, Clement Ader thought he had made hops in France as far back as 1897. Louis Blériot had built his first aeroplane, a biplane, in 1900, and Captain Ferber, who was killed at Boulogne in 1910 in what looked like quite a minor accident, experimented about the same time. Alberto Santos Dumont, a wealthy French-Brazilian, who had experimented with airships, early turned his attention to aeroplanes. He had made twelve airships by 1905 which made his name famous. His first successful aeroplane, 14 bis, was a tail-first biplane, driven by an eight-cylinder Antoinette engine, which he first "flew" on 13th September 1906 for a few metres. On 23rd October the same year he "flew" about 50 metres. That flight is generally considered to be the first controlled flight in Europe. It was shortened by the presence of some onlookers, and the pilot cut the motor to avoid accident. A Dane named Ellerhammer has been said to have flown earlier, but in Denmark I was told there was no proof of this.

A few weeks later, Santos Dumont asked the Aero Club de France to observe and time his flights at Bagatelle. The result was the confirmation, or "homologation" as it is bureaucratically and clumsily called, of the first world records. One was "Distance en Circuit Fermé" (distance in a closed circuit), though the circuit was by no means "fermé" for it was a straight hop of 220 metres. The "flight" was timed and a speed record was homologated of 41.292 km.p.h. (25.06  m.p.h.) [Note 3]. No modern aeroplane could fly as slowly in 1950 except those of the helicopter or autogiro types. Most of the experimenting and progress has been at the other end of the speed range.

In those early days the Voisin brothers, Gabriel and Charles, had made experiments, and produced a type of biplane with "side curtains" between the main planes at each wing-tip. Several early pilots, notably Henri Farman and Leon Delagrange, learned to fly on Voisins, as also did a young Briton, J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon, now Lord Brabazon, holder of No. 1 Aviators' Royal Aero Club Certificate, who was President of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, and the R.Ae.C. in 1946.

About 1908 an American, S. F. Cody, long domiciled in England, who had been experimenting in England with man-lifting kites and airships, was experimenting with both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air craft for the British Army at Farnborough. He became a naturalised British citizen during the first Doncaster flying meeting in England in the autumn of 1909, at which meeting he flew his aeroplane.

In 1909 the Gnôme motor was invented by the French brothers Séguin. This invention did more to advance aviation than any single invention until the gas turbine more than thirty years later. The Gnome was an air-cooled "rotary" motor. The crankshaft remained stationary while the seven air-cooled cylinders revolved round it. Stationary air-cooled motors of those days suffered from overheating because the aeroplanes were so slow there was not a strong enough airstream to cool them. The water-cooled motors were very heavy. The 50 h.p. Gnôme, which only developed about 35 h.p., was much lighter per horse power than any contemporary motor. Henri Farman first "put it on the map" when he flew 180 kms. non-stop, round and round a pylon course at the first Rheims Meeting in August 1909. For many years after that most of the epoch-marking flights were made on aeroplanes powered by Gnôme motors of 50, 70, 80, 100, 140 or 160 h.p. The 100 h.p. Gnôme was called a "mono-soupape" (one valve). It was on a semi-sleeve valve principle. It was often used as the power-plant for the Avro 504k. That aeroplane is affectionately remembered as the "Mono Avro" and was one of the most successful trainers for many years after 1918.

The Gnôme had its defects. It would only run at almost full throttle; it used as much oil as petrol; if the inlet valve broke, as it often did, the motor caught fire. But it was lighter and more reliable than its contemporaries.

The Army had become interested in Cody's aerial experiments through a successful man-lifting kite at Farnborough. These kites he sometimes flew from the football ground of the Crystal Palace. It was in one of those kites that I first became airborne about 1903. As a small boy of about nine, I went into the Palace grounds on my way home from school to watch Cody. I pestered him with questions, which he always answered. I often asked him to let me have a "kite ride" in the basket, for I was not then old enough to have more sense.

His method was to fly several kites in a team, on a single wire rope or cable. If the wind was strong enough to give a good pull, a "pilot-kite" with a basket in which a man could stand, was sent up the "string" for several hundred feet. Its ascent or descent was controlled by inclining the angle of the kite. One day, to my great joy, Cody told me I could have a "little lift". He put me in the basket, which had a cord attached to it, and I was allowed to go up about ten or twelve feet. It seemed far higher than that to me, and I boasted to my school friends that I had been to "a terrific height". I boasted too much, for one of my school masters heard me. The result was that I was bent over the table and given "six of the best", which was an early example to me of the dangers of careless talk!

A. V. Roe, too. was experimenting at Lea Marshes, then an unfrequented spot in the outskirts of east London. He built a triplane. Moore-Brabazon had brought a French Voisin to England with which he flew for gradually extending distances. When the Royal Aero Club held an enquiry in the nineteen-twenties as to who made the first flights in Great Britain, they decided, on the evidence, that he had the prior claim.

Twenty years later, A. V. Roe was being remembered as a pioneer. He had not yet been knighted. This appeared in the Evening News on 8th June 1928:
AIRMAN WHO WAS BELIEVED INSANE!

MR. ROE'S TRIP 20 YEARS AGO TO-DAY

ARREST THREAT

By Our Air Correspondent

     Twenty years ago to-day—on June 8, 1903—Mr. Alliott Verdon Roe made the first flight on a heavier than air machine in Great Britain. All the aeronautical world is attending a great gathering in his honour to-night at the Savoy Hotel. The Duke of York will attend.
     Mr. A. V. Roe came to Brooklands in 1908 with a curious stick-and-string pusher-tail-first biplane driven by a 27-h.p. engine. After many weeks of hard work and heart-breaking efforts to fly, the machine was at last coaxed into the air and actually flew—that is to say, it got off the ground and continued its progress without loss of speed—for a distance of 60 yards at a height of one yard.


At the time that Cody was experimenting with his kites at the Crystal Palace, the usual Bank Holiday balloon ascent was not billed. I remember telling people that, instead, a man would go away in a kite. It seemed to me a most natural development that a captive kite could become mobile, as could a captive balloon! Perhaps I was "dreaming tendentiously" of sailplanes!

There had been a few experimenters with aeroplanes in Great Britain before the end of 1908, but 1909 was the year in which flying really began in this country. A. V. Roe had made a few flights or hops, first at Brooklands and later at Lea Marshes, but there is no real evidence to show that they were "sustained" flights.

S. F. Cody, whose early experiments with man-lifting kites have already been mentioned, had made some flights of a slightly longer duration, which were probably the first real flights in Great Britain. But Cody was still an American citizen at the time.

J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon had been making some flights towards the end of 1908 in a Voisin biplane with a Vivinus motor at Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, and he brought that aeroplane to Eastchurch early in 1909. On that machine he made sustained flights, and to him must go the honour of being the first Briton to fly in Great Britain. "Brab" had also been a racing motorist and an early balloonist. When he was at Cambridge he went ballooning. When he was questioned by authority about a late return to college, his answer that he had been ballooning was hardly believed, but was accepted as a novel excuse.   

Just before Blériot flew the Channel on 25th July 1909, A. V. Roe had received a summons for causing public danger with his flying experiments on Lea Marshes. He had been long treated as an object of derision, and his sanity was even questioned. But when Blériot had flown the Channel, and had proved that aeroplanes were practical propositions, the authorities felt that it might be their sanity which might be questioned if they proceeded, so the summons was dropped. Sir Alliott Roe, as he became, told me how, instead of the expected arrival of minions of the law, a deputation of honour was sent by the local authority to watch him fly.

On 14th May 1909, Cody made a flight of a mile at Laffans Plain, Farnborough. He reached a height of 30 feet. That flight was described as "a new record for Great Britain". His aeroplane was then fitted with an E.N.V. motor of 80 h.p. In August he was making circuits of Laffans Plain. By the end of August 1909 Cody had logged a cross-country flight of nearly 10 miles in the Farnborough district. On 8th September he flew for 1 hour 3 mins. during which he reached a height of more than 600 feet; he covered about 40 miles. But Cody was not then eligible to enter for the Daily Mail £1,000 prize for the first circular flight of a mile by a British subject on a British aircraft.

One of Cody's young assistants about this time was a youth named Duncan Davis. He is that same Duncan Davis who founded the Brooklands School of Flying, which was one of the mainstays of private flying between wars. When the war was over in 1945, and flying clubs were beginning to get into their stride again, Duncan was once more one of the most active executives. He brings to the flying club movement some of that tremendous and unquenchable optimism and enthusiasm of the early pioneers. When the clubs were facing great difficulties and the government of the day refused to re-introduce subsidies after the war, Duncan, at a gathering of the Cinque Ports Flying Club at Lympne said: "Flying Clubs will carry on regardless . . ."

When Santos Dumont had made the first flight in Europe in October 1906, Lord Northcliffe, proprietor of the Daily Mail, offered a prize of £1,000 for the first person to fly across the English Channel on a heavier-than-air machine, and £10,000 for the first flight in a similar type of machine from London to Manchester. Other newspapers, not so far-sighted, ridiculed the offers, and one offered a prize for the first flight to the moon. Such a journey, if not actually an aerodynamic flight as at present understood, could not be ruled out as a possibility to-day.

Cody announced his intention of making an attempt on the London to Manchester prize in September 1909. He later announced that he would make a definite attempt on 9th October, but motor trouble compelled him to abandon the flight.

The success of the Rheims flying meeting in August 1909 was so great that meetings were soon planned for England. The Lancashire Aero Club, which was formed in 1909 (as also was the Midland Aero Club), obtained the necessary support to hold the first British flying meeting at Blackpool. The Club received the sanction and approval of the Aero Club, which was the body recognised in Great Britain by the Fédédération Aéronautique Internationale (F.A.I.). A meeting was also announced for the same week, 18th October 1909, by the Doncaster Corporation. The Aero Club refused to approve the Doncaster meeting, and threatened to suspend the Aviators Certificates of any pilots who took part in competitive events there. Such suspensions meant that the pilots would not be able to take part in aviation meetings sponsored by the F.A.I. in any part of the world.

This action led to considerable feeling, but the Club was adamant, and thereby greatly increased its prestige as the controlling body for sporting flying in Great Britain, a position which has never been seriously challenged since. The Club from now on began to exercise its authority over private and sporting fliers. There were no laws or inhibitions against flying, even dangerous flying. So the Aero Club made certain rules against low flying over cities or crowds, penalty for the contravention of which would be suspension of the aviator's certificate. Such suspensions were made, notably against Douglas Graham Gilmour for low flying over the crowds at Henley Regatta in 1911. The same pilot incurred the Club's displeasure, though not suspension, by flying over the Oxford and Cambridge boat-race in 1911, the first occasion on which an aeroplane flew over the race. A French pilot, Brindejonc des Moulinais was suspended for passing over Central London when on his way from France to Hendon to compete in an air race. His suspension by the Royal Aero Club caused a certain amount of ill feeling between the Club and the Grahame-White Aviation Company, who operated Hendon aerodrome, but Brindejonc was not allowed to compete in the race for which he had flown from France. Douglas Gilmour, too, was not allowed to compete in the Circuit of Britain in July 1911 because of his suspension. There is no doubt that the strong action by the Royal Aero Club did much to check any tendency towards flying to the danger of the public, and may well have delayed the coming of frustrating legislation in those early days of growth.

Very soon after the first fatal accident in Britain, to the Hon. C. S. Rolls in 1910, the Royal Aero Club set up a committee to investigate all fatal accidents. [Note 4]. They were even able to get power to investigate accidents to aircraft of the Army and Navy. The findings of this committee were most valuable in preventing further accidents from what might otherwise have been unexplained causes. This accident investigation committee was the only such body in Great Britain, until the Services set up their own enquiries into accidents during the War of 1914-1918.

On 30th October 1909, J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon won the Daily Mail prize of £1,000 for the first British aviator to fly a circular mile on an all-British machine with British motor. He flew a biplane designed and built by Short Bros. with a 50 h.p. Green motor. He made that historic flight at the Aero Club flying ground at Shellbeach close to Eastchurch.

Early in 1910, a young Englishman, Claude Grahame-White, had been learning to fly in France. He first took a course at the Blériot school, and then went to learn biplane technique at the Farman school. He qualified for his French Aviators' Certificate in March 1910.

A pilot, in those days, could learn to fly one month and the next month be in the public eye as a "famous and intrepid airman." That happened to Grahame-White. As soon as he had qualified at the Farman school, he bought a Farman blplane with a 50 h.p. Gnôme motor, brought it to England and entered for the Daily Mail London to Manchester prize. Farman had also designs on the prize, for which he intended to enter his test pilot, Louis Paulhan. As Grahame-White had learned at the Farman school, and had bought a Farman, Henri Farman promised him that he (Grahame-White) should have a week's grace so that he could start before the Farman entry.

Grahame-White took his Farman to Park Royal from which place he intended to start. The rules said that the aeroplane must pass (in flight) a point within five miles of the Daily Mail offices in both London and Manchester. Grahame-White intended to pass the gasometer at Willesden Junction which would bring him within the 5-mile radius of London. The rules also required the flight to be accomplished within 24 hours, and with not more than two intermediate stops.

He left Park Royal at 5.15 a.m. on a cold and blustery morning. He rounded the gasometer, on which Harold Perrin, Secretary of the Royal Aero Club, was standing as official observer, at 5.30 a.m. Perrin hurried down from the gasometer and was taken in a R.Ae.C. official car to follow the aeroplane. Grahame-White followed the London and North Western Railway from Willesden to Rugby where he landed at 7.20 a.m. The car, bringing Perrin, arrived at Rugby 10 minutes before the aeroplane! After a short rest, Grahame-White restarted. The wind, by then, had increased considerably.

He now found that his Gnôme motor was not running as sweetly as it had run earlier, and he suspected weak valve-springs. So he landed at Hadmore Crossing, near the railway between Whittington and Tamworth, near Lichfield. He had intended to restart in the dark at about 2 a.m. the next morning. But the increasing wind made that impossible. He decided to abandon the flight for the prize that time, and to fly on to Manchester. From there he intended to make the flight in the reverse direction in the hopes of beating Paulhan, who would be ready to try for the prize on the following Wednesday.

Grahame-White had given orders for the machine to be securely pegged down. But those orders were not fulfilled, and during the Sunday afternoon the biplane was blown over by a gust and was severely damaged. It was taken back to London and was quickly repaired. An aeroplane of those days, with simple construction, could be almost completely rebuilt in a fortnight. The machine was taken to Wormwood Scrubs, where it was housed in a big airship shed, and it was ready again on Wednesday morning, 27th April. Paulhan had arrived at Hendon, and was ready to start from the spot which later became Hendon aerodrome. George Holt Thomas, who had acquired the British Farman agency, sponsored him. Still another Frenchman, M. Dubonnet, had also entered for the prize with a Tellier monoplane. The week's notice which each competitor had to give, would expire on 2nd May. So Paulhan and Grahame-White still had the field clear until then.

Paulhan left Hendon at 5.21 in the afternoon of 27th April. Conditions were far from ideal, a gusty wind was blowing. At Wormwood Scrubs, Grahame-White had tried to test his rebuilt aeroplane about 2.30 p.m., but found the crowd prevented him, so he went to bed in a nearby hotel to get some much-needed rest. He was asleep when the news arrived that Paulhan was flying for Manchester, and had passed Hampstead Cemetery where he was officially observed to have passed within the five-mile radius of London. Paulhan passed over Rugby at 7.20 and landed at 8.10 in a field near the Trent Valley station, Lichfield, 117 miles from London.

Meanwhile Grahame-White was awakened, and his Farman was hurriedly prepared. The wind was still gusty, but he started in pursuit of Paulhan at 6.29 pm. Gathering darkness forced him to land near the railway at Roade, near Northampton, 60 miles from London.

Then followed the most dramatic incident of the whole affair. Determined to beat Paulhan, Grahame-White decided to restart in darkness, early the next morning. The small field in which he had landed was illuminated by the head-lamps of cars, and at 2.50 on the morning of 28th April 1910 Grahame-White started. This was the first night-flight on record. But the wind was still strong, and at Polesworth, 107 miles from London, he was over broken country where wind eddies forced him down.

Paulhan restarted from Lichfield at 4 a.m. and reached his goal at 5.32 when he landed at Didsbury. Thus he made the journey in an elapsed time of just about 12 hours. His flying time was 3 hours 47 minutes for a distance of approximately 185 miles. The flight was the first serious cross-country city-to-city flight ever made in Britain. The race between the two pilots aroused very great interest throughout the country, and, indeed, throughout the whole civilised world. Grahame-White, the young and inexperienced aviator, caught the popular fancy, and people realised that the match was between experience and youthful enthusiasm. The flight did much to make people in Great Britain realise that aeroplanes were on the way to becoming practical vehicles of travel. As one who was present at Wormwood Scrubs that famous day, I can never forget the excitement and enthusiasm, specially when the news came through of Paulhan's departure. I was a boy of sixteen, and my companion was Cyril Holmes, who later became one of the first pilots on the London-Paris service, and who now, in 1950, manages Bristol flying school. When we returned to Victoria we saw the crowds waiting to see King Edward VII, who died a fortnight later, return, ill, from Biarritz. Lord Northcliffe had offered this Daily Mail prize for a flight from London to Manchester because he realised that it was between such cities that air travel could reduce the time for the journey.

Yet in 1950 there was no air service linking the two towns. When I wanted to go from London to Manchester and back in the day, I had to leave my home in Chelsea at 7.45 a.m. to get an 8.35 train from Euston. That train did not reach Manchester till 1.15 p.m. I spoke to businessmen on the train, who told me they would use an air service if there were one. It should be possible to leave the British European Airways air station in Kensington at 8 a.m., be at Northolt at 8.30, take off at 8.45 and reach Manchester Airport at 9.45, and be in Manchester centre by 10.30, thus saving nearly three hours on the train. When B.E.A. have their helicopter service in operation it should be possible to go between London and Manchester in 1½ hours.

Peter Masefield, the able and enthusiastic chief executive of B.E.A., told me in 1950 that he has the London-Manchester service well in mind. It was tried under the previous management of B.E.A. in the winter of 1947, when B.E.A. were not as safe and reliable as they have since become, and was not then successful. The public did not patronise it but I am sure they will when the new spirit of B.E.A. has had more time to manifest itself.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the flight, Louis Paulhan, aged 67, was flown, on 27th April 1950, from London Airport at Heathrow to Ringway, Manchester in a Gloster Meteor 2-seat jet trainer, in 38 mins. The Meteor flew over the Daily Mail London office and from there to the Manchester office in 24 minutes. The return flight between the two offices was made in 19 minutes.   





CHAPTER 3

THE BALLOON GOES UP

"The City of York"—Aero Club founded—first secretary—Harold Perrin—Royal Aero Club—early growth—Mossy Preston—later growth—Aviation Centre.

ON 24th September 1901, a balloon, City of York, ascended on a fine afternoon of late summer from the Crystal Palace carrying as passengers Frank Hedges Butler, his daughter Miss Vera Butler, and the Hon. C. S. Rolls. Percival Spencer was employed as professional aeronaut. At a height of 5,000 feet over the Kentish suburbs the formation of a club to control the sport and science of ballooning was suggested by Rolls. When the balloon landed in Sidcup Park the Aero Club was in being.

Frank Hedges Butler later became chairman of the Aero Club, and was largely influential in gaining the Royal patronage in 1910 when the Club assumed the title of the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom. Miss Butler became Mrs. Iltid Nicholl, and Charlie Rolls became, with Henry Royce, the co-founder of the famous firm of Rolls-Royce Ltd. In 1910 Rolls became the first Englishman to fly the English Channel, the first to cross it each way, and was the first Englishman to lose his life in a flying accident. He was killed at Bournemouth flying meeting in 1910. His portrait was presented, on my suggestion to Rolls-Royce, to the R.Ae.C. in 1950.

I am fairly sure that I saw that famous balloon ascent, but I did not realise that I was witnessing the foundation of something which would become so influential. Why I remember the ascent was that at the end of September 1901 I was starting my first football term at school at Sydenham just outside the Crystal Palace. The City of York passed over us quite low, and a boy, who had an American mother, argued with us that the balloon was the City of New York and therefore must be an American balloon. The rest of us would not stand for that Yankee boasting, so we made quite sure that the name on it was the City of YORK, and then we rolled the American boy in the mud!

The Aero Club, in its first youth, was given the use of two rooms in the Automobile Club, which acted as parent, in their premises at 119 Piccadilly, to which the Royal Aero Club returned 30 years later as full tenants of the whole building, by then considerably enlarged. The Aero Club was registered at Somerset House [Note 5] by the secretary of the Automobile Club, Claud E. Johnson, who, with Rolls and Royce, was the third founder-director of Rolls-Royce Ltd.

The first secretary was E. O. Pope. The secretaryship of this new and insignificant little club was then only a part-time job, and carried a "salary" of £2 per week. Mr. Pope remained as secretary until 1905, by which time the Club had moved into a small suite of rooms in a block of offices at 110 Piccadilly, where the Park Lane Hotel now stands.

When Pope resigned, a young man who had been experimenting with models of aeroplanes, was offered, and accepted the job of secretary. His name was A. V. Roe, who had not then begun to experiment with full-sized aeroplanes. He was at that time working with a firm in Jermyn Street, which was building a helicopter type called the Davidson Gyropter. Sir Alliott told me later that he did not think he started any actual secretarial work; because a fortnight after he had been appointed, he was sent by his firm to America to obtain certain parts for the Gyropter.

Roger Wallace, the first chairman of the Club, suggested a young and energetic man, whose name was Harold Perrin, for the job. Perrin, who was the first really effective secretary, remained until his retirement at the end of 1945, having seen the Club rise to become one of the biggest, most influential, and best in London. He died on 9th April 1948.

In 1906 the Aero Club moved from 110 to 166 Piccadilly, to a suite of rooms on the second floor of a building facing Bond Street. There they were housed in more comfort and, for the first time, social amenities, such as a lounge, bar, and snack bar were added.

There they were overtaken by the coming into being, as practical propositions, of power-driven aeroplanes. They were there, too, when the war broke out in 1914, and the aeroplane, after being little more than a plaything with only a sporting use, became a weapon of war. Most members of the Club were active pilots, designers, or balloonists, and they joined the R.F.C. or the R.N.A.S., or else turned to the very important job of designing and building aeroplanes, aero motors, airships, or observation balloons. Perrin joined the R.N.V.R. and became a Lt.-Commander. An assistant secretary was engaged, B. Stevenson, who was so well-loved as "Steve". A previous assistant to Perrin, named Joseph, did not remain long. For a short time, in 1909 there was a joint Secretary, with Perrin, named Claremont, a retired naval captain.

While at 166 Piccadilly, the Club received Royal patronage, largely through the efforts of Mr. Hedges Butler, who had become chairman, and it became the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom. That was in February 1910.

By the end of 1915 many people had learned to fly in the Services, and the Club, besides acquiring a large number of new members, had issued nearly 3,000 Aviators' Certificates at one guinea each. The premises at 166 Piccadilly had now grown too small to house the Club, and so at the beginning of 1916, premises were taken at 3 Clifford Street, and the members had the first real home of their own. It had at first been intended to take another floor at 166 Piccadilly, but the whole of 3 Clifford Street, off Bond Street, was rented for less money than the two floors in Piccadilly and was far more suitable in every way. On the ground floor was a spacious entrance hall, which some years later became the lounge. In the basement was a billiard room. On the first floor was a cosy bar, with a library leading off it, and with the secretary's office next door. On the floor above were two dining rooms which between them would seat at one time about 30 members. Really good breakfasts, lunches, teas, and dinners were now served, and the Club began to gain the high reputation for cuisine which it still has.

The first big task which the Club had to do after the war was to organise the Schneider Trophy contest for 1919. The contest had been won in 1914 by Great Britain.

At big flying meetings in Britain, the Club was entirely responsible for the organisation, and the very successful parties at one or other of the local hotels where all the competitors, officials, journalists, and others were staying. Those flying occasions were just what were needed to weld the aeronautical community into the "flying family" into which it developed during the 1920-30 period. That family atmosphere is still very much in evidence, though it is not now quite so intimate as it was in the Clifford Street days.

In 1926 the Club extended its sphere of influence by its successful formation of the Light Aeroplane clubs throughout Great Britain. After the 1914-18 war, the Club bought a few Avro 504k biplanes which were kept at Croydon. Members could hire these at a very reasonable cost. When the Light Aeroplane Clubs were formed, the Royal Aero Club ceased to own aircraft itself. After 1926, the light aeroplane movement steadily expanded, slowly at first, but with ever-increasing momentum. That very naturally led to the steady growth of the Royal Aero Club. British victories in the Schneider Trophy Contests in 1927-29-31 added to the Club's prestige.

About the time of the last contest in September 1931, the Club moved from its home at Clifford Street to 119 Piccadilly where it had its first "landing place" in 1901. For some time 3 Clifford Street had been becoming too small and crowded to house, with any real comfort, the great accession of strength which had come in the form of greatly increased membership. Several buildings were inspected by the House Committee before the decision was made to take 119 Piccadilly. A large house in Curzon Street and another in Carlton House Terrace were considered. When they first came to Piccadilly from Clifford Street the spacious building, which had been taken over from the Cavendish Club, looked very big, and it seemed as though they would never fill it. There were far more amenities, many more bedrooms, and a squash court. Membership steadily increased. When the war ended in 1945, the Club became so full that there was, for the first time, a waiting list for membership.

At the end of 1945, Harold Perrin retired. He had steered the Club from the tiny gathering, which had two rooms in 1905 when he became secretary, to the influential body it became. It would be difficult to exaggerate what "Harold the Hearty" (as he was known to his many friends) had done to help bring the Club to the high position which it now holds, not only in British, but in international sporting flying. From the earliest dnys he organised, helped to organise, or was present at almost every big aviation occasion. Like all strong characters he made many enemies, but they must have been well outnumbered by his friends. When he retired, he appeared among us rather in the role of an elder statesman, always assured of a welcome wherever he went. He was succeeded in January 1946, by Colonel Rupert Preston, known to all as "Mossy", who had joined the Club in 1924 when he was a young subaltern in the Coldstream Guards. People often ask why an army officer was chosen as secretary-general, rather than an officer from the R.A.F. The reason was that the Committee considered that he was the most suitable man for the job.
 
Between the wars the Club had done much to foster the growth of private flying, as well as Club flying. As the representative of the F.A.I. in Great Britain, customs carnets were issued by, and only by, the Club, so that aeroplanes used for touring could be flown in and out of this and other countries without having to pay duties, if they were not intended for sale. In 1929 the Club had not developed enough to be in a position to run a touring department of its own, so an arrangement was made with the Automobile Association. The A.A., through its own touring department, provided maps for aerial tourists who wished to go abroad, and planned routes for them. When the war ended in 1945, the A.A. were not anxious to go on with that arrangement.

The Council of Light Aeroplane Clubs, which had been formed in 1930 to co-ordinate the work of the clubs, and to exchange information among clubs, was disbanded at the end of 1945. In its place the Association of British Aero Clubs was formed. The term "light aeroplane" was dropped because the low-powered aeroplane had "grown up", much as in the early days of motoring the "light-car" had grown up, and is now almost non-existent.

The A.B.A.C. at once got to work and concluded an arrangement with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to get certain aircraft such as Tiger Moths, Austers, and Proctors, which were surplus to Service requirements, and make them available to the clubs which were members of the A.B.A.C. The Royal Aero Club also strove very hard to get reduced the exorbitant landing fees, which were imposed on small aircraft which landed at state-owned airfields.

Another innovation by the Committee was to introduce associate membership. Many men and women wish to join the Club in order to be able to use the touring facilities, and the various sources of information which are at the Club's disposal. Many do not live in London, and so do not wish to join as full members and pay the necessarily high annual subscription.

On 21st June 1946, the associate membership plan was first announced. Associate members now pay £2 2s. annually for which they get all the advantages of full membership, except that they cannot use the Club premises in Piccadilly. It was decided to house the aviation departments in a separate building. First of all a building near Victoria Station was chosen, but the Ministry of Health decided that they needed it for their re-housing programme. Then another building in Sloane Street was sought, but negotiations fell through.

Lord Londonderry, who before the war had been a most able and enthusiastic Secretary of State for Air, and had learned to fly when well past 50 and had become a good pilot, offered to let the Club have the use of the greater part of his huge and famous mansion, Londonderry House, in Park Lane at a "peppercorn" rental. There, in December 1946, the Club began to establish their aviation centre. All the purely aviation department moved there from 119 Piccadilly which was solely the social centre. The move was made in the face of considerable difficulties. For several weeks there were no telephones, and few of the departments were able to move, at first, into their final resting place. There was an atmosphere about this famous house, in which some of the greatest and most famous political receptions of the past had been held, and where much history had been made. All who first worked there felt the spell of the place.

In the difficult aftermath of the 1939-45 war, when so many people's homes had been devastated by six years of bombing, it was difficult to get any building or decorating work done. Londonderry House had been occupied by the Army for much of the war and considerable damage and deterioration had occurred. Lord Londonderry and his family occupied only the top floor.

By the end of 1947 the interior had been redecorated and furnished. Some of the great rooms became offices for the Air Touring Department, Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, A.B.A.C., Air Charter Association, Helicopter Association, Air League, Ultra Light Aircraft Association, and other purely non-commercial aeronautical bodies. The associate members' library and lounge was installed, and there is a restaurant for members and associate members.

Magnificent parties for up to 750 people are regularly held there for aeronautical occasions, and the frequent aeronautical film shows prove a great attraction. I have often wondered how we managed before we had Londonderry House. Lord Londonderry died on 11th February 1949. His house will long be his memorial in the flying fraternity.

Monthly film shows held in the old banqueting hall of Londonderry House for members and associate members of the Club have become a great feature of life from 1948 onwards. Aeronautical films of great interest, often films not normally available to the public, are shown there to large audiences. Specially popular have been films taken by William Courtenay, well-liked air correspondent of the Kemsley Press, during his travels all over the world. These are accompanied by a lively commentary given by Bill, who is photographer, lecturer, projectionist, and re-wind-boy all in one.

Though the Aero Club was founded, as already recorded, on 24th September 1901, it was not registered at Somerset House until the 29th October of that year. In past years celebrations of the founding of the Club in the balloon City of York have been held on 24th September. In these days, the prevalent bureaucratic types of mind might very well decide to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the day on which the Club was registered, instead of on 24th September which is the real day of its inspiration.
CHAPTER 4

ROYAL AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY

Founded in 1866—first thought on jets—steam plane—Maxim—centre of aeronautical learning—later growth.

MOST people think that jet propulsion for aircraft is a new idea. And yet it was first advocated nearly 90 years ago in a paper read before the Aeronautical Society, now the Royal Aeronautical Society, which was formed in Great Britain on 12th January 1866.

The use of jet propulsion for aircraft was urged by Capt. Griffiths on 11th December 1866. In the course of his paper, which was read to a group of men who had banded together into the society for the express purpose of studying heavier-than-air flight, 38 years before Orville Wright made the first flight, Capt. Griffiths said: "For a motor there is nothing that can be compared to the jet system for simplicity and smallness of volume. If we have to look for lighter motors than this, I believe that our case is hopeless."

Soon after the formation of the Aeronautical Society, a member of the Council, named Wenham, delivered a lecture on heavier-than-air flight at a time when there appeared no possibility of such a machine flying in the lifetime of any of those who listened to the paper, for they were nearly all men well into middle-age or past it.

At the Council meeting of the Society on 24th August 1866 (53 years before the opening of civil aviation on 25th August 1919) a resolution was passed to form a committee to investigate "the laws of resistance of inclined surfaces moving in elastic and non-elastic fluids, air and water, and the resultant forces obtained at right angles to the direction of motion."

At this time, so long before the birth of practical flying, the Society was investigating the problem of aviation in a properly scientific manner. They were trying to get away from the theoretical world of speculation and basic experiment, and went after more definite ideas. The groping in the dark for the will-o'-the-wisp of flight by practical experiment with uncouth and Heath Robinson-like apparatus had only resulted in ridicule on the experimenters.

The Society, which was the first body or club of air enthusiasts to be formed anywhere, held the first aero show in the World at the Crystal Palace two years later, in 1868. The exhibits included steam engines of ingenious design, and, for their day, incredibly light models of heavier-than-air craft, some of them bearing a good resemblance to the earliest aeroplanes, airships and kites.

To further research into engines suitable for aircraft, the Society offered a prize of £100 for the engine with lowest weight/power ratio, and there were 16 entries. In 1950 £100 would hardly pay for the paper and drawing instruments used to design a new motor.

The prize was won by John Stringfellow who produced a steam engine to drive a model aeroplane he had built. The engine developed 1 h.p. and weighed 13 lb. which makes an interesting comparison with a modern jet engine such as the Rolls-Royce "Derwent" which develops nearly 6,000 h.p. for a weight of far less than 1 lb. per horse power.

The Crystal Palace authorities would not allow Stringfellow to make a free flight with his model inside the Palace, so it was hung from a wire. However the motor gave sufficient power to lift the aircraft off the supporting wire, thus proving that the theories were correct. That was not the first success of Stringfellow's models, for he first made a heavier-than-air model fly with an engine of sorts in 1847, over a hundred years ago. He was experimenting with Henson, who built a model monoplane which bore a distinct resemblance to some of those which flew in the 1914-18 war.

Even in those days theorists were beginning to realise the importance and value of speed in the air and during the 1868 exhibition, a series of lectures was held. One speaker named Thomas Moy said, "I would advise you to think of speed in terms of 150 m.p.h., as speed will gain the day, and nothing less than that speed will do." That was at a time when railway trains, doing about 45 m.p.h., were the fastest known vehicles.

In 1950 150 m.p.h. is considered a dawdling air speed, even slow for training craft, and we are facing up to the problem of how to fly faster than sound.

Another speaker advocated the use of the curved aerofoil instead of the flat wing section. The aerofoil is now standard practice, and has been so ever since the Wrights' first flight.

In 1871 the Society published the results of the first experiments with wind tunnels, which were chambers in which the air could be passed at speed so that conditions similar to those which would be obtained in flight could be simulated. Every up-to-date aircraft factory and experimental station today has its wind tunnel.

In modern high speed aircraft a phenomenon known as "boundary layer" becomes evident, in which the action of the airflow close to the wing and body surfaces is studied. This was touched on in 1872 in a lecture by James Glaisher, a "height-record" balloonist of the day. Many other problems which today are not fully understood, were being discussed by the Society in its very early days.

A prominent member in the early days was Sir Hiram Maxim, who in the 1890's came very near to being the first man to fly, when a steam-driven monoplane, which for safety he had anchored to a rail for its first attempts, proved to have such great lift that it pulled its rail out of the ground and the machine crashed. Sir Hiram escaped with a few scratches.

Until 1914 the membership of the Aeronautical Society did not exceed 100, but the impetus of war on aviation caused the membership to rise to 1,000, and in 1918 the King bestowed the title "Royal", so that it became the Royal Aeronautical Society. Many men whose names are household words have been presidents of the Society, among them Mr. J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon, holder of No. 1 Aviators' Certificate, now Lord Brabazon of Tara.

The Society now holds frequent lectures by eminent people who often use the occasion to make known to the world some world-shaking new invention. It is universally considered to be a very great honour to be invited to address the Society.

The letters F.R.Ae.S. (Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society) after anyone's name signify someone who has notably advanced the cause of aviation.

For years the Society occupied a small suite of offices in Albemarle Street, but in 1939 it moved to a great mansion in Hamilton Place, Park Lane, where many valuable records, books, pictures, lantern slides and films, which show the course of the progress of flying from mere theories to speeds of over 600 m.p.h., and heights from hops of a foot or so above the ground to several miles, are stored among the archives.

In 1925, J. Laurence Pritchard was made secretary of what was still a comparatively small and unimportant Royal Aeronautical Society. Under his guidance, the Society grew in size and importance. Early in 1950, Mr. Pritchard tendered his resignation, to become effective by the end of the year: but he had set such a very high standard that the Committee had not been able to find anyone of great enough calibre to replace him by December, 1950. An almost 'super' young man is needed to guide the future requirements of the Society which may well be the body dealing with the technology of astronautical as well as aeronautical lore.   





CHAPTER 5

FLYING THE CHANNEL

Wings spread—Channel prize announced—Latham makes first attempt—Blériot succeeds—first balloon crossings—second across—a double crossing—first woman pilot crosses.

UNTIL 1909 flying was not regarded by anyone, except the ardent experimenters, very seriously, and for that reason, very few records were published. Accurate and adequate information of those early flights is very difficult to trace. From 1903 until 1905 was the "seedling" stage, and from then until 1908 was the "budding" stage. The year of "burgeoning" was in 1909.

The first issue of Flight, published on Saturday, 2nd January 1909, has as its frontispiece a picture of Mr. Moore-Brabazon flying a Voisin at Issy on 3rd December 1908. Flight gives the picture the caption, "A second Englishman flies," and the same journal gives the credit of being the first Englishman to fly to Henri Farman. The latter is usually considered to have been a Frenchman, for he was resident in France, though of English stock. Moore-Brabazon was of Irish stock.

That same issue of Flight describes the first Paris Aero Show which began at Christmas, 1908. In May 1909, pictures were published of "Mussell Manor" on the Isle of Sheppey, which was a club house opened by the Aero Club (not yet "Royal") as a flying club for its members.

By June 1909, realisation was dawning that a flight across the Strait of Dover, 21 miles, for which the Daily Mail had offered a prize of £1,000, was possible. It is worth putting on record that the first to announce that he would make the attempt, was a Mr. Arthur Seymour, with a Voisin. Not much was known of Mr. Seymour's capabilities as an aviator, but it was stated that he "had gained proficiency from trials carried out in secret." He never made the attempt, nor do I remember ever hearing any more of this Mr. Seymour.

The first serious entry for the Daily Mail prize was from the Comte de Lambert, who had been making successful flights in France on a Wright biplane. But Blériot forstalled him. Then, early in July the Frenchman, Hubert Latham, announced that he would make the attempt in an Antoinette monoplane, from Sangatte, near Calais. He made the first attempt in history on 19th July 1909. He was seen to be flying on a course straight for Dover. When about seven or eight miles out, his motor stopped and he was forced to alight in the Channel. The monoplane floated, and Latham was picked up by a French destroyer which had been ordered by the French Government to patrol the route. Thus Latham became the first of a very long line, to be "picked up after falling in the drink," a phrase coined first in the 1914-18 war, but not in general use until the Battle of Britain, 1940. Had Latham succeeded in reaching England, many would have said "how dangerous it was, but what would have happened to him if he had fallen in the sea on the way across?" Latham showed them.

When Latham had failed, Blériot, who at the beginning of July had made a flight of 36 mins. 55 secs. at Issy, entered for the Channel prize.

Blériot began flying experiments in 1900, three years before the Wright Bros. had made the world's first flight on December 17th 1903. The money which he was able to spend on building the ten aeroplanes which he made before his famous cross-Channel machine, he made by his own enterprise by manufacturing head lamps for the then new-fangled horseless-carriages, as the first motor-cars were called.

The first motor-cars were sold to the public without lamps, horns, spare wheels, tools, or any other accessories. So Louis Blériot as a young man of 25 started a business to make headlamps for the automobiles of those days. Once motor-cars had passed the early experimental stages, drivers soon wanted to drive after dark, so they equipped their cars with Blériot's lamps. Soon everyone, not only in France and on the Continent, but also in England, began to buy Blériot lamps which were well known long before Blériot monoplanes became world famous; and thereby he made a considerable fortune.

He arrived at Les Barraques near Calais with his foot and arm bandaged from burns which he had suffered in a crash a few days earlier. Harry Delacombe, who was the official observer for the Aero Club at the starting point, has told me how he almost carried Blériot to his machine, as the latter's burns made it painful to walk. His monoplane was a very simple affair, with an open fuselage, except round the pilot's seat, and wheels not very different from, or more robust than, those of bicycles. It had a 25 h.p. Anzani motor.

The weather, for some days before 25th July 1909, had been rather windy. On the morning of the 25th, the wind had dropped slightly, but was blowing at a speed of between 10 and 20 m.p.h. which was quite a high wind in which to fly in those early days, with such very low power. So Blériot got up at 2.30 a.m. not feeling too well. He decided to go for a short motor ride to "blow the cobwebs away." He was driven to his shed and his machine was brought out. In spite of his injured foot, he decided to make a trial flight. Conditions seemed to be good enough for him.

The rules for the prize said that the flight must be made between sunrise and sunset. The sun had not yet risen, nor had Latham who was sleeping nearby. Blériot waited until 4.40 a.m. for the sun to rise and then took off. The affair was not very accurately timed, but according to his own statement he landed at Northfall Meadow, just at the east side of Dover castle, at 5.12 a.m. He carried neither watch nor compass. When I asked him later why he did not take these, he shook his head and said he thought he would very likely come down in the sea, which would not be good for them!

The total distance which he covered during the flight was about 31 miles, for he steered too far north of his direct course, and reached the Kent coast near St. Margaret's Bay. His height all the way across was never much above 100 feet. Halfway across his motor began to overheat and to lose what little power it could develop. Fortunately Blériot flew into a rain squall, which "water-cooled" his air-cooled motor and enabled him to maintain height.

When he reached the cliffs of Dover, he was unable to climb over them. He flew along until he found a gap in the cliffs near Dover Castle. By luck, or possibly by the wise selection of a French newspaperman—M. Fontaine—he found that same M. Fontaine waving a flag in a field in a gap in the cliffs, the entry of which was below Blériot's ceiling. So he turned in and landed, but the ground sloped rather too steeply and the undercarriage was broken. The propeller, or rather the tractor airscrew, was broken. Half of that airscrew now hangs over the fireplace of the bar in the Royal Aero Club at 119 Piccadilly. It looks to be only a chip off a blade, judged by later sizes, but it is, in fact, almost the complete half.

Latham and his camp slept while his rival flew the Channel. Blériot sent him a message offering to share the prize if he made the flight the same day, but the wind had risen too much, and Latham did not start that day. Two days later the weather moderated, and Latham made a further attempt. Ill-luck again pursued him, and his engine stopped within a mile of Dover harbour. Some onlookers said that he actually descended within the confines of the harbour. Harry Delacombe, who was there, says he remembers seeing the monoplane alight in the harbour. Photographs taken at the time show the machine being salvaged from the sea, outside the harbour, and contemporary accounts seem to agree that he did not reach it.

Blériot, from that moment, became a figure of history. Lord Northcliffe, who had been responsible for offering the prize, made the statement that Britain was no longer an island. England had only ceased to be an island, in that a new avenue of approach was opened. As Adolph Hitler was to discover 30 years later, the country still retained most of the advantages of being an island, but Blériot's flight had opened up new possibilities.

On landing at Dover, Blériot sketched a map of his route, which was published in the Daily Mail the next day. His lettering read, "Louis Blériot arrived in England at 5.12 having left France at 4.35." He made a black dot to represent the point of departure, and a line to represent his line of flight. In the middle of the line was the word "rien" with a big question mark, which signified that he had not a clue to his position for about ten minutes, when in the rain squall.

The first crossing of the Channel by air was made with a balloon on 22nd February 1784, from a point on the Kent Coast near Dover. There were no occupants and the balloon landed at Warneton near the Belgian frontier.

The first human crossing was made in a balloon on 7th January 1785 by the French aeronaut Blanchard and the American, Dr. Jefferies. They ascended from near Dover Castle, not far from where Blériot landed over 100 years later, and, after an adventurous journey in which everything movable had to be jettisoned as ballast (including coats, jackets, and Blanchard's trousers), they landed at the Forest of Guinés, twelve miles inland from Calais, after nearly three hours in the air. Although there had been nearly 150 years of ballooning, only 38 balloons had made the crossing before Blériot. The first airship to cross the Channel, the Clement-Bayard, flew from Paris to London late in 1910 as told in the chapter on airships.

The second crossing of the Strait of Dover by aeroplane was on 20th May 1910 by the Frenchman, Jacques de Lesseps, also in a Blériot. He won a prize of £500 offered by the Ruinart Champagne Co. That prize could have been won by Blériot, but he forgot to enter for it.

On 2nd June 1910, the Hon. C. S. Rolls, holder of No. 2 Aviators' Certificate issued by the Royal Aero Club, flew from Dover in a Wright biplane built by Short Bros. He flew to Calais where he dropped a message, and returned to Dover. Thus he became (a) the first aviator to "double-cross" the Channel; (b) the first to fly from England to France; (c) the first Englishman to fly the Channel.

After that, the crossing became commonplace, but it was not until the 1914-18 war that it was done regularly. On the outbreak of that war many of the aeroplanes of the R.F.C. flew the Channel to war. The first pilotless planes, "doodle-bugs" flew across in June 1944. In fact, the first one turned round and went back to France again. "Doodle-bugs" or flying bombs were pilotless jet-propelled monoplanes with a war-head containing nearly a ton of explosive, which were launched against England by the Germans from the Pas de Calais area of France in June 1944 and a few months following.

Louis Blériot died on 1st August 1936 in his sixty-fourth year. For some time he had been suffering from a diseased heart. He flew the Channel again as a passenger in an airliner when he flew to England for a later celebration of his great feat. Although he was a great designer, he is chiefly remembered as a great pilot, which indeed he was, for he showed wonderful courage in overcoming adversity of all kinds. He was 37 when he flew the Channel, in 37 minutes.

The first woman pilot to cross was an American, Miss Harriett Quimby. She learned to fly in America in the latter part of 1911. She ordered a Blériot monoplane in France and came to England in the spring of 1912, with the intention of becoming the first woman pilot to fly the Channel. On 16th April 1912 she flew successfully from Deal to Boulogne. She returned to America at once, but was killed soon afterwards when she and her passenger fell out of a Blériot when making a steep descent.

Miss Trehawke Davis, the first Englishwoman to possess her own aeroplane, was the first woman to cross as a passenger, which she did with Gustav Hamel in a Blériot the previous year.    





CHAPTER 6

FLYING GROWS UP

Brooklands, Hendon—other early aerodromes—first British aviator killed-—Bournemouth meeting 1910—first across the Irish Sea—Robert Loraine—first big races—Circuit of Britain, 1911.

MEANWHILE a "colony" of aviators had been established at Brooklands, which had been built as a motor-track, and, as the public did not have free access to it, the interior was used for an aerodrome. Much levelling had to be done, and a river had to be diverted. But Brooklands in the days between 1910 and the outbreak of war in 1914 was spoken of as the "hub of British aviation." There was a greater variety of aeroplanes to be seen there than at any aerodrome in Great Britain.

Claude Grahame-White had formed the Grahame-White Aviation Co. Ltd., and had bought the land from which his rival Paulhan had begun his Manchester flight, at Hendon, and there he established Hendon aerodrome, which was named the "London Aerodrome." The Grahame-White Flying School was established there. Soon the Blériot school was opened, and others followed, which included the Beatty School, the Valkyrie School (founded by Mr. Barber, donor later of the Britannia Trophy), the Hall School, the Ewen School, and the London and Provincial Aviation Co. and others. In the early part of 1914, Hendon was becoming crowded, with so many schools in active operation. So one school rented a field about a mile away, into which they daily flew their school Caudrons from Hendon, so that their pupils could practice in a less crowded atmosphere. That field was at the end of a lane named Stag Lane, and was where the de Havilland Aircraft Company was first established in 1920. It is now completely built over with houses.

Aerodromes in these early days were established at Salisbury Plain, at Amesbury, at Filton near Bristol, and Farnborough.

There was a small aerodrome at Beaulieu where the R.A.F. Airborne Forces unit was established in the 1939-45 war. Eastchurch still continued, though it took on more and more of a naval aspect. Other aerodromes were at Shoreham and Eastbourne.

In July 1910 an aviation meeting was held at Bournemouth, which was attended by many famous aviators. Among them was the Hon. C. S. Rolls, who competed with a French-built Wright biplane. One of his helpers there was E. Keith-Davies, holder of Aviators' Certificate No. 22.

Keith has told me that the reason he was at Bournemouth with Rolls was that the latter was negotiating to form a Rolls aeroplane company, and Keith Davies was earmarked for the post of secretary. Had Rolls not been killed at Bournemouth there might have been a Rolls Aeroplane Company holding its place indisputably at the head of the aircraft industry, just as the Rolls-Royce company has been for years the undisputed leader of the motor-car industry throughout the world. But Rolls would have needed an aeronautical counterpart of Henry Royce.

Many famous pilots competed in the Bournemouth meeting, including Grahame-White, Rolls, and a young and well-known actor, Robert Loraine (who flew under the name of Mr. Jones). Leon Morane increased his already great reputation, as also did a little Frenchman named Audemars in a tiny monoplane the "Demoiselle," designed and built by Santos Dumont. [Note 6]. Because of the way this little machine raced about the ground and made short hops, it earned the nickname of the "infuriated grass-hopper."

On 11th July Rolls had entered for a landing competition. He made one try but he found that he had to come in across wind because of the position of the grand stand. He thought he might do better if he landed by coming in over the stand. But his elevator was not sufficiently large to give him the necessary control for this. So over night he and his helpers (among whom was Keith Davies who told me the story), increased the size of the elevator. But with their limited knowledge of stresses in those days, they did not realise what an extra strain this would put on the tailbooms. When, on the morning of 12th July 1910, Rolls approached the landing circle from over the stand, he put the nose down. But when he tried to pull it up there was a cracking noise, the whole tail unit broke off, and the machine dived into the ground from about 60 feet. It did not look a very serious accident, but Charlie Rolls was dead when he was picked up. He was the first British aviator to be killed. His death caused a profound sensation, for his name had become a household word from his early ballooning and motoring exploits, and for his double flight across the Channel a month earlier.

Robert Loraine caused something of a sensation at this meeting. There was a prize for a flight across the sea to the Isle of Wight and back, for which he had entered. He started on 16th July after a cold and wet morning. Soon after he left, the rain came down in torrents. No news came through as to what had happened to him, and it was thought he must have come down in the sea. No news had come through some hours later, so Harry Harper, who represented the Daily Mail sent the story of the "tragedy" to his paper. Eventually news was received that Bob had landed safely near the Needles. Harry Harper had to cancel his death story, and Bob Loraine lived to fly and act many another day to the delight of his many friends.

In later days of high top-speeds and high stalling and landing speeds, it is of interest to recall some of the performances at the 1910 Bournemouth meeting. The speed prize was won by Leon Morane with a Blériot (50 h.p. Gnôme) at 55.9 m.p.h. Charlie Rolls with his Wright (B. & M. motor) won the slowest circuit prize at 25.33 m.p.h. In the take-off competition, Capt. Bertram Dickson rose with a run of 35 yards 7 inches. The Hon. Alan Boyle came fourth in the take-off competition, flying his little Avis monoplane (E.N.V. motor). His take-off distance was 42 yards 1 foot 10 inches. Later in the meeting Alan Boyle had a bad crash in which he fell on to his head and was badly hurt. He never flew again as a pilot. In April 1947 he came in to see the R.Ae.C. Aviation Centre exhibition at Bristol Corner in Piccadilly, London, looking very fit. He died in 1949.

Morane won the height prize by reaching 4,107 feet in his Blériot which was not far short of the world height record at that time.

The first man to fly across the Irish Sea in an aeroplane was Bob Loraine. On 11th September 1910 he took his Farman (Gnôme) to Holyhead. In the early stage of the flight across the Irish Sea he climbed to 4,000 feet. That he did so was fortunate, for when he was about one third of the way across the sea, his motor stopped. He glided down, expecting to alight in the sea, but when he was still at about 2,000 feet, his motor restarted and he climbed again to 4,000 feet. The motor stopped again and restarted four more times. To add to his worries, bracing wires in the tail unit were breaking; eventually one of the tail-booms came adrift from its socket. Loraine had intended to alight in Phoenix Park in Dublin, but the intermittent running of the motor and the gradual disintegration of the Farman caused him to determine to land on the first suitable piece of ground which he reached. He was nearing Howth Head, the northern cape of Dublin Bay, when his motor quit again. That time it did not restart. Loraine later found that he had used all his petrol; his consumption had been increased because of his having to climb 2,000 feet after the five motor failures.

Loraine told me that he actually passed over Howth Head so he completed the sea crossing. As he could not find a safe place on which to land on the shore, he put the biplane down in the water just off the Bailey lighthouse and he swam ashore unaided. For that flight he was awarded a silver medal by the Royal Aero Club. By a coincidence he was due to open in a new play in London a few days later entitled, The Man from the Sea.

Loraine did much flying until the outbreak of war in 1914. He took up one of the first radio sets on a flight to prove that wireless could be worked from the air. Many people had doubted that it would work with no earth connection. Passengers and aircrew, who to-day fly thousands of miles over oceans, relying on radio for their safety, can look upon Bob Loraine as one of the fathers of airborne radio.

When the 1914 war broke out, Bob joined the R.F.C. as an observer. He was very badly wounded by a bullet fired from the ground. After a long period of convalescence he underwent a pilot's course at the R.F.C. School at Shoreham. In 1916 he took a squadron of FE8 single-seat pusher-fighters to France, and finished that war as a lieut.-colonel. He did not do any flying as a pilot after the 1918 war finished, but was a regular attendant at flying meetings and at the R.Ae.C. He was one of London's most popular actors and a top-line broadcaster, but his health had been undermined by his severe war wound and he died in 1935.

In April 1912, Denys Corbett Wilson, an Irishman who had learned to fly at the Blériot School first in France and then at Hendon set out to fly to Ireland from London (Hendon). With him set out another Irishman, young Damer Leslie Allen. Allen reached Chester, and from there he left on a non-stop flight for Dublin. He passed over Holyhead an hour later, but never reached Ireland and was never seen again. Corbett Wilson separated from Allen in England and flew to Fishguard. Thence he crossed St. George's Channel and landed at Crane, two miles from Enniscorthy. So that was really the first completed crossing from the mainland of England and Wales to Ireland, as Loraine had alighted in the sea 300 yards short of Ireland.

In 1911 there were held, for the first time, a number of important city-to-city races for big prizes. These were: Paris-Madrid; Paris-Rome-Turin; the Circuit of Europe; and the Circuit of Britain.

The Paris-Madrid race was marred at the start by an accident in which M. Berteaux, French Minister of War was killed, and the Premier, M. Monis and M. Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, the great benefactor of aviation and motoring, were hurt.

The race started from Issy, near Paris, and great crowds thronged to the small airfield to see the start. As the French pilot, Train, was starting, his motor was not working properly and he decided to land again. Many people, including an official party, had encroached on the landing ground. Train's motor failed completely just as he neared the little group. He tried to lift his monoplane over them but stalled and fell on to them. M. Berteaux was killed. This race was won by the French Lieut. de Conneau who flew in the name of "Beaumont."

The circuit of Europe was held at the end of June 1911. It was started from Paris and went via Liège, Spa, Utrecht, Brussels, Roubaix, Calais, Dover, Shoreham to Hendon, and back by way of Shoreham and Dover to Paris. This race, over a course of about 1,000 miles was also won by Lt. de Conneau, who, as in the Madrid race, flew under the name of "André Beaumont" as he was a serving officer.

On 22nd July 1911, a race was held which attracted a representative international entry. This was the Circuit of Britain for a prize of £10,000 given by the Daily Mail. The course was just over 1,000 miles. The start was from Brooklands, with controls at Hendon, Harrogate, Newcastle, Stirling, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter, Shoreham and back to Brooklands. Thirty pilots entered of which 18 were British. Only seventeen went to the starting line of which ten were British. Only four finished, of which two were British.

The race attracted a very great amount of interest, both in the Press and all along the route. The start was at Brooklands, on a sweltering hot July Saturday afternoon before a huge crowd. When it was seen that the all-conquering "Beaumont" had drawn No. 1, this was regarded as an omen for his further success. Here is a list of the starters, with their aircraft:

Lt. de Conneau (Beaumont), Blériot (50 h.p. Gnôme).
H. J. D. Astley, Birdling (50 h.p. Gnôme).
C. Compton Patterson, Grahame-White "Baby" (50 h.p. Gnôme).
Jules Vedrines, Morane-Borel (70 h.p. Gnôme).
G. Blanchet, Breguet (80 h.p. Canton-Unné).
Lt. R. A. Cammell, Blériot (70 h.p. Gnôme).
M. Audemars, Blériot (50 h.p. Gnôme).
James Valentine, Deperdussin (50 h.p. Gnôme).
C. P. Pizey, Bristol "Boxkite" (50 h.p. Gnôme).
C. H. Pixton, Bristol "Boxkite" (50 h.p. Gnôme).
S. F. Cody, Cody (60 h.p. Green).
Olivier de Montalont, Breguet (80 h.p. Canton-Unné).
Gustav Hamel, Blériot (50 h.p. Gnôme).
Lieut. H. R. P. Reynolds, Howard Wright (60 h.p. E.N.V.).
B. C. Hucks, Blackburn (60 h.p. lsaacson).
C. T. Weyman, Nieuport (100 h.p. Gnôme).
Lieut. H. Bier and Lt. C. Banfield, Etrich Taube (120 h.p. Austro-Daimler).

When making a test flight before the start, Ronald Kemp had structural failure of a wing in an Avro just as he left the ground. He fell with a thud sending up a cloud of dust. This looked as though it might have had serious consequences to the pilot but he was almost unhurt. Several other entrants were prevented from starting for various reasons. Lieut. John Porte, R.N., was taking off for a first test flight on his Deperdussin in the morning. After a shaky circuit he landed. Owing to a faulty switch the motor would not stop. He swung round, wrenched off the wheels and stopped just short of the river Wey, which runs through Brooklands.

Owing to the turbulent state of the air caused by the heat, which set up what gliding folk now call "thermals," but which were then called "remous" or "bumps," the start was postponed from 3 p.m until 4 p.m.

"Beaumont" was the first to start, and he headed straight over the trees at the Weybridge end of the track for Hendon.

The first day's flying was only the short leg from Brooklands to Hendon, at which place the competitors were welcomed by a huge crowd, which was estimated to be as big as the 30,000 which had assembled at Brooklands. In those days no competitive flying was allowed in Britain on a Sunday. The restart was made from Hendon at 4 a.m. on Monday 24th July. Patterson retired at Hendon, saying that the "Baby" was unsafe to fly. Others fell out one by one and finally only four were left to finish.

The last section from Manchester, via Bristol, Exeter and Shoreham, resulted in a ding-dong struggle between "Beaumont" and Vedrines. "Beaumont" eventually arrived first at Brooklands in a flying time of 15 hours 12 minutes. Vedrines was not far behind and he was presented with £200 by Lord Northcliffe as a consolation prize.

Valentine was the third to reach Brooklands, flying a French Deperdussin. Cody was the fourth and last arrival, reaching Brooklands at 6.50 p.m., just a week after he had started. Thus ended the greatest air race which had been held. The very complex organisation was done by the Royal Aero Club.

E. Keith-Davies, referred to earlier, was the first man to fly in India, on a Blériot-type monoplane built by Humbers. He flew at an exhibition at Allahabad in December 1910. At that same exhibition a Frenchman, Pequet, carried the first air mail, and Keith-Davies has an envelope addressed to himself which was carried on that so-called "First aerial post." This was in February 1911. Like the First Aerial Post of the United Kingdom, which in August 1911 carried sacks of mail in Blériots and Farmans from Hendon to Windsor, whence they were delivered in the normal manner, this was just a "stunt", taking letters for joy-rides before normal delivery. The first real air mail was that organised by the Communications Squadron of the R.A.F. early in 1919 for carrying mail from Lympne in Kent to Cologne for the British Army of Occupation. The first commercial air mail, run by the Post Office, began on 11th November 1919 as recorded later.   





CHAPTER 7

LONDON TO PARIS

Moisant—first crossing with passenger—unnoticed history—Pierre Prier—first inter-city race—first airliner—Don Robins—"Taking good can of you" begins.

BY THE summer of 1910 the Channel had been crossed several times, so that aviators began turning their attention to the linking of London and Paris by air.

On 16th August 1910, a young American, J. B. Moisant left Issy, Paris, on a two-seat Blériot with his mechanic, Filieux, as passenger. The first evening they flew as far as Amiens, where they stayed the night. They left early the next morning and flew to Calais. The same morning they flew across the Channel and landed at Willows Wood, Tilmanstone, about seven miles from Dover. This was the fifth crossing by aeroplane, the first with a passenger, and the first with Paris as the starting point. Filieux became the first passenger to fly the Channel.

Having arrived in England, Moisant's troubles began. The weather deteriorated and turned wet and windy and he was forced to remain all day where he had landed. On the next day, Thursday, he took off again and flew over Canterbury to Sittingbourne, where he was forced down by a broken valve-rod. This was repaired in just over an hour, and the flight was continued, but a further motor failure caused another forced landing at Upchurch, near Rainham. The ground was soft and the wheels sank in so that the tractor screw was broken and the undercarriage was damaged.

The undercarriage was soon repaired, but a new airscrew had to come from Paris and did not arrive until the next day, Friday, when a strong wind made it necessary to postpone the restart of the flight until the next morning. Soon after taking-off on Saturday morning, the wind freshened, and the bumpy air in this hilly Kentish country caused another landing to be made at Gillingham, before three miles had been covered. Remember that the 50 h.p. Gnôme did not develop more than 35 h.p. and Moisant and Filieux were big men.

They left again on Monday morning 22nd August but the wind was again very strong and they were blown off course and landed at Wrotham, after taking 58 minutes to cover 19 miles. After refuelling, they took off, but, again owing to the wind, were forced down at Kemsing near Sevenoaks, having taken 27 minutes to cover 4 miles.

The undercarriage was damaged once more, but Moisant and Filieux soon repaired it. They were delayed for a few days, the wind being too much for them as it eddied among the hills. They were forced to land in a cornfield near Otford station, only two miles beyond Kemsing. They restarted the same evening and at about 6 p.m. on a fine sunny evening, passed over the Crystal Palace, the grounds of which they had intended to be the terminal landing place. They meant to land on a small piece of sloping ground about 200 yards long by 50 yards wide, from which Claude Grahame-White had been giving exhibition flights with a Farman.

Moisant did not like the look of this restricted and tree-encircled landing-ground. He circled over it at about 500 feet and turned south. I saw the monoplane disappear among some houses about a mile away in the direction of New Beckenham station. I jumped on my bike and went there as fast as I could pedal, expecting to see the Blériot on the top of some houses or trees. I could easily find my way to his landing ground by the crowds of people who were also going there.

I found the monoplane on New Beckenham cricket ground, just east of the station. The undercarriage was again smashed and the cricket pitch also was damaged.

Moisant and Filieux were contemplating the damage, but looked happy after having achieved their objective, though that had taken them 22 days—from 16th August to 6th September.

Moisant, who was an American architect of Spanish descent, was killed on the last day of 1910, when he stalled his Blériot at 100 feet, competing for the Michelin cup in America.

On 19th April 1911, Pierre Prier, the French chief instructor of the Blériot School at Hendon, made the first non-stop flight between London and Paris, which he accomplished in four minutes under 4 hours. That feat was emblazoned in the headlines of the London papers. For the first time, an aeroplane had flown in quick time between the two capital cities. The flight proved the advantage of an aeroplane for a journey during which, by surface travel, changes from train to boat and vice versa must be made.

Prier left Hendon, London at 1.37 p.m., accurately timed by Norbert Chereau, manager of the Blériot school. He flew over the Northern outskirts of London to Chatham and crossed the Channel from Dover to Gris Nez. He arrived at Issy, Paris, at 5.33 p.m.

The machine was a Blériot with a 50 h.p. Gnôme motor. The route was carefully planned in advance, and Prier carried a strip route map. The flight, which was about 220 miles, was the longest recorded flight in a straight line, but as the F.A.I. did not, until 1925, recognise a flight in a straight line as a distance record, such a record could not be claimed. Prier died in France on 30th June 1950.

The first race between London and Paris took place on 11th July 1914, from Hendon to Buc. The race was a flight in both directions, starting and finishing at Hendon. There were six starters, only four of whom reached Paris, and only two of whom returned safely. The race was won by the American, Walter Brock (domiciled in England), who flew a British-built Morane monoplane with 80 h.p. Gnome motor. He reached Paris in 3 hours 33 minutes and returned in 3 hours 30 minutes. The famous Roland Garros came back an hour and 25 minutes behind Brock, flying a French Morane with 80 h.p. Le Rhone motor. A third competitor, Renaux, on a Maurice Farman "Shorthorn" reached Hendon the next day. Lord Carbery, flying a Bristol "Bullet", alighted in the Channel on the way home, but was rescued. By 1914, when war broke out, flights between London and Paris had become fairly common.

Towards the end of the 1918 war, a communication flight of the R.A.F., a forerunner of Transport Command of the 1939-45 war, was formed to fly important people, not yet styled "V.I.P.", and documents between the capitals. Hendon was the London Terminal, until later Kenley was used and Buc was used at Paris. Wing Commander Harold Primrose, who was commanding the London-Paris communication wing flew from Kenley to Buc in a Martinsyde F4 (275 h.p. Rolls- Royce "Falcon") in 75 minutes which remained the fastest recorded flight on that route for many years to come.

Although the regular air service from London to Paris did not begin until 25th August l9l9, special permission was granted for a service to be run from 13th-20th July of that year in connection with the Peace celebrations. A subsidary company of the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., directed by Holt Thomas, named Aircraft Transport & Travel Ltd., had been formed, ready to operate the London-Paris route as soon as agreement was reached between the two govemments.

The first commercial pilot to fly between the two capitals, which was the first civil air route to be opened anywhere in the world, was Capt. H. S. (Jerry) Shaw who flew a DH9 (240 h.p. Siddeley "Puma") on this temporary service. Civil air routes did not open, however, on a permanent basis, until 25th August of the same year. On that day the first pilot to leave Hounslow, the London Terminal, for Le Bourgét was E. H. Lawford, known to all as "Bill." He flew a DH4a and carried Mr. G. M. Stevenson-Reece, of the Evening Standard as passenger. These "airliners" were converted DH4 bombers, in which the gunner's seat was covered over with a glass hood. One passenger could be carried in comparative comfort, and two in much discomfort.

Handley Page Transport Ltd., a subsidiary company of the parent firm, began a week later. Machines started from the little airfield at Cricklewood, and landed at Hounslow for customs. The general manager of that firm was Major George Woods-Humphery, who later became managing director of Imperial Airways, and was instrumental in starting and organising the Empire services with Short flying boats in 1937. W. Sholto Douglas was, for a short while, chief pilot to Handley Page Transport Ltd. He became the well-liked and efficient chairman of British European Airways in 1949.

A colliery firm, S. Instone & Co., the partners in which were four Jews, bought an aeroplane to speed up connection with their Paris office in 1919. At first they operated with a DH4a and their pilot was Capt. Frank Barnard, who won the first King's Cup race. This firm later bought other machines and ran a regular service to Paris. In 1924, with Handley Page Transport, Daimler Airways, and British Marine Air Navigation Co. Ltd. (formed by Hubert Scott-Paine, of Supermarines to run services with flying boats to the Channel Islands), they were amalgamated to form Imperial Airways.

Civil aviation was first permitted in the United Kingdom on 1st May 1919 but only within the confines of the realm. A.T. & T. was registered just before that date, as also was Handley Page Transport Ltd. A. V. Roe & Co. Ltd. formed an air transport section and sent Avro 504k biplanes all over the country giving many of the civil population their baptism of the air. Smaller joyride concerns were formed, of which the best known were Berkshire Aviation Tours, consisting of Alan Cobham, O. P. Jones, and Fred Holmes; and Berkshire Aviation Co. Ltd. who were J. D. V. Holmes, J. C. C. Taylor and A. L. Robinson, not forgetting Wilfred the dog. All of these subsequently made their niche in civil aviation.

The Aeroplane for 20th August 1919 announced:
     "If the Civil Aviation Department (of the Air Ministry—Ed.) gives permission in time, the Aircraft Transport & Travel Ltd. will start a daily aerial service to Paris on August 25th, weather permitting. The machines used will be of two types, the DH4a and DH16, both with limousine fuselages. Accommodation will be provided for one hand-bag per passenger. The machines will leave at 12 noon in each direction, weather permitting, and the average time of flight is estimated at 2¼ hours. Parcels will be carried at 7s. 6d. per lb., but if arrangements are made to carry them regularly, a substantial reduction to 3s. 9d. per lb. is made."

On 27th August 1919 the Aeroplane stated:
     "The Air Ministry makes the following announcement: 'Pending the final signature of the International Convention a provisional agreement to allow of (sic) flying between France and Great Britain from Monday, August 25th has been arrived at between the respective Governments.'
     "On August 25th the service was started. A DH4a machine left Hounslow at 9.10 a.m. with a pilot, a Press representative, a number of newspapers, a consignment of leather, several brace of grouse, and a number of jars of Devonshire cream. The machine arrived at Le Bourget at 11.40 a.m. Left Le Bourget at 12.40 p.m. and reached Hounslow at 2.45 p.m."

Perhaps the grouse were symbolic!

Although the Aeroplane did not record the fact, the pilot on this historic occasion was Lieut. E. H. (Bill) Lawford.

The Aeroplane continues:
     "Bookings of passengers have been received, covering the whole of the first week ot the service. Mr. Holt Thomas anticipates (sic) 80 per cent. efficiency on the service. The machines will leave for Paris every day that it is humanly possible to go. Whether there are passengers or not, they will go to scheduled time.
     "The Postmaster-General has not yet given permission for letters to be carried. In America they have found it actually cheaper, and obviously quicker to send letters over long distances by air. The Post Office should realise the advantages of the speed of air transport. The aerial services would be put on a secure basis if they carried the mails."

During the first four weeks of the service, 56 flights were scheduled and 54 were accomplished. One was prevented by weather, and one was interrupted by mechanical defect; 13,750 miles were flown at an average speed of 106½ m.p.h. During the month, only 3 days were considered, officially, as "fit for flying," 13 were "unfavourable for flying," and 8 as "unfit for flying."

Only once, when the wind attained a velocity unknown for years, was it necessary to abandon a flight, and even then, though there were squalls stated officially to have reached 100 m.p.h., only one of the daily services was suspended. Though the machine from London did not start, the one from Paris arrived at Hounslow well ahead of schedule.

On 24th September the Aeroplane recorded:
     "During the past week, two fresh companies announced they were starting London-Paris services. Both are French, the Compagnie Messageries Aeriennes and Farman Frères."

The latter became in due course Le Compagnie des Grand Expresses Aeriennes. With it came to England Emile Bouderie as British manager. The two firms later merged into Air France, of which Bouderie is still a leading light.

The first regular air mail service in the world operated by a commercial concern, left Hounslow for Paris on 11th November, according to the Aeroplane of 19th November 1919. The pilot was Lt. C. R. McMullin and light bags of mail were carried. The aerodrome commander had reported the weather as totally unfit on 10th November. After a few minutes flight the pilot turned back. So the first air mail was flown by McMullin on 11th November, the next day.

According to a full-page advertisement in the Aeroplane for 10th December 1919 passenger fares from London to Paris were: Single £21, Return £42. The advertisement stated:
     "This fare includes free conveyance by motorcar to Hounslow Aerodrome from any point within a mile of Piccadilly Circus, and also from Le Bourget into Paris. A passenger called for at an hotel in London at 11 a.m. arrives at the door of his hotel in Paris by 4 p.m. the same afternoon."

That schedule of 5 hours from city centre to city centre was usually achieved. It was not much quicker in 1950.

The same advertisement stated:

     "By arrangement with the British and French Post Offices an express air mail is now carried daily on this route. The fee is 2s. 6d. an ounce, over and above the usual rates of postage, and letters which are handed in during the morning in London between 10.30 a.m. and 11 a.m. at six central London Post Offices will be delivered in Paris by 4 p.m. the same afternoon."

That was pure wishful thinking on the part of the G.P.O. Though the aerial part of the journey was regularly accomplished in less than 2½ hours, air mail letters usually took longer than surface mail.

Handley Page Transport began a regular service to Paris soon after A.T. & T. and later ran to Brussels and to Amsterdam. This service used 0/400 twin-motor converted bombers to Paris and Brussels, and DH9s to Amsterdam. A.T. & T. used DH4a single-motor bombers, and the DH16 which was a converted DH9a with Rolls-Royce "Eagle" or Napier "Lion" in place of the "Liberty." The DH4a carried two passengers under a triplex glass hood, and the DH16 carried four. In each case one needed to be a contortionist to get in, and sat in cramped discomfort.

A.T. & T. employed about 20 pilots either regularly or spasmodically on this service. They were: (Lieutenants or Captains) Shaw, Lawford, McMullin, Armstrong, Campbell Orde, Riley, Bayliss, Robins, Square, Game, Powell, Lines, Lindley, Tebbitt, Carleton, Chattaway, Courtney, Gathergood, Bradley, Holmes and Patteson. Handley Page Transport employed at first, Lieut.-Col. Sholto Douglas, Capts. Clarke and Shakespeare, and later Major Brackley, and Lieuts. Wilcockson, Olley, Hope, Rogers, Macintosh, and Bager.

In 1950, the B.B.C. broadcast a feature programme on Don Robins. The Rev. P. D. Robins made considerable fame from 1930 to the day of his death in February 1948 as the Vicar of St. George's, Leeds. He was known as the "Dick Shepherd of the North."

Towards the end of the 1914-18 war, Robins served in the R.F.C. as a pilot. When the war ended, he was one of the very first pilots to join Aircraft Transport & Travel Ltd., and became one of the first airliner captains. He flew on the London-Paris service very soon after it was opened.

When A.T. & T. closed down at the end of 1920, Robins joined the newly formed Instone Air Line, and was one of the first airline captains to wear the newly introduced civil air uniforms. He flew DH4a, DH16, DH18, DH34 and Vimy airliners. There was a famous occasion, referred to in the broadcast, when he damaged his undercarriage taking off from Brussels and landed safely at Croydon.

He surprised everyone at Croydon, in 1923, by announcing that he was giving up airline flying to enter the Church of England. No one took him very seriously, but it soon became evident that he had a mission, for he became no ordinary cleric. He is remembered as the youngest of a very young group of pilots of the early airlines, and was considered competent and safe. He was a most likable lad, with a friendly smile that contained a look of real sincerity. He was liked by all, and was never heard to say an unkind thing about anyone.

He became a lay-reader in a Croydon church for a year, and then took holy orders. After being a curate near Croydon, he was appointed vicar of St. George's, Leeds, when only thirty. He proved to be a preacher of great sincerity, forthrightness, and fearlessness, a splendid organiser, and a man of great human understanding. When he died, his funeral was attended by over 5,000 mourners, including bishops, high-ranking clerics, men and women of all classes, including "down-and-outs," which last class he always befriended. Until the outbreak of war, he was Chaplain to the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators from its formation.

The technique of handling passengers, which has been developed to such a remarkable degree by B.O.A.C., B.E.A., K.L.M. and Aer Lingus, was started more by accident than design. Its origin gives a clue to why passengers are better treated in those concerns than in any other airlines including those of U.S.A.

A.T. & T. was entirely composed of young men demobilised from the R.A.F. and none had any fare-paying passenger-carrying experience. The general manager of A.T. & T. was a young man named Donald Greig, who later achieved fame as a Davis Cup lawn tennis player. Another young man, who had been a captain in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, and who had finished the 1918 war as a prisoner in Germany, was engaged to be married to Greig's sister-in-law. This young man was Spry Leverton. Spry knew nothing about aeroplanes, so he knew even less than the rest of A.T. & T., but Greig found him a job in the London office of A.T. & T. as a clerk. Discussing this with Spry recently, he told me it was a flagrant case of nepotism—"jobs for the boys."

Spry's first job was to take care of the log-books of pilots and of aeroplanes, which necessitated frequent visits to the London Terminal Aerodrome at Hounslow. No one bothered much about such formalities as log books and there was little paper work or forms in those good old days. Spry found life here was far pleasanter than in the office in Buckingham Gate. At Hounslow he noted the alarming wastage in leather clothing which was issued to passengers. Some of the airliners of those days had open cockpits for passengers as well as for pilots. Spry found that many passengers retained leather coats, helmets, and goggles as souvenirs of the great adventure which flying then was. So he arranged with Sidney St. Barbe who was similarly employed at the French terminal at Le Bourget, that they would each meet passengers on arrival and take the leather clothing from them.

Spry developed a technique of clothing the passengers and soothing their often ruffled nerves before taking them to the aeroplanes. He met incoming passengers and after taking their flying kit, restored their often shattered nerves by taking them to the aerodrome bar. Gradually he developed other ways of helping passengers and making them think air travel was a good thing.

One passenger whom he thus tended was Albert Plesman, then laying the foundation of K.L.M. Plesman was due to fly by A.T. & T. from London to Paris one day, but the airliner had gone unserviceable. So Spry Leverton did what was then considered highly irregular. He approached the rival airline, Handley Page Transport Ltd., and asked them if they had room for an A.T. & T. passenger. Plesman travelled to Paris in a Handley Page 0/400 twin-motor converted bomber. So impressed was he with Spry's capability that when, at the end of 1920, A.T. & T. was forced to close down for lack of Government assistance, Plesman offered Spry the job of London manager of K.L.M. when it began a service from Amsterdam to Croydon aerodrome, to which airport the London Terminal Aerodrome had been transferred from Hounslow in March 1920.

Naturally Spry, with the full approval of Plesman, introduced his passenger technique to K.L.M. The British companies, the Instone Airline, Handley Page Transport, and Daimler Airways, which carried on when a small subsidy was granted, also developed Spry's technique. This was specially evident in Daimler Airways, the managing director of which was Col. Frank Searle who had succeeded Greig in A.T. & T.; and with Major Woods-Humphery who left Handley Page Transport to join forces with Searle, as general manager.

When Imperial Airways was formed on 1st April 1924, Searle was made managing director, and Woods-Humphery was general manager. They at once introduced passenger technique, and when later Woods-Humphery became managing director and began the Empire services, he developed it to the very high degree that is being carried on by B.O.A.C. to-day. Spry Leverton has seen to it that it has always been a most vital part of K.L.M. service. He died on 26th November 1950.

Under the old regime of B.E.A., the technique had not been so evident there, but the new regime of Lord Douglas and Peter Masefield recognised the value of the right technique, which is now very evident.

About the only other airlines in the world, besides B.O.A.C., B.E.A. and K.L.M. who really look after their passengers well without any extra charge, is the Irish airline, Aer Lingus. This airline is also an offspring from A.T. & T., for it was born out of a service operated by Olley Air Services Ltd. on 27th May 1936. Gordon Olley was one of the original pilots of Handley Page Transport Ltd., and he joined Imperial Airways when it was formed.

Aer Lingus absorbed much of the spirit of Imperial Airways through Olley and their assistant general manager, Jack Kelly Rogers, who piloted Churchill in a B.O.A.C. flying-boat from U.S.A. to Plymouth during the war. I have found it a great pleasure to fly with Aer Lingus between Dublin and London.

The Australian Qantas Empire Airways absorbed the passenger technique from Imperial Airways, both working in very close harmony for many years.

In November 1950 Aer Lingus were awarded the Cumberbatch Trophy by G.A.P.A.N., which goes to the person of British nationality, or British or associated British airline, which has made the greatest contribution to air safety during the preceding twelve months. During the period 1949-1950, Aer Lingus had no accident involving death or injury—nor have they had a fatal accident since they began in 1935. Though they are an Irish company they qualify because they are an associate of B.E.A.

At a party given to celebrate the award, I introduced a friend to Captain Jack Kelly Rogers, assistant general manager, and Eamon Rooney, chief public relations officer, of Aer Lingus. I asked my friend if he had much to do with Aer Lingus; like a flash, he answered emphatically, "No, thank goodness, I don't!" Jack and Eamon looked taken aback, until I introduced my friend as Air Commodore Vernon Brown, chief inspector of accidents to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, who does not usually have dealings with any airline until he has to enquire into a bad accident.
CHAPTER 8

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

Jerry Shaw—first civil flight to Paris—no passport—dodged customs—"Bradshaw" technique—French Military aid.

WHEN the war finished in 1918, civil aviation began for the first time. Before 1914, there had been some private flying, but there were, at first, no laws and restrictions. When the Air Navigation Act was made law in 1919, those who knew of the freedom of the days before 1914, thought they were being "legislated out of existence." The first civil aeroplane to fly on any scheduled civil air route in the world was flown in July 1919 from Hendon to Le Bourget by Captain H. S. (Jerry) Shaw. He describes the flight and how he complied—or not—with the regulations in force. Captain Shaw is now aviation manager for Shell Petroleum Ltd.

"We started off with D.H.9's and D.H.4a's, but shortly after the beginning of the regular service D.H.16's (four passengers) came into operation and eventually D.H.18's," he writes.

"On the 14th July, 1919, whilst I was still at Hendon with the impatient nucleus of A.T. & T., the daily newspapers carried a very short announcement, that as from the following day civilians would be permitted to fly outside the country. Actually, I first became conscious of this momentous relaxation when the afternoon poker school was interrupted with the announcement that some enthusiast wished to fly to Paris the following morning. As I had learned the way to Paris on special jobs during the then recently terminated bother, and subsequently with the Communications Squadron, R.A.F., the job automatically came to me.

"My briefing consisted of being told that a Major Pilkington had chartered a machine to take him to an urgent appointment in Paris next morning. The start was to be at 7.30 a.m., and I was advised that the regulations demanded (a) a valid passport, and (b) a landing at Hounslow to clear customs outwards—whatever that meant.

"A passport was not one of my possessions in those days, and would have taken ages to obtain, so I crossed that off the list and went to sort out an aircraft for the job. My favourite D.H.9—K.l09 was selected and filled up. Woodhams (who became General Manager of Armstrong-Whitworth Aircraft Limited), our engineer-in-chief, then ran through his points of advice in case of motor trouble, and I went home to pack a bag.

"Next morning, on arriving at Hendon at 7 a.m., there was the inevitable rain. However, there were no preliminaries such as studying the local aerodrome regulations, weather reports and forecasts, which might have deterred one, and radio aids just did not exist. Major Pilkington, who was a director of the famous glass company, arrived soon afterwards, and after parting with a fabulous sum, made it very clear that he must be at his meeting in Paris by 11.30 a.m. We dressed him up in a long, lined flying coat, sheepskin lined boots, helmet and goggles—none of which fitted.

"We left the ground at 7.30 a.m, with the intention of hopping into Hounslow to see if the customs man really existed so far from the sea. However, that idea quickly dispersed, for as we passed low over Cricklewood Airport I saw a Handley-Page 0-400 as the centre piece of much activity on the tarmac. Now, this was not usual at Cricklewood on a wet morning, and I quickly came to the conclusion that we in the D.H.9 were not the only people with Paris as an objective that day. It must have been the competitive spirit being born in one, that made me decide that A.T. & T. could not be second on such an occasion. Then I thought, 'Does the customs fellow at Hounslow really want to see me?—of course not—and anyway he won't be up at that hour.' So I decided to call on the way back and do the outward and inward clearance at the same time. Anyway, just as a gesture, we teedled over to Hounslow and from a low altitude it appeared quiet as a grave and not a flicker of movement, so after one circuit we set out on a South-Easterly course for Lympne.

"By now, wind was getting up, and the clouds were coming down, but the journey to the coast and across the Channel was quite uneventful. As Boulogne pier came into sight we swung away southwards towards Le Touquet, then inland on a course taking us slightly west, to Abbeville. At this stage, the cloud base lowered and beyond the Somme about Poix and Granvilliers, we were almost birdsnesting and being tossed about somewhat. Beauvais Cathedral was a welcome sight, for it meant only another 20 minutes or so into Le Bourget. That calculation soon required adjustment, for only a few miles south of the city, the trees on the rising ground began to merge with the lowering clouds, which meant that the range of hills running east and some seven miles south of Beauvais, and blocking our way to Paris, were up in the clouds. This, incidentally. was the area in which General Brancker and many others of our friends later perished in the ill-fated airship R101.

"Coming on this impenetrable obstruction, so near one's destination, was a tremendous disappointment, the more so because, up to that point we had made great progress, thanks to a favourable wind. Trying to examine a strip map at 200 feet, with one hand fully occupied, keeping the joy stick fairly central, required no mean effort, and as the map stretched only about six or seven miles on each side of the course, it was soon parked, and off we went for a few minutes on a westerly course, looking for a break in the cloud or the hills. Disappointed, we swung round, and went off to the East, but with no better luck. Backwards and forwards we went for nearly half an hour, watching for the hills to the South and any possible approach of the 0-400 from the north.

"Presently the cloud at one small point appeared a little lighter than the rest, so I centred my observation on this point until, looking upwards a little, the crest of the hill became just visible. Into that opening we darted, with the knowledge that once over the crest, the country fell away again for several miles. The trees appeared to reach up at us, but after a couple of minutes' apprehension we were through into the falling country and over Le Bourget within l5 minutes. One left hand circuit and we were down at 10.15, a flight of 2¾ hours.

"Le Bourget in those days consisted of a few Bessoneux hangars, some wooden sheds and a lot of mud. Nobody showed the slightest interest in our landing, so after taxi-ing round for a while, I decided to make for the French Air Force Officers' Mess, where I had friends, who would, at least, advise us on procedure. Our reception there was typically French—warm with a contempt of the customs authorities. Within a few moments the latter were rather impolitely advised on the telephone that our aircraft was no concern of theirs—so ended our clearance inwards at Le Bourget.

"My passenger was so pleased with the success of his trip, that he immediately enquired whether it would be possible for me to wait over until the following day to take him back. A decision on this point did not take very long, because that meant a night in Paris for the pilot, so we quickly struck quite a reasonable bargain for the return fare. Then, over rum and coffee, we discussed ways and means of getting through the Octroi barrier into Paris, and our friends provided a delightfully simple solution. They drove us into the village at Le Bourget, and put us on a tram, which just sailed through the barrier without question or inspection, and half a mile further on we dismounted and hailed a taxi to our destination".

When A.T. & T. closed down at the end of 1920, Jerry Shaw gave up airline flying. He did some test work for the newly formed de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. For example he made the first flight of a DH14 powered with the 600 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Condor", then the most powerful motor in the world. He began to organise himself into his present big job as head of the aviation department of Shell Petroleum Ltd. Not enough petrol was used in airliners to give real business to the companies: motors used about ten gallons per hour so that only about thirty gallons was needed for normal flights to Paris, then the longest haul. Compare this with 13,500 gallons carried in the Brabazon!

The Shell Company installed a pump at Croydon and appointed Jerry as Croydon manager, pump-operator, clerk and all office staff. Gradually it became quite a big job.

I recall an amusing story in that connection. After Imperial Airways was formed in 1924 it suddenly dawned on the Post Office that airline pilots were using wireless without licences, so they sent an official to Croydon to give pilots wireless tests. They all took a very dim view of this. The examiner said to one, A. L. ("Scruffy") Robinson, "If you don't pass your test, you won't be able to fly any more." Scruffy said nothing. The examiner asked (expecting the answer "Yes"), "You want to go on flying, don't you?" Scruffy, without a blink replied, "No. I want to run a petrol pump like Jerry Shaw!"





1. Orville Wright making the first flight, 17th December 1903, with his brother Wilbur running at the side. (From a photograph in the Science Museum, South Kensington.)






2. Louis Blériot, with moustache and flying suit, after landing near Dover Castle, having flown the Strait of Dover, 25th July, 1909.

3. The Hon. C. S. Rolls, a  founder of the Royal Aero Club. From a portrait by Cuthbert Orde, presented to the Club by Rolls-Royce Ltd.

4. Harald Perrin, Secretary of the Royal Aero Club, 1905-1945. From a portrait in the Club by Edward Newling.

5. A. V. Roe (later Sir Alliot Verdon-Roe), who was appointed second Secretary of the Aero Club (not then "Royal"), flying his 9 h.p. triplane in 1909.
CHAPTER 9

AND THESE ARE THE DAYS NOW

Reliability of modern air travel—five times behind schedule in 75,000 miles—B.O.A.C. took good care of me—good stewards—from Belfast in a gale.

IN contrast to the rather "dicey" business which was air travel in its early stages, in 1950 it was very different. Travel by air has become far less exacting than by train or road; and it is far more interesting than by sea, for one can see more of the world.

Between April 1949 and June 1950 I have travelled 75,000 miles by B.O.A.C., B.E.A., K.L.M., Q.E.A., T.E.A.L. and Aer Lingus. In all that travel l have only been behind schedule five times.

Once, when travelling with B.O.A.C., by that pleasantest of all ways, flying-boat, our radio officer slipped on a polished floor in his overnight hotel in Uganda and broke his leg. The skipper, Capt. John Davys, got busy on the telephone and with a delay of only six hours we were on our way again. Producing a B.O.A.C. trained radio officer at short notice from the heart of darkest Africa seemed like black magic.

In February 1950 I flew to London from Belfast by B.E.A., as related later, in a gale of 80 m.p.h. which stopped shipping, and even then we were only 1 hour 20 minutes behind schedule.

The third time I was delayed was when flying with B.E.A. from Gibraltar to London in February 1950; we approached Northolt on a clear evening with visibility of several miles and no clouds. We were held off and made to "stooge" round and round Northolt for 40 minutes to wait our turn to land because a Swiss airliner took 25 minutes to make its let-down and delayed all others in its airstream. So that was not the fault of a British airline!

I first travelled by B.O.A.C. flying boat to Johannesburg in April 1949. I had not been in the plane long when I learned what the phrase "B.O.A.C. takes good care of you" really means. I had brought my typewriter and was working as I flew. Steward Frank Emery at once began to organise me without my asking him. When we went ashore, Frank took charge of my typewriter and it was ready in my hotel room when I got there. He smoothed my passage all the way, as he did equally well for other passengers. Perhaps all stewards are not as good, but many are. I enjoy the friendliness without familarity which is so highly developed in so many B.O.A.C. stewards.

On three of my trips between South Africa and London, I was fortunate to have Capt. Oscar Barnett as skipper. He is one of those skippers who really tries hard to make his passengers enjoy the trip. There was an example when, as breakfast was being served by stewards Johnny Wilson and Phil Brittain, we were flying Northward through Equatorial Africa after an early start. Oscar flew the Solent near the Murchison Falls low enough for us to see lions, giraffe, herds of elephant and hundreds of hippopotami. The four-engined Solent ploughs along steadily at 200 m.p.h., giving passengers a sight of that roaring wonder the Victoria Falls, lovely Lake Nyasa, the Pyramids and Sphinx, or towering snow-clad smoking Mount Etna.

When one looks down on arrival in England at placid Southampton, it is hard to realise that through the same window one has been looking on the wonders of Africa a day or two before. All is done in such comfort with B.O.A.C. taking good care of their passengers.

Remembering the great uncertainty of civil aviation in its early stages, I have often sat in a railway train on a night when it was pouring with rain and blowing a gale, and felt thankful I was not flying. However, my opinion changed after one cold, wet stormy night early in February 1950. I was sitting in the cabin of a brightly-lit Dakota at Belfast Airport, heavy rain was rattling against the fuselage and a roaring gale was delaying the ships to England by eight hours and more. As I entered the B.E.A. Dakota, G-AGIW, at Nutt’s Corner, Belfast, the young steward, Harry McLean, greeted the twenty-two passengers with a cheerful "Good evening, sir," or "Good evening, madam." He made the idea of flying the 400 miles to London seem quite safe and normal on such a night; he exuded confidence.

The skipper, Captain P. G. Sooby, had told me there would be a slight delay in starting, as he had to take on more fuel to meet a strong headwind and a possible diversion. So at 6.30 p.m., instead of 6 o'clock, we took off in a deluge of rain on this very black night, and climbed straight up into cloud. We went to 3,500 ft. and could see nothing of the ground. Here the air was quite smooth and the cabin pleasantly warm and cosy.

After about forty minutes we got the first flight information chit, a slip of paper from the Captain, giving position, height, speed, etc., which is passed to passengers, which told us there was a wind of 80 m.p.h. from the south-west. This gave us a component headwind of 50 mph. on our course south by east. Captain Sooby walked through the cabin and had a chat with the passengers. It was obvious that all was going well in spite of the very bad weather, then steward Harry came round and took orders for drinks. After he had completed these he brought round a box containing what B.E.A. calls a "light snack". It contained meat sandwiches, meat pasties, mince pies, and fresh fruit. Followed by coffee, it makes a tasty meal and is included in the price of the ticket. I was amazed at the speed and efficiency with which this boy served twenty-five meals, including three crew, with coffee and drinks.

We saw no sign of the ground after leaving Nutt’s Corner (named after a corner on the Ulster T.T. motor race course). At 8.30 p.m. when we should have been nearing Northolt, steward Harry, who was listening on the intercom, told us that we were being diverted to "London", as there was a strong crosswind over the runway at Northolt. This confused some of the passengers, who did not understand the idiosyncrasy of the Ministry of Civil Aviation in insisting on calling Heathrow "London Airport", as though there is, and can only be, one airport for all London. The passengers' reaction was: "Well, we thought we were going to London anyway, so what?"

As we began our let-down through the clouds, conditions became extremely bumpy. I had not been feeling fully fit when we started, with the result that I gave back much of that excellent light snack, depositing it into the strong paper bag provided for that purpose.

We "stooged" around for thirty minutes and then we were on the London "Director", being talked in. I saw Olympia go past, and finally the lights of the Great West Road. The line and cross-bar approach lights of Heathrow were clearly visible two or three miles ahead, when we were clear of cloud, and the lights of the airport buildings showed up well. We slid down towards the flarepath and touched down in a deluge of rain with the gale still howling around us at 9.25 p.m.

The coach came over from Northolt after some delay, and we were deposited at Kensington Air Station at 10.20 p.m., only about 1 hr. 20 mins. behind schedule. Considering that the boats were bringing in surface travellers from Belfast at least eight hours late (this including an extremely rough crossing of the Irish Sea), our extra time and about twenty minutes of turbulence did not seem to amount to much.

In such flying conditions, it is re-assuring to reflect on the high standards which B.E.A. and B.O.A.C. expect from their air and ground crews. The Belfast run is usually heavily booked and has many regular travellers. The time from Kensington to the Belfast Centre is normally four and a half hours and the service is as regular and reliable as the train and boat service and, as this story shows, often more so.
CHAPTER 10

AVIATION BECOMES MORE COMMERCIAL

First air mail contract—lack of Government support in 1920—early air crises—lines close down—first subsidies—first airway collision—Thames to Seine—Imperial Airways—Woods-Humphery—Croydon Christmas Eve crash—Heracles—Hillman—British Airways—"Lamps"—aviation insurance.

THOSE happy carefree days about which Capt. Shaw wrote, did not, unfortunately, last very long. Regulations were tightened up, and customs became severe, though pilots of those days often managed to bring back boxes of cigars and such dutiable luxuries for their friends, duty free.

The first civil airliners had a cruising speed of 100 m.p.h. That modest speed remained the cruising speed of most British airliners until the Ensigns and Albatrosses went on service in 1939.

The G.P.O. gave a contract for air mails between London and Paris to A.T. & T., but the air-mail rates were so high that it was not much used, especially when it was found that airletters often took longer than by ordinary mail.

British airlines were running, unsubsidised, in competition with the airlines of France, and other countries whose governments gave heavy subsidies.

In the last days of 1920 A.T. & T. ceased to operate, and a few days later Handley Page Transport Ltd. also suspended their services. Croydon Airport, which had superseded Hounslow in March 1920 as the London Terminal Aerodrome, was therefore being maintained as a State airport solely for the benefit of foreign airlines. There was an outcry in the Press calling for a subsidy for British airlines, and after hurried thought, the Government announced that £60,000 would be paid to selected airlines flying on certain approved routes.

A.T. & T. were quite finished. Their parent company, Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (also called Airco Ltd.), which had been bought in 1918 by the B.S.A. and Daimler combine, was being wound up, so A.T. & T. went into liquidation. The Chief Designer of Airco Ltd. had been Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland. With a loyal band of associates he formed the De Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. in 1921, as described in a later chapter, "Per Ardua ad Comet."

Handley Page Transport Ltd., which had been flying from Cricklewood Airport, were able to continue, with the help of a subsidy. They had suffered a serious setback a few weeks earlier when an 0/400 biplane had crashed in Golders Green with loss of life, while taking off for Paris in a thick fog with no real blind flying instruments. The pilot, Bob Bager, was killed.

The Instone Air Line became a regular airline instead of being only a charter firm, and operated a 12-passenger Vickers "Vimy," named City of London, a DH4a, City of York (which won the first King's Cup Race in 1922), and took over some DH18s from A.T. & T. These two firms kept the flag of British aviation flying until April 1922 till they were joined by Daimler Airways Ltd.

At the end of April 1921, K.L.M. began operations between Amsterdam and London. They used single-engined Fokker F III monoplanes, with 240 h.p. Siddeley "Puma" motor, and DH9s. Four British pilots, W. G. R. Hinchlilfe, Gordon Olley, Cyril Holmes, and Robin Duke began operations, and H. Spry Leverton, who had been with A.T. & T. became Croydon representative. Dutch pilots were added as they gained experience.

At first K.L.M. used a Fokker F ll, with a German B.M.W. motor of less horsepower than the "Puma", but they soon changed to the F III. That aeroplane was remarkable for having a stressed-skin wing covered with ply-wood instead of the usual fabric. Stressed skin means that much strength was in the covering material. Later they used a bigger monoplane with a 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" motor. Tony Fokker brought this machine to Croydon one day, and gave a convincing demonstration proving that its thick wing-section rendered it almost unstallable. He took me up with him and I sat in the second pilot's seat beside him. I was convinced that it was almost unstallable, but it seemed that this was mainly because the elevator was not sufficiently powerful to raise the nose enough, at low speed, to put the aircraft into a stalled attitude.

After a few years the tri-motor Fokker was made standard on all Dutch airline routes, until these were replaced, first by Douglas D.C.2s, and then by D.C.3s (also now called "Dakotas") and a new route was opened to the Dutch East Indies.

The French, in 1919, opened two airlines between Paris and London. These were Grands Expresses Aeriennes, and Cie. Messageries Aeriennes. The former used a big twin-motored biplane, the Farman "Goliath." It had very square wing-tips and was rather slow.

Messageries Aeriennes used single-engined Breguets and Spads. Later the two firms combined under the name of Air Union. Still later all French airlines combined under the name Air France.

A Belgian company was formed to fly between Brussels and London, under the title "S.N.E.T.A". When the Belgians increased their radius of action to other European countries, a new combine was formed under the name "S.A.B.C.A". This was again enlarged, and a route was also opened to the Belgian Congo, under the title "S.A.B.E.N.A".

All these firms ran more or less in competition for many years. After 1930 several other European countries such as Denmark, Czecho-Slovakia, Italy, Sweden, each ran airlines to Croydon from their own countries.

A German airline, first called Deutsch Luft Rederei and then Deutsch Aero Lloyd, which eventually was reformed as Deutsch Lufthansa, began a line between Berlin, Hamburg, and London in 1923. First they used single-motor Rohrbach and Junkers monoplanes with metal covered stressed-skin wings. This was a great advance on current practice. Later they used the famous Ju. 52 tri-motored monoplane.

Handley Page Transport moved its headquarters from Cricklewood to Croydon in 1921, and, with the Instone Air Line, carried on the Paris service, and that to Brussels and Amsterdam. In April 1922, they were joined by a new concern, Daimler Airways. This was run by Colonel Frank Searle, who had been general manager of A.T. & T. His right-hand man and general manager was Major George Woods-Humphery. They used the new DH34, a big 10-seater with a single Napier "Lion", and one or two DH18s.

In 1922 there occurred the first air collision on an organised air route. Robin Duke, an old Tonbridge schoolboy, who had joined Daimler Airways after leaving K.L.M., was flying from Paris to London in a DH18. The clouds were about 1,000 ft. and he was following the Calais-Paris railway. A Farman "Goliath" was going the other way, flying just below the cloudbase and following the same railway. Both aircraft collided head on, and all occupants were killed. One of those killed in the DH18 was a young page-boy, the forerunner of modern stewards, whose job was to supply the passengers with hot cofiee. As a result of this incident, "corridors" for inward and outward-bound aircraft were laid down along this route.

In 1921 an interesting experiment, which died soon after birth, was tried. A Vickers "Viking" amphibian, with a 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" motor, was flown on a number of trial services from the Thames between Vauxhall and Lambeth bridges, to a point on the Seine in Central Paris. The pilot was Stanley Cockerell, chief Vickers test pilot. By this means, passengers could have been able to fly from Central London to Central Paris in about two hours, cutting out the long drives from airport to city centre at each end.

The plan was abandoned, because there was not an amphibian able to carry suificient payload, and because thick weather in the city centres made alighting on the river dangerous.

After Handley Page Transport, Instone Air Line, and Daimler Airways had been running on the London-Paris, and London-Brussels routes in competition, it was realised that this was not economical, so it was decided to disperse the various activities to separate routes. Handley Page Transport, using W8b twin-motored biplanes were allocated the Paris route, the Instone Air Line with DH34s operated routes to Brussels and Cologne, and Daimler Airways, also with DH34s ran a service to Amsterdam and Berlin. That arrangement held good until 1924 when the three air lines, together with the British Air Marine Air Navigation Co. Ltd., were merged into Imperial Airways. The new company took over the aircraft, pilots, and other assets of the four companies, and the Government promised a subsidy of a million pounds over a period of five years.

The start of the company was inauspicious. For all the pilots refused to join the new concern when Col. Searle announced that they were to be paid on a mileage basis. That state of affairs lasted for more than a month, and, though the new services were scheduled to begin on 1st April 1924, it was not until the second week of May that the dispute was settled.

There was a bad accident on Christmas Eve 1924. A DH34 taking off up the hill at Croydon against a S.E. wind had difficulty in gaining height. It stalled and crashed at the top of the hill about half a mile outside the S.E. corner, and all ten occupants were killed by the fall and subsequent fire.

That crash was instrumental in the formation of a committee to enquire into the suitability of Croydon aerodrome, and a plan for its enlargement was advised and completed.

In 1926 Imperial Airways bought some tri-motored biplanes which seated 16 passengers, of the Armstrong Whitworth "Argosy" class. This was a very noisy machine driven by three 385 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley "Jaguar" motors. These airliners were the biggest and best machines running on the British airlines until the famous Handley Page HP 42 superseded them in 1931. With the Argosies the "Silver Wing" luxury service began.

The HP 42s carried 40 passengers in extreme comfort and safety at a cruising speed of about 100 m.p.h. There were two types, the "Hannibal" class, designed for the Cairo-Karachi, Cairo-Cape Town routes which aeroplane, owing to its longer range, carried more petrol and fewer passengers, and the "Heracles" type for the European services which carried 40 passengers, and served first-class lunches to the passengers as they flew to or from Paris in an average of 2¼ hours.

The Handley Page 42 "Heracles" set an entirely new standard of both safety and comfort which endured for many years. It was not exceeded until the Short Solent flying-boats went into service on the routes from Southampton to South and Central Africa in 1948. At the time of writing, in 1950, the pleasure of travel by B.O.A.C. Solent has not been surpassed.

The comfort and safety of these former liners increased the reputation of Imperial Airways enormously. So great was the passenger traffic that the airline authorities wanted two more. Handley Pages could not build any more, as they were too busy to deal with "two-off-the-line."

At this time, Imperial Airways had been running part of their route to the East with four-engined flying boats of the "Kent" class built by Short Bros. The jigs and tools to make the airframe for these machines were in existence, so two superstructures were ordered; but instead of the boat hull, a square fuselage with a land undercarriage was made. The resultant aeroplanes, named "Scylla" and "Syrinx", were not very beautiful to the eye, but they performed effectively. I last saw them in October 1939 leaving Croydon for France, in a procession of various breeds of transport aircraft, taking the ground personnel of No. 615 Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force. As these strange craft became airborne, one of the older inhabitants of the airport said, "There go our secret weapons!"

A large, fast 30-40 seater monoplane, the Ensign, with retractable undercart and four Armstrong Siddeley "Tiger" motors had been ordered by Imperial Airways. They were due to be delivered in 1937. Certain difficulties developed in the building of these craft, which were larger and much faster than any other airliners of any nation at the time. The result was that they did not fly until 1938. Further development troubles prevented their going on service until April 1939. The cruising speed was nearly 200 m.p.h., with a high standard of comfort.

In the summer of 1939 five de Havilland "Albatrosses" were delivered. These aircraft were designed to carry 22 passengers. They were faster than the Ensigns, and, under favourable conditions, one of them made the journey from Croydon to Le Bourget in about 50 minutes. In this connection an amusing story was told. A passenger who had been accustomed to making the trip in "Heracles" in about 2½ hours, and to eating a five-course lunch or dinner during the journey, complained that, with the time cut down to about an hour, he was not getting his money's worth!

The Albatrosses were made of wood, and the undercarriages proved rather weak. Two or three of them went out of commission in the early days through skidding in the mud near the tarmac apron, against the edge of which the legs of the retractable undercarriage broke. The coming of war stopped their ultimate development, but the Ambassador and Comet fuselages show a family likeness to it, as does also the Constellation.

The "Tigers" on the Ensigns were proving unreliable, and not sufficiently powerful, so in July 1939 Imperial Airways decided to replace them by American motors. Before that could be done, war broke out. The Ensigns and Albatrosses hurriedly evacuated to Bristol, and, with the HP 42s and Scylla and Syrinx, went on war service.

The American motors were eventually fitted to the Ensigns, and these craft did splendid war service both as troop transports, and on the passenger service of Imperial Airways which in 1940 was amalgamated with British Airways into British Overseas Airways Corporation.

In about 1930 a London 'bus owner and operator, Edward Hillman, ordered a special type of low-powered twin-engined 8-10 seater from de Havillands, that was the well-known "Dragon." Another firm, British Airways, was formed on a more ambitious scale than Hillman's, and it used principally American Lockheed "Electras" and "14s". Other smaller companies combined with them. In 1940 B.O.A.C. was formed by merging Imperial Airways with British Airways. This was a Government owned corporation. In 1946 British European Airways was "calved" from B.O.A.C. and worked as a separate concern to run airlines throughout Britain and Europe, while B.O.A.C. operated routes to Commonwealth countries and North America. Later B.O.A.C. merged with British South American Airways as described in a later chapter.

The outbreak of war in 1939 saw the end of Croydon as the principal London Airport, but that will be dealt with in a further chapter.

Everyone in civil aviation knows and likes Capt. A. G. Lamplugh, known to all as "Lamps". He has been for a long time the most important factor in the aviation insurance world. In the days between 1919 and 1939 he had the power to prevent pilots and aeroplanes from flying. As the moving spirit of the British Aviation Insurance Company he could say "yea" or "nay" to the issue of insurance cover to a pilot or aircraft. His continued popularity is proof that he did not abuse his great powers.

I am indebted to Lamps for the following account of how the British Aviation Insurance Company came into being.

Commercial aviation officially began in the United Kingdom in August 1919, but from the termination of the 1914-18 war many minds had applied themselves to the future of civil air transport in the new era which was apparent. Naturally no figures, statistics or experience were available, flying was on the "hit or miss" principle, from aircraft maintenance to weather reports, but that did not deter the pioneer spirit which was so very prevalent.

Insurance companies and Lloyds' underwriters, who had seen the expansion of automobile transport, were not slow to appreciate the possibilities of air transport as a new source of business and many syndicates and companies offered prospectuses and cover to the small and economically unstable aviation community. Those were the days of sublime optimism and no experience. "Had we realised," Lamps said, "to even the smallest extent what we now know, there would not have been the disasters and withdrawals which followed during the period 1919-1923."

The volume of premium was small; the crash ratio extremely high. Lamps said that there were days when an airline company paid over 30 per cent. per aircraft per annum for hull damage, and manufacturers paid 27 per cent. per aircraft for their school aircraft. Both blocks of business showed a heavy loss to underwriters! In 1923 the position became so serious that only two groups—the Union Insurance Society of Canton Ltd., which began operations in 1919, and the White Cross Aviation Insurance Association, which started about the same time, remained in hot competition and still lost money—the sole survivors of the many companies and syndicates which had begun so optimistically some three or four years before. Fortunately common sense prevailed and at a meeting between representatives of those two groups held in March 1923 it was decided to join forces. On 1st January 1924 the British Aviation Insurance Group was formed. The first members of the board of management were: H. G. Sims, (chairman), A. B. Rouse, and F. S. Clarke of the Union of Canton; Montague Evans, R. F. A. Riesco, and C. S. Cockell, of White Cross.

Lamps said that he remembers very distinctly that shortly after that one body had started operations, it was openly accused of being a monopoly, and many attempts were made to form alternative groups, despite the fact that every time competition had occurred in the past, both competitors had gone down.

The young company began its career in undistinguished fashion and continued to show the underwriting loss which its predecessors and colleagues had all shown, although, for some reason, this appeared to get smaller every year.

Losses were heavy and nearly all of them were personal losses, the aviation community being very small in numbers. In 1926 the Group acquired its own aircraft, being the first insurance office in the world to own and operate one. It also made proposals for a survey, salvage, and intelligence department, which subsequently took better shape in Lloyd's Register of Shipping and the British Corporation Register of Shipping and Aircraft, and finally in the Air Registration Board.

In 1928 the Group applied for and became the only insurance office to receive permission to inspect aircraft with a view to recommending to the Air Ministry a certificate of airworthiness. That permission was never, in fact, used and was subsequently handed over to Lloyd's Register of Shipping when they began activities in aviation.

In 1930 occurred the most serious disaster, financial and personal. The loss of the airship R 101 in October occurred, following a Group accident policy which had been taken out by the crew, and which had expired a fortnight earlier. Representatives of the crew had written to London on Friday, 3rd October, enclosing a cheque and asking for renewal. That letter arrived after office hours on the Saturday and was found unopened first thing on Monday morning—when passengers and crew, with six exceptions, had been dead for over 24 hours. Lamps said that, at the subsequent board meeting, the unanimous view was taken that the losses should be settled without demur although there was no legal obligation to do so. A very large proportion of the year's nett premium income was paid on that loss alone. The action was a tribute to the anxiety of the insurance community to honour its moral obligations.

In 1930, overtures were made by a number of companies for the purchase of the Group. It was then discovered that as the Group had never been registered with the Board of Trade, it was not a legal entity—a matter which was seized upon by the intending purchasers to knock the purchase price lower.

On 1st April 1930, the British Aviation Insurance Company was formed with Sir Arthur Worley, Bt., director and general manager of the North British Mercantile Insurance Co., as chairman. Thus there came into existence the first British insurance company whose primary object was to provide a suitable underwriting market for civil aviation.

Lamps had resigned his commission in the R.A.F. in October 1919 to join the Aviation Department of the Union of Canton, to whose staff Capt. A. Newman had already been appointed. Lt.-Col. C. E. B. Rabagliati was managing director of White Cross, and with him was Major "Tubby" Long, D.S.O.

The Group is a great and honoured power in the aviation community, and Lamps was happily very much alive and active in 1950.                  





CHAPTER 11

THE LONDON AIRPORTS

Heathrow—Ministry foolishness— marine airport—Northolt—early airports at Hounslow and Croydon—Gatwick and Heston.

IN 1950 the Ministry of Civil Aviation were still under the impression that London only needed, and would need in the future, a single airport to handle all scheduled services. So they insisted on naming the new airport built at Heathrow, on the Bath Road, near Hounslow, "London Air Port" (known as "L.A.P".). If we had had a Ministry of Transport 100 years ago, we might still be trying to clear up the mess resulting from a single London railway station! For surely there would have been a dreadful muddle, as rail traffic increased, and all had to use only one London Station. If the Ministry of Civil Aviation try to bring all traffic—inland, European, Trans-Atlantic, and from the Commonwealth and the rest of the world—into a single London airport, we may expect supreme chaos. There should be an airport at Heathrow for Atlantic and extra-European traffic; one to the south or east of London for European traffic; and one to the north, such as Northolt, for inland and Irish traffic. An almost unceasing stream of airport coaches carrying passengers between Heathrow and central London is likely to cause traffic congestion that will make chaos unless a special railway is built to carry this traffic.

In 1944 work was begun on levelling an area of valuable agricultural land near Staines, which was thereby sterilised and made useless for growing food.

Runways were planned so as to make it, in the fullness of time, capable of handling all international air traffic for London. Or so the M.C.A. hopes!

A long-term building plan was begun which will finally give three sets of three parallel runways which should enable 100 airliners to land or take off every hour in good weather.

The airport, in a very incomplete state, with tents as offices and passenger accommodation and only one runway, was put into use on 1st January 1946. By the end of the year three runways were in use and prefabricated buildings had replaced the tents. By 1950 six runways were in use. Permanent buildings were being erected in the centre of the runway system which would be reached from outside by tunnels. In a few years this centre area may be too small.

B.O.A.C. operates most of its services from L.A.P., though it has a flying-boat base at Southampton from which it has been operating its Solent flying-boat services, and from which it intends to operate the 140-ton Saunders-Roe "Dollar Princess" flying boats in about 1953.

L.A.P. being in such an incomplete state in 1946, the M.C.A. obtained the use, for a limited number of years, of the famous R.A.F. fighter aerodrome at Northolt as an additional airport. This has been used almost exclusively by British European Airways, and by Continental airlines plying between London and Europe. There have been only three runways at Northolt, with none South West.

During 1949 Northolt was handling two or three times the number of aircraft that L.A.P. was. In bad weather aircraft approaching to land were sometimes delayed, and had to circle over a radio beacon sometimes for as much as an hour before they landed. One wonders what the delay will be when Northolt is closed to civil traflic, as is now threatened, in two or three years, and L.A.P. must handle four times as much traffic as in 1950!

It has been suggested that Gatwick, 25 miles to the south of London, should be used in place of Northolt to relieve pressure on L.A.P., but London's airports should not be further from the City centre than are L.A.P. and Northolt. When traffic is heavy, during the daytime, the drive from Airways Terminal, Victoria, to L.A.P. usually takes fifty minutes. It is hoped that in time a helicopter service will get passengers from airports to central London in not more than ten minutes. There is a main railway past Gatwick which could be used.

When civil aviation to the Continent was first permitted, in 1919, the first London airport was established at Hounslow Heath, which had been used as a training aerodrome during the 1914-18 war. From that aerodrome the first services between London and Paris were operated.

Handley Page Transport used the Handley Page aerodrome at Cricklewood for their starting point for more than a year. At first there were no customs facilities at Cricklewood, so airliners had to land at Hounslow on the outward and inward journeys, to clear customs.

In those days of 1919, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam were the only objectives. Hounslow was on the west side of London, so that all aircraft flying to those continental cities had to fly half-way round London to reach Hounslow or Cricklewood as they had to cross the coast between Dover and Dungeness. That not only meant flying over the outskirts of London, but also necessitated an extra ten or fifteen minutes' flying, which used up that much more fuel. The Air Ministry, who were responsible for civil aviation until the M.C.A. was formed in 1945, decided to move the London Terminal Aerodrome to Croydon, where there were two grass airfields separated by a road, which was eventually closed, making the two airfields into one.

Croydon first became an aerodrome in December 1915 when it was established as a part of the air defences of London. One airfield was known as "Wallington", and the other as "Waddon". Not until the airfields were used for civil flying was it named "Croydon".

Aeroplanes from Croydon ascended to attack Zeppelins on the nights of 31st January, 31st March, and 2nd April 1916. They also attacked the German raiders which bombed London in daylight on 13th June and 7th July, 1917.

At a training unit at Croydon, King George Vl, when he was Prince Albert, was trained on an Avro 504K and was awarded his Wings in 1919.

The "Wallington" aerodrome at Croydon was a small field, about 600 yards square, on the west side of Plough Lane, which ran from Wallington to Purley. The road which crossed the airfield was removed during the construction of the larger landing area in 1927-28.

During 1918 a national aircraft factory was built on a site of what became the north east corner of Croydon aerodrome. Complete aircraft were delivered from that factory 24 weeks after the first turf was cut for the buildings. It was those buildings which were the main target for the attack by the Luftwaffe on 15th August 1940.

On 29th March 1920 the airliners, which had previously operated from Hounslow, operated from Croydon. The hangars were on "Wallington", but the flying area was "Waddon". Aeroplanes had to taxi across Plough Lane from the hangars to the flying area. To stop road traffic during their passage, railway level-crossing gates were erected which could close Plough Lane. When these gates had been used for a few weeks they had to be removed when the fact was discovered that it needed an Act of Parliament to close a public road, so a man with a red flag then held up traffic while aircraft passed.

The first civil aerodrome manager was Major S. T. L. Greer, who had been an R.F.C. pilot. He told me at the time that, as far as he could discover, he was the first civil air station master in the world.

Old wooden huts, which had been R.F.C. and R.A.F. living quarters, were improvised for the airport buildings. An hotel with a lounge, dining-room, and bar was improvised in some of the huts, by Trust Houses Ltd. In that bar the pilots, administrators and airline officials would gather at the close of day, to tell stories of these first days of the birth of civil aviation.

It was in those makeshift huts and on that far-from-level airfield that civil aviation grew up. From 100 m.p.h. two-passenger airliners of 1920 grew the 40-seater 200 m.p.h. Ensigns which were in use when war broke out in 1939, and the Comet of 1949.

On Christmas Eve 1924, there was a fatal accident to a 10-seater of Imperial Airways, which resulted in an enquiry into the suitability of the Croydon aerodrome for heavily-loaded airliners. Recommendations were made that the landing area be enlarged. The wooden huts and the old R.F.C. hangars which bordered on Plough Lane were demolished and the ground on which they stood was made comparatively level. Plough Lane was closed and new hangars and administrative buildings were built, bordering on Purley Way, the Croydon by-pass. A start was made on erecting the new buildings and levelling and enlarging the landing area at the end of 1925.

The first aeroplane to be housed in the new hangars was the Ryan monoplane on which Lindbergh flew the Atlantic. The new buildings were opened on 2nd May 1928 by Lady Maude Hoare, wife of the Air Minister.

In the nineteen-thirties, newer, bigger, and faster airliners used the aerodrome. In 1931 the HP 42 of the "Heracles" type carrying 40 passengers in great comfort came on regular service. In 1939 they were replaced by the Ensigns and Albatrosses. Douglas D.C.3. and Lockheed "Electras" and 14s (the R.A.F. version of which was the "Hudson") came on service some years earlier. These latter had a landing and taking-off speed much greater than that of earlier type machines.

Such ground speeds and such weights had not been envisaged when Croydon Aerodrome was constructed.

In 1939 there was already talk of closing Croydon temporarily while a five-year-plan to improve it was put into operation. The outbreak of war prevented that plan from being started. The size and speed of aircraft had increased so very much during the war years that it was found in 1945 that Croydon had quite outgrown its use as the main airport of London.

Since the close of the 1945 war, Croydon had been used as a terminal for R.A.F. Transport Command, and for charter companies. Some foreign airlines continued to use it for a time, and there was a B.O.A.C. repair centre there. It seems likely that it will gradually occupy a smaller position on the aviation map, among modern airports with long concrete runways, and will be finally closed.

In 1938 Gatwick became an alternative airport to Croydon and was used by British Airways Ltd. There is a railway station on the main line from London to Brighton right on the airport boundary with a short connecting subway to the main airport building.

In 1938 British Airways passengers were able to reach the airport in about 30 minutes by train from Victoria or London Bridge. In 1950 B.E.A. were considering it as an alternative to Northolt. It has the advantage of being on the south side of London, so would prevent aircraft having to fly over London when going to or coming from continental cities. Concrete runways would have to be laid down, and the airport building would need to be increased in size, as also would the landing area. The air approaches are good, though the aerodrome lies midway between the North and South Downs and about eight miles distant from either.

The coach journey from London is long and tedious, but passengers could come quickly from London in a special coach attached to the frequent fast electric trains.

In 1938 the surface of Gatwick, which had been newly relaid, became wet and boggy because, after a spell of wet weather, aircraft too heavy for the surface were used before it had time to settle down. So British Airways severed their contract and moved to Heston, which had been acquired by the civil aviation section of the Air Ministry. British Airways used Heston until the outbreak of war in September 1939. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew from Heston to Germany in 1938 on his visits to Hitler, when he managed to postpone war for a year by appeasement. Heston was engulfed in the London Airport Circuit in 1946, and in 1947 its short life as an airport ceased.

In the early days of airlines at Croydon, passengers were taken between central London and the airport in cars. Basil S. Foster, already well-known as a cricketer and actor, formed a small company owning two or three cars for that purpose; he often drove a car on this work himself. No one could have then envisaged that one of the principal worries of the London Air Port Commandant in 1950 was the road congestion caused by coaches carrying hundreds of passengers daily between airport and city centre. His assistant driver was Fred Hewlett, who later became Croydon manager for the Anglo-American Oil Co., Ltd. (now Esso).

London Airport in 1950 was better equipped than any other airport in the world for blind flying apparatus. Its G.C.A. (Ground Control Approach) set in a lorry alongside the runway in use, enables the controller to see approaching aircraft on a radar screen when they are thirty miles away. On a very wet night with cloud at 800 feet I watched aircraft being "talked down" to a height of 140 feet to within 400 yards of the start of the runway. This method is most satisfactory except in dense fog. The night after I was there, a B.E.A. Viking Ventnor (on which I had flown to Gibraltar and back in February 1950) tried to approach when visibility was only forty yards. It was too low and collided at great speed with building material used in constructing the airport. It burst into flames and twenty-eight of the thirty occupants were killed. This is one of the very few bad accidents on the London-Paris route in over thirty years.

6. Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker, K.C.B., Director of Civil Aviation, 1922 to 1930: the greatest force in the first ten years of civil aviation. From a portrait in the Royal Aero Club by Edward Newling.






7. Cadet camp at Farnborough in 1909, where the runway started in 1950.






8. Farnborough in 1949 with a flying-wing landing. (Photograph by courtesy of The Aeroplane.)
     




CHAPTER 12

FIRST AEROBATICS AND PARACHUTES

Pégoud parachutes—aerial lifeboat—official frustration—Pégoud's bunt—the first loop—huge crowds watch at Brooklands—special trains—Chevillard—Hucks—the first spin.

PARACHUTES had been used from balloons, mainly as gala attractions, for very many years, but it was not until 1913 that they were first tried as safety devices for occupants of aeroplanes in trouble, to enable them to descend safely to earth.

The first designer to produce a parachute which could be used from aeroplanes was the Frenchman, M. Bonnet. After some successful tests with dummies, Bonnet arranged with a Blériot test pilot, Armand Pégoud, to do the first "live drop" from a Blériot at Buc.

Difficulties from officialdom at once arose. The police heard of the test in advance and promptly prohibited it. The experimenters appealed to the mayor, who secured the necessary permission, and, on 20th August 1913, Pégoud and Bonnet rigged up a parachute in an old Blériot.

Pégoud flew to a height of about 800 feet, stopped the motor, and put the aeroplane into a diving position. He then released a box containing the parachute, and the chute filled and pulled Pégoud out of the seat. He landed in a tree from which he climbed to the ground unhurt. The Blériot, relieved of the pilot's weight, began to climb, turned on to its back, righted itself, and glided to earth, where it landed without very much damage.

The fact that the Blériot had righted itself on its own, after turning on its back, gave ideas to both Blériot and Pégoud, that a good aeroplane should be able to right itself from any position into which it had accidentally been turned. M. Blériot announced that he was making experiments to produce an "aerial lifeboat."

On 1st September 1913, Pégoud carried out the very first intentional display of "aerobatics" at Buc (as such antics were soon named by a correspondent to the Aeroplane). Pégoud’s first display of such flying began with what is now called the "bunt", which is still regarded as the most difficult aerial manoeuvre.

The elevator, tail plane and wings were specially strengthened under the supervision of Blériot, and Pégoud flew it to a height of 3,000 feet. Then he dived steeply, and went past the vertical until he was inverted. In that position he flew for a distance of about 500 yards under complete control. Then he put the nose towards the ground, completed the lower part of a vertical letter "S" and landed safely. He repeated the test before French military authorities the following day.

So great was the interest in this new development of flying, that Pégoud was brought to Brooklands by the track authorities, led by Major Lindsay Lloyd, to give demonstrations; and so great was the public demand to see the display, that the London and South Western Railway ran a series of special trains from Waterloo to Weybridge.

The displays were given on 25th, 26th and 27th September 1913, all of which were fine, hot, blue summer days. Huge crowds of people arrived by train, car, bicycle, and aeroplane. Grahame-White had recently produced an "air char-a-banc" with an open nacelle holding five people. This arrived over Brooklands, piloted by R. H. Carr, a Grahame-White Co. test pilot, with a load of passengers. It caused much amusement by flying round at a height of about 200 feet while one of the occupants sounded a Klaxon horn.

Pégoud began by flying to a height of about 3,000 feet, where he looked very small against the clear blue sky. His first manoeuvre was a "tail-slide". He put the nose up at a sharp angle, and switched off the motor. The crowd, especially the more knowledgeable among them, gasped, for it was known that such a manteuvre in the past would have resulted in a crash, but the Blériot proved to be quite docile. It stopped its upward flight, seemed to stop, slid backwards tail first for an appreciable distance, and then dropped the nose and resumed normal flight.

After landing, Pégoud again climbed to about 3,000 feet. There we saw him put his monoplane into a vertical dive, go past the vertical until he was on his back, in which position he continued for some distance. He dived again and completed the lower half of the "S".

He climbed again and executed what was announced as the pièce de resistance of the whole performance. He would loop the loop. It is odd that what is now one of the easiest of aerobatics was then considered the most spectacular, and the difficult "bunt" was considered so lightly.

Pégoud put his nose down at a height of about 3,000 feet. We saw the nose go up, the machine went over on to its back, and what seemed like a perfect loop—none of us had, of course, seen one before, with which we could compare it—was completed.

The huge crowd went wild with enthusiasm. On the day on which I was there, the Friday, the crowd was estimated at 40,000. After it was over Pégoud, a smiling little Frenchman dressed in brown leather jacket and breeches, with a long waxed moustache with pointed ends, was driven past the long lines of spectators by Major Lindsay Lloyd. Pégoud was smiling and waving, evidently thoroughly enjoying this display of hero-worship. He deserved all he got in the way of plaudits, for his tests were epoch-marking points in aviation. The last I saw of him was when he was surrounded by hordes of what would now be termed "fans", signing picture postcards bearing his photograph.

Pégoud died gallantly in the 1914-18 war.

The first pilot to loop on a biplane was a Frenchman, E. Chevillard, who performed the feat in a Henri Farman. Chevillard performed an even more sensational manoeuvre which he called the "chute de côte". This was, in fact, the first turn of a spin made at about 500 feet. Chevillard would stall the biplane, which dropped a wing, after which the nose would go down vertically. From that position he recovered at less than 100 feet from the ground. He gave many demonstrations of this at Hendon in 1914. Chevillard was the first to loop the loop with a passenger.

Pégoud soon had emulators in France, Britain, and elsewhere. The first British "looper" was B. C. Hucks, one of the most famous pilots before the 1914 war. Hucks went to Buc to consult Blériot directly he had seen Pégoud's exploits. He had a Blériot strengthened under the great designer's supervision, and looped at Buc early in November 1913. Considerable publicity was given in the lay Press at the time to the training Hucks underwent by being strapped upside down in a chair for minutes at a time! Hucks gave his first demonstration of looping at Hendon, using a Blériot (50 h.p. Gnôme) on 29th November 1913.

Looping very soon lost its novelty. It was at first frowned upon by the Service authorities, until it dawned upon them that there might be some military need to be able to perform such manoeuvres.

Until 1912 very little was known or understood about the spin, and many fatalities were caused by spins in those early days. The first case of a pilot getting into an involuntary spin, recovering, and living to tell the tale, was that of Lieut. Wilfred Parke, R.N. This occurred to him on 25th August 1912 between Bulford and Amesbury on Salisbury Plain during the famous "Military Trials" of that year, which are described in another chapter.

He was flying an all-enclosed Avro biplane (60 h.p. Green) which was the first totally enclosed aeroplane, and he had as passenger Lieut. le Breton, R.F.C. They had been in the air for three hours, making the qualifying test for the Trials.

Parke was at about 700 feet as he passed over the sheds intending to land. He began a spiral glide and closed the throttle. During the glide, the machine took an unnecessarily steep attitude. Parke tried to right it with the elevator, but the machine would not respond, and went into a spiral nose-dive. As a last resource Parke eased off the elevator and gave opposite rudder. He said that he had centred the "joy-stick" by mistake. The Avro stopped turning and flattened out so that Parke was able to regain control, when only 50 feet from the ground.

The phenomenon was fully investigated, and a complete story of the sequence was taken from Parke. He was a thoroughly intelligent man and pilot, so he was able to give a clear account immediately after he had escaped from what he had thought was to be certain death. Many further experiments were made, probably culminating in 1920 with those made by P. W. S. (George) Bulman at Farnborough in a Bat "Bantam". During the war of 1914-18 spin and recovery became quite commonplace, and, with other aerobatics, became accepted fighting tactics.

Wilfred Parke was killed in 1912, when flying a very early experimental Handley Page across country in bad weather. He had made a great contribution to the science of aerodynamics.
             




CHAPTER 13

SERVICE AERONAUTICS

Balloons in war—balloons in Sudan and South Africa—the Balloon Factory at Farnborough—Royal Aircraft Factory—Air Battalion—naval airship—R.F.C. and R.N.A.S.—"Boom"—Churchill flies—into battle—Pemberton-Billing—enquiry—R.A.F. formed—new ranks and uniforms—R.A.F.V.R. and Auxiliary Air Force—Battle of Britain—bombs, doodle-bugs and atom bombs—Tedder

BALLOONS were first used in war by the French in the days of Napoleon, and by the Americans in the Civil War. Their use was confined to "seeing what was going on behind a sheltering hill." Balloons were used earlier for getting people and messages out of Paris during the seige in the eighteenth century.

On 1st April 1918 the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were amalgamated to form a separate Service, divorced entirely from control by the War Ofiice or Admiralty, and thereby became the first air arm in any country in the world to be independent of the older services which worked (and often thought) only in two dimensions.

For more than a hundred years previously, the possibilities of the air as a medium of travel had been considered, and the first use of air travel, to get over the heads of the enemy, was during the Seige of Paris.

The birth of Service aeronautics in Great Britain dates from the establishment of the Army Balloon School at Woolwich in 1878 under Captain C. M. Watson and Captain J. S. L. Templer, and in 1879, a company of Royal Engineers was given a course of instruction in ballooning for field work.

In 1885, three balloons were used in the Sudan Campaign, and four balloon sections were sent to South Africa for the war there in 1900.

The Balloon Factory was established at Farnborough, on the site of the present R.A.E., quite early in the twentieth century. Later, when the Army began to interest itself in man-lifting kites, aeroplanes and airships, it was designated the Army Aircraft Factory.

In 1912 the name was changed to the "Royal Aircraft Factory", and for many years it was called the R.A.F. Many old pilots of the 1914-18 war remember the Raf motors which were used in BE, RE, and some (very few) FE aeroplanes, which were designed by the "Factory". The derivation of the type-letters of the "Factory" aeroplanes has always been somewhat obscure. "BE" was generally believed to stand for "Blériot Experimental" as Blériot was alleged to have originated the tractor-airscrew type with propeller in the front. It was also said to mean "Biplane Experimental". "FE" was generally believed to be "Farman Experimental", as the best known "pusher", with propeller behind the pilot, was the Farman. It was also said to stand for "Fighter Experimental", for the "FE" with its clear field of fire forward was believed to be the best form of fighter. "SE" might have stood for "Sopwith Experimental", as T. O. M. Sopwith originated the fast single-seat tractor biplane. But it might equally have stood for "Scout Experimental", since the fast single-seater was originally intended for fast scouting sorties over the enemy lines. It was not used for that in the 1914 war, but at once became the fighter type. "RE" undoubtedly stood for "Reconnaissance Experimental", though the RE 7 and RE 8, the latter named by the R.F.C. pilots the "Harry Tate" after a famous current comedian and his ramshackle motor-cars, were mainly used for artillery observation rather than for reconnaissance. When the Royal Air Force was formed in 1918 the name of the Factory was changed to Royal Aircraft Establishment, so that it would be known as the R.A.E. and avoid confusion with the new R.A.F.

Therefore it is a good question to ask people "When was the R.A.F. first formed, and what did those initials stand for?" Between 1912 and 1918 everyone could have answered "Royal Aircraft Factory", and would have guessed the date of foundation as "a year or so before the war."

In October 1910 the War Office issued this statement: "With a view to meeting army requirements consequent on the recent developments in aerial science, it has been decided to enlarge the scope of the work hitherto carried out by the balloon school at Farnborough by affording opportunities for aeroplaning, as well as by developing the training in the employment of dirigibles more fully than has hitherto been the case.

"The object to be kept in view will be to create a body of expert airmen, both officers and other ranks, from which units capable of acting with troops operating in the field can be drawn.

"Major Sir A. Bannerman, Bart, Royal Engineers, will be at the head of the new organisation, having been selected to succeed Col. J. E. Capper, C.B., whose tenure of appointment as Commandant of the Balloon School expires on 17th October.

"The officers who will form part of the reconstituted unit will not necessarily belong to the Corps of Royal Engineers. They will be selected from any branch of the Anny, provided they show aptitude for aerial work. Details of establishment will be published in due course in Army Orders."

The new organisation was designated "The Air Battalion". It was a battalion of the Royal Engineers, and came into being on 1st April 1911. It was divided into two companies, one concerned with aeroplanes, known as the "Air Company", and the other concerned with balloons and airships, known, rather naturally, as the "Gas Company".

The War Office soon found itself the subject of criticism for purchasing foreign aircraft, though very few satisfactory British craft were then available. The first purchases were a French airship, the Clément-Bayard, which had in the summer of 1910 made the first airship flight from Paris to London, and two French aeroplanes—a well-tried Farman biplane, and a quite untried Paulhan biplane which had been designed and built by Louis Paulhan, who made the first London to Manchester flight on a Farman.

Critics said that the W.O. could have bought an airship from the Welshman, E. T. Willows, who had made successful flights with a small "home-made" airship, and aeroplanes from Geoffrey de Havilland, Cody, A. V. Roe, or Barber (later donor of the Britannia Trophy), who had all been making successful flights in Britain in aeroplanes of their own design and manufacture. So in March 1911 criticism was somewhat allayed by the announcement by the War Minister, Lord Haldane, that the de Havilland biplane and four Bristol biplanes had been bought.

The Navy at that time had been experimenting at Barrow-in-Furness with a rigid airship, on Zeppelin lines, which was nicknamed the "Mayfly". That was a very apt name; it did not fly. Its back was broken when it was being brought out of its floating shed for a test flight.

The Royal Navy first turned its attention to aeronautics at the end of 1909 when, on 8th December, Captain Murray F. Sueter was appointed to the Admiralty for duty in connection with aeronautics. He was borne on the books of H.M.S. President for special service at the Admiralty in the Controller's Department. On 29th September 1910 he was appointed to command H.M.S. Hermione as "Inspecting Captain of Airships". It was to Hermione that officers connected with the construction of Naval Airship No. 1, the "Mayfly", were appointed.

The Air Battalion did magnificent work for a year, and by the end of 1911 the Government were beginning to realise that aircraft had reached a stage when they were becoming an important factor in war. ln France, Germany, and other European countries, military flying forces were being built. For the next three years, critics were complaining that whereas Britain was buying aeroplanes in ones and twos, France was taking delivery of 20 Blériots at one time!

At the beginning of 1912 an announcement was made in the House of Commons that the Air Battalion was to be transformed into the Royal Flying Corps; and on 13th April 1912, orders were issued that the R.F.C. was in being. It consisted of a Military Wing and a Naval Wing, and so it was definitely a far-sighted shot at forming an independent air service.

The Naval Wing was to be administered by the Admiralty, and its personnel would be borne on the books of H.M.S. President and would be under the Naval Discipline Act. The War Office announced that the Military Wing would consist of officers and men transferred from other regiments, or seconded. They would be under military discipline. The officers and ratings of the Naval Wing wore normal naval uniform appropriate to their rank with no distinguishing badge. The albatross badge did not come until later. The Military Wing wore the famous double-breasted "maternity jacket" and field-service cap, and pilots wore the famous "Wings" on their left breast for the first time. Except that the R.F.C. monogram has been replaced by R.A.F., those coveted wings remain the same to-day and are equally prized by the wearers. The "maternity jacket" was designed so as to have no obtruding buttons which would catch in the numerous piano-wires which had to be negotiated when climbing to the pilot's seat, and the field-service cap was used so that it could be easily stowed away in the cockpit. It was made to unfold so it could be worn as a flying helmet, just as does its successor, the R.A.F. field-service cap of a later day. The "maternity jacket" and cap gave an ultra-modern look to R.F.C. personnel; I once heard them described as looking like men from Mars.

After the "Mayfly" the Admiralty were discouraged from further aerial efforts. So when the army formed the Air Battalion, the Royal Aero Club took steps to keep the Admiralty abreast with the times. Mr. (later Sir) Frank McClean offered to loan to the Admiralty two Short "pusher” biplanes to train naval aviators at Eastchurch, and another member, G. B. Cockburn, who was the first Briton to fly in an international contest, offered his services free as instructor. So their Lordships of the Admiralty graciously permitted four officers. Lt. (Acting Lt.-Commander) C. R. Samson, R.N., Lt. A. M. Longmore, R.N., Lt. R. Gregory, R.N., and Lt. E. L. Gerrard, R.M.L.I., to draw full pay while being taught to fly by private civilian enterprise.

By the time the R.F.C. was formed in April 1912, these Naval aviators had become skilful pilots, as also were a number of army pilots in the Air Battalion. So Lt.-Commander Samson became Commandant of the Naval Wing and Major F. H. Sykes was Commandant of the Military Wing. Later, the Admiralty became self-supporting and did not rely on private generosity and charity to provide aircraft for sailors to fly!

At the same time, a Central Flying School was brought into being at Upavon on Salisbury Plain, to teach the aviators of the Naval and Military Wings, and those who were appointed from civilian life, the ways of Service flying. The Commandant at Upavon was Capt. Godfrey Paine, R.N., who qualified for his Aviators' Certificate No. 214 on 14th May 1912. It was indeed rather a case of the "blind leading the blind." Soon after the first course had started Major H. M. Trenchard, known to all as "Boom," reported to Capt. Paine for the course. He qualified for his Certificate No. 270 on 13th August 1912. Capt. Paine told "Boom" that he was a bit late to start on the course. Paine said his assistant instructor decided he did not like flying. So he asked Major Trenchard if he would like the job. Major Trenchard said he would. "Boom" told me afterwards that he set a test for the course then going through and passed himself out at once!

The War Offfice and Admiralty were kept well up to scratch by continual criticism in the Press and Commons of their administration.

Col. Seely (who died as Lord Mottistone) had succeeded Haldane as War Minister. Mr. Joynson-Hicks, M.P., nicknamed "Jix" (afterwards Lord Brentford), who, as a rising young politician had taken an interest in the R.F.C., accused Seely of not providing sufficient aeroplanes for the corps. Seely claimed that the Military Wing possessed 101. Jix claimed that there were not half that number, and demanded to be taken on a tour of inspection. The War Office, Jix alleged at the time, had tried to fool him, by flying aeroplanes from a station he had already inspected, to the next one, so that he could count them again. The second Lord Brentford (Dicky) who went on the inspection with his father has recently told me that his father did not know much about aeroplanes technically, and was no good at aircraft recognition, but that he, Dicky, was the keen young type who would in more modern times have been an A.T.C. cadet with Proficiency Badge. He had noted numbers on rudders, and points such as that, and was able to tell father what was happening.

Jix's disclosure that the R.F.C. only had 26 aeroplanes capable of taking part in war caused one of the first political air scandals, and so materially weakened Seely's position as War Minister that when a further incident occurred soon after he was compelled to resign.

The earliest aeroplane squadron of the R.F.C. was No. 2, as No. 1 was originally intended to be for lighter-than-air craft such as balloons and airships only and did not become an aeroplane squadron until the 1914 war. The Military Wing was at first equipped with Farmans (these were Henri Farmans for there were yet no Maurice Farmans), Bristol "Boxkites," Blériots, and 35 h.p. Avros. Later certain officers introduced their own private aeroplanes. For example, Capt. E. B. Loraine flew his own Nieuport monoplane, one of the fastest aeroplanes of the day. The Naval Wing mostly flew Short biplanes.

The R.F.C. had, as aerodrornes, Farnborough, Upavon, Netheravon, and Montrose. The Naval Wing shared Upavon, and had Eastchurch as their main aerodrome for landplanes. They formed a seaplane base at Calshot.

The War Minister invited members of the Royal Aero Club to join a Reserve, and many gave their services willingly, especially as it meant a certain amount of free flying!

The activities of both wings grew rapidly, and pilots of both services became well-known to the public by many epoch-marking flights.

About this time, 1912-13, there had been some casualties to monoplanes, and all service flying on these types was banned, pending an enquiry. The monoplane, as such, was absolved from blame. Yet it was not until about 20 years later that it began to come into service with the R.A.F. In these days of the complete supremacy of the monoplane in all forms of flying, it is odd to think how officialdom tried to kill it in its youth!

In June of 1914 there had been a test mobilisation of the R.F.C., and about 70 aeroplanes, with 600 officers and men, went to camp on Salisbury Plain. That camp was called a "Concentration Camp", but bore no relation to such camps as became notorious in Germany in both wars. The camp was a test mobilisation of Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 squadrons R.F.C. The full paper strength of the R.F.C. at the time was 125 aeroplanes and 1,100 officers and men.

When it was seen that war was imminent the squadrons were not dispersed, and some squadrons a few weeks later flew to France direct from the camp to join the British Expeditionary Force. On what little in the way of equipment and men was left behind, the nucleus of the R.F.C. was rebuilt by "Boom" Trenchard.

At first there was complete co-operation between the Naval and the Military Wings, especially at the Central Flying School. The Navy got a bit restive running in such close double harness. At the end of 1913 the Navy became very independent and the Royal Naval Air Service began to come into being, unofficially at first. It was not until 24th June 1914, that an announcement was made in the "London Gazette", promulgated in an Admiralty Weekly Order on 26th June, announcing that the Naval Wing of the R.F.C. was to become the Royal Naval Air Service, with effect from 1st July 1914.

The First Lord of the Admiralty at that time was Winston Churchill and the success of early Naval flying was largely due to his interest and foresight.

Mr. Churchill even tried to learn to fly, but he never made a successful pilot, which was partly due to his youthful recklessness and impatience. Later he made a further attempt at it. He had made good progress. One day, when approaching to land with his instructor, the machine stalled at about 10 feet from the ground and "pancaked", breaking a certain amount of aeroplane, but not hurting the occupants. Jack Scott, the instructor, asked Winston why he had not brought it nearer the ground and flattened out properly as usual. Winston said that he thought Scott was going to land it. Scott replied that it seemed to be a case of "falling between two stools." Churchill retorted with a typical Winstonian twinkle, "Seemed to me more like stalling between two fools!"

Meanwhile the R.N.A.S. were equipped with aeroplanes designed by the rudiments of the aircraft industry. They ordered more from Short Bros. The Schneider Trophy had just been won by Britain with a small Sopwith seaplane. The R.N.A.S. ordered a number of similar machines, which became famous as Sopwith "Schneiders". They also ordered the Sopwith "Pup", "Camel", "Triplane" and "One-and-a-half Strutter", and placed an order with Handley Page Ltd. for a big twin-motor bomber, the 0/400. To power this "huge" aeroplane, and to make other big designs possible, they persuaded—practically forced—Mr. Henry Royce, of Rolls-Royce Ltd., to design and build an aero motor. That was the birth of the "Eagle". While the Admiralty kept the aircraft industry alive by orders, the R.F.C. was staking almost all on the BE2c. That aeroplane, in its early stages as the BE1 and BE2, had been designed for the Royal Aircraft Factory by Mr. (later Capt.) Geoffrey de Havilland. In June 1914 he had joined Holt Thomas as chief designer to the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. which held the British licence for making French Farmans. The War Office had ordered a number of British-built Farmans from Holt Thomas and continued to do so after war broke out, and many of us learned to fly on " Maurices" when we joined the R.F.C.

De Havilland soon produced the DH1, a two-seater pusher biplane, and got orders from the R.F.C., as also did Vickers Ltd. for a similar pusher with a machine-gun, named the "Gun-bus". They also had to order a few Bristol and Martinsyde "Scouts". The rest of the industry were compelled to disperse their design staffs, except those kept busy by the Admiralty, for the R.F.C. mostly ordered BE2c.s designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory and built under sub-contract; they placed contracts with motor firms for Raf and French Gnôme motors to the neglect of British designs.

In 1915-16 these BE2c.s were being shot out of the sky by the German Fokker monoplanes with guns firing throughout the props. The R.F.C. looked round desperately for aeroplanes with better performance than the BE2c. Luckily, the R.N.A.S. saved the day and came to the rescue of the R.F.C. in France, not only with fast Sopwith aeroplanes and Handley Page bombers, but they were able to send complete squadrons to France so equipped to take part in the fighting with their R.F.C. comrades.

That situation led to another "aviation scandal" in the House. Noel Pemberton-Billing, an early pilot, and founder of the Supermarine firm, had resigned his commission as squadron-commander in the R.N.A.S. on election to Parliament. He was the first member of Parliament who had any practical knowledge of aviation. He made himself unpopular in the House because he was so forthright. He knew that the situation in the air was grave because of the mishandling of affairs by politicians with no firsthand aviation knowledge.

He caused a stir by accusing the War Office of "murdering" pilots by equipping them with inferior aircraft. There was an official enquiry, the final result of which was the setting up of the Air Board in 1916 to co-ordinate the work and supplies of the R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. An early president of the Air Board was Lord Cowdray. The first was Lord Curzon.

On 1st April 1918 the Royal Air Force came into being. The Air Board had given way to the newly constituted Air Ministry by the Air Force Act passed on 29th November 1917.

Lord Rothermere was the first Air Minister. For the first year his office was known as the Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force. The war was still being fought, and at first the R.A.F. was the only concern of the Minister. It was not until 1st April 1919, when civil aviation was beginning, that the title was changed to Secretary of State for Air. Now it should revert to its original title.

Distinctive R.A.F. uniforms began to be seen in some squadrons which were far from being 'uniform' in the real meaning of the word. Apart from R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. uniforms, many officers seconded from other branches wore those of their old services.

The first R.A.F. uniform was khaki, rather similar in pattern to the later blue one. The peaked cap was modelled on the Naval cap, and the field-service cap did not appear till several years later. Blue was not adopted until well after the war, in 1919. Like everything new it caused a bit of a shock and was thought to be too "musical comedy"; many people did not believe it would survive.

The new rank-titles caused an even bigger shock and still more hilarity. In August 1919 the Air Ministry announced new rank-titles would come into use at once to preserve the independence and integrity of the youngest Service, and at the same time they announced the establishment of the R.A.F. Cadet College at Cranwell for training officers for permanent commissions.

At first the new rank titles sounded odd. "Squadron Leader" and "Wing Commander" did not roll off the tongue from long usage as easily as did the equivalent Navy and Army titles. This led to much jesting and officers called one another "Bunch Commander So and So." Navy and Army people, especially their wives, laughed the whole idea to scorn and said that no one could ever address a man as "Squadron Leader Smith" or "Wing-Commander Brown", as it would be much too clumsy. Many years were to go by before the new titles were to pass into the language and sound normal and it was not until the war of 1939-45 that people as a whole became accustomed to R.A.F. titles.

At the end of the 1914-18 war the strength of the R.A.F. was 27,906 officers, and 263,842 other ranks. There were 33,000 aeroplanes on the strength.

After 1918 there was a call for economy and the R.A.F. was ruthlessly cut down. The first post-war Air Minister was Churchill, who doubled the roles of War and Air Minister. That was looked on as a move to destroy the R.A.F. as a separate force, especially as the Navy was conducting a campaign to get back its own air service. Seely, who was Under-Secretary for Air, resigned as he would not agree to an air service which was partially under the wing of the War Office. The Chief of the Air Staff was Lord Trenchard, that same Major Trenchard of the C.F.S. days of 1912. He fought vigorously and successfully for the separate existence of the R.A.F., but it was not until the Conservative Government was formed at the end of 1922, with Sir Samuel Hoare (afterwards Lord Templewood) as Air Minister, that any serious effort was made to build up the R.A.F.

In 1924 an effort was made to build up an R.A.F. Reserve. When the war ended in 1918, most old R.A.F. types shed their uniforms with joy and many wished a wish that they would never put them on again and would never fly in an aeroplane again. For the succeeding five years no effort was made to form a Reserve, but in each succeeding year, at the annual R.A.F. Air Display (called "Pageant" the first year) more and more of the old types came, not so much to see the flying as to meet one another. The old keenness began to revive, and chaps were telling one another how much they would like to have a crack at flying again.

Consequently, when volunteers were called to join the Reserve of Air Force Officers in 1924, there was a ready response. Those selected were called on to undergo a course of flying training and were able to do 30 hours' flying per year on war-time machines such as Bristol Fighters and DH9s at Reserve Schools, which were operated by civil firms such as de Havilland, Bristol, Armstrong Whitworth, and Blackburn. That enabled quite a number of enthusiasts to keep up their flying, which otherwise they had not been able to afford.

It was not until Hitler gained power in Germany in 1933 that Britain began to realise that another war was indeed possible. Not until Hitler's aggressive intentions were made obvious did the Government decide to rebuild the R.A.F., and, by ordering aircraft and motors in quantity, to set the aircraft industry on a sound foundation again. The Reserve of Air Force Officers had been implemented by the formation of the Auxiliary Air Force, which was on a territorial basis. The R.A.F.V.R. was formed and absorbed the Reserve of Air Force Officers. The Auxiliary Air Force was made "Royal" in 1946.

In the late nineteen-thirties, the Navy succeeded in its long fight to get control of its carrier-borne aircraft and personnel and the Fleet Air Arm. At the end of the 1939-45 war, the name "Fleet Air Arm" was dropped and the air arm became an important integral part of the Royal Navy.

The R.A.F. continued to have its own Coastal Command after the formation of the F.A.A. which worked on an equal basis with the other R.A.F. commands, but it co-operated very closely indeed with the Navy.

During the 1939-45 war there was a vast expansion of the R.A.F. and of the aircraft industry, but at the beginning of the war we were very badly equipped. Thanks to the foresight of T. O. M. Sopwith, head of Hawkers, who built 1,000 Hurricanes without waiting for Governmental authority, we had a goodly supply of those fine fighters; it is now history that the Battle of Britain was won by the Hurricane more than by any other single machine.

It was soon realised that the war in the air would be as important as, or more important, than the war on land or sea. The Battle of Britain from July to September, 1940, was the first decisive battle of the 1939-45 war; it was also the first battle which brought serious warfare to Britain from an outside source since the Spanish Armada in 1588. Moreover, it was the first time that big and powerfully armed air forces had come into direct conflict with one another. No one knew very much about air defence or attack, nor what forms they would take.

We began that war with relatively small aeroplanes, which carried small bombs. Experts who knew what they were talking about, or should have known, told us that it was impossible to devastate a city the size of London by aerial attack. These experts were talking without visualising the size and power of bombs which were later used. When in the early days of the Battle of Britain we spoke of certain air-raid shelters and buildings as being "proof against direct hits", we were thinking in terms of bombs no bigger than 500 or 1,000 lbs. We certainly did not visualise blockbusters of many tons which were to lay waste German cities; certainly no one thought of atom bombs, two of which devastated two Japanese cities.

When the 1939 war began, the fastest fighter on either side was the Spitfire, which would do 357 m.p.h. At the end of the war, jet-propelled fighters were replacing piston-motor aircraft, and within four months of the end of the war, an almost standard fighter, the Gloster Meteor, had broken the world speed record with 606 m.p.h. By that time gas-turbine motors were providing more power than aeroplanes could then use.

Another most important development, which may alter air forces from attacking forces to carrying forces, was the introduction of pilotless aircraft. The first of these was the German V-1, which was named the "doodle-bug" by the people of London, who were the objects of attack. That name was given to it by the people who looked upon it as a type of pest which was a nuisance, but which they did not intend to regard too seriously. That weapon could have been a war-winner if the Germans had been able to use it earlier. Had they been able to use it in the Battle of Britain, when we had not the means of destroying it in its lair, as we did in 1944, and had they been able to use it in the intended numbers, London might well have been destroyed. If the Germans had been able to use atom bombs as the explosive force even in 1944, they might have won the war, or prolonged it by months or even years.

Later, in the autumn of 1944, they used V-2 rockets on London. By the time they were able to use that weapon they had lost the proposed launching sites in northern France, and so they were compelled to launch these missiles at extreme range from Holland. The British heavy bombers were able to interfere so seriously with the German communications that the Germans were not able to bring as many rockets to the launching points as they had intended.

Even so, the V-1s and V-2s did tremendous damage to house property in London and south-eastern England, which materially worsened the post-war housing position.

In the event of another war we must be prepared for the use of rocket projectiles, flying bombs armed with atom bombs and disease germs.

Marshal of the R.A.F. Sir Arthur Harris, who was Air Officer Commanding Bomber Command, has written that, just as in the 1939-45 war, the greatest hindrances to the correct use of air power were the admirals and generals who still thought in terms of past wars, so the greatest danger in a future war will be the air marshals who may still think in terms of heavy bombers and piloted fighters. In the years which have passed since the formation of the Air Battalion in 1911 we have seen huge changes. Perhaps the R.A.F. as a fighting force has seen its last war. If that is so, then the aeroplane will be turned to the use which its original inventors intended—for sport, pleasure and transport.

After the war ended in 1945, the R.A.F. were fortunate in having, as Chief of the Air Staff, Marshal of the R.A.F. Lord Tedder. He was much handicapped by the inevitable post-war call for economy which saw the R.A.F. and other Services reduced to danger level.

Under Lord Tedder's guidance the R.A.F. switched over to jet propulsion for fighters, and began a programme for jet bombers. It was not his fault that the R.A.F. in 1950 had to equip with obsolescent American bombers because no British pressurised high-altitude bombers were yet available.

In 1950 Lord Tedder was succeeded by Marshal of the R.A.F. Sir John Slessor, to whom fell the task of guiding the R.A.F. into a new era of jet and rocket propulsion, and of guided missiles.





CHAPTER 14

MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL TRIALS

Aeroplanes for war—quaint early ideas—military trials—entries—de Havilland starts a habit—Cody wins—civil aeroplane trials—entries—no new airliners produced.

AT THE beginning of 1912 the War Office announced that a competition would be held in August to determine the most suitable types of aeroplane for the flying services. Prizes amounting to £10,000 would be awarded. There were prizes open to all the manufacturers of the world, and others open to British subjects for aeroplanes (except the motors) which were manufactured in the United Kingdom.

In 1920 a competition was announced by the Air Ministry to determine the most suitable types of civil aeroplanes. Prizes amounting to £64,000 were offered.

Both competitions were duly held, but neither resulted in the production of aircraft suitable for general adoption.

The Military Trials began at Lark Hill on Salisbury Plain on 1st August 1912. Thirty-two aeroplanes were entered as follows:—

Four aeroplanes: the British & Colonial Aeroplane Co. Ltd. (later known as the Bristol Aeroplane Co. Ltd.).

Two aeroplanes: Hanriot (England) Ltd; Louis Blériot; A. V. Roe & Co.; Bréguet Aeroplanes Ltd.; Coventry Ordnance Works Ltd; British Deperdussin Co. Ltd.; Armand Deperdussin; and S. F. Cody.

One aeroplane: Vickers Ltd.; L. Howard Flanders Ltd.; Martin & Handasyde: Aerial Wheel Syndicate Ltd.; Mersey Aeroplane Co.; Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd.; C. E. King; Jacob Lohner & Co.; A. M. Harper; Piggott Bros. and Co. Ltd.; Handley Page Ltd.; Societé Anon. des Aeroplanes Borel.

The judges had to be satisfied that certain similar parts on each aeroplane were interchangeable, and that each could carry a pilot and observer, both of whom could use the controls from their respective seats.

Before proceeding with the competition, machines had to prove that they could—carry a live load of 350 lbs. in addition to instruments, etc., with fuel and oil for 4½ hours; fly for three hours, loaded; reach 4,500 feet, and maintain a height of 1,500 feet for one hour; climb at not less than 200 feet per minute for the first 1,000 feet; attain a top speed of not less than 55 m.p.h.

The main conditions for competition were that aeroplanes must:

- "Plane" down from not more than 1,000 feet in a calm with motor stopped, during which a horizontal distance of 6,000 feet must be covered without touching ground.
- Rise without damage from long grass, clover, or harrowed land, fully loaded, in a calm.
- Land without damage on cultivated land, including plough, and pull up within 75 yards of first touching ground when landing on smooth turf in a calm.
- Be capable of being steered at low speed on the ground in a calm.
- Capable of changing from flying trim to road transport trim and travel on its own wheels or on a trolley on a road; width in road trim not to exceed 10 feet.
- Pilot's and observer's view were to be as open as possible, and they must be shielded from the wind, and be able to communicate with one another.

A list of about a dozen other "desirable attributes" was given.

The competitions lasted for about a fortnight, a happy and interesting time for nearly everyone present.

Capt. Geoffrey (later Sir Geoffrey) de Havilland was at that time chief of the design staff of the Royal Aircraft Factory, which, because of its official capacity, was not eligible. But Capt. de Havilland had studied the rules carefully and had designed an aeroplane, the BE, which was able to comply with all the rules and do rather better, thereby proving that he was one of the world's foremost designers.

The results of the competition were announced at the end of August. The first prize of £4,000 in the open class went to S. F. Cody, and the Government bought his aeroplane as promised. Cody was also awarded the first prize of £1,000 in the class open to British subjects with British aeroplanes.

The second prize of £2,000 in the open class went to Armand Deperdussin.

The second prize in the British class was withheld as no aeroplane other than Cody's passed all tests. Three third prizes of £500 each were awarded to the British Deperdussin, and two Bristol monoplanes. Consolation prizes were awarded to the Hanriot, Maurice Farman, Blériot, and an Avro enclosed biplane.

Cody was very lucky to have gained £5,000 awards, for his aeroplane had no military value. A somewhat similar type is now in the South Kensington Museum. Little more was heard of it, until an R.F.C. officer, Lieut. Harrison, was killed on it, and Cody himself was killed by the breakage of a new machine in the air at Farnborough in 1913.

Many famous pilots competed in these trials, which are chiefly remembered for Parke's spinning nose-dive described in the chapter on early aerobatics.

Early in 1920 the Air Ministry announced that competitions would be held, beginning on 1st September 1920, to determine the most suitable types for civil aviation of (a) Large aeroplanes, (b) Small aeroplanes, (c) Amphibians. Prizes amounting to £64,000 were offered. The following machines were entered:—

Large Aeroplanes                     Pilot
Handley Page W 8 Major H. G. Brackley
Vickers "Vimy" Capts. S. Cockerell and T. Broome
Small Aeroplanes
Austin "Kestrel" M. D. Nares
Beardmore W.B.10 G. Powell
Bristol "Seely" Cyril Uwins
Sopwith "Antelope" Harry Hawker
Westland "Limousine" A. S. Keep
Avro Triplane H. A. I-Iammersley
Amphibians
Vickers "Viking III" Capt. S. Cockerell
Supermarine "Sea Eagle" Capt. J. Hoare
Fairey Capt. Vincent Nicholl

It was a disappointment that no new aeroplanes were built specially for the competition, and that only aircraft already in existence were entered, for new aircraft could then be built in a few months.

At the beginning of October 1920 the results were announced. The judges said that the aeroplanes entered showed less radical advance in design than had been expected, and did not warrant the award of the full prizes as announced.

In the class for big aeroplanes the first prize would be withheld. The second prize of £8,000 went to Handley Page Transport for the W 8, a biplane driven by two 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" motors, which carried 12 passengers at about 100 m.p.h.

The third prize of £4,000 went to Vickers Ltd. for the "Vimy", a biplane, driven by two 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Eagle 8" motors, which carried 10 passengers at about 95 m.p.h. Both types were used on the airlines with considerable success.

In the small aeroplane class. the first prize of £7,500 went to the Westland Aircraft Works for the 6-seater "Limousine", powered by a 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" motor. Second prize of £3,000 went to the Sopwith Aviation and Engineering Co. Ltd. for the "Antelope", a two-seater with a 180 h.p. Wolseley "Viper". This aeroplane had a four-wheel undercart with brakes, the forerunner of the modern tricycle undercart. The third prize of £1,500 went to the Austin Motor Co. Ltd., for the "Kestrel" driven by a 160 h.p. Beardmore.

In the amphibian class, the first prize went to the Vickers "Viking III", with a 450 h.p. Napier "Lion". Second prize went to the Supermarine amphibian with the Rolls-Royce "Eagle 8". This machine was later known as the "Sea Eagle".

The third prize went to the Fairey amphibian float seaplane.

The part of the competition held on land took place at Martlesham, the R.A.F. Experimental Station, and the sea tests were made at Felixstowe.

As no new or original aircraft resulted from the competition, it did not contribute in any marked way to the progress of civil aircraft.
CHAPTER 15

FIRST AT TANGMERE

How it was found—the aviation bug bites—cross-country—winning Wings—a forced landing in fog—a large field—Scotch 8/6 a bottle—prop damaged and preserved—back to Tangmere.

AMONG THE oldest R.A.F. stations in the South of England is Tangmere, near Chichester, in Sussex. This was one of the most famous and effective stations which took part in the Battle of Britain.

I feel something of a proprietary interest in it, as I was partly responsible for its selection as an aerodrome during the 1914-18 war, for I made a forced landing in fog in a large field on which Tangmere airfield was subsequently made. During the forced landing I damaged the propeller and took it home. In May 1949 I was invited to Tangmere to present this propeller in the Officers' Mess.

After I had retold the story of my landing, the station commander, Wing Commander George Parnaby, said that the aerodrome had been made many times its original size to make it easier for me to land next time! Referring to the fact that the station was equipped with jet Meteors, he said that in order to prevent clueless pilots falling in and breaking propellers again, they now used aeroplanes without propellers!

I append herewith a description of my first landing at Tangmere which I wrote in June 1949 for the "Tangmere Times," the station paper, and I am indebted to the station commander for giving me permission to republish it here.

When I was invited to visit Tangmere Air Station on 21st May 1949, to present the propeller from the aeroplane with which I made the first landing on the spot on which Tangmere was opened a year later, I felt a real thrill of pride in being more or less officially identified with a station which has made so much flying history in the 33 years which elapsed since my first visitation on 19th November 1916.

Those far off days might seem to be almost pioneer days to the present generation of pilots. But we did not then look upon ourselves in any way as pioneers, for we were already looking back at such really great ones such as the Wright brothers and Blériot.

My earliest childhood recollections are of being thrilled by watching free balloons go up from the Crystal Palace, for the balloon ground could be seen from our house. In that way I was first infected with the aviation bug, or rather its father, the aeronautic bug.

I first came into contact with aviation, and "contact" is the right word, when I had my schoolboy bottom smacked by the great Wilbur Wright for schoolboy sauce!

My uncle, the late Sir Ernest Shackleton, had just returned from his historic journey when he went within 97 miles of the South Pole in 1909, and he took me to the Isle of Sheppey to see the Wrights. I was thrilled, and I kept asking "Uncle Wilbur," as I called him, so many questions that eventually he picked me up, put me across his knee, and gave me a gentle avuncular spanking!

Horace Short, the eldest of the Short brothers, took a photograph of this, which he sent me at school. But I had been shooting a good line to the fellows about how well I knew the Wrights, and when I received the evidence which seemed to me to show that I did not get on so well with them as I said, I tore it into small pieces so that none of the chaps would see it! A schoolboy's dignity is more easily hurt than his other end! But I wish I had that photo now.

When the war of 1914 began I was just 20 and was commissioned in the R.E. I at once set to work to transfer to the R.F.C., and was seconded to it in April 1915 and sent to Shoreham to learn to fly. I qualified for my Aviators' Certificate, No. 1,300, on 2nd June 1915, on a Maurice Farman biplane, known by the sprogs of the period (who were then called "quirks") as a "Rumpety", rather an onomatopoeic word.

I found there would be a long wait before going overseas, so when a notice came round asking for volunteers to form a kite-balloon unit for artillery observation, I applied, as ballooning was still one of my ambitions. So I was given a course which included free ballooning, and qualified for my Aeronauts' Certificate, No. 44. Since I also took No. 81 Gliding Certificate after the war, I am well equipped with bumph!

I went to France with No. 1 Kite-Balloon Section on the Somme, but after six months of it I applied to return to real flying, and was sent home by aeroplane, crossing the Channel on 25th July 1916, exactly six years to the day after Blériot had first flown it. Blériot's famous flight then seemed ancient history; but it was really very near to us.

On my return home I was posted to No. 27 R.A.S. (Reserve Aeroplane Squadron) at Gosport, where with my previous training I soon passed out on "Rumpeties", and was posted to No. 28 Squadron, also at Gosport, for advanced training on an operational type, the F.E.2b, a "pusher" powered by a 120 h.p. Beardmore motor. This aeroplane was a large biplane with a span of 48 feet. Its service ceiling was 9,000 feet and maximum speed was 73 m.p.h. at 6,500 feet. The pilot sat in a robust throne rather like a bishop's seat in a cathedral, and the unfortunate observer sat, or knelt, in a round nacelle about the size and shape of a foot-bath right in the front. He had a Lewis gun there fixed to a tall pole, and had to stand to use it; the sides of the "foot-bath" came to his knees. Most observers firmly anchored themselves by a home-made harness to the pole after one or two had been ejected. This was before the days of parachutes.

We had to do 25 hours' flying to qualify for Wings, and on November 19, 1916, I just had two more hours, and a cross-country flight to make, to get them.

So the C.O., Major A. Shekleton, instructed me to fly to Shoreham, land there, and return. That was a route that I felt capable of tackling, especially as it was a nice fine clear day when I started, but with an east wind of about 20 m.p.h. blowing. After passing behind the prohibited area of Portsmouth, I turned out to sea a bit and flew inland again over the Downs to fill in time, never losing sight of the coast. I had plenty of time in hand when I reached Shoreham so I flew on over Brighton, and landed at Shoreham after 1 hour and 45 minutes, with still 15 minutes needed for my Wings. I had as passenger Lieut. Taylor, who was also under instruction but not as far advanced as I was. The F.E.2b was No. 4875.

After lunch I took off for Gosport, and after circling around a bit, my 15 minutes for my Wings had passed and Taylor turned round in his "foot-bath" and we shook hands, and no doubt I looked pleased and smug. But pride cometh before a fall. A sea-fog was forming, and my motor began to make queer noises. Taylor turned and looked at me anxiously, and I gave him a reassuring smile. That was to buck myself up as much as anything for I felt anything but confident.

The rev. counter showed power was falling off. Fog was covering the ground, and I did not like the idea of flying over the built up area of Portsmouth, so decided to try a landing, keeping my fixed smile in full blast for the benefit of Taylor.

We had been flying at 6,000 feet and the old "Fee," as we called these kites, took a long time to glide down, and when I was within 500 feet of the ground, I could see nothing. But I could do nothing about it except press on regardless.

Dimly in the fog I saw some tall trees which I knew must form the boundary of something, which I hoped might be a field. We glided over the tops of the trees as low as possible, and touched down on plough. The wheels threw up lumps of clay into the still revolving propeller, and damaged its leading edge. But I was intensely relieved when we stopped without hitting anything. Taylor told me I looked quite happy all the time, so he was quite confident. I had felt anything but happy!

We walked up a lane and came to a railway where there was a halt, and a signal-box, from which I was allowed to 'phone Gosport.

In due course, a tender was sent, with a fitter and a new prop. I was driven into Chichester for the night, where I stayed at the Dolphin. I ordered a bottle of Scotch, and was outraged at being charged 8s. 6d. The price when war began was 3s. 6d., and the tax was only just being put on, and that seemed a wicked price to a young sprog.

The next morning the tender picked me up again, and drove me to the Fee. The fog had now cleared and I found I had landed in a field several hundreds of yards square!

I took off over Tangmere village, whose church recently enabled me to identify the spot on which I had landed, and flew back to Gosport, where I was told by the C.O., Major Shekleton, I could now put up my Wings.

He told me to make out a report on my forced landing, which I did. I wrote that my field would make a good aerodrome; we had heard that more were to be made on the South Coast.

The next year, when I returned from service in France, I found that Tangmere aerodrome had been made from my field. After the 1918 war I met Major Shekleton and asked him if it had been the result of my report. He told me he had flown over the field, and had endorsed my report. The fact that the aerodrome was formed there so soon afterwards, proved, he said, they had acted on our report.

With the R.F.C. habit of scrounging firmly ingrained, I "wangled" the propeller and sent it home to London by train, and until the war in 1939 it was hanging up in my house. During the last war I loaned it to Caterham A.T.C. Squadron, where it helped to lend an aviation atmosphere to their headquarters, and it moved with them to new H.Q. on Kenley Air Station in 1945. There it remained until May 1949, when it found an honoured resting place in the Officers' Mess at Tangmere, the place where it was last airborne 33 years before.

Seeing it there when I presented it at that wholly enjoyable party which had been laid on, I felt a real thrill of pride to see what for so many years had been considered by my family as just "a useless piece of junk cluttering the place up" being regarded at this famous Battle of Britain station as something of an heirloom. If those two ancient museum pieces, my prop and I, have helped in any way to bring some tradition of long ago to Tangmere, then I am more than satisfied. But quite honestly, compared with the traditions founded in Battle of Britain days, I feel very unworthy of so high an honour.
CHAPTER 16

FLYING THE ATLANTIC

First thought of in 1914—prize offered—Hawker and Grieve—via the Azores—Alcock and Brown—other tries—R.34—Lindbergh—first East to West—the Mollisons—airship service—Imperial Airways—Atlantic ferry—regular and safe.

IN 1913 Lord Northcliffe brought much ridicule on himself and his paper, the Daily Mail, by offering a prize of £10,000 for the first flight across the Atlantic from any point in the United States, Canada, or Newfoundland to any point in Great Britain or Ireland, in under 72 hours, in an aeroplane. Immediate entries were received from Blériot Ltd., S. F. Cody, Gordon England and Herr Rumpler.

It was not until 1914 that anyone seriously began building for the prize. At Brooklands, Martin and Handasyde started making a large monoplane with a 215 h.p. Sunbeam motor, which was to be flown by Gustav Hamel. That project was abandoned when Hamel was lost flying the Strait of Dover; then war broke out. The American storekeeper, Wannamaker, financed the building of a big Curtiss flying boat to be named "America". This was to be flown across the Atlantic by Lieut. John Porte, of the British Navy. The war stopped that project, too, but the Curtiss boat was bought for the R.N.A.S. and many developments of it were used on war service.

When the war ended in 1918, the great advances made in aircraft and motors had made a trans-Atlantic flight a much more practical proposition.

On 17th April 1919 the Royal Aero Club announced the first list of entries for the Daily Mail prize. They were:—

Whitehead Aircraft, biplane with four Liberty motors.
     Pilot Capt. A. Payze.
Capt. Hugo Sundstedt, biplane with Liberty motors.
     Pilot, entrant.
Sopwith Aviation Co. Ltd., biplane with 320 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Eagle" motor.
     Pilot H. G. Hawker.
Short Bros, biplane with 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Eagle" motor.
     Pilot Major J. C. P. Wood.
Fairey Aviation Co. Ltd., float seaplane with 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Eagle".
     Pilot Sidney Pickles.
Martinsyde Ltd., biplane with 285 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Falcon."
     Pilot F. P. Raynham.
Handley Page Ltd., V/1500 with four 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Eagles".
     Pilot (not then nominated) Major H. G. Brackley.
Boulton & Paul Ltd., biplane with two 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" motors.
     No pilots nominated.

On 1st May a further entry was received from:

Alliance Aeroplane Co. Ltd., biplane with 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" motor.
     Pilot Capt. W. R. Curtiss.

On 8th May came a further entry:

Vickers Ltd., "Vimy" with two 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Eagle" motors.
     Pilot Capt. J. Alcock, D.S.C.

At the end of April it became known that the U.S. Navy were preparing three Curtiss "N.C." boats with three 400 h.p. Liberty motors and one, known as the N.C.4, with four Liberty motors.

The Short biplane set out from England to fly to Ireland, whence, alone among the competitors, it would try and fly from east to west. It alighted in the Irish Sea soon after passing Holyhead. Capt. Sundstedt, the Whitehead, Fairey, Boulton & Paul, and Alliance, did not reach their starting point.

The Sopwith, Martinsyde, Vickers, and Handley Page were all taken to Newfoundland, whence they hoped to start.

The honour of being the first to attempt the direct flight fell to Harry Hawker and Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve. They left Mount Pearl flying field, St. Johns, at 5.42 p.m., 18th May 1919. Soon after leaving, Hawker jettisoned the detachable undercarriage, which increased his speed by about seven m.p.h. Then, so far as the waiting world knew, they disappeared. Ships at sea reported a great storm in mid-ocean, and it was assumed that they had perished in that storm. They carried radio, but no signals were received from them, because of dynamo failure.

When they were a few hundred miles over the ocean, the motor began to overheat and power fell off. So Hawker and Grieve decided to look for a ship and to "ditch" beside it. They flew on for a long time searching for a ship. The phlegmatic "Mac" dropped off to sleep. Now and then, Hawker said later, he woke up and asked peevishly, "Haven't you found a ship yet?"

On 19th May, when 1,000 miles from St. Johns, they sighted the Danish steamship Mary, bound for Scotland. They alighted in the water near her, and were picked up with difficulty because of the rough water. The ship carried no radio and it was not until nearly a week later, 25th May, that she came within visual signalling distance of Scotland.

The following signals were exchanged between the Mary and the Lloyd's signal station at the Butt of Lewis:—
     Mary: "Saved hands Sopwith aeroplane."
     Lewis: "Is it Hawker?"
     Mary: "Yes."

It was a Sunday. There was then no broadcasting, but the country went wild with delight as the news spread. Hawker and Grieve had a triumphant journey from Scotland to London, and at King's Cross and all the way to the Royal Aero Club in Clifford Street, the streets were lined with cheering crowds.

Meanwhile, on 16th May 1919, the U.S. Navy Curtiss N.C.1, N.C.3, and N.C.4 flying boats left Trepassy Bay, Newfoundland, for the Azores. They were not entrants for the Daily Mail prize. All three planned to stop at the Azores on the way, then at Lisbon, and finally to reach Plymouth. They left Newfoundland at 10.11 a.m. G.M.T. and the N.C.4, piloted by Lt.-Com. A. C. Read, with an American crew, reached Horta at 1.25 p.m., 17th May. Both the other machines were compelled by fog to alight on the sea. One, piloted by Lt.-Com. P. L. Bellenger, was taken in tow, but was wrecked. The other, piloted by Lt.-Com. Jack Towers, was damaged when alighting and rendered unairworthy—so Towers taxied it 200 miles to Horta safely. He later became U.S. Air Attache in London, where he made many friends, and, in the 1939-45 war, became an Admiral.

Read left the Azores at 11.18 a.m. G.M.T. on 18th May and reached Lisbon at 9.4 p.m. the same evening. He reached Plymouth the next day, having taken 25 hours 1 minute flying time for the 2,400 miles. That was the first crossing of the Atlantic by air, but the direct crossing from America to Europe had still to be made.

The first non-stop flight across the Atlantic was made on the night of 14th-15th June 1919, by Capt. John Alcock, D.S.C., and Lieut. Arthur Whitten Brown in a Vickers "Vimy" with two 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce motors. They left St. Johns, Newfoundland, at 4.13 p.m. G.M.T. and alighted at Clifden, Ireland, the next morning. Thus they became the first people in Europe to be able to say with truth "Yesterday when I was in America . . ." Jack Alcock later told me what a shock it gave him when he found himself saying that.

Alcock said that the start was rather difficult, as they had a one-way strip from which to take-off, and there was a cross wind. Soon after leaving they got into fog off Newfoundland and, after the first 40 minutes, they only saw the sky for about an hour altogether. That was at 3 a.m., when they obtained sights on the stars and moon, which showed them that they were slightly more than half-way across. They ran into more fog, and the airspeed indicator stuck. At about 4,000 feet, the Vimy began to spin. Jack said he did not quite know what was happening, and all he could do was to watch his altimeter. They came into clear weather and saw the sea, and he was able to regain control.

The Vimy is now in the Science Museum at South Kensington. Readers should go and see it, and contemplate what it must have been like to fly blind in an open cockpit, with no A.S.I., and to spin it and recover. That will give the modern generation some idea of what a splendid feat the flight was, remembering how overloaded and underpowered the machine was.

When they thought they should be nearing land the aeroplane was brought down to about 200 feet below the clouds. They reached Ireland and made the landfall which Brown had intended to make—in what seemed to be a nice green field. "Unfortunately we chose a rather sticky bog," said Jack, "and the machine was damaged. But still we were very pleased with ourselves as we had got across."

That was how one of the greatest flights in history was made, by two quiet, modest, and unassuming men. The names of Alcock and Brown have passed into history, and they are now legendary figures such as Castor and Pollux, or Romeo and Juliet. I heard them coupled as a famous pair in a B.B.C. quiz with those two other mythological pairs I have mentioned.

However they were very real people. Jack Alcock was killed in December, 1919, when flying to the Paris Aero Show, as recorded in the Britannia Trophy chapter, and Arthur Whitten-Brown died on 4th October 1948.

On the morning of 16th June 1919, the Daily Mail main news page carried a banner headline with the wording "'Daily Mail' £10,000 Atlantic Prize Won." Then there was a double-column heading: "How I won it. Capt. Alcock's Story. Newfoundland to Ireland. Under 16 Hours. All British Triumph."

The text below it read:

     "The Atlantic has been crossed in direct flight and the Daily Mail £10,000 prize has been won. Capt. John Alcock, D.S.C, (pilot) and Lieut. Arthur Whitten Brown (navigator), flying a Vickers Vimy Rolls-Royce twin engine aeroplane. left St. Johns, Newfoundland, at 5.13 p.m. summer time on Saturday and landed in Ireland at 9.40 a.m. yesterday. They crossed the Newfoundland coast at 5.28 p.m., thus accomplishing the coast-to-coast flight of 1,880 miles over the sea in 15 hours 57 minutes.
     "This glorious achievement places the honour of the first non-stop flight in British hands and wins for a British machine, engine, pilot, and navigator, the Daily Mail £10,000 prize.
     "Greater glory attaches to the flight for the reason that it was accomplished in bad weather conditions. Fog and drizzling rain obscured vision to such an extent that at times the machine was discovered to be flying upside down, and once only ten feet from the water."

The whole of the main news page was devoted to aspects and stories of the flight, with photos of the machine, pilots, and the designer, Rex Pierson, chief designer to Vickers Ltd.

Jack Alcock was one of the earliest pioneers of flying. He was a member of the very early group of Brooklands aviators. His Aviators' Certificate was No. 368, taken in 1912. He got a job to fly and demonstrate an experimental 150 h.p. Sunbeam motor installed in a Maurice Farman at Brooklands by Louis Coatalen, the Sunbeam motor designer. In that job, Jack's skill as an engineer and a pilot found full scope. On that aeroplane he put up some remarkable performances in Aerial Derbies and other races.

He joined the R.N.A.S. when war broke out, and near the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the Turks after "ditching" a Handley Page 0/400 in the sea just off Gallipoli beach.

Alcock and Brown were greeted in London on their return from Ireland by as big and enthusiastic a crowd as had greeted Hawker and Grieve. They made a triumphal progress from the station to the Royal Aero Club in Clifford Street, in Frank McClean's Rolls-Royce car, driven by the owner.

On 20th June they were entertained to lunch by the proprietors of the Daily Mail. One of the principal guests was Winston Churchill, who was then "doubling the roles" of Secretary of State for War and Air. During lunch, Winston told Jack that "he had got something for him." Jack said afterwards that he thought it was the A.F.C. When he learned that both he and Brown had been awarded K.B.E.s he confessed that "he felt a bit swamped at the idea of being Sir John Alcock," for he was a very simple type of fellow.

In those days there was considerable scandal because of the way that titles were being bought by politicians and war profiteers. At last it seemed that knighthoods could be won once again by knightly deeds, as of old.

Churchill in his speech turned to Whitten Brown's charming wife and said "If anyone asks me where I have been to-day, I shall say 'I have been lunching with Lady Brown.' If they ask me which Lady Brown, I shall say 'Why, Lady Atlantic Brown.'" Many years later I met Lady Brown again and called her "Lady Atlantic Brown." She was delighted that anyone still remembered that name. In later years Brown adopted the surname "Whitten-Brown."

In Newfoundland, Freddie Raynham, with W. Morgan, tried to take off on the Martinsyde, soon after Hawker and Grieve had left. The machine, with its huge overload, failed to get off because of the cross wind, and they crashed, fortunately without serious injury. The machine was too badly damaged to be ready again before Alcock and Brown had won the prize.

Brackley, with the Handley Page V/1500 four-motor biplane and a wing span of 128 feet, who had Admiral Mark Kerr as passenger, flew to New York after the prize had been won. He told me that the arrival of this huge aeroplane caused a sensation in New York. While he was there he carried many passengers and had made many flights, when the customs people became interested in him. They asked him whence he had come, and he told them he had flown from Newfoundland. That gave them a problem, for this was the first foreign aeroplane to arrive in the United States by air from abroad.

He flew the machine to Chicago, where he again made many flights. He told me in 1947 that he had recently visited Chicago and had looked for the place from which he had flown the V/1500, but it was all built over with skyscrapers.

When he told Americans that he flew, in 1919, in their country with a biplane with four motors and a span of 128 feet they were incredulous, for they think that such huge craft did not exist until about 1945. It was five feet bigger span than a Constellation.

When Brackley was telling me this in the Royal Aero Club in April 1947, he broke off, saying "Well, cheeroh! I am off in about an hour on a flight round the world." In such casual fashion did this pioneer, who became one of the keymen of B.O.A.C., think about flying round the world! He was made chief executive of British South American Airways early in 1948, but lost his life by drowning while bathing in South America on 15th December 1948. He was one of the greatest believers in flying-boats, and their cause suffered a grievous loss by his death.

The next crossing of the Atlantic by air was by the British airship R34. She flew from East Fortune in Scotland to Mineola, New Jersey. She left Scotland on 2nd July 1919, and reached Mineola on 6th July. Her time was 108 hours 12 minutes, which is still, in 1950, the "record" slowest direct crossing of the Atlantic by air.

She began the return journey on 10th July and reached Pulham in Norfolk on 13th July, having taken 75 hours 3 minutes. Major G. H. Scott was in command and the crew in each direction numbered 30.

Many people think that Charles Lindbergh, who made a solo crossing in 1927, was the first man to fly the Atlantic. Such people get rather a shock when they learn that nearly 100 people crossed before him. For in addition to the N.C.4 crew, Alcock and Brown, and the crews of two U.S. Army Douglas World Cruisers, who crossed via Iceland and Labrador, the crew of the German Zeppelin Airship ZR3 also crossed four years after R34.

The first aeroplane flight from Europe to the American Continent from east to west was made from Lisbon to South America by two Portuguese naval officers, Capt. Sacadura Cabral and Capt. Gago Coutinho. One was 55 and the other 51, so their combined ages totalled 106!

They used three Fairey seaplanes, two of which crashed when alighting in heavy seas. They left Lisbon on 30th March 1922, but owing to the crashes, did not reach Rio de Janeiro until 17th June.

In August 1924 two Douglas "World Cruiser" biplanes, each powered by a single 400 h.p. Liberty motor, flew the Atlantic from Scotland via Iceland and Labrador, with U.S. Army crews. This flight is referred to in the chapter on Round the World flights.

On 12th October 1924, Dr. Hugo Eckener, the German airship pilot and head of the Zeppelin works, took the Zeppelin ZR3 from Friedrichshaven in Germany to Lakehurst, New Jersey. The ship had been ceded to America under the Peace Treaty.

In February 1927 an Italian, the Marquis de Pinedo, flew the South Atlantic from Cape Verde Islands to Port Natal with an intermediate stop at Fernando Noronha Island in four days.

The first solo flight across the Atlantic was made on 20th-21st May 1927, when Capt. Charles Lindbergh, a young and unknown American "joy-riding" pilot flew non-stop from New York to Paris in 33½ hours, winning thereby the substantial Orteig prize for the first flight between Paris and New York.

Lindbergh flew a Ryan monoplane named Spirit of St. Louis, with a 220 h.p. Wright "Whirlwind" motor. His flight was considered very foolhardy, and, indeed, he was known in U.S. flying circles as the "Flying Fool". There was a strong tail-wind all the way across, but it was a fine piece of navigation. He sat in the passenger cabin behind the motor as the usual pilot's seat was removed to make room for more petrol tanks. He took off, navigated, and landed with the aid of a periscope.

An enormous crowd waited at Le Bourget to see him arrive, and he had an almost royal reception. A few days later he flew to England, where a vast crowd greeted him on a fine Sunday afternoon at Croydon.

The Air Ministry had not made any special arrangements to deal with a big crowd, for they thought there was no interest in flying in England, but they miscalculated the manner in which Lindbergh's flight had captured the public imagination.

Soon after midday, crowds came to Croydon by train, car, 'bus, tram, cycle, and on foot. The aerodrome manager, Capt. Stanley Baker, sent an S.O.S. for more police. Reinforcements arrived, and French-fences were quickly erected around the aerodrome to keep the crowds from swarming over the landing area. But in vain. When Lindbergh's monoplane came into view from the direction of the Crystal Palace the crowd began to get restive. As his 'plane approached to land they broke down the fences and swarmed over the landing area. He just managed to get down in a clear space before the crowd was all over the field, but the half dozen escorting airliners and other aircraft were unable to get down, and had to make forced landings in the neighbourhood.

Sir Samuel Hoare (later Lord Templewood), the Secretary of State for Air, was waiting on a red-carpeted dais with the U.S. Ambassador. Top hats flew in all directions as the official party was swept away by the human tide. Lindbergh climbed up the ladder to the control tower, aided by Harold Perrin, secretary of the Royal Aero Club. As Lindbergh was climbing the ladder, a "fan" tried to grab his helmet as a souvenir. Lindbergh hit him on the chin with his fist.

Less than a month before Lindbergh's successful flight, two Frenchmen, Nungesser and Coli, had tried to win the Orteig prize by a flight from Paris to New York. They were reported at one time as having reached New York, but that was false and they were never heard of again.

A week or so later two other Americans flew the Atlantic from New York to Kottbus, near Berlin. They were Clarence Chamberlain and Charles Levine. Three weeks later a third U.S. machine made the flight, Comdr. Richard Byrd, with Bert Acosta, Bernt Balchen, and Lieut. Noville. They flew a tri-motor Fokker. When they reached Le Bourget, that airport was covered with fog so they flew back to the coast and alighted in the sea, just off the shore at Ver-sur-Mer, near Le Havre.

The first non-stop flight in an aeroplane from America to England was made on 27th-28th August 1927, by two Americans, William Brock and Edward Schlee, who reached Croydon.

In September 1927 there were several attempts to fly across the Atlantic which ended in disaster. There was much competition among women to be the first to cross as a passenger or pilot, and several were lost in making the attempt.

Princess Lowenstein Wertheim, formerly Lady Anne Saville, was lost when she was a passenger in a single-motor Fokker piloted by Lt.-Col. F. Minchin (of Imperial Airways) and Capt. Leslie Hamilton, a young and very handsome ex-R.A.F. pilot. They bought the Fokker to make a trans-Atlantic flight and left Upavon, on Salisbury Plain, on 31st August 1927, but were never heard of again.

The first direct flight from east to west was made by a Junkers monoplane with a single 300 h.p. Junkers motor, piloted by an Irishman, Commandant James Fitzmaurice. He was accompanied by two Germans, but neither was a fully qualified pilot. They were Capt. Hermann Koehl, a skilled navigator, and Baron Gunther von Huenefeld, who helped to raise the finance and was just a passenger. I emphasise that neither of the two Germans was fully qualified because it has so often been alleged that Fitzmaurice was the passenger. "Fitz" has often told me that he flew the machine for most of the way himself. Koehl took over for three-hour shifts by day and half-hourly by night, but was not capable of taking-off or landing. Both Koehl and von Huenefeld are dead, but happily "Fitz" is very much alive, and a most constant member of the Royal Aero Club till he went back to live in Dublin in 1948. They left Baldonnel aerodrome, Dublin, at 5.38 a.m. on 12th April 1928. At approximately 5.30 a.m, on 13th April they alighted on Greenly Island in the Strait of Belle Isle, which separates Northern Newfoundland from the mainland. The island lies just off the boundary of Canada and Labrador. They had encountered the notorious Newfoundland fog-banks and storm and had flown in fog for four hours. As they were running short of fuel, they decided to land as soon as they saw land. The Junkers was slightly damaged, but the first east to west Atlantic flight had been achieved.

The first woman to cross the Atlantic was the American Miss Amelia Earhart. She flew in a Fokker tri-motor monoplane on floats. With her went a male pilot, W. Stultz, and Louis Gordon, both Americans.

They left Trepassy Bay, Newfoundland, at 2.51 p.m. on 17th June 1928, and landed at Burry Port, South Wales, at 12.40 p.m. on 18th June. Miss Earhart had bought the aeroplane and had done much of the flying herself, but the Press of the world tried to take the credit from her and give it to Stultz. Miss Earhart was determined that she should be the first woman pilot, without any doubt, to fly the Atlantic, just as her countrywoman, Miss Harriett Quimby, had been the first woman pilot to fly the English Channel.

She determined to try and fly across solo, and set about acquiring an aeroplane much faster than the Fokker, which she could fly alone. She was a young girl without very much money, and it took her a long time before she could gain the necessary financial backing. There had been so many crews and aircraft lost in attempting the trans-ocean flight that official discouragement was given to all who tried. lt was difficult for Miss Earhart to get backing, but she was a young woman of great determination, as well as one of very great charm and persuasiveness.

It was not until 1932 that she achieved her objective. On 20th May 1932, she left Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, at 7.30 p.m., flying alone in a Lockheed "Vega" (420 h.p. Pratt and Whitney "Wasp"). She landed at Londonderry, Northern Ireland, at 1.45 p.m. on 21st May, having covered the 2,026 miles in 13 hours 30 minutes.

The first solo flight from east to west was made on 18th-19th August 1932 by Jim Mollison in a DH Puss Moth (130 h.p. Gipsy III) from Portmarnock Strand, Ireland, to Pennfield, New Brunswick. in 30¼ hours. This was a splendid feat of navigation and airmanship, for the Puss Moth was a small low-powered aeroplane with a cruising speed of only about 120 m.p.h., which was very slow compared to the 200 m.p.h. Vega. He named the Puss Moth Heart's Content.

ln February, 1933, Jim attained the distinction of being the first to fly solo across both the North and South Atlantic, when he flew from Lympne in Kent to Port Natal, Brazil, in the same Puss Moth in 3 days 10 hours 8 minutes.

On 22nd July 1933, Jim and Amy Mollison left Pendine Sands, South Wales, in a DH Dragon (two Gipsy Majors) named Seafarer, and 39 hours later they landed in a swamp just outside Bridgeport Airport, 60 miles short of New York, their destination. They were running out of fuel, and having had some difficulty in locating the exact position of the airport in the dark, they touched down just short of the runway. The Dragon turned over and both Amy and Jim were cut and bruised. Amy had achieved the distinction of being the first woman to cross from east to west, and her past proven skill as a pilot made it clear that she was far from being only a passenger.

The Mollisons were the first husband and wife to fly the Atlantic together. In these later days of 1950, when families cross by luxurious airliner, and small babies and old ladies cross as a matter of course, the Mollisons' flight together may not sound anything very outstanding, but they were pioneers who showed the way to what became commonplace.

The first non-stop flight from Canada to England was made on 9th-10th August 1934, on the same Dragon which the Mollisons had used. The pilots were two Canadians, James Ayling and Leonard Reid. They flew from Wasaga Beach, Lake Huron, to Heston (London) in 30 hours 50 minutes.

The first air mail service across the South Atlantic was flown by Jean Mermoz and crew in a French Couzinet monoplane on 28th May 1934. They flew from St. Louis, Senegal, to Port Natal in 16 hours.

The first air mail flight across the North Atlantic was carried in a K.L.M. Fokker F18, which left Amsterdam on 15th December 1934, and reached Curacao in the Dutch West Indies on 22nd December.

The first, and, up to 1950, the only, official point-to-point record across the Atlantic was made by H. T. Merrill and J. S. Lambe (U.S.A.), who flew a Lockheed Electra from New York to London (Croydon) on 9th-10th May 1937, in 20 hours 29 minutes. Many "records" across the Atlantic have been claimed, but none has been made under official observation. Records are recognised by the F.A.I. between London and New York, New York and Paris, London and Montreal, in either direction. Many airliners and Service aircraft could have beaten any of these, or established some of them for the first time if they had been officially observed.

An airship service was operated across the Atlantic, from Germany to America, with the Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg for some years before the war, until the Hindenburg was destroyed by a spark, caused by a static electrical discharge, setting it on fire. That was at Lakehurst just after the ship had arrived from Germany and was mooring to the mast. Until then the service had been operated with great reliability. I have the authority of Lord Ventry, who is the greatest British airship expert, for saying that no scheduled airship trip across the Atlantic was ever cancelled because of weather.

In 1938 Imperial Airways, after many experimental flights with the "Cambria" class of Short flying boats, which were a size larger than the Empire boats, began a series of "proving" flights across the Atlantic from Hythe (Southampton) via Foynes in the mouth of the Shannon, and Gander Lake (Newfoundland), to Montreal. The Americans, using Boeing "Clipper" boats, also ran a "proving" service. Both companies aimed at running one aircraft in each direction each week. That "proving" service continued until the outbreak of war.

During the war, the Atlantic service grew from the "proving" state to the reliable service it has now become, but it grew up under the stringent necessity of war, and, for security reasons, those early services had to operate without the full aid of radio.

In 1940, the need of American-built aircraft for use in the European zone became so urgent that a plan was evolved to fly aeroplanes across the Atlantic.

On 10th November 1940, seven Lockheed "Hudsons", which were the military versions of the Lockheed 14 airliners, were flown from a new aerodrome which had been constructed near Gander Lake, Newfoundland. All seven Hudsons landed some hours later at Aldergrove airport, near Belfast. The flight was organised by Capt. (later Air Vice-Marshal) D. C. T. Bennett, who had been one of the foremost of Imperial Airways' pilots and navigation experts. From that time onwards, many Hudsons were delivered by air to Britain, and other types of twin- or four-motor bombers and transports also.

That first flight was made in formation, but after that, because of weather, it was decided to send machines across individually.

Catalina flying boats were the next to be ferried across, and soon a "return ferry" service was organised to take pilots back to Canada for new aircraft. The return ferry service was operated mainly with converted Liberators, and Prestwick in Scotland became the European terminus. Prestwick had a good weather record, and it was about the least accessible aerodrome in Britain for attention by bombers of the Luftwafie.

On 4th May 1941, Capt. A. C. (Jimmy) Youell piloted the first Liberator on the east to west passage, carrying seven passengers, all members of delivery crews. Mail was also carried on that flight, and letters which were postmarked in Britain on 4th May 1941 also bore a Newfoundland postmark of the same date. That service, known as "Atfero", became, on 20th July 1941, R.A.F. Ferry Command under Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill, who became C.-in-C. at Montreal.

In the first 11 months of the service 266 aircraft were dispatched from Canada, of which 263 were delivered safely in Britain. Only two crew members were lost during that time.

In the summer of 1943 a Dakota towed a Waco glider, with a wing span of 84 feet, from Montreal to Prestwick in 28 hours flying time. The Dakota was piloted by Flt. Lt. W. S. Longhurst, a Canadian, and Flt. Lt. C. W. H. Thomson, a New Zealander. The glider was flown by Squadron Leader R. G. Seys, D.F.C., R.A.F., with Squadron Leader F. M. Gobeil, R.C.A.F., as co-pilot. The glider carried a freight-load of 1½ tons.

The flight that brought home to most people, for the first time, that flying the Atlantic was not a hazardous feat, was when in 1942 the Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill, who was then considered to be the country's, and even the world's, most precious cargo, flew from America to England in a Clipper flying-boat piloted by Capt. Jack Kelly Rogers, who is in 1950 assistant general manager of the Irish line, Aer Lingus. Churchill was returning from a conference with Mr. Roosevelt.

Until the end of the war in August 1945, and for some time after, the Atlantic route remained in the hands of R.A.F. Transport Command. Unfortunately neither the R.A.F. nor the Air Ministry has preserved any list of fast individual flights. From time to time fast flights have been announced, but it has not often been stated which were the points of dispatch and arrival.

As soon as possible after the war had ended, the civil air lines took over the operation of the Atlantic air route, but R.A.F. Transport Command continued operations as well.

Great Britain had been much too busy during the war years to design and build transport aircraft which would make suitable airliners. This country, when it was fighting for its life and for the lives of other countries, necessarily had to concentrate on fighters and bombers. The Americans did not join in until Britain had been at war for over two years. Moreover their country had been immune from air attack. So all that time they had been developing bigger and better airliners. After they had come into the war they continued to develop their big aircraft as troop transports. Now it is easy to convert a troop transport into an airliner, but it is not easy with a bomber. A bomber has a fuselage made as small as possible; it need not be of big diameter to carry bombs, and to convert it to an airliner, a completely new fuselage must be designed. Such a machine can only be a makeshift as an airliner.

When the war ended, America had a number of potential airliners such as the Constellation, Skymaster, and Boeing, ready for almost instantaneous use as airliners. About the only conversion necessary was the interior furnishing of the cabins. Britain had to start almost from scratch, for airliners had entirely changed in size, form and performance since 1939.

The Constellation, which was the leading American airliner, had flown first in 1943. It had a lead of more than two years on Britain. How long such an airliner takes to get over its "teething" troubles can be seen from the fact that, late in 1946, Constellations were grounded for some weeks, by order of the American Government, so that major modifications could be made to them.

In 1946 there were a number of serious accidents to various big airliners. Great machines carrying about 50 passengers crashed with heavy casualties.

After the war had ended, people had been told much about safety devices, based on Radar, which would enable aircraft to fly and land in bad weather and in conditions of bad visibility. When crashes occurred in bad weather, people began to wonder if all the safety devices were being used.

They were not, and the reasons for this were many. Such devices were heavy, and their use would mean that the pay-loads had to be reduced, which was a very important consideration in profit-making concerns, but the most important reasons why such devices were not in full use was that there was no international agreement as to what type should be used throughout the world. Conditions vary very much in different parts of the world, and many countries preferred the apparatus which was most suitable to them. For example, America does not have much widespread fog, whereas Europe does, so European and American companies looked at the problem from different standpoints.

The greatest difficulty was that most safety radio devices relied on the spoken word. The language differences made difficulty. No doubt some device which does not depend so much on words as on signs—coloured lights or morse dots, dashes, and continuous notes—will be the eventual solution.

In the meantime the two international organisations, I.C.A.O. (International Council of Air Organisation) and I.A.T.A. (International Air Transport Association), had been busy trying to straighten this matter out, with considerable success. I.C.A.O. was known as P.I.C.A.O. until the end of 1946, the "P" standing for "Provisional". The accident rate dropped rapidly, and there was much greater international harmony. Even during the worst period B.O.A.C. had almost no serious accidents involving passengers. That was not just luck, but was due to the careful planning and policy inherited irom Imperial Airways.

The fastest flight from west to east which had been made up to 1950 was when Wing Commander J. H. Merrifield, D.S.O., D.F.C., with Flight Lieut. Squires, D.S.O., D.F.C., flew on 23rd October, 1945, from Gander to St. Mawgan in Cornwall in 5 hours 10 minutes, an average speed of 445 m.p.h. Their course was 2,300 statute miles, several hundred more than that of Alcock and Brown. The same two officers of Coastal Command also hold the fastest time for the east to west journey. They flew a Mosquito from St. Mawgan to Torbay in Newfoundland in 7 hours 2 minutes at an average of 315 m.p.h. on 6th September, 1945.

None of these flights was observed under F.A.I. conditions, nor were their courses approved record courses, so they are not "records".

The first flight across the Atlantic by jet aircraft was made in July 1948 when a formation of six de Havilland Vampires from the R.A.F. station at Odiham, Hants flew from East to West, landing at Goose Bay in Labrador.

The Atlantic crossing was made from Stornoway in the Hebrides off the West Coast of Scotland.

The Vampires were from No. 54 Squadron commanded by Squadron Leader R. W. Oxspring, D.F.C. and two bars.

The squadron left its base at Odiham on 1st July and flew to Stornoway where they were weatherbound until 12th July, then flew 662 miles to Meeks field, Iceland in 2 hours 42 minutes. They were delayed by exceptionally strong head winds until 14th July when they flew 757 miles to Bluie West in Greenland in 2 hours 41 minutes. The final leg to Goose Bay was made the same day, the 783 miles being covered in 2 hours 55 minutes, the overall Atlantic crossing being made in 8 hours 18 minutes flying time.

Weather which was exceptionally bad for the time of year was encountered all the way; winds of 120 m.p.h. prevailed at 30,000 feet, the height at which most of the flight was made. So the first jet crossing was made by British pilots in British aircraft.

The first non-stop crossing by a jet was made on 22nd September 1950 by a U.S.A.F. pilot, Colonel David C. Schilling in an American Thunderjet, who crossed from Manston in England to Limestone in Maine. Bad weather prevented him from landing at a New York airport as had been planned. The flight time was 10 hours and one minute. The plane was refuelled in flight three times by the British "drogue and probe" method developed by Sir Alan Cobham's all-British Flight Refuelling Ltd.'s system. The first refuelling was made by a Lancastrian tanker over Prestwick, and the second was over Keflavik in Iceland by a Lincoln tanker. Finally, Colonel Schilling's Thunderjet was refuelled by a U.S.A.F. B29 over Goose Bay, whence he flew on to Maine, 500 miles short of New York, a total distance of 3,300 miles against the prevailing wind.

Colonel Schilling left Manston at 2.3 p.m. G.M.T. and landed at 6.4 p.m. American time. With the five hours difference in time it will be possible to fly from West to East and alight in England at the same hour, or even sooner, by local time, at which one took off. [Note 7].

A second Thunderjet also attempted the crossing, but bad weather over Iceland prevented it from taking on a full fuel load. It ran out of fuel about 100 miles from Goose Bay. From the height of over 30,000 feet the pilot tried to glide to Gander but could not make it, so he baled out into the sea and was rescued by a launch and taken to Goose Bay by helicopter.

The "drogue and probe" method of refuelling means that the tanker lets out a fuel pipe on the end of which is a cone with a drogue to keep it steady. The aircraft to be refuelled has a rod protruding from the nose or wing, and the pilot manoeuvres his machine so that the rod digs into the cone where it is locked, and the fuel is pumped from one to the other.

By 1950, the North Atlantic route had become a busy highway. There are many daily services between Europe and North America operated by British, United States, Canadian, French, Dutch, Scandinavian and other national airlines. Up to December 1950 no airliners flying on that route have been lost, though two British Tudors disappeared in unexplained circumstances without a trace on the way to Bermuda and South America; and a large French flying-boat also disappeared. The air services between Europe and New York and Montreal have become as safe and punctual as the shipping services.

B.O.A.C. and Pan-American Airways had, by 1950, replaced their Constellations on the North Atlantic route by Boeing Stratocruisers, which are very large machines carrying up to eighty passengers on this very long haul. The Stratocruiser is called a 'two-deck' airliner. That is so, to a limited extent, for there is an upper deck in which passengers are seated in serried rows as in a motor coach, and a refreshment bar on the lower deck where they may go to stretch their legs. B.O.A.C. installed permanent seats for additional passengers there, which has completely spoiled that amenity. Sir Miles Thomas, B.O.A.C. Chairman, has asked me to emphasise that it is only a temporary measure. I hope it will be very temporary, for the time has come when wise airlines will provide such amenities and roominess for passengers, who will show their preference for the lines which do so.

In 1950 the great United States Pan American Airways merged with the rather smaller American Overseas Airways by order of the U.S.A. Government. Competition with B.O.A.C. is intense, but even American passengers prefer the British line because of their superior passenger-handling technique.
CHAPTER 17
                                      
ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA

Prize offered—Hinkler enters first but is stopped—first attempt—Ross and Keith Smith—Parer and McIntosh—Cobham shows how—Hinkler invents the record—Amy Johnson—C. W. A. Scott—Jim Mollison—MacRobertson race—ideal flying-boat route—Empire boats—Aries record—B.O.A.C. and Qantas

AUSTRALIA was one of the earliest countries to take an interest in the possibilities of aviation. For much of this information I am indebted to W. Hudson Fysh, founder of, and up to 1950, managing director of, Qantas Empire Airways, the airline which, from very small beginnings, has grown tentacles which extend all over the world.

Hudson told me in Sydney that the name of Lawrence Hargrave is indelible as having exerted actual influence on man's first conquering of the air because of his experiments with box kites and plane surfaces towards the end of the nineteenth century. He is also credited with inventing the rotary motor.

In his honour, one of the Q.E.A. Constellations has been named after him and the name will ever be kept alive in the airliners of the Q.E.A. fleet. Others have been named Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Sir Ross Smith, and Bert Hinkler after famous Australian pioneers.

What is generally regarded as the first aeroplane flight in Australia was made by Harry Houdini, American escapologist, at Digger's Rest, Victoria, on 18th March 1910 with a Voisin biplane. On his third flight, which lasted 3½ minutes, he covered about two miles and reached a height of 100 feet.

The first flight with an Australian designed and built aeroplane was on 7th October 1910 by J. L. Duigan.

Early in 1919 the Australian Commonwealth Government announced the offer of a prize of £10,000 for the first flight from England to Australia by aeroplanes or seaplanes constructed entirely in the British Empire. The pilots and crews were to be Australian. The same machine had to be used throughout the flight, though the replacement of individual parts was allowed. Machines had to go by way of Alexandria and Singapore, at both of which landings had to be made for identification purposes. The start was to be from Hounslow for aeroplanes, or Calshot for seaplanes. The finishing point had to be in the neighbourhood of Darwin. The flight had to be completed within 720 hours, before the last day of 1920, and it would be made under the competition rules of the Royal Aero Club, who would control the competition generally.

The first entry received by the R.Ae.C. was from a young and unknown ex-R.A.F. pilot, Bert Hinkler, with a Sopwith "Dove" (80 h.p. Le Rhône), but the Air Ministry prevented him from making the flight. Earlier in the year the Air Ministry had sent Brig.-Gen. A. E. Borton and Capt. Ross Smith to survey the unknown section of the route between Calcutta and Darwin. On their return they reported that no aeroplane with a range of less than 2,000 miles should be allowed to start, owing to the complete lack of airfields or possible landing grounds between Singapore and Darwin; the weather after November was most unfavourable. So the Ministry forbade Hinkler to start on the Dove.

The first attempt was made by Capt. G. C. Matthews and Sergt. T. Kay on a Sopwith "Wallaby". They were delayed by bad weather in Germany soon after the start, and abandoned the flight at Bali in the Dutch East Indies.

The second to start was a Vickers "Vimy" (two Rolls-Royce "Eagles") on 12th November, with Captains Ross and Keith Smith as pilots, and with Sergeants J. M. Bennett and W. H. Shiers as engineers. They were the eventual winners.

The third to start was an Alliance biplane (450 Napier "Lion"), piloted by Lieut. Roger Douglas, with Lieut. L. J. S. Ross as navigator. This was an exceedingly dangerous aeroplane for such a flight, for the crew sat in an enclosed cabin with the motor in front so that they had no direct view forward. The pilot sat in the back seat and could only see forward obliquely through the windows. The machine left Hounslow on 13th November in conditions of low cloud. Over Teddington it spun out of a cloud, failed to recover, and crashed, killing the crew. Other machines to start were a Blackburn "Kangaroo" and a Martinsyde. A Frenchman, E. Poullet, who was not competing for the prize, made a start from Paris in a Caudron, and made good progress to India, where he was overtaken by the Smith brothers. The Smiths forged ahead steadily, overcoming many obstacles, such as flooded airfields. A full description of that epic flight is given in a book on the flight published soon after their arrival in Australia. They reached Darwin on 10th December 1919, well within the limit of 720 hours, and then flew on to Melbourne. Ross and Keith were both knighted for the flight, and Bennett and Shiers received A.F.C.s and promotion. Ross and Bennett were killed a year or so later when testing a Vickers "Viking" which they hoped to fly round the world. This is described in the chapter on round-the-world flights.

The Smith brothers landed at an airstrip at Fanny Bay at Darwin about a mile from the present airport. This strip is still preserved but is not in regular use. In June 1950 I was driven there during a refuelling stop on my way to Sydney. As we reached the strip in the growing light of dawn, a wallaby (small species of kangaroo) bounded across in front of the car, and I felt I was indeed in Australia. Standing on the strip, facing out to sea whence the Smiths approached on that historic day, 10th December 1919, I felt I was standing on ground hallowed in the story of aviation, for here also landed Bert Hinkler, Kingsford Smith, Alan Cobham, Charles Scott and Tom Campbell Black and other pioneers.

In the sand dunes by the sea is a simple stone memorial with an inscription giving bare details of the flight. The wind and rain have eroded the stone and the plaque bearing this inscription, so that, in 1950, only 30 years later, it is hard to read. Hudson Fysh told me in Sydney that it will become a labour of love for Qantas to keep this memorial in good preservation.

There was a further fatality in the Australia flight, when the Martinsyde carrying Capt. C. E. Howell and H. Frazer crashed into the sea off Corfu.

One of the most sporting efforts was that of two Australian pilots, H. Parer and J. McIntosh, who left Hounslow in a DH9 (230 h.p. "Puma") for Australia after the prize had been won. Their chief cargo was a bottle of Scotch whisky for Mr. Hughes, the Australian Premier. They reached Darwin on 2nd August, having left Hounslow on 9th January the same year. The boys were just flying home. They had a great many mishaps and only dogged perseverance carried them on. The whisky was delivered intact.

Bert Hinkler's first attempt to fly to Australia in an Avro "Baby" (35 h.p. Green) is described in the chapter on the Britannia Trophy.

The next flight between England and Australia was made in 1926 by Alan Cobham, which flight is also described in the Britannia Trophy chapter. He flew in a DH50 (385 h.p. "Jaguar") from Rochester to Melbourne and back to London between 30th June and 1st October 1926.

In 1928 came one of the best known and finest of all flights between England and Australia. Bert Hinkler had for long determined to fly from England to his home in Australia, solo, in a low-powered aeroplane. Having obtained an Avro "Avian" (80 h.p. Cirrus) from A. V. Roe & Co. Ltd, for whom he had been test pilot for some years, he left Croydon on 7th February and reached Darwin on 22nd February, covering the journey in 15½ days. He began with a non-stop flight of 1,100 miles from Croydon to Rome, and his last leg was the flight over the Timor Sea from Bima to Darwin, 1,000 miles.

For these long hops Bert had a petrol system which switched from one tank to another as each was emptied. He later told me that in the leg over the Timor Sea, he felt drowsy in the hot weather, and was awakened by the stopping of the motor as a tank emptied. I asked him if this was not rather alarming over the shark-infested Timor Sea. He replied, "No, not a bit. I just woke up, turned the right taps so as to bring in a full tank. And anyway I didn't see any sharks." That was a typical example of the unruffled calm of Bert on all occasions, for he nearly always had everything "laid on".

Bert won the Britannia Trophy for the second time by this flight, was awarded the A.F.C. and was made a squadron leader by the R.A.A.F. He made these flights almost entirely for the love of flying, and he never made much money. He was a simple type and preferred to live simply. Though he was one of the outstanding pilots of the inter-war years he died a poor man. He was killed in 1933 when flying in a Puss Moth from England to Australia in search of still another record. He flew into a mountain in Italy.

This was how Hinkler's great flight was featured in the Evening News, with a great "banner" headline right across the front page, and two pictures.
ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA IN 15 DAYS

HINKLER ARRIVES AT PORT DARWIN

WONDERFUL 12,000 MILES FLIGHT IN A RUNABOUT AEROPLANE

RECORD EASILY BEATEN

     Flying alone in his little runabout aeroplane, Mr. Bert Hinkler, the Australian airman, has reached Port Darwin, in the north of Australia to-day—only 15 days after he left Croydon.
     Thus he has with ease accomplished his aim to beat the record set up by the brothers Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith, who covered the 11,924 miles to Australia in 28 days. Mr. Hinkler has established four records in his wonderful flight half-way across the world:—

     Longest flight in a light aeroplane.
     Longest solo flight.
     First non-stop flight from London to Rome.
     Fastest journey ever made from Britain to India.


Later the same year, four Supermarine "Southampton" flying-boats (two 450 Napier "Lions" each), manned and operated by the R.A.F., flew from Southampton to Australia, pioneering the flying-boat route. These were the first British boats with metal hulls, which were painted white and with coloured bands as distinctive markings.

One of the major drawbacks to all hulls had always been that barnacles adhered, but it was found that those of metal boats remained free when coated with coloured paint. This was analysed, and tests were subsequently made to determine what it was that barnacles did not like. This type of paint was later produced for all flying boats. The weight of barnacles after a flying boat had been water-borne for some time was considerable.

A flight which rightly captured the imagination of the public in 1930 was made by Miss Amy Johnson, a young Yorkshire girl of 22. She came of humble family, but was a B.A. of Sheffield, and came to London in 1927 and got a job as a typist. All the money she earned was spent on learning to fly at the London Aeroplane Club at Stag Lane. She not only learned to fly, but also learned about motors, and qualified for her ground engineer's licence soon after obtaining her Aviators' Certificate. Amy was a pleasant girl with a broad Yorkshire accent which she tried, with some success, to drop when she became famous.

She was not afraid of getting her hands oily and greasy, and was one of the first women pilots who not only took flying seriously, but contended with the less romantic and rougher maintenance side. All who really knew her liked her and appreciated her worth. It seemed fashionable at the time for those who had not met her to dislike her.

Amy wanted to make a solo flight to Australia. She obtained the interest of Sir Sefton Brancker, the greatest Director of Civil Aviation, who would always help a real keen type (as such would now be called).

Brancker obtained for her an introduction to Sir Charles (later Lord) Wakefield, who, impressed by her burning enthusiasm, promised to finance her to a small degree. She bought a second-hand Moth with a Gipsy motor from "Wally" Hope. That aeroplane, with its dark green fuselage, now has its proud last resting place in the South Kensington Science Museum with other famous aircraft.

In this machine, which Amy christened Jason with the romance which was in her soul, she left Croydon on 5th May 1930, and flew non-stop 800 miles to Vienna. This fine flight aroused immediate attention, and by the time she reached Karachi, on the sixth day after leaving Croydon, she was world-famous; the rest of her flight was watched by the Press of the world. Her friends felt this must be an added strain for her, and hoped she would do nothing rash to try and keep faith with her vast public. They felt that she might be tempted to take risks which she would not otherwise have taken. Amy met with a slight mishap at Jhansi in India, damaging a wing on a post, but that was soon repaired.

On 13th May she had a more serious mishap. While flying in bad weather from Calcutta to Rangoon, visibility forced her to land at Insein, 10 miles short of Rangoon. She made a good landing, but, while taxi-ing, the Moth ran into a ditch, and wings, undercart, and airscrew were badly damaged. Repairs took two days, so that all chances of beating Hinkler's record disappeared. The Moth was taken by road to Rangoon, where it was repaired, and she restarted on 16th May in heavy rain. After more adventures, she finally reached Darwin on Empire Day, 24th May, 19½ days after leaving England. After a rest, she flew on to Melbourne but had to abandon the Moth at Brisbane, where it was again damaged by running into a fence after landing. The journey to Melbourne was completed in an airliner.

Amy received a tremendous ovation, and was able to "cash in" on the flight, as she so well deserved to do. She had proved that a club-trained pilot, a woman, and a novice, could fly half way round the world in a small second-hand aeroplane, bought quite cheaply; that flying was within reach of the ordinary person, and that anyone with common sense and determination could fly almost anywhere. She was to prove this much more forcibly later on. It was a great loss to the flying world when she met her death while doing a fine job as a ferry pilot of the Air Transport Auxiliary during the War. She was overtaken by bad weather and lost her life, baling out in fog over the Thames Estuary.

In October 1930, Charles Kingsford Smith, known to his very many friends as "Smithy", lowered Bert Hinkler's time, in a "Sports" Avian, by flying from Heston, London, to Darwin in 9 days 21 hours. "Smithy" had become a world-famous pilot since the day some years earlier when, as recounted in the chapter on his flights, he flew across the Pacific from California to Australia in his tri-motor Fokker Southern Cross.

In April 1931, C. W. A. Scott, who had been a pilot with Qantas, the famous Australian airline, which owes so much to its founder and chairman, Hudson Fysh, set out from Lympne in a Gipsy Moth to beat "Smithy's" record, which he did by nearly 17 hours. He reached Darwin in 9 days 4 hours 11 minutes. On his return to England, he was given a dinner by a gathering of flying people at the Hambone Club, near Piccadilly Circus, where a club of the less pecunious aviation people had been formed, called the "Junior Aero Club".

At that dinner Charles Scott, who had a delightful sense of fun at all times, told a story of his reception in Australia. "They made an awful fuss of me," he said, "and I had to open garden fêtes, bazaars, and almost everything, from bottles to hospitals. On my way to open a hospital, I knocked a boy cyclist over with my car. He was slightly hurt, so I took him to the nearest hospital. When I got to the hospital which I was to open, I told them of this incident, and I added, jocularly, that I hoped that I would not fill that hospital with my victims. There was a dead silence, and I wondered what I had said. But it was not until later that I discovered to my horror that it was a maternity hospital."

Scott had said that he was going to return to England by easy stages. He did that by flying back in 10 days 23 hours, which beat the "record" for the homeward journey held by "Smithy."

By 1931, the time for a flight between England and Australia had been so reduced that new attempts were only able to cut down the time by hours, instead of by days, as in the past.

On 29th July 1931 the world heard, for the first time, of a new pilot, of whom much was to be heard in succeeding years. That was James A. Mollison, who began a flight to England from Wyndham, instead of from Darwin, which had been the point of arrival and departure of most other flights.

Much has been said and written about Jim Mollison, as with all people in the public eye, some of which is, to say the least, extraordinary! So let me put on record something of what Jim Mollison is really like. He has written an autobiography, in which his main object seems to be to prove how completely indifferent to accepted standards he is. Like many others, Jim, too, has got the real Jim summed up wrongly.

He was an airline pilot in Australia, when he thought he would join in the popular sport of having a crack at the record. He succeeded, socially and professionally, and gained much fame—probably too much. He was then a young man full of energy and ideas, and had the whole world at his feet. He may have been rather spoiled and petted by London society, which may or may not have been good; but he was very young.

He indulged in most of the exuberances of the young, and he did this in as big a way as he did most things. Much has been said and written about his marriage with Amy Johnson. I will not speak of that as it was their own affair, but it was a marriage of two young people, with like interests, who were in love. The marriage was dissolved, just as many others have been.

To put it simply, Jim enjoyed life to the full, and earned the Britannia and Johnson Memorial Trophies, and many other outward and visible signs of his flying skill. He was at all times a fine pilot and navigator, and a born organiser, as was proved by his many flights. During the 1939-45 war he joined the Air Transport Auxiliary as a ferry pilot; he did a fine job of work, for which he was justly decorated.

Since 1946 I have seen a great deal of Jim, mostly in the Royal Aero Club, the bar of which is used as much for talking aviation as for drinking. It is a place where the real flying types like to foregather. During these later years he seems relatively subdued compared with the days of his "flaming youth"! One day I asked him why he had so completely changed from the roystering young man he was when I first knew him. He smiled the slow pleasant smile which is so typical of the Jim of to-day and said, "Well, Geoffrey, I'm growing older and wiser." He is, in my opinion, certainly one of the most likable characters in the aeronautical community, and that is praise indeed.

On the flight with which he first made his name, Jim flew a Moth and beat Charles Scott's time from England by over eight hours, and beat the homeward journey by 50 hours. He looked very tired when he arrived at Croydon, where there was a boxing kangaroo, brought from London in a taxi, to greet him!

At the end of 1931 the Australian Government arranged for air mail to be flown to England in an Avro 10, which was a tri-motor Fokker built by A. V. Roe & Co. under licence. The first machine to start crashed en route, but Kingsford Smith set off at once in a similar machine, picked up the mail, and flew it to England. I remember a grand unofficial and impromptu party with him at the Royal Aero Club soon after he arrived; with what relish he poured refreshment down his throat after his strenuous flight!

There were frequent attempts to reduce the time of the flight between England and Australia, almost entirely with small aircraft.

The next big milestone was in 1934, when Sir MacPherson Robertson, a leading citizen of Australia, gave a sum of £15,000 and a gold cup for an air race from England to Melbourne, to mark the centenary of the founding of the state of Victoria and its capital city, Melbourne. The whole of the organisation of this race, which was open to all the world, was done by the Royal Aero Club. Out of an original entry of more than 70, there were 20 starters. A handicap was flown concurrently.

The reduction in the number which eventually started was due to the insistence by the officials that all aircraft must conform to the rule that every machine must have an airworthiness certificate, and that none must be loaded in excess of that certificate. A number of aircraft were intended to carry so much more fuel than they normally could that they would have been overloaded. If they were to make intermediate stops for refuelling, that would delay them so much as to put them right out of the running. So most of them scratched.

Only one new type of aeroplane was designed and built specially for the race, the de Havilland "Comet", a very fast two-seater, powered by two "Gipsy" motors. Three such aircraft were built. One of them, flown by Charles Scott and Tom Campbell Black, won; both the other two put up spectacular performances.

The following is a complete list of pilots and aeroplanes, which started from Mildenhall in Suffolk on Saturday morning, 20th October 1934 at 6.30 a.m.:

     Lieut. M. Hanson, Desoutter III, Denmark.
     C. J. Melrose, Puss Moth. Australia.
     Flight Lieut. G. Shaw, British Klemm "Eagle", British.
     H. L. Brook, Miles "Falcon", British.
     Squadron Leader Malcolm McGregor and Henry Walker, Miles "Hawk," New Zealand.
     J. D. Hewitt and C. E. Kay, "Rapide", New Zealand.
     Squadron Leader D. E. Stoddart and K. G. Stoddart, Airspeed "Courier", British.
     R. Pater and G. E. Hemsforth, Fairey "Fox", British.
     Lieut.-Commander C. N. Hill and flying Officer C. G. Davies, Fairey Illf, British.
     John Wright and John Polando, Lambert Monocoupe "Super Scarab", U.S.A.
     J. J. Moll and K. D. Parmentier, Douglas D.C.2, Holland.
     J. Woods and D. C. Bennett, Lockheed "Vega", Australia.
     O. Cathcart-Jones and K. Waller, "Comet", British.
     C. W. A. Scott and T. Campbell Black, "Comet", British.
     James Mollison and Amy Mollison, "Comet", British.
     Neville Stack and S. L. Turner, Airspeed "Viceroy", British.
     Roscoe Turner and Clyde Pangbourne, Boeing, U.S.A.
     G. J. Geysendorffer and D. L. Asjes, Pander, Holland.
     Wesley Smith and Miss Jacqueline Cochrane, Gee-Bee, U.S.A.
     J. K. C. Baines and H. D. Gillman, Fairey "Fox", British.

The race aroused enormous interest among the general public and on the morning of 20th October, long before the zero hour of 6.30 a.m., all the country lanes leading to Mildenhall airfield were crowded with motorists, cyclists, and walkers.

The weather report was "clouds at 3,000 ft, visibility 2 miles, wind 28 m.p.h.". As dawn broke there were layers of orange-tinged clouds, which country folk said was a "shepherds' warning."

K.L.M. had entered the first of their new Douglas D.C.2. airliners and were taking fare-paying passengers. The D.C.2 was a slightly smaller version of the later D.C.3.

Jim and Amy Mollison were off first in their black "Comet". They made a magnificent non-stop flight to Baghdad. The rest of the "field" followed, in turn, without incident.

The Mollisons left Baghdad before their nearest rivals, Scott and Black, arrived; the latter landed through the cloud of sand made by the departing Jim and Amy.

News of the progress of the competitors came through during the rest of Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday morning it looked as though it would be the Mollisons' race. News soon arrived that Jim and Amy had to retire at Karachi because of undercart trouble.

Scott and Black reached Melbourne 71 hours, 0 minutes 18 seconds after leaving Mildenhall. Charles Scott on being asked what sort of a journey he had, gave the classic answer, "It has been a lousy trip." In reply to the banal question, "Did you not find out what a small world we live in?" Charles replied—I imagine with that delightful smile of his—"No. I thought what a very large place it was!"

The second prize went to Turner and Pangbourne who covered the distance in 92 hours 55 minutes 38 seconds on the Boeing, and Cathcart-Jones and Ken Waller were third in a "Comet" in 108 hours 13 minutes 45 seconds.

The first prize in the handicap went to Moll and Parmentier in the Douglas D.C.2, whose handicap time was 76 hours 38 minutes 12 seconds. Charles Melrose gained second handicap prize with a handicap time of 79 hours 17 minutes 50 seconds The D.C.2 caught the public imagination as it seemed such a big aeroplane among the smaller racing aircraft. It was nicknamed the "Flying Hotel".

Thus ended one of the greatest air races with organisation extended half-way round the world. In those days the Empire air route was not in being except for a part of the way, so that organisation had to be specially "laid on".

In 1938, Imperial Airways, through their managing director, George Woods-Humphery, opened the through route from Southampton to Sydney with Short "Empire" flying-boats, in co-operation with Qantas flying boats. "Qantas", said to be the only word in the English language with "Q" which is not followed by "U", is made up from the letters "Q.A.N.T.A.S.", standing for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". This was an airline, founded in November 1920 by Hudson Fysh, to connect railheads in Queensland and Northern Territory. Later, this service, started in the "back of beyond", linked out-back stations of Australia with Brisbane. lt first linked Charleville and Cloncurry, both in Western Queensland; this was extended to Camooweal in the north and Brisbane in the south. Thus, Qantas reversed the normal procedure of forming airlines, by first serving outlying places, and only later bringing in denser population centres. In 1931 Qantas extended to Darwin to link up with an experimental air mail service from Singapore.

In 1934, when Imperial Airways wished to start an air mail from England to Australia, they formed an association with Qantas which has been strong and pleasant ever since. Imperial Airways became B.O.A.C., and Qantas, in 1934, became Qantas Empire Airways, known as Q.E.A. The service was then extended from Brisbane to Sydney, where Q.E.A. headquarters are in 1950.

In 1950, when I flew by B.O.A.C. and Q.E.A. to Australia and on to Auckland by Tasman Empire Airways Ltd. (T.E.A.L.), I noted the same close friendly bond between B.O.A.C. and Q.E.A. which seems to get stronger every year.

The service from England is now extended from Sydney to New Zealand by the T.E.A.L. service of flying boats which cross what Kingsford Smith always called the "stormy Tasman". In 1950 the service was daily in each direction—six hours from Sydney to Auckland, seven hours in the reverse direction against the prevailing wind. It began in April 1940.

This journey is made in the roomy luxury of Short "Solent 4" flying boats, which start from Rose Bay, Sydney, very near the centre of the city. to Mechanics Bay in the heart of Auckland. When I visited Auckland in June 1950, T.E.A.L. were just beginning new services to link up with the Pacific Islands. The Company struck me as a most efficient, self-contained show, which indeed it must be to maintain the flying boats and motors 12,500 miles from the source of supply in England.

Q.E.A. have also services to the Pacific Islands and with an associate company operate a service to California.

The joint service from London to Sydney and on to Auckland is known as the Kangaroo Service. When I saw a Tiger Moth of the Far East Flying Club do rather a bounding landing at Kallang Airport, Singapore, I remarked on it to an official and asked what went on. Jestingly he replied, "Oh, that is just a part of the Kangaroo Service!" l can assure you that the captains of Q.E.A., T.E.A.L. and B.O.A.C. airliners do not land like that!

The Empire boats were ordered "off the drawing-board" without the usual prototype tests. Woods-Humphery considered that a firm such as Short Bros, with men like pioneer Oswald Short and Arthur Gouge at the head, had sufficient experience to be able to produce a boat which would come up to guaranteed performance. So he thought that much time could be saved if the boats were put in production without waiting for the usual long tests by the prototypes. His confidence was justified, and 29 boats were delivered and the Australian service was in operation at least a year earlier than would otherwise have been possible. The Sunderland flying-boats, which were used so extensively during the war of 1939-45, were the R.A.F. version of the Empire boats. The Hythe, Sandringham, Seaford, Solent and other Short boats, all designed by Gouge, which have been produced since the war, are further modifications of the original boat.

Now the air route to Australia is one of the most important links between the British Commonwealth of Nations. It was made possible by the work of those pioneers whose flights l have described in the foregoing chapter.

ln 1946, the R.A.F. Lancaster "Aries" established a new official record between London and Darwin by completing the journey in 45 hours 35 minutes, at an average speed of 189.53 m.p.h., between 21st and 23rd August 1946. Air Commodore N. D'Aeth was in command, and the pilots were Squadron Leader J. S. Aldrich and Flt. Lt. D. D. Hurditch, with a crew of navigators and radio operators. They flew on to Wellington, New Zealand, which they reached 59 hours 50 minutes after leaving London.

In 1919 when Major General Sir F. H. Sykes, the first Controller General of Civil Aviation in Great Britain, forecast a passenger service to Australia in four days, it seemed fantastic. To-day, with speeds of over 600 m.p.h., it would seem that we are within measurable time of having a mail and passenger service from England to Australia in 24 hours. Now, just over 30 years since Ross and Keith Smith made that great flight across half the world in 28 days, B.O.A.C. and Qantas operate a regular service, with proven reliability, from London to Sydney in four days, using Constellations. At the end of 1951 they hope to put into service the wonderful de Havilland Comet airliner, descendant of the Comet which won the MacRobertson race. With that airliner they expect to bring Sydney within 35 to 40 hours of London, or even less.

Hudson Fysh told me in October 1950 that Q.E.A. hope to operate a service from Sydney to Johannesburg in 1951 with Constellations. This would go from Darwin to Cocos Islands, across the South Indian Ocean to Mauritius, and thence to Johannesburg. The 140-ton Saunders Roe Dollar Princess might be a suitable aircraft for this long over-water route, for it could fly direct from Johannesburg to Perth. In November 1948, the route via Cocos Islands was pioneered in a Lancastrian by one of the senior Q.E.A. pilots, Captain Lou Ambrose, who in 1950 was the genial Q.E.A. manager in Singapore.

In Sydney, on 16th November 1950, Q.E.A. had a big celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Company's foundation. This celebration began a month earlier with a party held at Claridges, London, organised by J. R. Stewart, their London manager. Hudson Fysh, who was in London on his way from Sydney to an I.A.T.A. meeting in San Francisco, received the guests with his co-director, Sir Keith Smith. It was one of the most representative gatherings I have ever attended: everyone of note in British aviation was present. Hudson there and then invited me to be present at the fiftieth anniversary in Sydney in 1970. I hope to be there—for I shall then be able to leave London in the evening and, allowing for the time difference, be in Sydney for the party the same evening, and back in London for work the next morning.
         
9. Left, Capt. Sir John Alcock and, right, Sir Arthur Whitten-Brown, the first to fly the Atlantic direct.






10. Their Vickers Vimy (Rolls-Royce "Eagles") after landing in a bog at Clifden, Ireland, on 15th June 1919.

11. The DH 18, first specifically designed airliner to go into regular airline service, in 1920.

12. The interior of the DH 18; it held eight passengers, but had no toilet.
CHAPTER 18

ENGLAND TO SOUTH AFRICA

Van Rynweld and Brand—Tony Gladstone prospects—Cobham surveys—Duchess of Bedford— Dick Bentley—Lady Bailey—first mail—Schlesinger race fiasco—Tommy Rose—distance record—Mosquito record—most comfortable service by flying-boat—Aquila want to continue.

ALTHOUGH there was no big money prize for a flight from London to Cape Town, as there was for the England-Australia flight, and the Atlantic flight, there were a number of aspirants for the honour of being the first to complete it.

The flight was first accomplished by Wing Commander Pierre van Ryneveld, D.S.O., M.C. and Flt. Lieut. C. J. Quintin Brand, both of whom were knighted for the achievement.

In the first week of February 1920, four aircraft set out on the flight. In addition to van Ryneveld and Brand in a Vickers "Vimy", a "Vimy" was chartered by the Times, and it was flown by Captains Stanley Cockerell and Tommy Broome, who were then Vickers' test pilots; a DH14 single-motor biplane with 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" was flown by Sidney Cotton; a Handley Page 0/400, chartered by the Daily Telegraph, was piloted by Major H. G. Brackley. D.S.O. with Major C. C. Turner, air correspondent of the Telegraph, as passenger and Freddie Tymms (now Sir Frederick Tymms) as navigator; and another "Vimy" belonging to the R.A.F. was piloted by Major Welsh and Captain Halley.

Misfortune overtook both Brackley and Cotton, fortunately without injury, and little further news was heard of Welsh and Halley. Cotton and his passenger turned over when making a forced landing on a beach in Southern Italy.

Van Ryneveld and Brand crashed the "Vimy", named Silver Queen, at Korosko 600 miles south of Cairo and returned to Cairo where they installed the undamaged motors in a new "Vimy". That delayed them some days, and there were more delays from motor-trouble in the hot climate of Central Africa for they were grossly overloaded and underpowered. The new machine Silver Queen II was crashed at Bulawayo when taking off for Pretoria. The South African Govemment then put a DH9 ("Puma") at the disposal of van Ryneveld and Brand and in that aeroplane they reached Cape Town on 20th March having left Brooklands on 4th February 1920.

This route has always presented much more difficulty than has the route to Australia. It passes over the waterless Sudan and the dangerous "Sud" swamp country. In Central and South Africa most of the landing grounds are from 4,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level and there is often great heat.

The next flight from London to the Cape did not start until the end of 1925. On 16th November that year Alan J. Cobham with his faithful engineer Arthur Elliott, and B. W. G. Emmott, a cinema photographer, left Stag Lane, Edgware, London, on a survey flight to Cape Town, to make a report on the possibility of running an airline to South Africa. The outward flight was unhurried, as Cobham had to interview many people on the way. They arrived at Cape Town on 17th February, 1926.

The return journey was more spectacular. They left Cape Town on 26th February and reached Croydon in fifteen days where they were greeted by a big crowd. The flight was made in a DH50 (385 h.p. "Jaguar").

At the same time a formation of four R.A.F. Fairey IIId biplanes made a much slower flight over the route from Cairo to Cape Town.

In 1930 Imperial Airways sent Captain Wolley Dodd, one of their European service pilots, and Captain Tony Gladstone with a mission to report on the possibility of extending the air service, already established from London to Egypt for the service to India, on to South Africa. Captain Gladstone had operated a service from Khartoum to Kisumu with a DH50 on the lakes and rivers of Central Africa to get data. On one occasion, a pilot of the seaplane hit some solid object floating on crocodile-infested Lake Victoria. Tony Gladstone, afraid that the pilot might be attacked by crocodiles, shouted to the ground crew to bring his rifle. The rifle was not forthcoming, and the pilot was rescued. One of the ground crew said to Gladstone: "It was lucky for the pilot you could not find the rifle. You were so angry that I am sure you would have shot him dead."

On 10th April 1930 Charles Barnard, accompanied by Bob Little, with the Duchess of Bedford as passenger, flew his Fokker (Bristol "Jupiter") from Lympne to Cape Town in ten days. They made the return journey in ten days. They would have accomplished it in nine days but for a broken oil pump on the last leg from Sofia to Croydon. But they had made the flight from England to Cape Town and back in twenty days.

There was a big crowd to welcome them back at Croydon, among which were some news-reel cameras. The Duchess was asked to make a speech for the news-reels which she did most gracefully. The sound apparatus was not working, and so she was asked to make the speech over again; which she did. At its conclusion, one of the news-reel men said: "Thank you very much, Lady Bailey." One of his colleagues pointed out to him that it was the Duchess that time, and not Lady Bailey. Whereupon the news-reel man said rudely: "Well, it doesn't matter. She is as deaf as a post." That was quite true. The Duchess was well past 65 when she began flying, and was very deaf.

In April 1931, Lieut.-Commander Glen Kidston, a wealthy man who had recently taken up flying, and had made a fast flight from Croydon to Cape Town in a Lockheed "Vega" with Owen Cathcart Jones, was killed with Tony Gladstone, when the wings of their Puss Moth broke, in very bumpy weather, while flying over the Drakensburg mountains.

Meanwhile, the ubiquitous Moth had been successfully flying the route to the Cape. In 1927 Dick Bentley made his reputation as a sound pilot by flying a Moth (Cirrus II) from London to Cape Town between 1st and 28th September, 1927. For that flight he was awarded the Britannia Trophy. He made the homeward journey soon after, in the Moth, carrying as a passenger Dorys, his wife whom he had married in South Africa. Their return flight was a honeymoon. Mrs. Elliott Lynn also flew the route about that time.

The Hon. Lady Bailey, when well past middle age, flew a Moth to Johannesburg by the usual route and back by the West coast route in 1929, for which she was awarded the Britannia Trophy. When she got back to Stag Lane, she spoke to A. J. Brant, a de Havilland engineer, and complained that, for the last part of the flight from Paris, her motor did not seem to be making quite the right sort of purring noise. Brant ran the motor and found that a rocker-arm was missing. Lady Bailey had flown the 230 miles from Paris, across the Channel, on three cylinders. Brant replaced the rocker and the motor gave forth the official purr once more. Lady Bailey thought Brant was a magician.

Shortly after her 18,000-mile flight, Lady Bailey thought she ought to learn something about her motor so she went to lectures given by A. T. Eadon at Stag Lane. He told his class that the Cirrus motor, with open breathers, only showed an oil pressure of 3 lbs., but the Gipsy should show 35 lbs.

Lady Bailey had recently exchanged the Cirrus-Moth, on which she had flown round Africa, for a Gipsy-Moth. For the first time she noticed her oil pressure gauge, when on a short flight from Stag Lane to the Midlands, and saw that the reading was 35 lbs, which was right. She was not at all clear what Eadon had said, but knew he had said something about some oil pressure which should not exceed 3 lbs. She thought that 35 lbs. sounded much too high, so landed and asked the de Havilland Co. to come and put the motor right. Truly a case of ignorance being bliss, for she had been quite happy on her 18,000-mile flight, not knowing that oil pressure even existed!

At the end of 1931, Gordon Store, now with B.O.A.C., flew from London to Cape Town in seven days in a Puss Moth, with Miss Peggy Salamon, who had bought the machine.

The R.A.F. made several formation flights from Cairo to the Cape and back, partly as air exercises and partly to "show the flag". On 20th January, 1932, the first mail service, right through from London to Cape Town, left Croydon. Owing to political and weather conditions in winter in Europe the mails and passengers flew from Croydon to Paris whence they went by train to Brindisi. From Brindisi to Alexandria they travelled by Short "Kent" four-motor flying boats, from Alexandria to Khartoum by "Argosy" three-motor airliners, and from Khartoum to Mbeya (in Tanganyika) by Short "Calcutta" tri-motor boats. The last lap, by tri-motor DH Hercules, was from Mbeya to Cape Town. Passengers arrived at Cape Town on the ninth day after leaving Croydon.

In 1933 a new four-motor monoplane, the Armstrong Whitworth "Atalanta", was used for the African leg of the through service. That was the first monoplane flown on regular service by Imperial Airways. These met with much success, until they were supplemented by the Empire flying boats, which latter types were also most successful.

Following the successful England-Australia race in 1934, new prizes were offered by Mr. I. W. Schlesinger, of Johannesburg, for a race from England to Johannesburg, in connection with the Empire Exhibition held there. As the prize was only announced in June 1936, and the race had to start in September, it was made open only to aeroplanes and pilots of the British Empire. There was no time to build special aircraft, and for that reason it was not opened to the world.

The race started from Portsmouth Airport on 29th September, 1936. There were 14 entries, but only nine started. They were:

     C. G. M. Allington, Lieut. P. A. Booth, and Lieut. R. H. Allington (B.A. Eagle).
     Flying Officer D. W. Llewellyn, C. F. Hughesdon (Vega Gull).
     C. W. A. Scott, Giles Guthrie (Vega Gull).
     Victor Smith (Sparrow Hawk).
     Flying Officer A. E. Clouston (Hawk Speed Six).
     Max Findlay, Ken Waller, A. H. Morgan, C. D. Peachey (Airspeed Envoy).
     Flight Lieut. Tommy Rose and Jack Bagshaw (B.A. Double Eagle).
     Major A. M. Miller (Mew Gull).
     Captain S. S. Halse (Mew Gull).

Compared to the MacRobertson race, this was rather a fiasco. The course was more difficult than the one to Australia. Only one machine finished. That was the Vega Gull flown by Charles Scott and Giles Guthrie, who reached Johannesburg in 52 hours 56 minutes, 48 seconds, at an average speed of 123 m.p.h. Captain Halse, a South African, was well in the lead in his little Mew Gull and it seemed that the prize would be his, but misfortune overtook him a few hundred miles from the goal. He crashed at Salisbury without serious injury.

There were two fatal accidents in connection with the race. One occurred before the start. Tom Campbell Black was to fly in a Mew Gull entered by citizens of Liverpool. A week before the race, he had flown from Gravesend to Speke airport, Liverpool, for the entrants to see the machine. At the end of a demonstration, he taxied out to take off for Gravesend. The airscrew of a slowly moving R.A.F. "Hart" cut through the Mew Gull's wing and cockpit, and poor Tom was killed. That was a great shock, for he was liked by all, and his fine showing with Charles Scott in the MacRobertson race had made him a national figure.

During the race another well-liked figure, Max Findlay, was killed when his Envoy hit a tree when taking off from Abercorn. Morgan also was killed, but Ken Waller and Peachey escaped. Max had endeared himself to many when he was an instructor at Hanworth.

Thus Charles Scott was the winner of the two longest air races ever held. It was a great shock to his friends when he died in Berlin in 1946.

A particularly notable record flight was made by Tommy Rose in January 1936. flying a Miles Falcon, he broke the record in each direction. The outward journey took 3 days 17 hours, and the homeward lap was just under 6 days. It was a very sound effort, for Tommy had then passed the age of 40. He had been a pilot in the 1914-18 war, and stayed in the R.A.F. after it was over. He was a member of the R.A.F. rugger team from 1921-26. Then he left the service and became chief instructor to the Midland Flying Club. Later he joined Phillips and Powis of Reading, which became Miles Aircraft Ltd. Tommy was their chief test pilot and in that position he won many sporting flying events in the inter-war period. Chief of those was the King's Cup Race, which is described in a separate chapter.

In 1947 Tommy proved that he could still show the new generation of pilots a few things, for he won the Manx Aerial Derby in the Isle of Man, flying a Miles Hawk VI at an average speed of 181 m.p.h.

Several record flights from England to the Cape were made in the years before the 1939 war, notably by Amy Mollison, Jim Mollison, Arthur Clouston, and Alex Henshaw. In 1939 the latter covered the distance in 1 day 15 hours 25 seconds in a Mew Gull and returned in just 11 minutes more. For that flight he was awarded the Britannia Trophy.

The first non-stop flight ever made between England and South Africa was on 6th-8th February, 1933 by Squadron Leader Oswald R. Gayford. D.F.C.. and Flight Lieut. G. E. Nicholetts, A.F.C., in a specially built Fairey monoplane driven by a Napier "Lion" motor developing 500 h.p. A year or so previously Squadron Leader Jones-Williams and Flight Lieut. Jenkins had attempted a similar flight in a similar aeroplane, but had been killed by running into the Atlas Mountains, as told in the chapter on distance records.

Flight Lieut. David Bett had been chosen to fly with Gayford as his navigator, but he died at Cranwell after an operation while preparing for the flight. Oswald Gayford then paired up with Nicholetts. The object of the flight was to break the world's distance record. They left Cranwell at 7.15 a.m. on the morning of Monday, 6th February, 1933, with Cape Town as their goal. They followed a great circle course across the Sahara Desert, over which they encountered a sandstorm which caused "George", the automatic pilot, to swallow some sand and go on strike. That increased the fatigue slightly. Petrol consumption was rather higher than had been expected, so they landed at Walvis Bay, about 600 miles short of Cape Town, after having taken 57 hours 25 minutes for the journey from Cranwell. They beat the distance record by 329 miles. Their average speed was 93 m.p.h.

Another non-stop flight was made from Dundee in Scotland to Walvis Bay in 1938 by Capt. (now Air Vice-Marshal) D. C. T. Bennett with First Officer Ian Harvey as navigator. They made the flight in "Mercury", the upper component of the Short-Mayo "Composite" aircraft, which was a device for increasing the range of an aircraft by lifting one machine into the air on the back of a "parent" aircraft. The Mercury was thus able to be launched from its "parent's" back with a greater load than it could have taken off the ground under its own power. Cape Town and the world distance record were the goals, but head-winds forced them down at Walvis Bay. They broke the world distance record for seaplanes.

Early in 1946 an R.A.F. Lancaster, "Aries", flew from London to Cape Town in 32 hours 31 minutes, but as the flight was not officially observed under F.A.I. conditions it did not count as a record.

On 30th April-1st May, 1947, an R.A.F. Mosquito of Transport Command flew from Heathrow, the London Airport, to Cape Town in 21 hours 31 minutes at an average speed of 312 m.p.h. The pilot was Squadron Leader H. B. Martin, D.S.O., D.F.C., and the navigator Squadron Leader E. B. Sismore, D.F.C. This was the first time that Cape Town had been reached from England in less than 24 hours. For this flight they were awarded the Britannia Trophy for 1947.

On the same day an R.A.F. Lincoln, "Aries II", flew from Manston in Kent to Cape Town in 26 hours 54 minutes. The Mosquito landed twice to refuel, at El Adem, near Tobruk, on the North African coast, and at Kisumu in Central Africa.

From 1947, B.O.A.C. and South African Airways operated jointly the Springbok service between London and Johannesburg.

S.A.A., flying Skymasters, operated a quick service from Heathrow, London Airport, to Palmiefontein, the airport of Johannesburg, in 36 hours.

B.O.A.C. ran a flying-boat service with Short Solents. This was intended to be a much more leisurely service and took four and a half days. Night stops were made at Augusta, in Sicily, Luxor, Port Bell on Lake Victoria, and Victoria Falls or Cape Maclear on Lake Nyasa. This is one of the most interesting routes in the world, and most passengers appreciated the night stops in comfortable hotels so they could see the world as they went by, and enjoy travelling.

B.O.A.C., to the regret of a great many travellers, withdrew the flying-boats in October 1950 and replaced them by the Handley Page Hermes type. Though it is not as roomy as a flying-boat, the Hermes is the most comfortable land airliner in which I have yet flown. Its cruising speed is somewhat lower than that of the Constellations and DC6s against which it competes, but it is so very much roomier and more comfortable than those competitors that it may well take most of the passenger traffic. The Hermes has chairs with plenty of leg-room which can be adjusted to a semi-reclining position so that passengers are able to sleep in comfort, whereas the Constellation is very cramped by comparison. I have suggested to B.O.A.C. that they should advertise: "Fly the Springbok route by B.O.A.C. Golden City service in the home comfort Hermes."

From my experience of flying 80,000 miles on the air routes of the world in 15 months during 1949 and 1950 I am sure that most passengers would willingly sacrifice a few miles per hour of speed to get increased comfort and room to walk about.

A charter company, Aquila Airways Ltd., have been operating a scheduled service from Southampton to Madeira with flying-boats since April 1949, by arrangement with B.E.A. in whose sphere of operation the route lies, but who do not themselves wish to operate it. Though B.O.A.C. gave up flying-boats on the route to South Africa because they said they could not fly them at a profit, Barry Aikman, managing director of Aquila, says he could make them pay if he were given permission to extend his service from Madeira down the West Coast of Africa to Johannesburg. However, the Socialist Minister of Civil Aviation, Lord Pakenham, has refused his permission to Aquila: when I asked him, in August 1950, his reason for this refusal, he told me that he did not intend to permit any competition with the State airlines. I formed the impression that Lord Pakenham, who is otherwise a very good and keen Minister of Civil Aviation, looks forward to the day of a completely socialised world when there is no "horrid unfair" competition with his beloved State airlines. Then passengers will have to take what is offered—and like it—without the option of travelling by a rival and, perhaps, better service, as they have to do on British Railways in 1950.

Lord Pakenham should realise the value of the experience in operating flying-boats which Imperial Airways and B.O.A.C. have accumulated over the past 25 years. It is unwise for him to allow the doctrinaire of socialist nationalisation to prevent him from granting Aquila's most reasonable request, so as to keep the technique of flying-boats alive, for a time will surely come when the need for flying-boats will come again. Fortunately, there is Tasman Airways in New Zealand sensibly keeping to flying-boats, who may generously come to our rescue; but a not very distant generation may have good cause to execrate the name of Pakenham and his Socialist colleagues for their lack of foresight.

In 1938 Imperial Airways switched over from landplanes to flying-boats on the London to Johannesburg route as they found them more economical to operate. Marine airports cost but a fraction of land airports. Now, Aquila Airways and Tasman Empire Airways of New Zealand are the only flying-boat operators. Is it coincidence that they are among the few airline operators in the British Commonwealth to run at a profit?

Barry Aikman, in saying that, as flying-boat operators, his firm and Tasman will stand alone, drew a comparison with Britain, who in 1940 stood alone against the world—and won.

B.O.A.C. have not closed their flying-boat maintenance base at Hythe altogether. They have formed a "Princess Unit" there, under Captain H.W.C. (Jimmy) Alger, to prepare for the introduction of the 140-ton 105-passenger Saunders-Roe "Dollar Princess" flying-boats, the first of which is scheduled to make its maiden flight in August 1951, with Geoffrey Tyson as pilot.

This flying-ship is so spacious that it is proposed to divide the hull into two for first-class and tourist passengers, the latter at a reduced rate. Sir Miles Thomas told me that his Corporation had not yet made up their minds on what routes they will use these boats, three of which were in an advanced state of construction at the end of 1950. My own view is that they would be highly suitable for use on a route from Southampton to Lagos in West Africa, and then on to Johannesburg with no intermediate stops. From Johannesburg they could then cross the South Indian Ocean to Perth, and thence to Sydney. From there they could make the 1,350-mile crossing of the Tasman, to Auckland—one of the most profitable air routes in the world. This would open up entirely new communications between South Africa and Australia; and the traffic on such a through route from England to New Zealand might well justify the use of such a big aircraft, cruising in great comfort at 380 m.p.h.
CHAPTER 19

FLYING ROUND THE WORLD

Record course—round the Pole—Ross Smith killed—attempts fail—U.S. Army fly round—Graf Zeppelin goes round—Wiley Post—Amelia Earhart—Mary Bruce.

SOON AFTER aeroplanes had flown across the Atlantic, and half way round the world from England to Australia, aviators began thinking of a flight right round the world. The famous French writer Jules Verne had fired the imaginations of all schoolboys, and others who were not too senile to have imagination, by a book called Round the World in Eighty Days. Verne's hero had made the journey by land and sea routes.

There has never been any successful attempt on a round-the-world flight as recognised by the F.A.I. on their specified course.

To qualify for homologation for a speed record over a circuit of the earth, an aeroplane or airship must start from, and finish at, or pass through, one or other of the following cities: Paris, London, Berlin, Rome, Bucharest. Intermediate control halts must be made at Karachi, Tokyo, San Francisco, and New York, from any of which a flight may begin. A competitor may start from any other capital city of a country with a national Aero Club affiliated to the F.A.l. In that case the official track must be joined and followed until a return is made to the capital of departure. Even that route does not encircle the world at its greatest circumference.

To encircle the world completely, an aeroplane would pass both North and South Poles in the course of the flight, or pass two such opposite points on the earth's surface. Such a flight would be a minimum distance of 25,000 miles.

Most flights which have been made round the world have been of shorter distance, following a course mainly in the Northern hemisphere.

Probably the first "record" round the world flight was when Captain Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer, made the first flight to the North Pole and did a tight turn round the Pole in a matter of a few seconds. Could he not have claimed that was a flight round the world? He must have passed through all lines of longitude.

The brothers Ross and Keith Smith had flown half round the world at the close of 1919 when they flew from England to Australia, and thought they would like to complete the circuit.

At the beginning of 1922 they began to make plans for a flight round the world from London, via France, Italy, Cairo, Baghdad, India, China, Japan, Alaska, Canada, Newfoundland, Azores and back to London. Their experience on the Australia flight had shown them that a flying-boat or seaplane would have been desirable for much of that trip, so they decided to use an amphibian, if one which would carry sufficient load was available. They chose a Vickers "Viking", which was a boat biplane with a "pusher" Napier "Lion" motor of 450 h.p., with a land undercarriage which could be raised, but not retracted in the modern sense, for alighting on water.

The "Viking" would only carry three, so Sir Ross decided to take his brother Sir Keith as second pilot, navigator, and radio operator. His engineer on the Australia flight, who had now become Lieut. Bennett, would go as engineer.

In April 1922, Vickers arranged for a visit of Press representatives to their works at Weybridge, to see the "Viking" just before its first test flight. Ross and Keith showed us round. Keith told me that on the previous evening he had been to the London Hippodrome to see George Robey playing in a revue named "Round in Fifty", as he thought it might give him some ideas! Both Keith and Ross were like a couple of jolly schoolboys preparing for "an awfully big adventure".

On the day after our visit, Stanley Cockerell, chief test pilot to Vickers, took the "Viking" for a test flight with Ross and Bennett as passengers. After landing, Cockerell got out, and Ross and Bennett took the machine for a flight. They climbed to a height of just over 1,000 feet and were making a turn, when the machine went into a spin. At 800 feet it seemed as though Ross was regaining control, but a spin again developed. When near the ground the spin stopped, and the machine was in a straight dive, but there was not enough height to get it out of the dive. It crashed into some tall fir trees and both Ross and Bennett were killed instantly.

Thus, the "Viking" was responsible for killing the first pilot to fly the Atlantic, and the first to fly from England to Australia.

Soon after the death of Ross Smith, a journalist, Major Wilfred T. Blake, announced that he was planning a flight round the world on British aeroplanes. Captain Norman Macmillan would be pilot and Lieut.-Colonel T. E. Broome, who knew the Aleutian Islands part of the route, would also go. Blake had arranged with the Aircraft Disposals Company at Croydon for four aircraft to be sent to points on the route. He would use two DH9s, one Fairey float-seaplane, and one "F" type flying-boat.

Such flights were "organised" much more quickly in those days than later but not so well, which was possibly why many of them did not succeed. Blake, with Norman Macmillan as pilot, left Croydon within a month of starting his plans. That he was able to start so quickly was largely due to the speed with which Lieut.-Colonel M. O. Darby, managing director of the Aircraft Disposals Company, and his right hand man, Major Jack Stewart, got to work.

Blake and his crew left Croydon aerodrome with much publicity on a fine summer morning. Blake told me that they hoped to make a short stop at Le Bourget, and then get right on to the Riviera coast that night. So I was rather surprised when I met "Mac, Broome, and Wilfred" (as they had been named, after the comic-strip for children "Pip, Squeak and Wilfred") in the bar of the Folies Bergeres in Paris three or four days later. They had been delayed by motor trouble. They met with constant trouble all the way to India, where Blake went to hospital with appendicitis. Geoffrey Malins had replaced Broome who was ill and he and Macmillan continued the flight alone from Calcutta in the Fairey seaplane. Soon after leaving, they were forced to alight in the Bay of Bengal and suffered severely from exposure, until they were rescued. The flight was then abandoned.

The next attempts to fly round the world were not made until 1924. In March of that year four U.S. Army aviators left Clover field, Seattle, California, in four single-motor Douglas "World Cruisers", and flew from east to west.

A week later a British expedition, headed by Squadron Leader A. S. C. MacLaren, with Flying Officer John Plenderleith as pilot and Sergeant Andrews as engineer, left Calshot. They flew a Vickers "Vulture" amphibian with a 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" motor. This was a development of the Viking, and very like it externally.

The Vulture left Calshot, on Southampton Water, a week after the U.S. expedition had started from California. It was extremely heavily loaded, and it made a very long run before it got off. In fact, onlookers suggested that it was intending to taxi all the way round the world, or at least as far as the French coast. That evening Sir Sefton Brancker, the Director of Civil Aviation, asked C. G. Grey, editor of the Aeroplane, if he had been to watch the start of the flight. "C.G." replied that he had not, as the take-off of one amphibian was very like any other. Sir Sefton answered: "Believe me, Charles, this one was not!"

The British effort was held up by motor trouble in Europe and eventually the flight was abandoned soon after passing Tokyo.

The U.S. Army effort was more fortunate; or perhaps it would be truer to say that it was better organised. It seemed that the U.S. Army was "buying" itself round the world, for the flight had the full financial and organisational backing of the U.S. Army behind it.

The first "casualty" was Major F. L. Martin, leader of the flight. He was forced down in Alaska by motor trouble, and was reported missing for several days. He and his engineer were found safe, but their machine was completely wrecked. The other three machines continued, and safely crossed the Pacific by way of the Aleutian Islands. They reached Tokyo on 22nd May, 1924, five weeks after starting the flight. They continued across Asia and Europe without undue haste and reached Croydon on 16th July. They stayed the night in London, where they were entertained to dinner that evening at the Royal Air Force Club. The three pilots who reached England were Lieutenant Lowell H. Smith, who had taken the leadership, Lieutenant Leigh Wade and Lieutenant E. H. Nelson. They were a nice bunch of young fellows. One of them told me that the lavish entertainment which they had received all along the route was the most wearing part of the whole flight.

The next day they flew to Brough in Yorkshire. At the works of the Blackburn Aeroplane Company, the wheel undercarriages were removed and floats were substituted for the flight across the Atlantic via Iceland and Labrador, and the motors and airframes were overhauled. While that was being done, the pilots and navigators returned to London by train and were entertained to a banquet at the Savoy Hotel by the Royal Aero Club.

After the overhaul, the airmen were delayed by typical British summer weather, which they said was as bad as any they encountered on the whole circuit of the globe.

Eventually they were able to leave Brough on 30th July, whence they flew to Kirkwall in the Orkneys. After leaving Kirkwall, Lieutenant Wade alighted on the sea before reaching the Faroe Islands. He damaged his machine and abandoned the flight. Now only two of the four aircraft which began the flight were left.

On 5th August, Lieutenant Lowell Smith and Lieutenant Nelson reached New York. The wheel undercarriages were replaced for the flight across the U.S.A., and on 28th August, 1924, they reached their starting point 175 days after they had left. They had covered 27,534 miles in a flying-time of 251 hours 11 minutes. They flew on 66 of the 175 days, and their average speed was 76.36 m.p.h.

Before the Americans had completed the flight, two other aviators joined in the "race". They were an Argentine officer, Major Pedro Zanni, who flew a Fokker C4 (Napier "Lion") and an Italian, Signor Locatelli, who flew a Dornier "Wal" flying-boat powered by two Rolls-Royce "Eagle" motors.

Locatelli, after leaving Iceland for Labrador, was forced to alight on the sea, and was afloat for three days before being rescued. The fact that he was rescued was proof that the flying-boat was the most suitable craft for ocean flights.

Major Zanni crashed his Fokker at Hong Kong. Eventually he abandoned the flight at Tokyo.

In 1932, a German, von Gronau flew round the world on a Dornier flying-boat with two B.M.W. VII motors. He left the Island of Sylt on 22nd July, 1932, and, by flying along much of the same route as was followed by the U.S. airmen, he arrived back in Germany on 9th November, 1932. He carried a second pilot, von Roth, and a radio operator and an engineer.

In 1929 the Graf Zeppelin airship had set a new standard in flights round the world, by encircling the globe in 29 days. With Dr. Hugo Eckener in command she set out from Lakehurst, New Jersey, whence she had been operating a transatlantic service, and completely encircled the globe.

That "record" stood until, in 1931, Wiley Post, the American Indian pilot with one eye, and Harold Gatty, flew round the world from New York in 8 days 15 hours 15 minutes, covering a distance of 16,000 miles. They flew a Lockheed "Vega".

Wiley Post, flying a Lockheed "Vega" by himself, bettered that time in 1933, when he made a similar journey in 7 days 18 hours 50 minutes. For that flight he was awarded the Gold Medal of the F.A.I.

His "record" stood until in 1938 Howard Hughes in a Lockheed 14, accompanied by Lieutenants Connor and Thurlow, flew round the same course in 3 days 7 hours 17 minutes.

In 1947 Milton Reynolds, a U.S. pen maker, obtained a Douglas "Invader". With Captain W. Odom as pilot, Reynolds himself as navigator. and T. Carrol Sallee as engineer, a course of 22,000 miles—8,000 miles longer than that followed by Hughes—was covered in 3 days 6 hours 55 minutes. The start and finish were at New York.

It would not be right to end this chapter on round the world flying without a reference to the gallant attempt to encircle the globe by Miss Amelia Earhart in 1937: by that time she had married and had become Mrs. Putnam. As told in the chapter on Atlantic flying, she was the first woman to fly the Atlantic, and later she became the first woman to fly the Pacific, from California to Honolulu.

She bought a Lockheed twin-motored "Electra", and in March 1937 started from Oakland with Harry Manning, Fred Noonan, and Paul Mantz. She had planned to drop all of them before reaching Australia. She wrote that it was the first time, since she had crossed the Atlantic in the Fokker, that she had company on any ocean flight, but a flight across the Pacific needed careful navigation, so she took a full crew for that stretch; unfortunately they crashed on landing at Honolulu because an undercarriage leg collapsed.

Mrs. Putnam was not wholly dismayed. The "Electra" was returned to the Lockheed works, where it was repaired. In May 1937 she re-started the flight in an easterly direction, taking only Fred Noonan as navigator. She made splendid time from Oakland across the U.S.A. to Miami, across the Caribbean Sea to Port Natal, across the South Atlantic to Dakar, across Central Africa and India to Australia, and thence to Lae in New Guinea. Thus she was attempting a real encirclement of the world near the Equator.

On 2nd July, 1937, she left Lae, with Noonan, for Howland Island, a small island in mid-Pacific, 2,556 miles away. To have reached it safely would have been a fine feat of navigation. That was the longest and most hazardous flight of her career. lt failed and she was never seen again. She was an extremely efficient and likable girl, and her flights were pioneer flights, many of which brought ultimate benefit and extra knowledge to aviation.

One of the most remarkable flights round the world was made between July 1930 and February 1931 by the Hon. Mrs. Victor Bruce. She planned the flight before she began to learn to fly, and set out from Croydon after only 40 hours solo. She flew a Blackburn "Bluebird" with 100 h.p. Gipsy motor across Europe, and then through Irak, India, China, across 800 miles of the Yellow Sea to Japan. She crossed the Pacific by boat, flew across the United States, and went by boat across the Atlantic to Le Havre, whence she flew back to Croydon. She had one or two minor crashes, but did not do any damage which could not be repaired on the spot. For a novice, she put up a remarkably fine show.

During 1949 a Superfortress of the United States Army completely encircled the globe from the United States without a stop by using the British method of mid-air refuelling developed by the British firm Flight Refuelling Ltd., of which the moving spirit has always been Sir Alan Cobham.     






13. Vickers "Viking" amphibian (450 h.p. Napier "Lion") at Doulton's Hard, between Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges, London; this ran an experimental service to the Seine in central Paris in two hours in 1921.






14. Sir Alan Cobham alighting on the Thames, by the Houses of Parliament, on 10th October 1926, on his DH 50 float seaplane, after his record flight to Australia and back for which he was knighted.






15. The first real airliner: Handley Page HP 42 "Hannibal," which carried 40 passengers in great comfort on the European routes of Imperial Airways, and 20 on the longer routes to India and Africa, from 1931 to 1939.  






16. The racing de Havilland "Comet," DH 88, which won the MacRobertson race from London to Melbourne in 70 hours in 1934.
CHAPTER 20

KINGSFORD SMITH'S FLIGHTS

Across the Pacific—the Southern Cross—Smithy is lost—unlucky search—right round the world—lost for ever.

IN THE early part of 1928 news came from California that a young Australian, Captain Kingsford Smith, was preparing to make a flight in a tri-motor Fokker from California to Australia, stopping at Honolulu and the Fiji Islands. That meant a flight of 2,100 miles across the Pacific from San Francisco to Honolulu; then 3,200 miles from Honolulu to Fiji; and then 1,550 miles from Fiji to Brisbane.

Assuming that the motors kept working for those long distances, navigating with the comparatively primitive instruments then available would be difficult, for slight errors in navigation would result in missing the islands at Hawaii and Fiji altogether.

Apart from that, Kingsford Smith was having difficulty in raising the necessary finance, and there seemed to be danger of his losing his aeroplane, which might be seized to pay debts. That financial difficulty Kingsford Smith managed to overcome, as he overcame nearly all difficulties throughout his eventful life.

For the flight, he had arranged for a fellow Australian, Charles Ulm, to be co-pilot, and two Americans, Harry Lyon and J. Warner, to be navigator and radio operator respectively.

On 31st May 1928, this crew left Oakland, California, in the Fokker, which later became famous, named the Southern Cross. Smithy once told me why he named his famous aeroplane Southern Cross. Most people think he selected it solely because the constellation of that name has been adopted by Australia as its insignia. No doubt that partly affected the choice of name. But Smithy told me that, when he was making a joy-riding tour of Australia to try and raise money for the Pacific flight attempt, one of the places at which he stopped was named Southern Cross, in Western Australia. There he raised sufficient money by donations, as well as from the joy-riding, to make reasonably sure he would make the flight. He then and there decided he would name his aeroplane after the town as a reward for the generosity of the inhabitants.

The Southern Cross reached Honolulu after 27 hours' flying. They kept radio communication with base, though there was a radio silence towards the end of the flight, caused by weakening batteries. Weather, on the whole, was favourable.

They took off again for Fiji, the longest stretch, on 3rd June. lt might have been possible to make an emergency landing on the Phoenix Islands, about 1,700 miles on the way, but that did not prove necessary. They ran into rain squalls when 900 miles out. As night was falling they passed over the Phoenix Islands, and they reached Fiji after 34¼ hours' flying. They ran into a fierce tempest during the night.

The final stage of the flight, from Suva in the Fiji group of islands, was flown on 8th-9th June. A narrow strip of beach was prepared for the take-off. They got off safely in spite of a strong crosswind and reached Brisbane, Kingsford Smith's birthplace, in 20 hours' flying, after passing through some of the worst weather of the whole trip.

Thus the Pacific Ocean was crossed by air for the first time in an aeroplane, piloted by two Australians with two Americans making up the crew. The trip was the finest feat of aerial navigation then accomplished. Even now the flight stands out as one of the finest on record. It was a triumph of radio operating and navigation, as well as for the reliability of the Fokker aeroplane and the Wright "Whirlwind" motors.

On 10th June the flight was continued to Sydney, where they landed at Mascot airfield. There they got a tremendous reception, the crowd realising the magnitude of the feat. Mascot has now been renamed "Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Airport" in memory of a very great airman and good fellow. It is the Sydney Airport.

The Commonwealth Government gave them a grant of £5,000, and public subscription brought that sum to £16,000.

At the beginning of September 1928, Kingsford Smith and Ulm flew the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand in the same machine. At the end of October they made the return journey. The outward voyage was the first occasion on which the Tasman had been crossed by air. The distance is 1,400 miles of ocean seldom free from storms. There is, in 1950, a regular daily service operated by Tasman Empire Airways Ltd. (T.E.A.L.).

On 30th March, Kingsford Smith and Ulm left Sydney for Wyndham on the first stage of a flight to England. They did not arrive at Wyndham and there was anxiety for their safety. A search by air was organised. The Southern Cross was located on a mud flat, on 12th April. Smith, Ulm, and Litchfield and McWilliams, who made up the crew, were found very weak from lack of food. One of the searching aircraft, flown by Keith Anderson, was lost. He was found dead some days later.

There was a great outcry in Australia about the whole affair, and Kingsford Smith was blamed for staging the incident deliberately for publicity. Those who were fortunate enough to know "Smithy" well are quite sure that such a "stunt", which he would have known might have endangered the lives of others, would not have been done by him.

Kingsford Smith, who had been made a squadron leader in the R.A.A.F. after the Pacific flight, took off from the mudflat on 18th April, 1929, and reached Wyndham. Owing to the necessity of their having to attend an enquiry by the Commonwealth Government into their forced landing, they had to return to Sydney. They were exonerated from blame at the enquiry and left Sydney for England again in the Southern Cross on 25th June, 1929. They reached Croydon 12 days 14 hours 18 minutes after leaving Derby, on the north-west coast of Australia. They flew from Baghdad to Croydon in two days, the fastest time in which the journey had then been flown. One of the objects of the flight was to buy some Avro built Fokkers for Australian National Airways, and also to complete the flight of the Southern Cross round the world. They flew the machine to Amsterdam, where it was reconditioned at the Fokker Works.

Then they came back to London to visit the British Aero Show at Olympia. It was there that I met "Smithy" for the first time, and I was impressed by his lack of self-importance, and his pleasant cheerful disposition. He was just like a keen boy, and evidently thoroughly enjoyed life and all its pleasures.

In the summer of 1930 "Smithy" collected the Southern Cross from the Fokker works in Holland. He engaged Van Dyk, one of the K.L.M. service pilots, to go as second pilot, and with Capt. P. Saul as navigator, and J. W. Stannage as radio operator, he left Portmarnock Strand, near Dublin, on 24th June and reached Newfoundland the next day. On 4th July, 1930, he reached Oakland, California. Thus he and the Southern Cross had completely encircled the world together. In addition, they had flown across Australia, and to New Zealand.

"Smithy" returned to England, where he bought an Avro Avian, on which he flew from Heston (London) to Darwin in nine days 21 hours 40 minutes. He made several more flights between England and Australia as described elsewhere. For his 1930 Atlantic flight and his record flight to Australia he was awarded the Britannia Trophy. He was made Air Commodore and K.B.E. In 1935 he and Ulm were flying in the Southern Cross from Australia to New Zealand when, more than 600 miles out, an exhaust pipe came adrift and shattered the starboard airscrew. Then a second motor began to overheat. "Smithy" turned the machine back to Australia, which he reached by great piloting skill after nearly ditching the famous machine. [Note 8].

In the winter of 1935-36, he attempted a record flight from England to Australia in a U.S. Lockheed "Altair". He made good time as far as India. Then he took off for Singapore across the Bay of Bengal, and was never seen again. He is believed to have run into high ground on an island off the Malay coast. A wheel of his machine was found in the sea and identified.

Thus passed one of the world's greatest pilots and most likable fellows. He was called by no less a person than the great Anthony Fokker, "the world's greatest pilot". That was not entirely because "Smithy" made his greatest flights in Fokker's aeroplane. There is no doubt that as an organiser, pilot, navigator, and man, he had few equals.

A full account of all Smithy's famous flights was published posthumously in 1937 from his own notes and diaries by the Melbourne Herald in Australia and by the London Aviation Book Club in London under the title My Flying Life. This contains a particularly thrilling account from his log of that famous adventure over the stormy Tasman Sea. The Southern Cross now has an honoured resting place in a museum in Australia.

When I visited Australia in June 1950, I found that the memory of Smithy is kept very much alive. In Sydney I was shown many places with which he was connected, including a small level patch of ground on the north shore of the Harbour, right by the famous bridge, from which he flew the Lockheed "Altair" in which he was later lost. I was told that the Altair was unshipped at a dock nearby and, as he could not afford transport to take it to Richmond or Mascot—the latter was not then, of course, named "Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Air Port" as it is now—he risked, successfully, flying this fast aircraft from the small field.

When I was shown over the factory of the de Havilland company of Australia, at Bankstown, Sydney, my escort was young Rollo Kingsford Smith of that company—a nephew of Smithy, and very like his uncle as I first knew him, in face, figure and habits. Rollo has just the Smithy manner and technique, which should take him far in aviation.
CHAPTER 21

THE SCHNEIDER TROPHY

An offer—Trophy not Cup—Britain wins second contest—lost in a sea mist—State backing in U.S.A.—Italy saves the day—Webster wins for Britain—Boothman wins it outright—all the winners.

IN DECEMBER 1912, at a dinner given in Paris by the Aero Club de France to Jules Védrines, of the French racing team which had just returned from America, where they had won back the Gordon Bennett Aviation Cup, an announcement was made that M. Jacques Schneider, head of the French armaments firm bearing his name, had given a "Coupe" for a speed race for seaplanes. With the "Coupe" he would present monetary prizes of 25,000 francs for three years. The rules would be drawn up by the F.A.I.

That was the first announcement of an aviation trophy which was to become famous. It was to cost the nations of the world millions of pounds to win, and was to do more to improve the design of aircraft and engines than any other prize. Its influence in later years can be regarded as a very potent factor which enabled Britain to win the Battle of Britain in 1940 because of the spur to Rolls-Royce Ltd, resulting eventually in production of the Merlin.

Early in 1913, the F.A.l. announced that the "Coupe" was a group of bronze statuary on a marble base, representing a figure of a young man, with dragon-fly-like wings, swooping down on four female figures who were symbolic of the waves. The group, which was a representation of Zephyr kissing the waves, was the work of the Swiss sculptor, Gabard. The French called it the "Coupe Schneider", which was freely translated into English as the "Schneider Cup", but the French word coupe hardly means quite the same thing as tasse! When it first came to England in 1914, we saw at once that it was not a "cup", for it could contain no liquor, so it became known as the "Schneider Trophy". When the Italians later won it, they called it the "Coppa Schneider", which was an apt name, as it has a coppery look, being cast from silver bronze.

In his deed of gift, Schneider had said that his main object was to encourage seagoing aircraft. The contest was open only to sea-planes. There were to be seaworthy tests as well as air tests. The course had to be "en plein mer", which was interpreted, rather loosely, as being in sheltered water, if that had access to the sea. This was again loosely interpreted as being "any water that tasted salt". The first venue was in the Mediterranean. ln Britain the contest was held in the sheltered waters of the Solent, and in the United States over the even more sheltered waters of Chesapeake Bay.

For the seaworthy tests, the seaplanes had to be moored "en plain mar" for six hours, and then had to "taxi" a given distance on the water. Only after successfully completing those tests could the competing aircraft fly in the speed test. For the first years, this test was flown over a course of 150 sea miles, on a circuit of not less than five sea miles. A stipulation was made that the contest must be held between 1st April and 15th November each year. That the contest would become so international was not visualised at the start, so no provision was made for its being flown in the summer of the Southern hemisphere. It was never won by a Southern hemisphere country.

The "Coupe" was open for competition between countries with Aero Clubs affiliated to the F.A.I. and the actual entries would be made by Aero Clubs. Each club could enter only three aircraft. If more entries were received by a club, eliminating trials were held. Great Britain held eliminating trials in 1919 when four entries were made for the Bournemouth contest.

The first contest was held as an event at the Monaco seaplane meeting in April 1913. It attracted very little attention in either The Aeroplane or Flight, and practically none in the lay Press. Indeed, so unimportant did it seem that C. G. Grey, who went to cover the meeting for his paper The Aeroplane, did not even wait to see the Schneider Contest. Grey has, since, told me that the reason he could not stay was that he was getting short of money.

He wrote on 24th April, 1913: "Unfortunately I had to leave before the race for the Schneider Cup took place, but l gather it was something of a fiasco. It was flown over 28 laps of a 10 kilometre course in perfect weather, and the pilots could start when they liked, flying against time. Prévost started first and covered 200 kms. in 2 hours 2 mins. 29 secs., 250 kms. in 2 hours 31 mins. 37 secs., and the full 280 kms. in 2 hrs. 50 mins. 47 secs. After he had finished, the commisaires decided he had not flown over the finishing line, and so, after a delay of nearly an hour before he was told, he was requested to go out and do so, with the result that 58 minutes were added to the above time.

"Garros could not get the little 80 h.p. Morane off the water, so he returned to port. Espanet, on a Nieuport, retired after 70 kms. Weymann, on a new 100 h.p. Nieuport made for the competition, covered 200 kms. in 1 hr. 59 mins. 23 secs., and so was rather faster than Prévost, but he broke an oil pipe three laps from the finish. His best lap was 68 m.p.h."

Thus ended the first Schneider Trophy contest with a victory for France at a speed of 45.75 m.p.h. If it had not been for the mistake in failing to cross the finishing line, the speed would have been higher. If Weymann had not had the misfortune to break an oil pipe, he would have been the winner, and the Trophy would have gone, in that first year, to U.S.A. Weymann won the Gordon Bennett race for U.S.A. at Eastchurch in 1911.

The contest the following year was to be held in the country of the winning club, so the 1914 contest was again held at Monaco, which, for the purpose, was considered a part of France, and not a separate principality.

This year, Great Britain entered for the first time. T. O. M. Sopwith had started the Sopwith Aviation Co. a year or so earlier and with Fred Sigrist had designed a very small tractor biplane, which was quite a revolutionary idea in those days. It was driven by a 100 h.p. Gnôme motor.

When this biplane appeared at Monaco alongside all the racing monoplanes, the French laughed at the idea of a biplane for racing, but when, in the early morning of Sunday, 19th April, 1914, the pilot, Howard Pixton, took her up for a test, they changed their tune.

The contest was held on Monday, 20th April, and Pixton had as competitors a Swiss, Burri, on an F.B.A. flying-boat, an ancient American Curtiss biplane, to be flown by an unnamed pilot, three Frenchmen, who included last year's winner, Prévost, and another British entry, Lord Carbery, on a Deperdussin monoplane. The latter retired in the second lap. The only German who ever entered crashed the day before this contest.

Howard Pixton won the contest at a speed of 86.75 m.p.h., a speed which so staggered the French that Prévost would not start, as he knew his Deperdussin could not win. Burri was second, and no other competitor finished.

The contest aroused a little more interest in the British technical Press, but reports were so short and scrappy that it is not easy to discover many details of what happened, and I am indebted to Harry Delacombe, of the Royal Aero Club, who was there, for the meagre details given here. The lay Press were content to publish a brief telegram from Reuter, giving the bare result.

Thus came the Schneider home to Britain for the first time and it was housed in the Club premises at 166 Piccadilly. War broke out three months later, so the Trophy was "interned" in Britain during the war. In 1916 it was moved to the new premises at 3 Clifford Street.

In 1919 the next contest was held, organised for the first time by the Royal Aero Club. The course was from Bournemouth pier to mark boats off Christchurch and in Swanage Bay. Britain had four entries, a Supermarine Sea Lion (450 h.p. Napier "Lion"), a Sopwith (450 h.p. Cosmos "Jupiter"), an Avro (230 h.p. "Puma"), and a Fairey Ill (450 h.p. Napier "Lion"). As each country was allowed only three entries, it was intended to hold an eliminating contest between the British entries, but owing to slight damage to a float the Avro was withdrawn.

The French entered two Nieuports and a Spad, and the Italians entered a Savoia flying-boat, flown by Janello. The Royal Aero Club had been lent a yacht by Montague Grahame-White, brother of the more famous Claude. This yacht, the Club's headquarters for the contest, was moored off Bournemouth pier.

On the day of the race the whole area was covered by a sea fog. It was possible to fly in it, but only just. A spare mark boat for the turn at Swanage Bay had been moored offshore some distance short of the real boat. That had unfortunate results, for in the fog, every one of the competitors mistook the spare boat for the real one and turned round it.

At the end of the last lap by the last competitor, the announcement was made that Janello had made the fastest time, and so the Trophy was awarded to Italy. Soon, however, the news came in from the Swanage mark boat, that no competitors had turned round it. There was a heated discussion among the competitors, and it was eventually discovered that all had turned at the spare boat. After a meeting of the Racing Committee, it was decided to declare the contest null and void, but as Janello had made the fastest time round the course over which all had flown, it was decided to allow Italy to organise the contest the next year.

In 1920 the contest was flown from Venice, and, with only French contenders, Italy again won, as they also did in 1921.

In 1922 Hubert Scott-Paine, who was then running the Supermarine Aviation Works, decided he would challenge, so he built a new Supermarine Sea Lion and sent it to Venice to be flown in the contest by Henri Biard, who had learned to fly at Hendon in 1911. The Italians had thought that they had the contest "in their pockets", and, if they had won that year, it would have been the third time in succession, and they would have won it outright. That was what Scott-Paine was out to prevent, and he did so, for Biard won the Trophy at a speed of 145.62 m.p.h., much to the surprise of the Italians.

The next year the contest was organised by the Royal Aero Club off Cowes. The hangars of S. E. Saunders were the headquarters. That firm is now Saunders-Roe Ltd. A triangular course was selected, with one very short leg from Southsea to Cowes, and two long legs to Selsey Bill and back.

This contest was notable because the U.S. Navy sent over a team of three seaplanes with full official backing, and a warship, the Pittsburg to look after them. The French Navy also gave the members of their team some help. The Supermarine company entered a slightly modified Sea Lion.

R. J. Mitchell had plans for a fast monoplane seaplane, but there was neither time nor money available with which to build it. The Blackburn Company entered a small boat driven by a Napier Lion. It had it first test, in the hands of Reg Kenworthy, during the seaworthiness tests. Soon after he opened up his engine, just off Cowes, the boat began an uncontrollable "porpoising". After one or two bounces, it dived straight into the sea. We waited in a state of tension hoping to see Kenworthy reappear. A minute or so passed, and we were sure that he was drowned. Then his head suddenly appeared above water. He told me later that he had been trapped in the nose of the boat, which had acted as a diving-bell. He was able to breathe and so released himself at leisure. That was the end of the "Pellet", which became known as the "Plummet". [Note 9].

A fast Hawker biplane, a float version of a racer built for the Aerial Derby, had been entered but was damaged in a test.

The Americans brought over two Curtiss "Navy racers" with the then radically new Curtiss D12 motor with very small frontal area, and carburettor between the V of the cylinder blocks. It was the forerunner of the more modern reciprocating engines, and gave us all quite new ideas.

The Supermarine was quite outclassed, and the French, with their old type boats, were also out of the running. Lieut. Dave Rittenhouse and Lieut. Irvine, two likable young U.S. Naval officers, flew round the course almost in formation. Rittenhouse won at a speed of 177.38 m.p.h., and the Trophy crossed the Atlantic for the first time.

For 1924, the Gloster Aircraft Co. built a racing biplane with a Napier "Lion" for the contest, which was to have been sent to Baltimore, but in a test at Felixstowe, Hubert Broad, who was to fly it in the race, dived it into the sea when alighting. Fortunately he was unhurt, but that put an end to our chances to challenge.

As there were no contenders, the Americans called the contest off. They could have flown over the course and claimed a walk-over, for they had a new racer ready. Had they done so, their win the next year would have given them the necessary three consecutive wins to keep the Trophy.

ln 1925 we made a really serious attempt to regain the Trophy. With that end in view, two entirely new Gloster-Napier biplanes were built, and a radically new type of Supermarine-Napier cantilever monoplane, the S4. The latter was the first example of R. J. Mitchell's real genius, and may be considered as the real ancestor of the Spitfire.

This team was sent to America with Captain Charles Wilson as the Royal Aero Club's organiser, and non-flying captain of the team. They sailed from Tilbury with high hopes, but we did not gain victory that year. The Glosters, flown by Hubert Broad and Bert Hinkler, were not fast enough. The Supermarine, flown by Henri Biard, developed wing flutter just before the contest, and crashed into the sea. That accident was one of the incidents which were so distorted in a film which purported to portray the life of Mitchell.

The contest was won by a young and unknown Army Lieutenant, James Doolittle, who later gained world renown as General Doolittle, of the U.S. Army Air Force in the 1939-45 war. He flew a Curtiss to victory at a speed of 232.6 m.p.h.

In 1926, when it seemed likely that America would score a third successive win, and gain a permanent hold on the Trophy, especially as we could not send a team, the Italians sent over a Macchi monoplane, which beat the Americans and brought the Trophy back to Europe. At the time I was staying for a week-end with Roy Fedden at Bristol. I came down to breakfast first on that Sunday. On opening the paper I read of the Italian victory, and shouted the news up to Roy, who was in the bathroom. He gave a loud cheer and replied, "Now we must get some more horses from the Mercury," which was a motor he was preparing for the 1927 race, if there was one.

The Italians thoroughly deserved their win for their bold policy in producing such an advanced design. This was the first time that the Schneider had been won by a monoplane since the first year. The Fiat engine had been modelled on the Curtiss D12, and the Macchi monoplane was very like the Curtiss racers with the top plane removed.

They sent over a full team of three similar machines. I remember seeing a photograph of these three moored on the water alongside the three American biplanes, in a paper in the Royal Aero Club at Clifford Street. Dick (now Sir Richard) Fairey, who was looking at the picture with me, said: "If the Italians can keep going, they will win". For it was clear that the monoplanes had sufficiently less head resistance to give them the necessary extra speed over the biplanes.

The contest had to be postponed for two days owing to bad weather. Major Mario de Bernardi was an easy winner at 246.5 m.p.h. An American was second, nearly 15 m.p.h. slower. The other two Italians did not finish.

In 1927 Great Britain made an all-out effort to win, and, for the first time, the whole matter was taken in hand by the R.A.F. The U.S.A. and Italian governments had made the winning of the Trophy an all-out effort, and so Great Britain decided to do the same.

A High-Speed Flight was formed under the command of Squadron Leader (later Air Marshal Sir) Leonard Slatter. Two Supermarine-Napier S5 monoplanes, two Gloster-Napier IV biplanes, and a Short Crusader monoplane were taken to Venice in an aircraft carrier. The Crusader was a monoplane designed by George Carter, who nearly 20 years later designed the Gloster Meteors which broke the world's speed record in 1945 and 1946. The motor was the Bristol "Mercury" which Roy Fedden had developed.

The Crusader was not very successful, and its pilot, Flight Lieut. H. M. Schofield, was never happy in it. On its first test flight over the Lido. Schofield found that the aileron wires had been crossed, so when he tried to pull up a wing, just after his take-off, the machine dived into the sea. Schofield had all his clothes torn off when he was shot from the cockpit, but otherwise he was unhurt. When I asked him later why he had not taken the elementary precaution of trying the controls before taking off, he told me that he could not see the ailerons from the cockpit.

The contest was won by Flight Lieut. S. N. Webster on an S5 with a geared Napier engine. Flight Lieut. Worsley was second with a similar aircraft with ungeared engine. "Webby's" speed was 281.5 m.p.h.

The previous year it had been agreed by the F.A.I. that, as it was now becoming so expensive and so highly technical to produce sea-planes and engines for the contest, after 1927 it would be held every second year, instead of every year, so the next contest took place in 1929. The Royal Aero Club were again responsible for the organisation.

The contest had now risen in importance to be a national event. The headquarters were at the R.A.F. station at Calshot, and there a new High-Speed Flight was formed under Squadron Leader A. H. Orlebar. Only an Italian team challenged, though an American machine had been entered but did not materialise.

For the first time Rolls-Royce built a motor specially for the contest. It was on that motor that the Merlin was later based. It was not until February 1929, only six months before the contest, that the Air Ministry finally decided to compete. There was no time to create an entirely new motor with the power necessary to win; the only thing possible was to adapt the "Buzzard". There followed months of intensive work unparalleled in the history of Rolls-Royce, resulting in the 1929 "R" engine which produced 1,900 h.p. for a weight of only 1,350 lbs.

Two Supermarine S6 monoplanes were built round this motor. Glosters turned from biplanes and built a very pretty little monoplane round a Napier. The Glosters were painted gold, and the Supermarines blue and white. The race was round a course starting off at Calshot, to Ryde, Bembridge, West Wittering, Southsea, and back to Calshot. The finish was at Ryde Pier. The Royal Aero Club chartered the S.S. Orford, a 20,000-ton liner, on which members and their friends could book berths, or standing room for the day, which was one of the most gloriously fine, blue, sunny days it would be possible to have. Flight Lieut. Dick Waghorn won on an S6 at 328.63 m.p.h. He might not have done so, for the previous night a cylinder block of his engine was found to be cracked. A party from the Derby works of Rolls-Royce had come to see the race. By almost superhuman energy and skill they removed and replaced the damaged block in time for the race. Flight Lieut. Dick Atcherley, who was flying the second S6, failed to round the turn at Bembridge properly on one lap, and so was disqualified.

The result of the contest was a win for Great Britain, with the Italian, Dal Molin, second, nearly 40 m.p.h. slower. Flight Lieut. D’Arcy Greig on the 1927 S5 was third. The Glosters did not fly as there had been continuous trouble with the motors.

That evening there was a grand party on the Orford, attended by the teams. General Balbo, in charge of the Italian team, was there as also was Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister. Balbo made a short speech in Italian. When Ramsay was called upon for a speech, he looked very arch and coy and said, with his strong Scottish burr: "This is ver-r-ry impr-r-r-oper-r-r." No one quite understood what he meant by that, but he was made to speak, and he made a definite promise that Britain would enter a team next time. Everyone made good note of that.

For the first time, a running commentary of the contest was broadcast by the B.B.C., by the commentators Squadron Leader W. Helmore and Flight Lieut. "Toni" Ragg who, in 1950 was S.A.S.O. of S.E. Asia Command in Singapore.

The next contest was due in 1931, and Great Britain had but to register another win that year to win the Trophy outright. In view of Ramsay MacDonald's definite pledge after the 1929 contest, that Britain would compete again, everyone assumed that that meant the Government would again enter an R.A.F. team; especially as MacDonald's same Labour administration was still in power. However, in January the Royal Aero Club were informed by the Air Ministry that the Cabinet had decided not to support an official entry, in spite of the fact that our last two wins had resulted in so much good publicity that many foreign orders came pouring into the aircraft industry, to the great benefit of the country as a whole.

As entries had been received from both French and Italians, it looked as though Britain was to be in the humiliating position of letting the Trophy go by default, over her own territorial waters. Just as Britain had all but given up this year's contest for lost, a message was received from Lady Houston, widow of the millionaire shipowner, to say that she was prepared to give £100,000 to pay for the building of new aircraft and motors for the contest.

Only nine months were left to build new racing aircraft and engines. Mitchell had told me after the 1929 contest that he could see his way to getting another 50 m.p.h. out of the existing aircraft, if Rolls-Royce could put up the power of the motor. If he were to design completely new machines he thought he could do a great deal better.

When the announcement was made about Lady Houston's offer, I asked Lieut.-Col. Rudston Fell, who was a Rolls-Royce technical man, if Rolls could produce a motor in the time. He made a rapid calculation, and said quite definitely that they could just do it. And how well they did!

The 1929 motors were not sufficiently powerful to win the contest at the expected speeds for 1931, so in order to obtain the extra performance, the motor speed was raised, the supercharger gear ratio increased, and the size of the air intake enlarged. There were only nine months in which to do the new design and experimental work before the contest in September.

By April, with the contest only six months ahead, the motor running at full power would last only twenty minutes before some failure occurred; by the middle of July it was still lasting only half an hour; by 3rd August a run of 58 minutes at 2,360 h.p. was accomplished, two minutes short of the one hour considered necessary to give the required standard of reliability.

On 12th August, exactly one month before the date of the contest, a full hour's non-stop run at 2,350 h.p. was recorded, and the S6bs were fitted with this motor weighing 1,630 lbs. Later, a "sprint" motor of the same type, modified to produce an output of 2,530 h.p. for a more limited time, enabled the S6b flown by George Stainforth to raise the world speed record to 407 m.p.h.

Orlebar, who had made all the first tests of the 1929 machines himself, and had taken the world speed record to 357 m.p.h. on the S6 after that contest, was again appointed Captain of the High Speed flight. Flight Lieut. George Stainforth, who had been in the last team, but had not flown in the contest, was again selected. Supermarine built two modified seaplanes, rather similar in outward appearance to the S6, but with these improved Rolls-Royce motors. The seaplanes were called S6b. The two S6s of 1929 were used for training and as reserves.

Training took place from Calshot, as in 1929. As the day of the race drew near, first the French and then the Italians dropped out as they could not make their seaplanes flyable in time. As Britain had spent £100,000 on preparing its machines, and had allowed less time for it than the rivals had taken, it was decided that the R.A.F. would fly over the course, and win and retain this Trophy, which was becoming so expensive to many nations.

The Air Ministry announced that on Saturday, 12th September 1931, one S6b would fly over the course. It would not fly all-out, so as to make sure, at any rate, of a place. If it failed, or put up a speed which was not considered good enough, then the other S6b would fly all-out. If that failed, an S6 would fly over and make sure of a win.

Saturday dawned cold, windy and wet, so an announcement was made over the loud speakers, which had been installed round the course, that the contest would be postponed until Sunday. Sunday was a better day, but far from ideal. ln the morning Flight Lieut. (now Air Marshal) John Boothman started out on the S6b. He flew steadily through the rather misty conditions. As he passed over land at Southsea on the first laps, it was seen that he was getting badly bumped by the rough air. So on the later rounds he passed further out to sea. He flew at a constant height of about 500 feet. When he had completed the seven laps, his speed was announced as 340.6 m.p.h. That was rather a disappointing speed, being only about 10 m.p.h. up on last year, but in view of the bad flying conditions, it was an extremely fine effort. John told me later that he had been bumped badly on various parts of the course, and the misty conditions made things very difficult.

When he got back to Calshot, he rather naturally received a great ovation. Some years later, in 1946, I introduced a friend to John, and said, "Last time my friend saw you, you flew past him very fast in the Schneider." John, in the age of 600 m.p.h. aircraft, replied, "According to present standards I must have been positively loitering!"

For this last contest, the Royal Aero Club chartered the S.S. Homeric on which members and their friends were able to book accommodation. The poor weather, and the lack of foreign competition, ensured that it was not such a good party as in 1929. Thus ended the series of twelve contests for the most famous aviation trophy of all times. Jacques Schneider, who had now fallen on evil times, could not have envisaged what he was starting when he first offered his prize in 1912. Many of us thought that we were seeing real high-speed flying, either in England or elsewhere, for the last time. Yet in the 1939-45 war, fighters, and even bombers, surpassed the speeds of the 1931 Schneider racers, and at the first S.B.A.C. air display after the war in 1946, we saw four jet aircraft demonstrated at over 600 m.p.h., which made those Schneider speeds seem quite slow.

When I flew to Copenhagen in 1950 in the Comet, in which there were 25 people, I walked to the cockpit and saw we were cruising at 490 m.p.h. I remarked to my fellow passengers that this would have shaken the Schneider boys of 1931 if they could then have envisaged an airliner at 34,000 feet with passengers lying back in armchairs, cruising at 150 m.p.h. faster than the Schneider machines could race!

From 1931-39, there was no incentive to encourage the building of high speed aircraft. George Stainforth, who was killed on active service during the war, raised the world speed record from 357 m.p.h. in 1929 to 407.02 in 1931, thus fulfilling Mitchell's opinion expressed after the 1929 contest that he could raise the speed by 50 m.p.h.

The Schneider Trophy in 1950 stood in an inconspicuous corner of the Royal Aero Club quite inappropriate to its dignity and importance. In the twelve contests for the Trophy which have been held since 1913, Great Britain has competed on eight occasions. Fifteen different pilots have represented Great Britain. Only one British pilot competed in more than one contest: Henri Biard, who flew in 1922, when he won, and 1923, and 1925.

The British pilots each year have been:
     1914     Howard Pixton (winner), Lord Carbery.
     1919     Lieut.-Col. Vincent Nicholl, Harry Hawker, Squadron Commander B. D. Hobbs.
     1922     Henri Biard (winner).
     1923     Henri Biard, R. W. Kenworthy.
     1925     Henri Biard, Hubert Broad, Bert Hinkler.
     1927     Flight Lieut. S. N. Webster (winner), Flight Lieut. O. E. Worsley, Flight Lieut. S. M. Kinkhead.
     1929     Flight Lieut. R. D. Waghorn (winner), Flying Officer R. L. R. Atcherley, Flight Lieut. D. D'Arcy Greig.
     1931     Flight Lieut. John Boothman (winner).

Other countries which competed were: France, Italy, U.S.A., and Switzerland. In 1914 Germany entered but their seaplane crashed before the contest.

The following were the winners:

     1913     France won at Monaco with a Deperdussin (160 h.p. Gnôme) flown by Maurice Prévost at 45.75 m.p.h. over a course of 150 sea miles.
     1914     Great Britain won at Monaco with a Sopwith (100 h.p. Gnôme) flown by C. Howard Pixton at 86.75 m.p.h. (150 sea miles).
     1919     Contest at Bournemouth. Annulled.
     1920     Italy won at Venice with a Savoia S19 (550 h.p. Ansaldo) flown by Luigi Bologna at 107.12 m.p.h. (202 sea miles).
     1921     Italy won at Venice with a Macchi VII (200 h.p. lsotta-Fraschini) flown by G. de Briganti at 110.48 m.p.h. (200 sea miles).
     1922     Great Britain won at Naples with a Supermarine Sea Lion (450 h.p. Napier "Lion") flown by Henri Biard at 145.62 m.p.h. (200 sea miles).
     1923     United States of America won at Cowes with a Curtiss C.R. (465 h.p. Curtiss D12) flown by Lieut. David Rittenhouse, U.S.N.. at 177.38 m.p.h. (186 sea miles).
     1924     No Contest.
     1925     United States of America won at Baltimore with a Curtiss R3C-2 (600 h.p. Curtiss V 1400) flown by Lieut. J. Doolittle. U.S. Army, at 232.57 m.p.h. (188.86 sea miles).
     1926     Italy won at Hampton Roads with a Macchi M39 (800 h.p. Fiat AS2) flown by Major de Bernardi at 246.49 m.p.h. (188.86 sea miles).
     1927     Great Britain won at Venice with a Supermarine S5 (875 h.p. Napier "Lion") flown by Flight Lieut. S. N. Webster at 281.65 m.p.h. (188.86 sea miles).
     1929     Great Britain won at Ryde with a Supermarine S6 (1,900 h.p. Rolls-Royce R) flown by Flight Lieut. H. R. D. Waghorn at 328.63 m.p.h. (188.86 sea miles).
     1931     Great Britain won at Ryde with a Supermarine S6b (2,350 h.p. Rolls-Royce R) flown by Flight Lieut. John Boothman at 340.6 m.p.h. (188.86 sea miles). As this was Great Britain's third consecutive win, she retained the Trophy.
CHAPTER 22

GORDON BENNETT AVIATION CUP

Won by Curtiss in 1909—Grahame-White wins for Britain—a crash at Eastchurch—great speeds of 1914—France wins outright—the Deutsch Cup Race.

AN American, Gordon Bennett, offered trophies in the early days of motoring and ballooning. The Trophy for ballooning was still open for competition in 1950. In 1909 he offered an aviation cup for an international speed race. The first contest was held in August 1909 during the famous first Rheims Aviation Meeting. Each country with an Aero Club affiliated to the F.A.I. was entitled to enter a team of three. France entered Lefevre (Wright), Blériot (Blériot), and Latham (Antoinette). Great Britain entered George Cockburn on a Farman, and America entered Glen Curtiss on a Curtiss. The course was 20 kms. (12.4 miles). Curtiss, on his biplane driven by a motor of his own design developing 30 h.p., completed the course in 15 minutes 503/5  seconds, a speed of about 47 m.p.h. The monoplanes of Blériot and Latham were expected to be faster than Curtiss' biplane, but Curtiss won. In Schneider Trophy races fifteen years later, Curtiss biplanes won on two occasions, 1923 and 1925.

ln accordance with the rules, the contest the following year was held in the country of the winner. It was staged in Belmont Park, New York, at the end of October 1910. Great Britain entered Claude Grahame-White in a Blériot, James Radley also in a Blériot, and Alec Ogilvie in a Wright. France entered Alfred Leblanc in a Blériot, and Hubert Latham in an Antoinette. America defended with Brookins (Wright), Moisant (Blériot), and Drexel (Blériot).

Grahame-White was the first to start on the course of 100 kms. (62.1 miles). He completed it in 1 hour 1 minute 4.74 seconds, at a speed of just under 60 m.p.h. [Note 10]. Leblanc had bettered Grahame-White's time and was therefore leading in the twentieth and last lap. Then, at a sharp turn, he collided with a telegraph pole and was lucky to escape with only bruises and scratches. Moisant came second and Alec Ogilvie was third. This was the first big international air race ever to be won by Britain. Comment was made at the time that it was a pity it could not have been won on a British aeroplane driven by a British motor. This British win meant that, under the rules, the race in 1911 would be organised by the Royal Aero Club in Britain. It was held at the Club's own flying ground at Eastchurch on 1st July 1911. Great Britain entered a full team of three, consisting of Alec Ogilvie in a "Baby" Wright, Gustav Hamel in a Blériot, and Douglas Graham Gilmour in a Bristol monoplane. Oscar Morrison, James Radley, and James Valentine were nominated as reserves.

America entered C. T. Weymann in a French Nieuport, and France entered Alfred Leblanc (Blériot), Edouard Nieuport (Nieuport), and M. Chevalier (Nieuport). The Nieuport, a very clean monoplane, had been creating a sensation for its high speed.

Gustav Hamel, in order to get more speed, reduced the surface of his monoplane by cutting off the wing-tips. In practice, he had found that his machine was not as fast as that of Weymann so, with Blériot's approval, Hamel's wings were clipped still more, bringing his wing span down to 17 feet. In a test circuit Hamel's Blériot was now timed to be slightly faster than Weymann's Nieuport. Had he flown in the race, making the same wide sweeps at the turns as he made in the test circuit, he might have won, but he tried to take the first turn too sharply, got out of control, and crashed into the ground 150 feet beyond the first turn. He escaped with a shaking and bruises. Weymann in his Nieuport (100 h.p. Gnôme) won, covering the 94 miles in 1 hour 11 minutes 361/5 seconds. The cup went to America for the second time.

The race was flown in Chicago in September 1912. The distance was 200 kms. (124.8 miles). There were only two starters, both French, so the cup returned to France. Védrines won on a Deperdussin (140 h.p. Gnôme) in 1 hour 10 minutes 56 seconds, which was 105 m.p.h. Prévost, on a similar machine, finished in 1 hour 15 minutes 25 seconds.

In 1913 the race was once again held at Rheims, but it lost most of its interest as it was an all-French affair, no foreign challengers being forthcoming. Maurice Prévost won on a Deperdussin (160 h.p. Gnôme) by covering the 200 kms. (124.8 miles) in 59 minutes 45 seconds, at a speed of about 125 m.p.h.

The outbreak of war prevented the 1914 contest from being held and there was no further contest until 1920, when it was held at Etampes over a course of 300 kms. (186.5 miles). It was expected that this would prove a most exciting contest. During the war, speeds had increased considerably since the 1913 race. A strong team of Americans had been brought over, partly sponsored by a picturesque American who was armed with a large walking-stick which seemed to be "armour-plated" with gold.

Great Britain had expected to be represented by a Sopwith and a Martinsyde "Semiquaver", but the Sopwith firm had just gone into liquidation and the machine with it, which left only the Martinsyde, flown by Freddie Raynham. Sadi Lecointe flying a Nieuport (300 h.p. Hispano-Suiza) won, by covering the 300 kms. in 1 hour 6 minutes 171/5 seconds. France, having won the cup three times in succession, won it outright, and that was the end of the famous series. Raynham failed to complete the first lap, owing to motor trouble. The Americans and the other Frenchmen all failed to complete the course.

A cup to replace the Gordon Bennett was then presented by the Deutsch de la Meurthe family, to be called the Deutsch Cup, but it never attracted the interest which the Gordon Bennett Aviation Cup had. The Schneider Trophy had become the chief prize. In 1921 the contest for the Deutsch Cup was held on 1st October at Ville-Sauvage, Etampes. France produced three entries, Great Britain one (J. H. James. Gloster "Bamel" with 450 h.p. Napier "Lion") and Italy one (Brack Papa, Fiat biplane with 700 h.p. Fiat motor).

James gave up as he found that the fabric on his upper plane was "ballooning". Brack Papa was forced down with motor trouble. Georges Kirsch won for France on a Nieuport-Astra (300 h.p. Hispano Suiza), by covering the course of 300 kms. in 1 hour 11 minutes 391/5 seconds.

The next and last race was held again at Etampes. Great Britain again entered "Jimmy" James on the Gloster "Bamel", and Italy again entered Brack Papa on the same old "stick and string" strutted and braced biplane. The British sent over a strong contingent of supporters, for whom Sir Frank McClean laid on an excellent lunch. We had all hoped to see James win this time, and both the directors of the Gloster Company, Martin and Longden, were there to see him win. Ferdinand Lasne won in a Nieuport-Astra, similar to the last winner, by covering the 300 kms. in 1 hour 2 minutes 114/5 seconds. James retired because he said that he was being strangled by the string with which he had hung his map round his neck. This was a great disappointment as it seemed that the "Bamel" was faster than the French machines.

Sadi Lecointe was flying a Nieuport "Sesquiplane" (1½ planes) whose lower plane was merely a fared undercart strut. After a splendid exhibition of sharp turning at the first home turn, Sadi went off for another lap, but soon he returned and approached to land. He made an exceedingly bad landing for so good a pilot, "porpoised" a bit, and then bounced over on to his back. He came out of it unhurt and when we went to the refreshment tent to have a drink together, I asked him the cause of his accident. He just laughed and shrugged his shoulders and murmured something in French about racing machines which I could not quite understand.

The British contingent went sadly back to Paris after this, the last big speed race for land aircraft in Europe until the Folkestone Trophy at Lympne in 1947.

The Pulitzer race in America succeeded as the next big international air speed race for land aircraft, but there were no foreign competitors, and all international speed efforts were henceforth centred on the Schneider Trophy, until Britain won it outright in 1931.
CHAPTER 23

THE AERIAL DERBY

Race round London—first entry list—Sopwith wins after disqualification—revived after 1918 war—inverted ending—speed of nearly 200 m.p.h.—Oxford and Cambridge air race.

SOON after Claude Grahame-White established his company at Hendon Aerodrome in 1910 whence his rival Paulhan had begun his London-Manchester flight, he and his business manager Richard Gates began to arrange week-end flying race meetings. To attract a crowd of more than 20,000 people to see flying races on a Saturday at Hendon was quite usual between the summer of 1910 and the outbreak of war in August 1914. Many valuable cups, trophies, and money prizes were offered and won. There were races from Hendon to Brooklands, Brooklands to Brighton, and pylon races round circuits of Hendon.

On 8th June 1912, the first Aerial Derby was held, organised by the Grahame-White Company under the competition rules of the Royal Aero Club. This race was flown over a circuit of 81 miles round Greater London, and the winner was the pilot who completed the circuit in the fastest time. Starting from Hendon the course was via Kempton Park water works, Esher station, Russell Hill School at Purley, Purfleet, Epping Tower, High Barnet station, and back to Hendon.

There were seven starters: S. V. Sippe, Hanriot; T.O.M. Sopwith, Blériot; Gustav Hamel, Blériot; Pierre Verrier, Maurice Farman; W. B. Rhodes-Moorhouse, Radley-Moorehouse; M. Guillaux, Caudron monoplane, and James Valentine, Bristol. The winner was Sopwith in his Blériot with 70 h.p. Gnôme at 58.5 m.p.h. At first he was disqualified because it was alleged that he had failed to round the turning point at Purley. There was mist at the time, but Sopwith claimed, and subsequently proved, that he had rounded the turning point, and he was awarded the race. The turning point at Purley was the tower of Russell Hill School, which stands on the hill just above Croydon airport; it was lit in more recent years by a red light as it was considered an obstruction to civil aircraft.

In 1913 the course was altered slightly and increased to 100 miles. It went from Hendon to Kempton Park, Epsom race course grand stand, West Thurrock chimneys, Epping, Hertford station, Hendon. There were 15 entries and the winner was Gustav Hamel in a Morane at 75.18 m.p.h.

The 1914 Derby was unfortunate in many ways. First of all, Gustav Hamel, who was one of the best-known British pilots of that time, was lost in the English Channel when flying from France in a special racing Morane for the race. The race was postponed owing to bad weather, and eventually was flown a week later than the announced date, in weather which was still bad. The course was very similar to that of the previous year and there were eleven starters. The winner was the American (domiciled in England), Walter Brock, flying a French Morane at 72.15 m.p.h.

As soon as the War ended in 1918, flying people at once wanted to revive air racing. Because of the war, flying had become familiar to a much wider public. All the pilots in the 1919 Aerial Derby bore military titles, for the R.A.F. had not by then adopted its new ranks. There were 12 starters, and all except two were Service types of aeroplanes, the exceptions being two Avro "Baby" biplanes which were the first attempts at private owner types.

I watched this race from the grand-stand on Epsom race course. Most of the aeroplanes rounded this turning point in a bunch, except the two "Babies", which were behind, so it was very satisfactory to hear later that one of them won the handicap. The race was won by Captain G. Gathergood flying a DH4R, which had the wing surface reduced, and a 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" motor instead of the normal 350 h.p. Rolls-Royce. His speed was 129.38 m.p.h.

The 1920 Derby was over two laps of the round London course. For the first time bookmakers appeared at Hendon, led by one who called himself "Long Tom". The race was won by Frank Courtney in the Martinsyde "Semiquaver" at 153.45 m.p.h. He made a sensational finish, for, having crossed the line as winner, he approached to land, bounced, and turned over on to his back. He told me later that he got a good crack on the head, which almost, but not quite, made him unconscious.

The sixth Aerial Derby in 1921, flown from Hendon round the same course as before, was notable because it produced the first British aeroplane specially built for racing. That was the famous "Bamel"—to give it its official name, the Gloster "Mars I" powered by a 450 h.p. Napier "Lion." It was designed by Harry Folland and the fuselage was a British Nieuport "Nighthawk", built by the firm for which Folland had been designer before going to the Gloster firm (which at that time called itself "Gloucester"—the name was changed some years later as foreigners could not comprehend the curiosities of English pronunciation). The name "Bamel" was invented by Folland as being one of the mythical, and not very polite, animals belonging to a showman who existed in stories prevalent in the flying service during the 1914-18 war. "Jimmy" James won the race at a speed of 163.8 m.p.h.

The seventh Derby was flown in 1922, this time from Croydon airport, round almost the same course as before. James again won it in the Bamel at 177.8 m.p.h.

The eighth and last Aerial Derby was flown in August 1923 from Croydon round the same double circuit of London. The winner was Larry Carter, who had replaced James as chief pilot to the Gloster Co. Folland had cleaned up the Bamel, which now flew round the course at 192.36 m.p.h.

Croydon was then the airport of London, and the airliners of the day, flying at less than 100 m.p.h., looked very slow compared to the Bamel. As the Bamel flashed across the finishing line Sir Sefton Brancker, that famous and well-loved Director of Civil Aviation, remarked to me that one day we would see airliners as fast as the Bamel. Such an idea then seemed to me impossible. I remembered that remark in April 1949 when I was flying up the Nile across the Sudan in a Solent flying-boat at 210 m.p.h. with 30 passengers in the greatest comfort. And I thought of it when flying to Copenhagen in the Comet at 490 m.p.h. in 1950!

The Aerial Derby was not flown again. Greater London had grown, so that much of the old course was over built-up areas, but the race had served its purpose in stimulating air racing.

In 1921 a young Cambridge undergraduate, O. E. Simmonds, later Sir Oliver Simmonds, organised an inter-Varsity air race between Oxford and Cambridge. It was flown as a team race, each member of the team flying an SE5a. It was again flown at Croydon in 1922, but what might have been a good idea was allowed to die.
CHAPTER 24

BRITANNIA AND SEGRAVE TROPHIES

Barber—early airlift buys Trophy—most meritorious British flight in year—Longcroft wins it first—many famous names—no feats good enough in 1921 or 1949—all the winners—Segrave Trophy—conditions and winners.

THE BRITANNIA Trophy was presented to the Royal Aero Club in 1913 by Horatio Barber, to be awarded each year to the British aviator who, in the judgment of the Committee, had achieved the most meritorious performance in the air during the preceding year. It has, ever since, been considered one of the most prized trophies in British aviation.

Barber was not only one of the earliest British pilots, having obtained Aviators' Certificate No. 30, but also one of the earliest British designers and constructors. In 1911 he formed a company at Hendon aerodrome named the Aeronautical Syndicate Ltd., which built a curious, but quite successful, tail-first monoplane, the "Valkyrie", of which about a dozen were built, and also a biplane, the "Viking". The latter was a more orthodox tractor biplane, driven by twin tractor screws, which were driven off a single Gnôme engine by means of chains, but was not a success.

The first airlift of goods in Great Britain took place on 4th July 1911, when Barber flew a package of Osram lamps for the General Electric Company from Shoreham aerodrome and landed on Hove Lawns, Brighton. For this demonstration of the future possibilities of air transport he was given a cheque for £100 by the G.E.C.

He made the flight purely as a demonstration and not with any idea of making money by it, so when the G.E.C. gave him the cheque he preferred to retain his amateur status as a pilot and handed the £100 to the Royal Aero Club to buy the Britannia Trophy.

This Trophy stands about 24 inches high. It is a silver figure of Britannia, with hawk and trident, standing on a marble plinth. On the sides of the plinth are silver plates bearing the names of past winners. There was no longer sufficient space left on these to commemorate all winners, so a new plate was added in 1946. The Trophy is the work of G. T. Power, then of 199 Piccadilly.

Barber ended the Syndicate in 1913 as there was not a big enough market for aeroplanes of such original types. In 1914 he joined the R.F.C., in which he was an instructor, first of all at Shoreham, where he achieved a reputation of having such a loud voice that he could be heard from the ground yelling instructions to his pupils, above the roar of 70 h.p. motors in Maurice Farmans.

At a meeting of the R.Ae.C. Committee on 20th January 1914, a number of meritorious flights were considered. The Committee had previously issued a notice asking members of the Club, as well as non-members, to send in suggestions on flights which merited consideration.

The award for 1913 was finally made to Captain C. A. H. Longcroft, No. 2 Squadron, R.F.C. for a non-stop flight on 22nd November 1913, on a BE2 biplane with a 70 h.p. Renault motor, from Montrose in Scotland to Portsmouth, and back to Farnborough, a total distance of 445 miles, in seven and a quarter hours. The flight from Montrose to Portsmouth was accepted by the Club as the first British distance record in a straight line. As there was no world record for distance in a straight line recognised by the F.A.I. until 1925, the flight could not be submitted.

The Trophy was awarded for 1914 to Squadron Commander J. W. Seddon, R.N.A.S., for a flight in a Maurice Farman "Shorthorn" pusher seaplane from the Isle of Grain in North Kent along the South Coast to Plymouth, with a stop at Calshot, on 21st January. A submarine had sunk off Plymouth, and it was decided to use aircraft to search for it. There was no seaplane nearer than the Isle of Grain, so Squadron Commander Seddon, with Engine Room Artificer Teasdale as passenger, left Grain at 9.15 a.m. They passed Beachy Head at 11.40 a.m. and Selsey Bill at 12.20 p.m., and arrived at Calshot at 12.40 p.m. They continued at 2.20 p.m. and arrived at Plymouth at 4.30 p.m. They had a steady following wind, and the speed for the whole journey was about 60 m.p.h. for the 350 miles. Having flown over the spot where the submarine had already been located, the return flight to Grain was made two days later.

The Trophy was not again awarded until the end of the war. It was awarded posthumously for 1919 to Sir John Alcock, who, with Sir Arthur Whitten-Brown, made the first direct flight across the Atlantic in a Vickers "Vimy", with two Rolls-Royce 350 h.p. "Eagle" engines.

For 1920 the Trophy was awarded for the first time to the private owner of an aeroplane, the forerunner of the light aeroplanes to come. It was won by H.J.L. Hinkler, who later became world-famous as Bert Hinkler. He obtained a "Baby" Avro with a 35 h.p. water-cooled Green engine, which was about ten years old. He had bought the "Baby" to fly to his native Australia. Hinkler brought the machine to Croydon, where I met him for the first time and showed him around. Some of those who were engaged in the earliest civil aviation, and were getting used to engines as big as the 450 h.p. Napier "Lion", looked contemptuously at Bert's "Baby". I heard one airline executive, who knew no better, say, when he heard the little Green running up, "Tell him to take that damn-fool thing away".

Bert left Croydon at 4.50 a.m. on 31st May 1920. The next heard of him was that he had landed at Turin, 700 miles away, at 2.21 p.m., having taken nine and a half hours for the flight. He told me later that he had violent toothache during the flight, and had to hang his face over the side into the cool slipstream to get relief. On arriving at Turin, he found that one or two of the valves had distorted, and he decided it would be quickest to fly back for spares. He would be delayed in Italy in any case, as there was a rising in Irak, and the British Government would not permit him to pass through on his way to Australia. He flew back and the "Baby" was exhibited at the Aero Show at Olympia in July, where it attracted much attention.

The Committee considered that there had been no outstanding flight in 1921 so the Trophy was not awarded for that year.

In 1922 it was awarded for the first, and so far the only, time to the pilot of a motorless aircraft.

F. P. Raynham, one of the earliest British pilots, had a glider made for him by George Handasyde, who was the "syde" of the famous Martinsyde firm, for a gliding prize. So short was the time for building that Handasyde saved time by linking the ailerons direct with a wire passing through the top of the cockpit. As neither "Handy" nor Freddie Raynham expected that a flight of more than two or three minutes would be made, they thought this control would be adequate. Raynham was able to soar for one hour 53 minutes and he was awarded the Britannia Trophy for that splendid first flight on a glider with quite inadequate control.

In 1923 the Trophy went to Alan Cobham (now Sir) for a tour in a DH9 with a paying passenger, Lucien Sharpe, through Europe, Egypt, Palestine, North Africa, Spain and back to London, a total distance of 12,000 miles. Cobham had set up as a "transcontinental air taxi-man", and this was the first of many splendidly organised flights which he undertook.

For 1924 the Trophy went, for the first time jointly, to the pilot and navigator of one aircraft. Wing-Commander S. J. Goble, D.S.O., D.F.C., with Flight Lieut. Ivor E. McIntyre, flew a Fairey IIId (375 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Eagle") right round the coast of Australia between 6th April and 19th May 1924, a distance of 8,568 miles, in 44 days, in an elapsed flying time of 90 hours. This was the longest recorded flight then made in a seaplane.

In 1925 Alan Cobham was again the winner, for a flight in a DH50 (240 h.p. Siddeley "Puma") from London to Rangoon and back, carrying the Director of Civil Aviation, Sir Sefton Brancker, on official business. His other passenger was Arthur B. Elliott, his mechanic. This flight attracted a great deal of notice, and a big crowd gathered at Croydon to welcome them home. The whole flight was not made in 1925. lt began on 20th March 1924, and ended on 17th March 1925. A great deal of time was spent in lndia, Burma, and places along the route, where Sir Sefton negotiated with local authorities for the forthcoming Empire air-route to India, Burma, and eventually to Australia.

Once again, the next year, 1926, the Trophy was awarded to Cobham for a flight from England to Australia and back. He completed the return flight of 24,000 miles between 30th June and 1st October. He was knighted by King George V soon after his return.

In 1927 the Trophy was won by Lieut. Richard Reid Bentley, who is now well known in the flying world as Dick Bentley, of the Shell-B.P. organisation until he retired. He flew a Moth with a Cirrus II motor from Croydon to Cape Town. He left Croydon on 1st September and arrived at Cape Town on 28th September.

In 1928 Bert Hinkler again won the Trophy for putting up the first "record" flight from England to Australia. At that time there was no official point-to-point record between towns recognised by the F.A.I., as there is now, so it was only an unofficial record. Bert is always looked upon as the "inventor" of long-distance flights for light aeroplanes, and many pilots later emulated or surpassed his feats. He flew on an Avro "Avian" with 80 h.p. "Cirrus" motor from Croydon to Port Darwin, 11,005 miles, in 15½ days. He was rewarded by the Australian Government by the granting of the rank of squadron leader in the R.A.A.F., and the A.F.C.

In 1929 the Trophy went, for the first time, to a woman. lt was awarded to the Hon. Lady Bailey for a flight from Croydon to South Africa and back via the West Coast, in a Cirrus-Moth, a distance of about 18,000 miles. Lady Bailey, who learned to fly at the London Aeroplane Club in late middle age, flew to Johannesburg to see her husband, Sir Abe Bailey. She did not really expect to get much further than Marseilles. When she reached Johannesburg she thought she would fly on to the Cape, and then "thought it would be fun" to fly back, especially by way of the West Coast, a route hitherto not flown. Though the greater part of the flight was made in 1928, the Trophy was awarded to her for 1929 as she made such a fine flight for a club-trained pilot.

In 1930 the Trophy went to Charles (later Sir Charles) Kingsford Smith for a series of great flights. First of all he flew on his tri-motor Fokker (three Wright "Whirlwind"), which he named Southern Cross from Ireland to Newfoundland. He took as second pilot the Dutch K.L.M. pilot E. Van Dyk, with J. W. Stannage and Captain J. P. Saul as navigators. They left Portmarnock Strand, near Dublin, on 24th June, 1930, and reached Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in 30 hours 20 minutes, the next day. This was the last lap but one of a flight, lasting many months, in which "Smithy" took the Southern Cross right round the world from San Francisco, via Australia. Later in the year he returned to England, where he bought an Avro Sports-Avian (Gipsy II), which he named Southern Cross Junior. He flew this from Heston to Port Darwin between 9th and 19th September, thus beating Bert Hinkler's time.

In 1931 the Trophy was won once again by Bert Hinkler for an amazing flight of 10,560 miles in a Puss Moth (Gipsy Major). He set out to fly from New York to London, by way of South America and the South Atlantic. He left New York on 27th October and reached Hanworth, London, on 7th December.

He began the flight in Canada. From New York he flew to Jamaica, and thence straight across the sea to Venezuela. He crossed the South Atlantic from Natal to Dakar. All his navigation was by dead reckoning.

In 1932 the Trophy was won by Capt. Cyril Uwins, the famous (even then considered "veteran") test pilot, for breaking the world height record in a Vickers "Vespa" with a Bristol Pegasus motor. He reached a height of 13,404 metres in a flight which began and ended at Filton on 16th September. This was the first time that Great Britain had ever won the world height record since such records were first attempted in 1909.

In 1933 the Trophy went to James Mollison for a flight from England to South America in just over three days in a Puss Moth (Gipsy Major). He left Lympne on 6th February and reached Port Natal on 9th February, having taken three days 10 hours 8 minutes for the 4,600 miles.

In 1934 the Trophy was won by C. W. A. Scott and T. Campbell Black for the flight from Mildenhall to Melbourne, when they won the MacRobertson race.

In 1935 the Trophy was won again by a woman, Miss Jean Batten, who flew a Percival "Gull" (Gipsy VI) solo across the South Atlantic in 13¼ hours in the course of a flight from England to South America between 11th and 14th November. She was awarded the C.B.E.

She again won the Trophy in 1936 for a flight from England to her native New Zealand in the same "Gull" in 11 days one hour 25 minutes between 5th and 16th October. The flight included the risky crossing of the Tasman Sea, 1342 miles noted for its storms.

In 1937 the Trophy went to Flying Officer A. E. Clouston for a series of flights in a "Comet" (two Gipsy Vls). The first was a creditable performance in a race from Marseilles to Damascus and back to Paris on 20th and 21st August. Then he flew from Croydon to Cape Town in 45 hours 6 minutes, and back again in 57 hours 23 minutes between 14th and 20th November.

The Trophy was awarded in 1938 to Squadron Leader R. Kellett, who was the leader of a special Long-distance Flight formed by the R.A.F. to break the world distance record. Three Vickers Wellesleys (840 h.p. "Pegasus") took off from Ismalia in Egypt. One of them ran short of fuel and landed on Timor Island, but the other two reached Port Darwin, a distance of 11,520 kms. (7,158.6 miles). Kellett had as crew Flight Lieut. R. T. Gething and Pilot Officer M. L. Gaine. The other machine which shared the record was piloted by Flight Lieut. B. K. Burnett and had as crew flight Lieut. A. N. Coombe and Sergt. B. Gray.

For 1939 the Trophy was awarded to Alex Henshaw for a solo flight in a Percival "Mew Gull" (Gipsy Vlr) from London to Cape Town and back in four days 10 hours and one minute, which included a rest of 27 hours at Cape Town. He left Gravesend on 5th February 1939, and reached Cape Town one day 15 hours 25 minutes later. The homeward trip took only 11 minutes longer. The last part of the journey was accomplished in very bad conditions, which were made worse by the cramped cockpit of the tiny "Mew Gull". Over Europe on the homeward leg he encountered cloud and icing. He got some nasty bangs on the head from turbulence, which caused bleeding. He went to 18,000 feet, which made things better but increased the bleeding. He was also feeling the effects of tropical fever, and he looked in rather a bad way when he was lifted from the cockpit at Gravesend. His average speed was about 152 m.p.h.. and beat the point-to-point speed record each way between London and Cape Town as recognised by the F.A.I.

As soon as the war ended, British aviators began to show the World the great advance of British aircraft during the war. It was realised that many Service fighters could easily beat the world speed record of 755.14 kms.p.h. (468.94 m.p.h.) held by Germany.

Two jet-propelled Gloster "Meteors" (two Rolls-Royce "Derwent" gas-turbines) were prepared for an attack on the record at Herne Bay. Eric Greenwood, Gloster chief pilot, who had done most of the preliminary research flying, was to fly one Meteor, and Group Capt. H. J. Wilson, R.A.F., the other. After a long delay for suitable weather, Wilson exceeded the old record by 137 m.p.h. by reaching a speed of 976 kms.p.h. (606 m.p.h.). Eric Greenwood was at first thought to have attained a slightly higher speed, but when the automatic-timed figures were finally corrected, it was seen that "Willie" Wilson’s speed was slightly the higher and he was awarded the record, and, later, the Britannia Trophy.

In 1946 the Trophy again went to a pilot for beating the speed record. Group Capt. E. M. Donaldson attained a speed of 991 kms.p.h. (616 m.p.h.) on 7th September at Littlehampton. He and his two co-pilots of the R.A.F., "Bill" Waterton and Neville Duke, waited for six weeks throughout one of the coldest Augusts on record before being able to beat the record. It was computed that for each degree the temperature rose, an extra mile an hour speed could be reached. Once again Eric Greenwood did the preliminary test work.

For 1947 the Trophy was awarded to Squadron Leader H. B. Martin, D.S.O., D.F.C., and Squadron Leader E. B. Sismore, D.F.C., for a flight from London to Cape Town in 21 hours in a de Havilland Mosquito with two Rolls-Royce "Merlin" motors, at an average speed of 312 m.p.h.

For 1948 the Trophy went to John Cunningham, D.S.O., D.F.C.. for breaking the world height record in a de Havilland Vampire with Ghost turbojet on 23rd March 1948, reaching 18,133 metres or 59,492 feet.

The Royal Aero Club did not consider that there was any performance during 1949 sufficiently meritorious for an award, so, for the second time, it was withheld.

The Segrave Memorial Trophy was set up to commemorate the late Sir Henry Segrave, one time holder of the land and water speed records, and designer of the Segrave "Meteor" aeroplane. Sir Henry was killed in a racing motor-boat when trying for the water speed record on Lake Winderinere in 1930. An awarding committee was set up consisting of representatives of the Royal Automobile Club, the Royal Aero Club, the Marine Motoring Association, the Newspaper Proprietors' Association, the lnstitution of Mechanical Engineers, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the Institute of Automobile Engineers.

The Committee sat each year, except from 1941-1945, to review the achievements of the previous year. The award was made to the British subject of either sex who, in the judgment of the Awarding Committee, had accomplished the most outstanding demonstration of the possibilities of transport by land, air, or water.

The following awards have been made:—

1930. Wing Commander Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, K.B.E., for his East-West flight across the Atlantic, and his England-Australia flight in 10 days.
1931. Squadron Leader H. J. L. (Bert) Hinkler, A.F.C., D.S.M., for his flight from New York to London in a Puss Moth by way of Jamaica, Venezuela, Trinidad, Brazil, across the South Atlantic to West Africa, Spain, France.
1932. Mrs. Mollison (Miss Amy Johnson) for a record flight from London to the Cape of Good Hope and back on a Puss Moth.
1933. Captain Sir Malcolm Campbell, K.B.E., for breaking the land speed record at Daytona Beach, U.S.A., on his Bluebird Rolls-Royce car at a speed of 272.108 m.p.h.
1934. Kenneth Waller for his flights from England to Australia and back, and from Brussels to the Belgian Congo and back in a DH "Comet".
1935. Captain George Eyston for breaking the world land speed record at Salt Lake, Utah. U.S.A., and also for setting up new records for one hour, 12 hours, and 24 hours.
1936. Miss Jean Batten, for record flight from England to New Zealand in ll days one hour 25 minutes, in Percival Gull (Gipsy). 1937. Flying Officer A. E. Clouston, A.F.C., for a record flight from England to the Cape of Good Hope and back. Outward time, 45 hours 6 minutes; return time, 57 hours 23 minutes; in a DH "Comet".
1938. Major A. G. T. ("Goldie") Gardner for establishing, on a German autobahn, new records for one kilometre and one mile in a car with an engine of less than 1,100 c.c. capacity.
1939. Captain Sir Malcolm Campbell, K.B.E., for setting up a new water speed record on Lake Coniston on 19th August 1939, when he attained a speed of 141.74 (statute) m.p.h.
1940-45. No awards.
1946. Geoffrey Raoul de Havilland (awarded posthumously) for his outstanding work—culminating in his flight on 27th September 1946. during which he lost his life as a test pilot in connection with the development of high-speed types of aircraft. He not only demonstrated the future possibilities of air transport, but, by his courage, initiative, and skill, worthily upheld British prestige before the world.
1947. John Cobb for driving a car with an aero motor at Bonneville Salt Beds, Utah, U.S.A., over a mile in both directions at 394.2 m.p.h., and over a kilometre at 393.8 m.p.h.
1948. John Douglas Derry, D.F.C., for breaking the world speed record for 100 kms. closed circuit in a de Havilland 108 at an average of 605.230 m.p.h. on 12th April, 1948.
1949. Up to December 1950 the Committee had not made any award, but I was assured by the Competitions Secretary of the Royal Automobile Club that the award had not been withheld and was still under active consideration.
CHAPTER 25

THE KING'S CUP RACES

A Royal offer—to improve the breed—first race won by bomber—over 100 entries in 1930—de Havilland wins—revived in 1949—winners and courses.

IN 1922, His Majesty King George V offered a cup for an air race, the rules for which were drawn up by the Royal Aero Club. Before the first race was held he intimated that it was his intention to offer a cup for a race each year. lt would not be a challenge cup, but a separate cup would be presented each year, which would become the property of the winning entrant.

The Royal Aero Club announced that the race in 1922 would be a handicap. In addition to the handicap, there has always been an additional prize for the competitor who completes the race in the fastest time. The declared object of the race was to improve the breed of smaller civil aeroplanes. For the first four years, high-powered aeroplanes (for those days) were entered.

The first race was won by a DH4a, a war-time day-bomber converted for use as an "airliner", powered with a 375 h.p. "Eagle" Rolls-Royce motor and flown to victory by Frank L. Barnard, chief pilot of the Instone Air Line. The entrant was Sir Samuel Instone, chairman of the company.

The rules insisted that entrants must be private individuals and not firms. The intention was that wealthy people of the types who went in for horse- and motor-racing would be induced to enter for air-racing. As the years passed, that indeed did happen.

In that first race, there were a few types of aeroplanes entered which were suitable for private owners. One had been designed and built specially for a private owner, a DH37 tourer built by the de Havilland Aircraft Co. for Alan S. Butler. In his very first air race, Butler did very well to finish fifth.

There were five other aeroplanes which might have been described as suitable for private owners, including two 35 h.p. Avro "Baby" biplanes. Also entered were two airliners of larger types than the DH4a, the Vickers "Vulcan" (often called the "flying pig" because of its portly figure) and the Bristol ten-seater with a 400 h.p. "Jupiter" motor.

Winston Churchill entered a twin-motor Blackburn "Kangaroo" flown by Spenser Grey, and Sir Walter de Frece entered a similar type of aircraft.

The race was flown over a circuit of England and Scotland. On the first day competitors flew from Croydon, via Birmingham and Newcastle. to Glasgow (Renfrew), where there was a compulsory overnight stop. The next day they flew via Manchester and Bristol to Croydon.

Croydon was then the London Airport, yet it was possible to hold an air race there without seriously interfering with the airlines.

There were a few complaints from the airline operators, but those were not treated seriously. Spry Leverton, then, and until 1950, British manager for K.L.M., suggested that it would be comparable for enthusiastic railway people to hold their athletic sports on the platforms or lines at Victoria station.

Of the 23 entries in that first race, 21 started, and 11 finished. The race attracted much Press notice, and most papers featured it as the main item of news on the day. There was a small crowd at Croydon aerodrome in the early hours of Friday, 8th September, to see the start, crowds at all the stopping points on both days, and a big crowd came to see the finish at Croydon on Saturday, 9th September. The weather, though far from ideal, was not as bad as had been feared, but was bad enough to make careful piloting and navigation necessary.

At the start on Friday morning from Croydon, Barnard, in his keenness, had got away a few seconds before the fall of the flag, having mistaken the starter's "get ready" signal for "off". Some people were of the opinion that he should have been disqualified, but the officials took no action. He was delayed for ten seconds at Birmingham to neutralise his early start.

The race developed into a ding-dong struggle all the way round between Barnard in his DH4a, Freddie Raynham in his Martinsyde F6 (200 h.p. Wolseley "Viper"), and Alan Cobham in a DH9c (230 h.p. Siddeley "Puma").

While awaiting the finish at Croydon, interest had been maintained by posting the latest news of the competitors on a large board. Excitement ran high when it was realised that the final leg from Bristol to Croydon would be neck and neck between Barnard and Raynham.

At about 3.45 p.m. a speck was seen on the western horizon, which proved to be Barnard. As machines had been started off with handicap times deducted, the first one home would be the winner. Barnard flew across the line and was declared the winner. While he was taxi-ing in, Raynham's yellow Martinsyde came into view and he finished second. Cobham came in third, followed closely by Maurice Piercey, Alan Butler, Leslie Hamilton, Stanley Cockerell, Walter Longton, "Cy" Holmes, "Cap" Muir, and John Tennant.

Lieut.-Colonel J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon (now Lord Brabazon) presented the Cup to Sir Samuel Instone. Thus ended the first, and in the opinion of many, the greatest, of all the series of King's Cup races.

The second race took place on 13th-14th July 1923, and the start and finish were at Hendon. Otherwise the course was the same as the previous year. The race was won by Frank Courtney in a "Siskin" ("Jaguar") entered by J. D. Siddeley (later Lord Kenilworth) at a speed of 149 m.p.h.

The entrants of the second and third aeroplanes were those two well-known comedians, George Robey and Harry Tate, both of whom were at Hendon to see the finish. The latter had long been interested in flying, and had been a member of the Royal Aero Club for many years. George Robey entered Alan Cobham in a DH9 with a 450 h.p. Napier "Lion", and Harry Tate entered Hubert Broad in a DH9c with a 230 h.p. "Puma".

Courtney averaged 149 m.p.h. An interesting competitor was Henri Biard, the holder of the Schneider Trophy, in a big amphibian, "Sea Eagle", which was built to operate a flying-boat air service from Southampton. All the pilots in the race were very well-known men.

The race of 1924 was the only one of the series which was open to both land and sea-going aeroplanes. Land-going aeroplanes started from Martlesham Heath in Suffolk, and seaplanes from Felixstowe air station nearby. The slight difference in distance was adjusted in the handicaps.

Unlike the two previous years, the complete race was flown in one day. There were no compulsory alightings en route, but competitors had to round turning points at Leith Harbour, Dumbarton Castle, Pendennis Castle (Falmouth) and the finishing line was Lee-on-Solent pier. The race involved flying for a long time over the Irish Sea. At Lee we could not get much news of the competitors en route, and for some time there was no news at all of Cobham after he had rounded the Dumbarton turning-point. While l was talking to Gladys Cobham on Lee pier, some tactless ass who did not know Mrs. Cobham by sight came up to us and said that it looked as though Cobham might have come down in the lrish Sea. I "shooed" the tactless one away, and Gladys confessed to me that such talk made her a bit nervous, but she was not yet really worrying. Her fears, if they had existed, were soon put at rest, for Alan's DH50 came into view and passed over Lee pier, the winner. He was followed, soon after, by the second man, Norman Macmillan, on the only float seaplane to finish, a Fairey Illd. Alan Butler, in his DH37. was third.

On this occasion, competitors were not started with their handicap times deducted, so the first man over the line was not necessarily the winner. That took much of the interest out of the race, as the slide-rule merchants had to get busy before it was known definitely who had won. The race was not considered a success, and the mixture of land and seaplanes was not again tried.

In 1925 the starting point was again Croydon, and the course was over a circuit of Britain, 804 miles, flown twice, on 9th and 10th July. Frank Barnard was once more the winner. The next year he flew in the Bristol "Badminton", a tricky racing biplane. In that machine he was killed practising for the race, which was one of the very few fatalities connected with this race.

In 1926 the cup was won, for the first time, by a private-owner class of aeroplane. The race started and finished at Hendon, but, instead of a circuit of Britain, the race was over a series of local courses. On the first day, 9th July, competitors flew four circuits of a course from Hendon, via Martlesham and Cambridge, and back to Hendon. The second day they flew four circuits from Hendon via Coventry and Cheltenham, back to Hendon. Thus competitors had to pass through Hendon four times each day, which kept interest alive among the spectators. Hubert Broad won on an all-white DH "Moth" with a 60 h.p. "Cirrus" motor. Five Moths flew in this race, and also what would now be called an "ultra-light" aeroplane, a small "parasol" monoplane designed and built by Cranwell cadets and staff, and flown by Flight Lieut. Nick Comper, who in later years designed the Comper "Swift", which was such a popular mount in King's Cup races in the "thirties".

It had originally been intended to start and finish the 1927 race from Bournemouth, but at meetings held there earlier there had been some unfortunate incidents. Local opinion was against air racing—manifested by a local type who shot at aeroplanes with a shot-gun, but fortunately no harm was done. Also there had been an unfortunate collision during a race there, which involved the deaths of Walter Longton, and J. D. Openshaw of Westlands. The loss of those well-liked pilots, added to the shooting incident, made Bournemouth unpopular among aviation people, who had not forgotten that the place was the scene of the first aviation fatality in Britain, in 1910, when Rolls was killed.

It was decided by the Royal Aero Club to fly the race from Hucknall, near Nottingham. This was the first time that the start and finish had not been in the London area or the Home Counties. At the end of July 1927, the aeronautical community went by train, car, or aeroplane into the Midlands, where they made their headquarters at the Victoria Hotel at Nottingham.

The outstanding feature of this race was the first appearance of a real racing "light" aeroplane, the first "Tiger Moth", quite unlike later craft of that name. It was a very fast low-wing racing single seat monoplane, powered with a "Cirrus" II motor, but later it had the first of all "Gipsy" motors. It was flown by Hubert Broad. I asked Hubert before the race what speed it would do, and he told me about 175 m.p.h. That was quite a shock, for speeds in that region had only been attained by real racing aeroplanes with high-power motors. Later, the Tiger Moth made a speed record of 210 m.p.h. with a "Gipsy" motor. Broad was prevented from making a really good showing, because the race was flown in very bumpy conditions, and he found that he could not fly the little Tiger all-out.

The race was also notable as being the first in which women pilots competed. Mrs. S. C. Elliott-Lynn and the Hon. Lady Bailey each entered a Moth, but the former was prevented from starting because her Moth developed motor trouble, and Lady Bailey also retired as her aeroplane had a broken valve-spring. Later in the meeting, Mrs. Elliott-Lynn won the Grosvenor Cup, the first time an open-to-all race had been won by a woman in this country.

The King's Cup was won by "Wally" Hope, the first of his three wins, this time in a Moth ("Cirrus" I).

At Nottingham I was introduced to the American Jew, Charles Levine, who had just flown the Atlantic as a passenger, and had achieved notoriety by flying his Stinson solo from Le Bourget to Croydon, when he had not learned to fly.

Wally Hope again won the Cup in 1928. This time the race started from Hendon and finished at Brooklands. The course was a circuit of Britain, half of which was flown on 20th July and the rest on the next day. Miss Winifred Spooner, one of the greatest women pilots of all time, finished third, and won the Siddeley Trophy which was awarded to the first club-trained pilot to finish.

This race was unfortunate in causing the first, and till 1950, the only fatal accident in the course of the race itself. A solicitor, who was a club-trained pilot, G. N. Warwick, was flying a small A.N.E.C. biplane powered by an 80 h.p. "Genet" radial motor, when he crashed into Broadlaw Hill near Peebles on the leg between Newcastle and Renfrew in cloudy conditions.

In 1929 the start and finish were at Heston aerodrome. The course was rather longer than previous circuits of Britain. This year the circuit was flown clockwise instead of counter-clockwise. The first leg went up to Norwich and then down to Lympne, and then along the South Coast from east to west before going north. The winner was the ever-popular Dick Atcherley, a member of the Schneider Trophy team of that year. He was then Flying Officer R. L. Atcherley. In 1950 he was Air Vice-Marshal and A.O.C. the Royal Pakistan Air Force. He flew a Gloster "Grebe".

The race in 1930 was remarkable in many ways. It was won for the first time by a woman pilot, Miss Winifred Brown. Club flying throughout the country was making real strides, which had resulted in a big increase in the number of private owners. There were 101 entries for the race. Of those, 88 started and 60 finished. The course was a single 750-mile circuit of England.

For such a race, motors are run full out for most of the distance, so that the high percentage of finishers is an indication of the reliability of motors and the complete freedom from accident is a testimony to the skill of pilots.

Winifred Brown was trained by the Lancashire Aero Club. She had been a well-known county hockey player who had only recently turned to flying. She was flying an Avro "Avian" and won in competition with most of the best professional, Service and club pilots in the country.

The race, which started and finished at Hanworth, was flown on a fine, sunny day.

In 1931 it really was a true race for private-owner types of aeroplanes, and there were no higher powered machines entered. For the first time an aeroplane from one of the Dominions, Canada, was entered, piloted by a Canadian; it was a Curtis-Reid "Rambler" flown by J. C. Webster. Unfortunately, his gallant eflort in coming so far was spoiled by motor trouble on the way round.

The race started and finished at Heston, and among the interested spectators was the present King George VI, then the Duke of York. There was mist and drizzle throughout the race, which was won by Flying Officer E. C. T. Edwards flying a Blackburn "Bluebird"—an aeroplane not very easy to fly under the best conditions. It was difficult to navigate because the side-by-side seating required a rather wide fuselage, which impaired the pilot's view. It was a great feat by its pilot to fly and navigate to victory in such bad conditions of visibility.

In 1932 "Wally" Hope scored his third win. The race was yet another circuit of club airfields in England. It started and ended at Brooklands. Hope thoroughly deserved his victory, for he flew his Fox Moth, whose normal speed was about 110 m.p.h., round this course of 1,223 miles at an average speed of 124.25 m.p.h. He found the extra speed by careful fairing, and by really splendid tuning of his motor.

Second place was taken by a Comper "Swift" with a "Gipsy" motor entered by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales and flown by his own pilot, E. B. ("Mouse") Fielden who later became the Captain of the King's Flight. All except one of the 53 aeroplanes which competed were of the private owner type.

In 1933 the race started and ended at Hatfield, which by now had been developed by the de Havilland Aircraft Company as the aerodrome for their factory. It also accommodated the London Aeroplane Club. The race was split up into heats and a final, as the result of so many entries. The course was over a number of local circuits.

The winner was one of the most remarkable men in aviation, Captain (now Sir) Geoffrey de Havilland, founder of the company from whose airfield the race was being flown. He flew a "Leopard Moth", an aeroplane in whose production he had been the moving spirit.

Racing had always been thought to be a young man's sport. Captain de Havilland had taken Aviators' Certificate No. 53 in February, 1911, and had regularly flown in King's Cup races for the last few years. He was fifty-one years old. Another veteran in this race was Lieut.-Colonel Louis Strange, a pilot of 1913 vintage.

Everyone was delighted by "D.H.'s" win for he has always been very retiring and well liked. Some years before, while flying in a King's Cup race, his propellor flew off when he was flying over a built-up area of Liverpool; but D.H. landed safely and unperturbed. In a later race, at one of the intermediate stops, it was noticed that he had pasted some paper over the oil temperature gauge of a new type of motor which he was giving a try-out in that race. On being asked why he had done it, he replied that the temperature on the gauge was reading very high; but the motor was running well and smoothly; so he hid the gauge so that it should not worry him. He finished the race with the motor undamaged, and later it was found that the gauge was at fault.

Once again, in 1934, the race was from Hatfield with heats and a final. Since the huge entry of over 100 aeroplanes in 1930, entries had fallen off a bit and were remaining each year at about 50. This year there were 43, all private-owner types. Weather was bad for the first day of the heats, but improved the next day for final and semi-finals. The winner was H. M. Schofield flying a twin-motor "Monospar", the first occasion on which the Cup had been won by an aeroplane designed and built by one of the new firms which had entered the aircraft industry to build for the private-owner market. Such firms continued to win until the war stopped the series.

The 1935 race was flown over a circuit of Britain from Hatfield for the eliminating contest, with a final over six laps of a more local circuit. The winner was the popular Tommy Rose, who was test pilot to the firm of Phillips & Powis, which designed and built Miles aeroplanes and later became "Miles Aircraft Ltd." He won in a "Falcon" at an average of 176.28 m.p.h.

ln 1936 the winner was Charles Gardner, a wealthy young man with his own private airfield, sheds and aircraft at Hamsey Green near Croydon. Gardner wore glasses, so when war broke out he was not passed as a pilot for the R.A.F. in spite of the fact that he had two King's Cup wins to his credit. He has no connection with the popular B.B.C. air correspondent.

Gardner won it in 1936 flying a Percival "Vega Gull", of which the later Proctor was a modification (rather than a development). The race consisted of two laps of a circuit from Hatfield of club airfields, with a final of six laps of a more local circuit.

Gardner won again in 1937. This year he flew a Percival "Mew Gull", a small fast single seater, at an average speed of 233.9 m.p.h., which was the first time the Cup had been won at more than 200 m.p.h. The race was over a circuit of Great Britain and Ireland, as far north as Aberdeen, and to Belfast and Dublin. The eliminating race was the first half of the circuit, to Dublin, and the final was the homeward section. The total distance was 1,442½ miles.

In 1938 the last of the series of races during the inter-war years was won by Alex Henshaw on a "Mew Gull" at a speed of 236.25 m.p.h. The course was 20 laps of a circuit from Hatfield via Buntingford and Barton, back to Hatfield, a total of 1,012 miles. By that time, the "touring" types of aeroplanes, which in the mid-period races had made up the bulk of the entries, were too slow, so the race had developed into one for what, in the motor-racing world, would be called "sports" types. Eighteen machines flew in the race and they were all "thoroughbreds". One reason for comparatively few entries was that the international situation was becoming increasingly difficult and the aircraft industry was beginning to convert to a war basis.

Henshaw deserved his win for he had tuned his "Mew Gull" to improve considerably on his handicap time.

The race for 1939 was due to be flown from Elmdon airfield near Birmingham on 2nd September, 1939, but the imminence of war caused it to be cancelled.

In these 17 races for the Cup, it achieved its purpose in producing fast sports types of aeroplanes and engines, and in influencing young and wealthy people to take a practical interest in flying.

In 1949 the race was revived at Elmdon. His Majesty King George VI gave a Challenge Cup to be held for a year by the winner of the handicap. Aircraft could enter if their speed was not less than 120 m.p.h. and power at sea level did not exceed 1,000 h.p. The race was flown over four circuits of a local course of 20 miles. The post-war flying controls with prohibited areas, corridors, and the other frustrations from which we now suffer, prevented a more spectacular course, such as a circuit of Britain, from being chosen. The race was flown in three heats and a final. There were 39 entries. The winner was Nat Somers on a Miles Gemini at 164.25 m.p.h.

The race for 1950 was flown over 187 miles, or three laps of a 100 km. course, starting and finishing at Wolverhampton on 17th June. There were 42 entries. The winner was E. Day, a young Kentish farmer, who had learned to fly since the end of the war. He flew a Miles Hawk Trainer Three, powered by a Gipsy Major. He averaged 138.5 m.p.h. and won by yards from a Hurricane entered by H.R.H. Princess Margaret.

This year's race was marred by the second fatality of the series. The well-known North-country sportsman and amateur aircraft designer, W. H. Moss, was killed while cornering in his Mosscraft.

Twenty of the aircraft which came to the starting line were of Miles manufacture, a similar high proportion to the last year. This proves how far ahead in thought for the needs of private owners was F. G. Miles, the founder of Miles Aircraft Ltd. That company failed financially in 1947 and Fred Miles, the chairman, was prosecuted for fraud. The case dragged on for a long time and, in June 1950, the judge stopped the case and discharged Fred Miles, saying there was not the slightest foundation for an accusation of fraud. In 1950, Fred is starting again in a small way as an aircraft repairer, and we all hope that this enterprise will once again be developed into a big company which will supply the crying needs of private owners for good, safe, cheap aeroplanes with good performance.

The following list gives the winners and courses of the King's Cup races:

1922 8th-9th September; 810 miles; circuit of Britain: Croydon, Birmingham (Castle Bromwich), Newcastle (Town Moor), Glasgow (Renfrew), Manchester (Alexandra Park), Bristol (Filton), Croydon.
Winner: Sir Samuel Instone.
Pilot: F. L. Barnard.
DH4a (375 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Eagle").
Speed: 120 m.p.h.

1923 13th-14th July; 794 miles; circuit of Britain: Hendon, Birmingham (Castle Bromwich), Newcastle (Town Moor), Glasgow (Renfrew), Manchester (Alexandra Park), Bristol (Filton), Hendon.
Winner: J. D. Siddeley, C.B.E.
Pilot: F. T. Courtney.
Armstrong Whitworth "Siskin" (385 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley "Jaguar").
Speed: 149 m.p.h.

1924 12th August; 950 miles; circuit of Britain for landplanes and seaplanes: Martlesham (start for landplanes); Felixstowe (start for seaplanes), Leith Harbour, Dumbarton Castle, Pendennis Castle (Falmouth), Lee-on-Solent pier.
Winner: Sir Charles Wakefield. Bart.
Pilot: Alan J. Cobham.
DH50 (240 h.p. Siddeley "Puma").
Speed: 106 m.p.h.

1925 3rd-4th July; 1,608 miles; circuit of Britain: Croydon, Harrogate (The Stray), Newcastle (Town Moor), Glasgow (Renfrew), Sealand, Bristol (Filton), Croydon. This course was flown twice, 804 miles each day.
Winner: The Rt. Hon. Sir Eric Geddes.
Pilot: F. L. Barnard.
Armstrong Whitworth "Siskin V" (395 h.p. "Jaguar").
Speed: 141 m.p.h.

1926 9th-10th July; 1,464 miles; four circuits of local courses: Hendon, Martlesham, Cambridge, Hendon; Hendon, Coventry, Cheltenham, Hendon.
Winner: Sir Charles Wakefield, Bart.
Pilot: H. S. Broad.
DH "Moth" (60 h.p. "Cirrus I").
Speed 90½ m.p.h.

1927 30th July; 540 miles; three circuits of local courses: Nottingham (Hucknall), Spittlegate, Huntingdon, King's Lynn, Cranwell, Nottingham; Nottingham, Howden, Skegness, Nottingham; Nottingham, Spittlegate, Huntingdon, King's Lynn, Cranwell, Nottingham.
Winner: W. L. Hope.
Pilot: W. L. Hope.
DH "Moth" (60 h.p. "Cirrus I").
Speed: 92½ m.p.h.

1928 20th-21st July; 1,096½ miles; circuit of Britain: Hendon, Norwich (Mousehold), Birmingham (Castle Bromwich), Nottingham (Hucknall), Leeds (Sherburn-in-Elmet), Newcastle (Cramlington), Glasgow (Renfrew), Liverpool (Hooton), Bristol (Filton), Southampton (Hamble), Brooklands (finish).
Winner: W. L. Hope.
Pilot: W. L. Hope.
DH "Gipsy Moth" (80 h.p. "Gipsy").
Speed: 105½ m.p.h.

1929 5th-6th July; 1,169 miles; circuit of Britain: Heston, Henlow, Norwich, Hadleigh, Hornchurch, Lympne, Hamble, Bristol, Blackpool, Silloth, Glasgow, Dunbar, Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham, Heston.
Winner: Sir Walter Preston, M.P.
Pilot: Flying Officer R. L. R. Atcherley.
Gloster "Grebe" (385 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley "Jaguar").
Speed: 150.3 m.p.h.

1930 5th July; 753¼ miles; circuit of England: Hanworth, Hamble, Bristol (Whitchurch), Birmingham, Hooton, Manchester (Barton), Woodford, Sherburn-in-Elmet, Ponteland, Newcastle, Hull (Hedon), Leicester (Desford), Hanworth.
Winner: Miss Winifred Brown.
Pilot: Miss Winifred Brown.
Avro "Avian" (90 h.p. "Cirrus III").
Speed: 102.7 m.p.h.

1931 25th July: 928.5 miles; circuit of England: Heston, Desford, Norwich, Nottingham (Tollerton), Brough, Sherburn-in-Elmet, Birmingham, Woodford, Hooton, Heston, Bristol (Whitchurch), Hamble, Shoreham, Heston.
Winner: Sir Robert McAlpine.
Pilot: Flying Officer E. C. T. Edwards.
Blackburn "Bluebird" IV (90 h.p. Hermes ll).
Speed: 117.80 m.p.h.

1932 8th July; 1.223 miles; circuit of England: Brooklands, Northampton, Ipswich, Desford, Woodford, Hooton, Birmingham, Bristol (Whitchurch), Portsmouth, Shoreham, Abingdon, Brooklands.
Winner: A. E. Hagg.
Pilot: W. L. Hope.
DH "Fox Moth" (Gipsy III).
Speed: 124.25 m.p.h.

1933 8th July; 830.8 miles; heats and final; Hatfield, Henlow, Upper Heyford, Hatfield.
Winner: Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland.
Pilot: Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland.
DH "Leopard Moth" (Gipsy Major).
Speed: 139.51 m.p.h.

1934 14th July; 564 miles; 3 heats and final; heats over local courses; final over 6 laps of circuit, Hatfield, Walton-at-Stone, Hoo End, Hatfield.
Winner: W. S. Stephenson.
Pilot: Flight Lieut. H. M. Schofield.
General Aircraft "Monospar S.T.10" (two 90 h.p. Pobjoy "Niagaras").
Speed: 134.16 m.p.h.

1935 7th September, 1,285 miles; eliminating race over circuit of Britain. Hatfield, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Dalbeattie, Blackpool, Cardiff, Hatfield; final 6 laps of circuit, Hatfield, Broxbourne, Henlow, Hatfield.
Winner: Viscountess Wakefield of Hythe.
Pilot: T. Rose.
Miles "Falcon" (Gipsy VI).
Speed: 176.28 m.p.h.

1936 Cup presented by King Edward VIII. 11th July; 1,380 miles; eliminating race over 2 laps of circuit (612 miles), Hatfield, Norwich, Nottingham, Bristol, Salisbury, Shoreham, Coventry, Hatfield: final, 6 laps of circuit (26 miles), Hatfield, Sacombe Farm, Hoo End, Hatfield.
Winner: Sir C. Guthrie.
Pilot: Charles Gardner.
Percival "Vega Gull" (Gipsy VI).
Speed: 164.47 m.p.h.

1937 Cup presented by King George VI. 11th September; 1,442.62 miles; circuit of Great Britain and Ireland; eliminating race, first half of circuit to Dublin; final, home half. Eliminating race, Hatfield, Cambridge, Skegness, York, Scarborough, Whitby, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Portpatrick, Belfast (Newtownards), Dublin (Baldonel); final, Dublin, Belfast, Portpatrick, Carlisle, St. Bee's Head, Blackpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Desford, Cardiff, Hatfield.
Winner: Charles Gardner.
Pilot: Charles Gardner.
Percival "Mew Gull" (Gipsy Vl 2).
Speed: 233.7 m.p.h.

1938 2nd July; 1,012.14 miles; 20 laps of circuit, Hatfield, Buntingford, Barton, Hatfield.
Winner: Alex Henshaw.
Pilot: Alex Henshaw.
Percival "Mew Gull" (Gipsy VI R).
Speed: 236.25 m.p.h.

1939 Race was due to be flown on 2nd September, starting from Elmdon airfield, Birmingham, but it was cancelled because of the imminence of war.

1949 30th July; 80 miles; 4 laps of Elmdon circuit.
Winner: Nat Somers.
Pilot: Nat Somers.
Miles Gemini (two Gipsy Major lc).
Speed: 164.25 m.p.h.

1950 17th June; 187 miles; 3 laps of 100 km. course from Wolverhampton.
Winner: E. Day.
Pilot: E. Day.
Miles Hawk Trainer 3 (Gipsy Major I). Speed: 138.5 m.p.h.
CHAPTER 26

FLYING CHALLENGE TROPHY RACES

Siddeley Trophy—Grosvenor Cup—S.B.A.C. Cup—Air League Cup—new events.

IN THE inter-war years, several challenge trophies were offered. The more important of these were the Siddeley Trophy, the Grosvenor Cup, the Society of British Aircraft Constructors' Challenge Cup, and the Air League Challenge Cup.

The Siddeley Trophy was presented to the Royal Aero Club by Mr. (later Sir) John D. Siddeley, who later became Lord Kenilworth. He was a pioneer of motor cars, and his name is perpetuated in motoring spheres by the Wolseley Siddeley, the Siddeley Deasey, and still later the Armstrong Siddeley car. The latter name is still well known in aviation for aero-motors.

Siddeley presented his challenge trophy to the Royal Aero Club to be flown concurrently with the King's Cup race, the Siddeley Trophy to be awarded to the flying club member with the best handicap time. He was most gratified when the first winner of his trophy was a woman, Miss Winifred Spooner, in 1928, with a Cirrus Moth.

As there was no race for the King's Cup in 1946, Lord Kenilworth sanctioned a change of rule which allowed competition by club pilots during some other race. So it was contested at Lympne during the race for the Folkestone Trophy on 1st September 1946. As neither of the only two entries for the Siddeley Trophy reached the final of the Folkestone Trophy, a special race of 30 miles was arranged for them. The winner was R. Pomphret in a Tiger Moth (Gipsy Vl) at a speed of 102 m.p.h. The race was flown at the Lympne meeting again in 1947 and at Wolverhampton in 1948. In 1949 it was flown at the Elmdon (Birmingham) air race meeting on 1st August. In 1950 it was flown from Baginton, Coventry, on 2nd September.
SIDDELY TROPHY WINNERS

1928 20th, 21st July: Course 1,096½ miles.
Winner: Miss Winifred Spooner, London Aeroplane Club.
DH Moth (60 h.p. Cirrus I), 83½ m.p.h.

1929 5th, 6th July: Course 1,169 miles.
Winner: Lt. L. G. Richardson, R.N., London Aeroplane Club.
DH Moth (Cirrus lll), 100.2 m.p.h.   

1930 5th July, 753¼ miles
Winner: Miss Winifred Brown, Lancashire Aero Club.
Avro Avian (Cirrus III), 102.7 m.p.h.

1931 25th July, 982.5 miles.
Winner: A. C. M. Jackaman, London Aeroplane Club.
Puss Moth (Gipsy III), 123.19 m.p.h.

1932 8th, 9th July, 1,233 miles.
Winner: W. L. Runciman, Newcastle Aero Club.
Puss Moth (Gipsy III), 130 m.p.h.

1933 8th July, 830 miles.
Winner: Alex Henshaw, Skegness and East Lincs. Aero Club.
Comper "Swift" (90 h.p. Pobjoy), 127.78 m.p.h.

1934 13th, 14th July, 801 miles.
Winner: L. Lipton, London Aeroplane Club.
Moth (Gipsy III) 124.18 m.p.h.

1935 6th, 7th September, 1,285 miles.
Winner: Charles Gardner, Redhill Flying Club.
Percival "Gull" (Gipsy VI) 170.08 m.p.h.

1936 11th July; six circuits of 26 mile course at Hatfield.
Winner: Charles Gardner, Redhill Flying Club.
Percival Vega Gull (Gipsy VI), 164.47 m.p.h.

1937 11th September; from Hatfield; 1,443 miles round Britain.
Winner: Charles Gardner, Redhill Flying Club.
Percival Mew Gull (Gipsy VI), 233.7 m.p.h.

1938 to 1945. No contests.

1946 1st September; Lympne; two circuits of 20-mile Folkestone Trophy course.
Winner: R. Pomphret, Cinque Ports Flying Club.
de Havilland Tiger Moth (Gipsy Major), 102 m.p.h.

1947 30th August; Lympne; three circuits of 20-mile Folkestone Trophy course.
Winner: P. Godfrey, South Coast Flying Club.
British Aircraft Co. Swallow (Pobjoy), 94 m.p.h.

1948 17th October; Wolverhampton; three circuits of 21½-mile special course.
Winner: W. M. Morris, Midland Flying Club.
Auster Autocrat (Cirrus Minor), 114 m.p.h.

1949 1st August; Birmingham; three circuits of 20-mile National Air Races, Elmdon course.
Winner: F. Dunkerley, Lancashire Aero Club.
Miles Gemini Ia (two Cirrus Minor), 144.5 m.p.h.

1950 2nd September; Coventry; four circuits of 20-mile Baginton course.
Winner: F. Dunkerley, Lancashire Aero Club.
Miles Gemini la (two Cirrus Minor), 158 m.p.h.
   
THE GROSVENOR CHALLENGE CUP

ln 1923 Lord Edward Grosvenor presented a challenge cup, to be known as the Grosvenor Challenge Cup, to encourage low-powered aeroplanes. The race was to be confined to British aeroplanes with motors of less than 150 h.p. The race was to be either a cross-country circuit, or a point-to-point race. Ned Grosvenor, who was an uncle of the Duke of Westminster, though younger than the Duke, was a cheerful sportsman who weighed about 16 stone. He took his Aviators' Certificate, No. 607, in 1913, and was the owner of a Blériot in that year. At the outbreak of war in 1914 he joined the R.N.A.S. and his Blériot was requisitioned.

He was a very early member of the Royal Aero Club, and was an energetic official at many of the flying meetings, which were held after the 1914-18 war, especially at Lympne, just outside which airfield he had a house.

For the first four years the Grosvenor Cup race started and finished at Lympne. In 1925, Ned Grosvenor took command of the first Territorial Auxiliary Squadron of the R.A.F., No. 601, County of London Squadron. On 26th August 1929 he died from pneumonia in his 37th year.

The first race was held in June 1923 over a 400-mile circuit from Lympne, via Croydon, Birmingham, Bristol, Croydon, Lympne. It was won by Walter Longton in a Sopwith "Gnu" entered by Sir Frank McClean. The race was made tragic by the death of a well-known and popular pilot, Major E. L. Foote, known to all as "Feet". He was flying from Bristol to Croydon in a Bristol monoplane with a three-cylinder motor, the cylinders of which were the same capacity as those of the nine-cylinder "Jupiter". It was a very rough-running motor, and the vibration set up at racing speed caused structural failure near Brooklands.

In 1949 the Grosvenor Cup race was revived at the Royal Aero Club National Races at Elmdon. For no good reason it was renamed "The Grosvenor Challenge Trophy Race", though the trophy is, as it always was, a cup. In 1950 the Club were made aware of their error and again it became a "cup". Conditions were altered considerably, and the race was over two laps of a 20-mile course and was open to an international entry for aircraft weighing not more than 1,000 kg.

For 1950 the race was flown over four laps of a 20-mile course starting from Woolsington aerodrome, Newcastle, on 29th July, and conditions of entry were similar to those of 1949. There were two heats and a final for the fifteen entries, and the winner was K. C. Millican in a little Tipsy Trainer.
GROSVENOR CUP RESULTS

1923 23rd June; 404 miles; Lympne, Croydon. Birmingham, Bristol, Croydon, Lympne.
Winner: Sir Frank McClean, A.F.C.
Pilot: Squadron Leader W. H. Longton. D.F.C., A.F.C.
Sopwith "Gnu" (110 h.p. Le Rhône).
Speed: 87.6 m.p.h.

1924 4th October; 100 miles; 8 laps of 12½-mile course, Lympne, Postling, Hastingleigh, Lympne.
Winner: A. V. Roe.
Pilot: H. J. L. (Bert) Hinkler.
Avro "Avis" (Bristol "Cherub").
Speed: 65.87 m.p.h.

1925 3rd August; 100 miles, as 1924.
Winner: P. G. N. Peters.
Pilot: Flight Lieut. J. S. Chick.
R.A.E. Club "Hurricane" (Bristol "Cherub").
Speed: 81.19 m.p.h.

1926 18th September; 75 miles, 6 laps of same course.
Winner: Robert Blackburn.
Pilot: Squadron Leader W. H. Longton, D.F.C., A.F.C.
Blackburn "Bluebird" (prototype) (60 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley "Genet").
Speed: 84.95 m.p.h.

1927 30th July; Nottingham (Hucknall), 15 miles, 3 heats and final.
Winner and pilot: Mrs. S. C. Elliott-Lynn.
DH Moth prototype (60 h.p. "Cirrus I").
Speed: 88½ m.p.h.

1928 No contest.

1929 5th October; Newcastle (Cramlington); 31.7 miles, 3 heats and final.
Winner: Newcastle-upon-Tyne Aero Club.
Pilot: G. S. Kemp.
Moth (Cirrus II).
Speed: 98 m.p.h.

1930 7th September; 33 miles, Leicester (Desford).
Winner: Newcastle-upon-Tyne Aero Club.
Pilot: L. Turnbull.
DH Moth (Cirrus II).
Speed: 95 m.p.h.

1931 22nd August; 53½ miles; Newcastle.
Winner: H. Peake.
Pilot: Squadron Leader J. W. Woodehouse.
Blackburn "Bluebird" (Gipsy I).
Speed: 102½ m.p.h.

2nd July; 5O miles, Portsmouth.
Winner and pilot: Carol S. Napier.
Westland "Widgeon" (Gipsy 1).
Speed: 98 m.p.h.

1933-34 No contests.

1935 13th July; 84 miles; Desford.
Winner: W. Lindsay Everard.
Pilot: Lieut.-Com. C. W. Phillips.
Moth (Gipsy III).
Speed: 109¼ m.p.h.

1936-1948 No contests.

1949 1st August: 40 miles; Elmdon.
Winner: Midland Aero Club.
Pilot: D. A. Arch.
Auster Autocrat (Cirrus Minor ll).
Speed: 112.5 m.p.h.

1950 29th July; Woolsington, Newcastle.
Winner: K. C. Millican.
Pilot: K. C. Millican.
Tipsy Trainer I (Walter Mikron II).
Speed: 97.5 m.p.h.
THE S.B.A.C. CHALLENGE CUP

In 1927 the Society of British Aircraft Constructors presented a challenge cup for competition between all clubs associated with the R.Ae.C. Each club was entitled to enter one aeroplane, which must be the bona fide property of, and registered in the name of, the club entering. The pilot must be a member of the competing club. The total weight of the aeroplane when empty must not exceed 400 kilos. Weight empty was interpreted to mean total weight in flying order, but included fuel and pilot. [Note 11].

In 1928 the Cup was open to an inter-club competition to be held at each official air race meeting, open to aircraft registered in the name of a club and flown by ab initio pilots. Marks awarded were, five for a win, three for a second place, and one for a third place. The Challenge Cup was awarded to the club which gained most marks. The official meetings were: Bristol, 5th May; Hamble, 28th May; Birmingham, 9th June; Blackpool, 7th July. The winning club was Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

In 1929 the Cup was put up to competition between clubs, the pilots to be those trained ab initio by the club which entered them. The pilots must hold Air Ministry "A" licences. The weight of the aeroplane was not to exceed 1,200 lbs. The competition was held at Newcastle and the course was 15.85 miles. The winner was Dr. H. B. L. Dixon, of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Aero Club, in a Moth (Cirrus II) at 97.5 m.p.h. From 1930 to 1935 the same rules were in force on courses of varying lengths.

In 1949 the race was revived on 1st August at the National Air Races at Elmdon, for an international entry, and there was a handicap for jet aircraft. There were only three starters and the winner was "Wimpy" Wade on a Hawker P1040 at 510 m.p.h. The race was rather less interesting than appeared likely because of the late withdrawal of some of the faster competitors.

For 1950, conditions were similar to those of 1949. It was over four laps of a 100 km. course, starting from Sherburn-in-Elmet, Leeds. This is the fastest and most spectacular race in the world, and in the course of years may be comparable to the Schneider Trophy Contest.

The race, flown on 22nd July was again something of a disappointment owing to certain possible entries not materialising. It was hoped that the Supermarine "Swift" (officially called the 510), the Hawker 1081, and the de Havilland "Venom" would each surpass the world speed record for 100 km., which stands at 605 m.p.h. by John Derry in a DH 108 established over two years ago, but owing to the international position caused by the bellicose attitude of the Soviet Union, the Swift and 1081 were not permitted to reveal their full capacity to the public. The Venom, which was already in production for the R.A.F. had entered and we had hoped to see John Derry break his own record in it, but it developed motor trouble just before the race and Derry had to change over to the much slower Vampire 5.

The winner was Mike Lithgow who flew a superb race to win at 533 m.p.h. in a Vickers-Supermarine "Attacker 1." "Wimpy" Wade, in a Hawker Sea Hawk, made the fastest time, 536.5 m.p.h. That won for him the Geoffrey de Havillaud Trophy which was awarded for the fastest time in British air races during the year.
S.B.A.C. CHALLENGE CUP RESULTS

1930 6th September; 33 miles, from Ratcliffe (Leicester).
Winner: London Aeroplane Club.
Pilot: O. J. Tapper.
Moth (Gipsy I).
Speed: 99½ m.p.h.

1931 Heston—Whitchurch (Bristol).
Winner: Lancashire Aero Club.
Pilot: R. F. Hall.
Avro Avian (Hermes).
Speed: 120 m.p.h.

1932 2nd July; 24 miles from Portsmouth Airport.
Winner: London Aeroplane Club.
Pilot: Flt. Lieut. W. E. P. Johnson.
Moth (Gipsy I).
Speed: 94½ m.p.h.

1933 17th June; Shoreham—Whitchurch.
Winner: Lancashire Aero Club.
Pilot: R. F. Hall.
Moth (Cirrus II).
Speed: 75 m.p.h.

1934 28th July; 50-mile circuit from Whitchurch.
Winner: Lancashire Aero Club.
Pilot: R. F. Hall.
Avro "Cadet" (Genet Major).
Speed: 116 m.p.h.

1935 15th June; Whitchurch, High Post, Witney.
Winner: Northampton Aero Club.
Pilot: Lord Willoughby de Broke.
B.A. "Eagle" (Salmson).
Speed: 133 m.p.h.

1936-48 No contests.

1949 1st August: Elmdon.
Winner: Hawker Aircraft Ltd.
Pilot: T. S. Wade, D.F.C., A.F.C.
Hawker Sea Hawk (Rolls-Royce Nene II).
Speed: 510 m.p.h.

1950 22nd July; Sherburn-in-Elmet.
Winner: Vickers Armstrong Ltd. (Supermarine Division).
Pilot: M. J. Lithgow.
Vickers-Supermarine Attacker 1 (Rolls-Royce Nene)
Speed: 533 m.p.h.
THE AIR LEAGUE CHALLENGE CUP

A challenge cup was presented in 1921, to be called the Air League Challenge Cup, by Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker, then secretary of the Air League, and Mr. Philip S. Foster, a staunch supporter of the League. The donors stated that it was for annual competition as the Committee of the R.Ae.C. should decide.

In 1921 there was very little civil flying, very few private owners, and no flying clubs. At first the Cup was put up for competition between squadrons or stations of the R.A.F. The first race was from Croydon on 17th September 1921, and was a relay race for SE5a.s over a distance of 24 miles. It was won by Kenley Air Station. There was no contest in 1922, but it was again contested by the R.A.F. in 1923, on 6th August at Croydon, for a race between Bristol "Fighters" over a triangular course of 100 miles. Eastchurch Air Station won. Lympne was the starting point in 1924, when flights from three R.A.F. stations flew over a course of 100 miles. Hawkinge Air Station won.

There were no contests in 1925 or 1926. By 1927 the flying clubs were developing and so the cup was put up for competition among their members. The race was opened to all clubs associated with the R.Ae.C., and aircraft had to be the bona fide property of, and registered by, a club or an individual member of such a club. Paid pilot-instructors were excluded. Aircraft were limited to a weight of 400 kilos empty, excluding pilot and fuel. It was a handicap race. The first such race was flown at Birmingham on 16th July 1927.

The race was revived in 1949 at the National Air Races at Elmdon as an international high-speed handicap for "prancing piston" engined aircraft. The winner was P. G. Lawrence in a Blackburn Firebrand 5a at a speed of 302 m.p.h.

In 1950 the race was flown from Sherburn-in-Elmet on 22nd July. There were seven starters and the winner was W. I. Lashbrooke flying a Proctor 3 at 161.5 m.p.h. Last year's winner, P. G. Lawrence, the keen and popular young test pilot of Blackburns, had told me he fully intended to win again. He came in last, making second fastest time of 301 m.p.h. and with his happy boyish zest he evidently got just as much fun and pleasure in finishing last as he did last year in finishing first. I look forward to seeing the cheerful "P.G." win the S.B.A.C. race, the fastest race of the year, before he is much older.

1927 16th July; Castle Bromwich—Woodford—Castle Bromwich; 116 miles.
Winner and pilot: Norman Jones.
A.N.E.C. II (Bristol "Cherub").
Speed: 73½ m.p.h.

1928 9th June; Birmingham; 24 miles.
Winner: Halton Aero Club.
Pilot: Squadron Leader H. Probyn.
Westland "Widgeon" (Genet II).
Speed: 90½ m.p.h.

1929 5th October; Newcastle-upon-Tyne; 15.85 miles.
Winner: Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Pilot: Norman S. Todd.
Moth (Cirrus II).
Speed: 94 m.p.h.

1930 Race abandoned due to bad weather.

1931 No race.

1932 4th June; Bristol; 26-mile circuit from Whitchurch.
Winner: Reading Aero Club.
Pilot: S. B. Cliff.
Desoutter II (Hermes).
Speed: 100 m.p.h.

1933-48 No contests.

1949 1st August; Elmdon Circuit.
Winner: Blackburn & General Aircraft Co. Ltd.
Pilot: Peter G. Lawrence.
Blackburn Firebrand 5a (Bristol Centaurus IX).
Speed: 302 m.p.h.

1950 22nd July; Sherburn-in-Elmet.
Winner: J. E. Rylands.
Pilot: W. I. Lashbrooke.
Percival Proctor 3 (de Havilland Gipsy Queen 2).
Speed: 161.5 m.p.h.
NEW EVENTS

In addition to the now classic events, the Royal Aero Club have organised some new ones. A trophy was presented by Viscount Kemsley, to be known as the Kemsley Trophy, for an international high-speed race for aircraft powered by turbojets, turboprops, or "prancing piston" motors. In 1949 it was flown over four laps of the 20-mile Elmdon circuit. The winner was Neville Duke, D.S.O., D.F.C.. A.F.C., on a Hawker P1040 Sea Hawk. In 1950 the winner was Fred Dunkerley, in his Miles Gemini, at 162.75 m.p.h.

The Geoffrey de Havilland Trophy, presented in memory of Geoffrey Raoul de Havilland, who was killed during a high-speed research flight in 1946, went to the pilot who made the fastest lap in the Kemsley or S.B.A.C. races. In 1949 it went jointly to Neville Duke and "Wimpy" Wade, who each lapped, in the P1040, in the Kemsley and S.B.A.C. races respectively, at 562 and 569 m.p.h. For 1950 the trophy went to the winner of the fastest time in a national air race. This was Wimpy Wade on a Sea Hawk at 510 m.p.h. in the S.B.A.C. race.

On Sunday, 31st July, there was an inter-squadron handicap race for Squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force in Gloster Meteors, de Havilland Vampires, and Supermarine Spitfires. The winner was Flying Officer W. Bowden. of No. 502 (Ulster) Squadron in a Spitfire 22.

In about 1908 Sir John Norton-Griffiths, M.P., had presented a trophy to the Aero Club for a flight from London to Manchester. It was apparently forgotten, and was not awarded to either Louis Paulhan or Claude Grahame-White in 1910, so it was offered for competition at Elmdon races in 1949 for aircraft weighing from 1,000 to 1,750 kg., in an international handicap over 60 miles. The winner was Jan Andrie (Czech) in an Aero 45 (two Walter Minor 4-III) at 163 m.p.h.

In 1950 the race for this Trophy was flown at Woolsington, Newcastle under similar conditions on 29th July. The winner was Squadron Leader J. Rush in a Miles Falcon 6 (de Havilland Gipsy Six) at 165.5 m.p.h.                  






17. The first fully successful de Havilland biplane at Farnborough in 1911.






18. Prototype de Havilland DH 106 "Comet", of 1949, the first jet airliner.






19. The Short "C" class "Empire" flying-boat of 1937, which did more than any other aircraft to open air routes to Africa and Australia, used by Imperial Airways and Qantas Empire Airways.






20. The B.O.A.C. marine airport at Southampton with "Solents" on the water and R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth at her berth.





CHAPTER 27

FEDERATION AERONAUTIQUE INTERNATIONALE

F.A.I. formed for ballooning sports—founded in 1905—once the only authority—controls sporting flying—air certificates—customs carnets—gliding, too—homologation of records.

AT THE meeting in London in September 1946 of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, a proposition was put forward that a Ballooning Commission should be added to the existing commissions, most of which deal with aeroplanes and gliders. Lord Brabazon of Tara, the newly elected President, asked, with some surprise, whether there was not already a Ballooning Commission. He was reminded that as the F.A.I. in its original form, when it was founded in 1905, dealt mainly with ballooning, it had never been necessary to have a special Ballooning Commission.

When one thinks of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, one is apt to visualise a great organisation housed in a building comparable to the League of Nations' palace in Geneva. The F.A.I. is, in fact, housed in a few offices of the Aero Club de France in Paris. It has very few full-time staff. Its source of revenue comes mainly from annual subscriptions from the national aero clubs which are members. In spite of such handicaps, the F.A.I. does very useful work, and one day it should be properly housed, and have a full information service which can be used by the entire sporting aviation world. The F.A.I. will not deal with anyone except the officials of national aero clubs, which much decreases its usefulness.

From 1st September 1950, Harold R. Gillman, O.B.E., A.F.R.Ae.S. was appointed Director-General of the F.A.I. This is a newly created post and is the first time that the chief executive post has been out of the hands of France. Gillman has been well known in Europe for many years and has close family ties with France so will be highly suited to his post.

When I told him of criticisms that the F.A.I. is too supine and will not part with information easily, he asked me to keep in touch with him and let him have further criticism. I feel sure that under his guidance the F.A.I. will become a much more virile and useful force in sporting aviation, and I hope to see it soon with its own separate and imposing headquarters, with an income of its own appropriate to such an important concern.

Harold Gillman was secretary to the S.B.A.C. from 1929 to 1945, and of the Aerodrome Owners Association from its creation in March 1934; he was also secretary of the British Air Charter Association until his new appointment. He was born in 1892 and at the age of twenty joined the Royal Aircraft Factory (now the Royal Aircraft Establishment) at Farnborough with which he served from 1912 to 1916. Then he became a balloonist and airship officer, so he is well grounded in most branches of aeronautics.

The F.A.I. was founded in 1905 and held its first meeting in October of that year in Paris, when eight countries were represented. They were Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States of America. The F.A.I. was formed of representatives of national aero clubs, as it still is, so that countries without aero clubs are ineligible for membership. In the early days aviation was considered only as a sport, and so the F.A.I. became the international representative of aviation. Now, of course, there are the military and commercial aspects, neither of which directly concerns the F.A.I., but here and there overlapping occurs, so there is a close liaison between the F.A.I., International Civil Aviation Organisation and governments.

For example, when a Service department wishes to attack an air record, such a record must be observed by representatives of the F.A.I. before it can be regarded as official. On occasions when the R.A.F. has attacked the world's speed, distance and height records, the attempts have been observed officially by the Royal Aero Club which is the sole representative of the F.A.I. in the United Kingdom.

Until the outbreak of war in 1914 there was very little Service aviation or commercial flying, so the F.A.I. was the most influential international aviation authority in the world. When record attempts were being made by R.F.C. pilots on British distance and height records, they had to be observed by the Royal Aero Club for the F.A.I.

During the 1914-18 war the F.A.I., though remaining in existence, was apparently inactive, as it was also during the war of 1939-45. Almost its only activity during those years was issuing, through the national aero clubs, aviators', aeronauts', and airship pilots' certificates, for a very large number of Service flyers of all countries wished to qualify. Indeed, for most of the 1914-18 war, Service aviators in Britain were required, in the course of their training, to pass the flying tests for their aviators' certificates according to F.A.I. rules.

One of the very first actions by the F.A.I. was to draw up regulations for tests for aviators' and aeronauts' certificates. Later they added the airship pilots' certificate, glider and helicopter certificates. They also added an aviators' "Superior" certificate, which involved very much stiffer tests.

After 1918 the work and authority of the F.A.I. became very important in international aviation. In addition to its work of controlling competitive flying, such as races, time trials and record attempts, it took on what was really a new side to its activities, controlling air touring and what is called generally, for want of a better name "private flying". By the time war broke out in 1939, the eight countries who were the original members of the F.A.l. had grown to thirty-nine, and almost every country in the civilised world had become a member. So when agreement was needed for smoothing the way of the air tourist, who by then was able to make flights right across the world, from England to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, North and South America, a well-represented international body composed of nearly all the nations of the world became necessary. That side of the work of the F.A.I. became one of its most important and beneficial developments.

Most countries whose aero clubs were affiliated to the F.A.l. agreed to recognise the "Carnet de passages en Douane." This is a document issued by a national aero club to the pilot or owner of a private aeroplane, who wishes to tour outside his own country. In the ordinary course, the owner of the aeroplane (as for a motor car or bicycle) would have to pay customs duty on his aeroplane when he flies into a country other than his own, for he might sell the aeroplane there, and by flying there, hope to evade customs duty. The carnet is, in fact, a guarantee by the national aero club, that the person to whom the carnet is issued will take his aeroplane out of that country again after a specified period. If he does not do so, then that aero club becomes liable for the payment of the duty. That is why carnets are only issued by aero clubs to their members and associate members, over whom they are presumed to have some control, and about whose characters they are supposed to know something.

At the 1946 meeting of the F.A.I. in London, the Touring Commission asked that the present carnets should be simplified—an additional evidence of their constant desire to smooth the way for the air tourist. Carnets were printed only in French. That was all right when most of the world's air touring was done in Europe, and French was the most used language, but now Europe is a very small corner of the world's flying ground. The speeds and duration of aircraft have so increased in recent years that a continent can be crossed as quickly as a country could have been a few years ago. As so many flights across the world must pass across British territory, the addition of English will be a cause of simplification. It is an obvious improvement to have the language of the country of origin also on the carnet, so that the users can understand plainly what it is all about.

Before the 1939-45 war, an air tourist was issued with an "Air Touring Card", which entitled him to free landing, and free garage for his aeroplane for 48 hours. As can be readily understood, it was a very great boon to air tourists, and saved them a considerable sum of money.

Before the war, there were recognised customs airports, such as Croydon or Lympne in England, at which private pilots could land and garage their aircraft for a reasonable charge, but with the coming into existence of vast airports with concrete runways and huge hangars, the overhead costs have enormously increased.

The British delegates to the London conference were very anxious that the F.A.I. should pass a resolution that all countries should use their influence with the governing authorities to induce them all to reduce their landing fees and hangarage to a low common level. If such a resolution were passed by such an influential body as the F.A.I., they thought that would provide them with extra ammunition to present to their Minister of Civil Aviation. So it can be seen that the F.A.I. are always making very strenuous efforts to ease the burden on private flying.

Gliding, too, receives full attention from the F.A.I. Though gliders had certain war uses, including training air cadets, and as "slip coaches", which were loaded with troops and towed behind powered aircraft to be landed behind the enemy lines, gliding and soaring are especially pleasurable pastimes. Indeed, gliding may be considered to bear the same relation to powered flying as sailing does to powered shipping. Before the second war, Germany was most advanced in the science of gliding. After 1918, she was forbidden the use of power aircraft, so in the course of aerodynamic research she developed gliding, first as a sport, and later, as her warlike intentions developed, as a means of advancing air-mindedness among her youth, and for getting her young people into the air. The warlike intention was well camouflaged. Germany was entrusted with the task of forming and running the international body which became known as ISTUS [Note 12], which did very useful research and other work; and as Germany is hors de combat, ISTUS has been taken over by the F.A.I. Gliding and soaring are becoming very important sides of the work of the F.A.I.

Further points which have to be constantly realised are the rules for the setting up of world records. The remarkable advance in the design of aircraft and power plants constantly render many of the rules for record breaking out of date. For example, it was in 1906 that the first world speed record was "homologated" by the F.A.I. That was a speed of 25 m.p.h. by the Franco-Brazilian, Santos Dumont. It is a very different matter timing aeroplanes which travel at over 600 m.p.h.

The original rules and regulations for speed records were drawn up for aircraft with speeds of 40 or 50 m.p.h., and 60 m.p.h. on land or in the air was thought a prodigious speed. Many people in 1906 considered that a speed of 100 m.p.h. was the outside limit of human or mechanical possibility.

Before the 1914 war, Maurice Prévost, the famous Frenchman, and first winner of the Schneider Trophy, attained a speed of 120 m.p.h. on a Deperdussin monoplane. There were no record attempts during the 1914-18 war, but, under the rapid stimulus of war developments, speeds were increased tremendously. Before the struggle ended, there were many aeroplanes which flew at more than the pre-war record speed. As soon as that war ended, many aeroplanes were prepared to raise the speed record, and the duel between Sadi Lecointe on a Nieuport and the Comte de Romanet on a Spad, aroused much interest as they drew near the figure of 200 m.p.h. About that time it was realised that the rules were useless for getting accurate measurements of speed, so the conditions were revised. New rules were introduced to prevent artificial speeds being recorded by diving at the start of each run. The 1945 to 1948 speed records were made under those rules, and it was suggested these should be revised. The distance record, too, needs revision, and also the height record.

There was some discussion as to whether any countries, especially recent enemy countries, should be barred from membership. There was a considerable body of opinion that if the F.A.I. was to be a truly representative international body, then no country, which had a government able to exercise authority over its territory, should be barred. There was a proviso that countries should only be admitted if the F.A.I. were satisfied that the aero clubs, which sought affiliation, were free agents, and not tools of their governments.

Private and sporting flying should increase very rapidly, and some people think that aviation in the future may have only a peaceful purpose. The military needs, they say, will be filled by pilotless aircraft and rockets. If that should prove to be the case, it is a "consummation devoutly to be wished," for then flying will revert to the use originally intended by its early inventors. The F.A.I. will become of even greater importance in the international sphere than it is already.
CHAPTER 28

WORLD RECORDS

What is a record?—records which are not—changing conditions—when height and distance merge—closed circuit record loses value—current records to 1950—distance, speed, and height record conditions—all past holders.

UNTIL 1927 the nationality of a record went officially to the country from which such record flight started, regardless of the nationality of the pilot. This was revised at the beginning of 1927 after the Italian, de Bernardi, had broken the world speed record in the United States (after winning the Schneider Trophy there), and the record was credited to the United States instead of to Italy.

In the ensuing lists, I have credited all records to the country of the pilot. A note is added where, under the old rule, the record went to the country in which it was made. The F.A.I. has laid down the rules for world's records and just what such records are. One often sees in the lay Press and elsewhere that such and such a flight is a "record" or has beaten the existing records. Yet often, when one examines such claims, it is found either that there is no record laid down for such a flight, or that it was not observed according to F.A.I. requirements. For example, there have been many unauthorised claims for the record between London and Paris, or across the Atlantic.

Until just before the war of 1939, the F.A.I. recognised certain inter-city speed records, such as London to Paris. None was officially timed between London and Paris but several claimed to have established records unofficially. The F.A.I. then ruled that no records would be timed between cities less than 1,000 kms. apart. In 1948 the short inter-city speed record was revived. Aircraft had to fly between aerodromes where distance was greater than that between the two city centres. The speed was finally adjusted and worked out as the speed over the equivalent distance between the two city centres.

This is not at all a convincing method. What people would like to know is how quickly a passenger could get from city centre to city centre. Passengers realise that passing city centres in flight means just nothing, for they know that it takes a long time to reach the airport by coach or car from there, and how much time is spent at the airport between arrival and take-off. They are also aware of the long time which elapses between arrival over the city, touch-down, and arrival in the city centre. The only acceptable record would be the time an individual took to travel from one city centre to another.

To demonstrate that, The Aeroplane organised a record flight from London to Paris in 1948. A Bristol helicopter took off from a car-park adjoining St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and flew to Biggin Hill aerodrome, where the pilot handed a letter to the waiting pilot of a Gloster Meteor who flew to a Paris aerodrome where he handed the letter to the pilot of a waiting American Sikorsky helicopter who landed on the Invalides in the heart of Paris. The letter made the journey in 46¾ minutes. Actually it was rather absurdly timed 46 minutes 44 and one fifth seconds!

There is no record for crossing the Atlantic, though certain point-to-point speed records between capital cities in Europe and the American Continent are recognised.

There are world records for extreme speed over a short straight course, the greatest height above sea level, and the greatest distance covered in a comparatively straight line without a stop. Since the beginning of aviation these have been considered highly important. There are also records for the greatest speed in closed circuits of 100 kms. and 1,000 kms., which are also important.

Of all these, the absolute speed record was considered of the most consequence. At first it was measured on a circular course, but that was later changed to two runs in each direction along a straight 3 km. run. Now in 1950 that record is losing its significance. Aeroplanes have been able to fly at the speed of sound, and, as the speed of sound varies with the temperature, the speed which an aeroplane can reach on a given day will vary as to the temperature. With the speed of sound taken as 1.0 the speed of an aircraft is measured as the proportion of that speed of sound, and is signified by what is called a "Mach" number. An aeroplane approaching the speed of sound would be flying at Mach .9, whereas if it exceeded the speed of sound it would be flying at 1.0 or more, so the F.A.I., which always seems to progress at a very low Mach number, will have to find a way of measuring maximum speeds high up, because maximum supersonic speeds will only be obtained at great heights.

The height record, too, will have to be assessed by new methods. In the very early days this was measured by a theodolite from the ground. When heights increased so that it was difficult to see the aeroplane from the ground, a sealed recording barograph was placed in the aircraft for the attempt. In spite of intricate calculating devices, which the F.A.I. slide-rule pushers fondly believe give the actual height of the lowest part of the aircraft above sea level to within a metre, it is very doubtful if the true height can be within 100 feet of the calculated height. Yet the F.A.I. insist on giving it to three decimal places of a metre! Some method of radar measurement will have to be adopted. John Cunningham, who established the height record in 1948, told me that the difficulty there would be that as the aircraft is hard to hold for very long at its extreme height, it would not be easy to ensure that it was over a radar beam at the critical moment.

Extreme distance, too, is now becoming difficult to assess. The record is on the shortest great circle course between take-off and landing, but aircraft have now reached the stage when they can cover a distance greater than half the circumference of the world. The distance from take-off to landing, if the aircraft had flown more than half round the world, would be considerably shorter than the actual distance flown if measured as the shortest great circle. Dog-leg courses, with observers at recognised turning points, are now allowed to obviate the necessity of finishing in inaccessible places. With present speeds and ability to climb high, distance and height records may soon merge, as flights outside the earth's influence become possible. As such "flights" will be made by wingless projectiles, their records may become a matter for a ballistics association rather than for the F.A.I.

The maximal distance over a closed circuit no longer holds any real interest, nor is it of any importance. Yet still there are people willing to waste time going round and round a closed course getting nowhere. In the early days of flying, this record, assessed as duration rather than distance, was impressive. I can well remember how wonderful it seemed in 1910 or 1911 when a French pilot, Tabuteau, remained in the air on a Maurice Farman for six hours; to have stayed in the air for a quarter of a day was a feat then.

As the closed circuit distance record, which was established by the U.S.A. in 1947, did not beat the distance in a straight line record made by the same country the previous year, there seems to be no good reason for establishing it. It does not seem worth the time or money it cost, and must have been extremely boring for the crew. It proved nothing.

In 1950 the free balloon was still able to hold the absolute height record, and no aeroplane had been able to climb within 20,000 feet of the height reached by a balloon.

The speed record which is now most valuable is the sustained speed made over a closed circuit course of 100 km. An aeroplane which holds that record must be capable of sustained speed and not just a short sprint, and must be highly manoeuvrable to be able to corner at speed. The last four 100 km. speed records have been held by British aeroplanes. The present holder is John Derry in the de Havilland 108, who took it from Mike Lithgow in the Vickers-Armstrong Attacker, who took it from Bill Waterton in a Gloster Meteor, who took it from John Cunningham in a de Havilland Vampire.

I give hereafter the absolute records for speed, height, distance in a line, and distance in a closed circuit; I also give the extreme height record for an aeroplane, and the 100 km. closed circuit speed record. The F.A.I. subdivides its list into those records made with piston and jet motors, which seems a foolish, unnecesary classification.

There are nearly 100 recognised records for aircraft of different categories carrying different weights. There are records for helicopters, gliders, balloons, airships, aeroplanes, seaplanes and models. There are also records for most of the above classes when piloted by women, though there is no logical reason for that distinction.

Here follows the list of principal world records and a more detailed list of conditions and past holders.
PRINCIPAL WORLD RECORDS [Note 13]

Distance in a straight line.
Holder: United States of America.
Commander Thomas D. Davies, Commander Eug P. Rankin, Commander S. Reid, Lt.-Commander Ray A. Tabeling, U.S. Navy, Lockheed P2 V-1 ("Truculent Turtle"), two Wright R 3350 motors of 2,300 h.p. each from Perth, Australia to Columbus, Ohio, 29th September to 1st October 1946, 18081.990 kms., 11,236.145 miles.

Balloon Height Record.
Holder: United States of America.
Captain Orvil A. Anderson and Captain Albert W. Stevens, spherical balloon ("Explorer"), 11th November 1935, 22,066 m., 72,394 feet.

Aeroplane Height Record.
Holder: Great Britain.
John Cunningham, D.S.O., D.F.C., Vampire (modified), Ghost turbojet, 23rd March 1948, 18,132.983 m., 59,492 feet.

Speed.
Holder: United States of America.
Major Richard L. Johnson, U.S.A.F., North American F.86 Sabre, General Electric J.47 turbojet, Muroc Dry Lake, California, 15th September 1948, 1,079.841 km.p.h., 671 m.p.h.

Closed circuit, 100 kms.
Holder: Great Britain.
John Derry, D.F.C., de Havilland 108, Goblin turbojet, Hatfield, 12th April 1948, 974.0259 km.p.h., 605.230 m.p.h.

Distance in a closed circuit.
Holder: United States of America.
Lieut.-Colonel Lassiter, U.S.A.F., and crew of eight, Boeing Superfortress, four Wright R 3350-57A motors of 2,200 h.p. each, Florida, 1st to 5th August 1947, 14,248.656 kms., 8,854.11 miles.
DISTANCE IN A STRAIGHT LINE RECORD

The greatest distance in a straight line was not recognised by the F.A.I. as a World record until 1925. Before then, distance records were measured in a closed circuit. At first, aeroplanes flew round and round a pylon course on an aerodrome, as they did for example at the Rheims meeting of August 1909. Later the radius extended so that a circuit of 20, 50, or 100 miles or kilometres was used. That limited radius of operation was because of the unreliability of motors, which made pilots prefer to stay in the vicinity of their aerodromes.

The first cross-country flights on record were made by Henri Farman and Louis Blériot on 30th and 31st October 1908 respectively. On 30th October Farman, in a Voisin biplane, flew from Buoy and landed on the cavalry ground at Rheims, a distance of 27 kms., which he covered in 20 minutes. He said that he had difficulty in deciding, at one point, whether to fly to the right or left of a line of poplar trees—he could not climb high enough to fly over them!

The next day Louis Blériot flew from Toury to Arthenay and back, which was the first cross-country out and home flight. The flight was only 14 kms. in either direction.

The Royal Aero Club recognised distance in a straight line as a British record quite early in 1913 when Captain C. A. H. Longcroft flew a B.E. biplane from Montrose to Portsmouth. He turned back and landed at Farnborough, but the distance was taken in a straight line from Montrose to Portsmouth as a British distance record. The year before, Edward Petre had tried to fly non-stop from Brooklands to Edinburgh in a Martin-Handasyde monoplane. Over Yorkshire, he ran into very bad weather. The wings broke and Petre was killed at Marske, but he had already made one of the longest flights accomplished in Great Britain.

After the 1918 war, it was generally agreed by the nations that a record for the greatest distance in a straight line would be much more valuable than a closed circuit course. So new regulations were drawn up. A flight was measured as the shortest distance between two points, along a great circle course. In 1948 slight dog-leg turns were permitted.

The first five records, between 1925 and 1926, all went to the French. Then the Royal Air Force began to take an interest and the Hawker Company were ordered to prepare a special Horsley bomber with a 600 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Condor", which was to be flown by Flight Lieut. (now Air Marshal Sir) Roderick Carr. The machine left Cranwell, with Persia as its goal, on the same day as Lindbergh left on his solo flight of the Atlantic.

The Horsley reached the Persian Gulf, where engine failure caused a descent. Carr and his navigator, Flight Lieut. L. E. M. Gillman, were rescued unhurt. The record had been beaten, but at the same time Lindbergh had been making his famous solo flight across the Atlantic. As the latter's mileage exceeded that of Carr, and as Carr's flight ended in the Persian Gulf, the British did not put in a claim for so short-lived a record.

Later on, Carr made two more unsuccessful attempts on the record, one of which ended at Martlesham Heath, only a few miles from Cranwell. On that occasion, Carr made a sensationally successful landing at Martlesham with an enormous overload of petrol. The third attempt ended in the Danube near Vienna.

The R.A.F. then gave up the attempt on the record with an adapted bomber, and placed an order with the Fairey Aviation Company for a special monoplane with a 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" engine. This machine, piloted by Squadron Leader Jones-Williams (known rather naturally as "John Willy") with Flight Lieut. N. H. Jenkins tried to break the record by a flight from Cranwell to Ceylon. For the last 2,000 miles before reaching Karachi, they encountered an unusual east headwind. At Karachi it was obvious that fuel would not allow the record to be beaten, so a landing was made at Karachi—the first non-stop flight from England to India.

About a year later, Jones-Williams and Jenkins tried to fly to South Africa in the same machine, but, in thick weather, the machine hit the Atlas mountains and pilot and navigator were killed.

The Air Ministry ordered another machine of similar design with which Squadron Leader Oswald Gayford and Flight Lieut. G. E. Nicholetts flew from Cranwell to Walvis Bay, just short of Cape Town, and captured the record for Great Britain for the first time.

For these flights, and those of Carr, there were no hard nor concrete runways, so long waits had to be made on each occasion until there was a frost to harden the ground, and the wind was in the right direction for the longest run of Cranwell to be used, and for a full moon to aid navigation. Waiting for such conditions to coincide meant delays of several weeks or even months.

Britain made yet another successful attempt to regain the record in 1938, when a flight of three Vickers "Wellesleys" flew from Ismailia in Egypt to Darwin in Australia. One of the aeroplanes, getting short of fuel, had to land at Timor Island. The other two, piloted by Squadron Leader R. Kellett and Flight Lieut. A. N. Coombe respectively, reached Darwin, thereby each covering 7,158 miles (11,468.58 kms.) [Note 14]. As they landed almost at the same time as one another, the world record was awarded, for the first time in history, to the pilots of two aircraft simultaneously.

The record remained in British hands until after the 1939-45 war. The performance had proved the value of the "geodetic" method of airframe construction, evolved by B. N. Wallis of Vickers, which was to prove so tough, light, and strong in the Vickers Wellington bombers in the war.

At the end of 1945, the U.S. Army took the record from Britain by a flight in a Superfortress from Guam in the Pacific to Washington, a distance of 7,883 miles. That was eclipsed in the summer of 1946 by a flight by the U.S. Navy, when Commander T. D. Davies and crew flew from Perth, Western Australia, across the Pacific to Columbus, Ohio, a distance of 11,171 miles, in a Lockheed named The Truculent Turtle.

The following is a complete list of distance records from 1925 to the present time:

1925 Captain Arrachart and Captain Lemaitre.
France—Bréguet XIX, 3,166 kms., 1,967.35 miles.
Etampes-Villa Cisneros.

1926 Captain Arrachart and Adjutant Arrachart.
France—Potez 28, 4.305 kms., 2,675.13 miles.
Le Bourget-Shaibah.

1926 Captain Girier and Lieutenant Dordilly.
France—Bréguet XIXa, 4,715.9 kms., 2,930.45 miles.
Le Bourget-Omsk.

1926 Lieutenant Challe and Captain Weiser.
France—Bréguet XIXa2, 5,174 kms., 3,215.12 miles.
Le Bourget-Bandar Abbas.

1926 Captain Costes and Captain Rignot.
France—Bréguet XIXa2, 5,396 kms., 3,353.07 miles.
Le Bourget-Jask.

1927 Captain Charles Lindbergh.
U.S.A.—Ryan monoplane, 5,809 kms., 3,609.55 miles.
New York-Paris.

1927 Clarence Chamberlain and A. Levine.
U.S.A.—Bellanca, 6,294 kms., 3,911.09 miles.
New York-Isleben (Germany).

1928 A. Ferrarin and Del Prete.
Italy—Savoia-Marchetti, 7,188 kms., 4,466.62 miles.
Rome-Touros.

1929 Captain Costes and Captain Bellonte.
France—Bréguet XIXa2, 7,905 kms., 4,911.17 miles.
Le Bourget-Moulart.

1931 Russel N. Boardman and John Polando.
U.S.A.—Bellanca, 8,065 kms., 5,011.59 miles.
Brooklyn-Istanbul.

1933 Squadron Leader O. R. Gayford and flight Lieut. G. E Nicholetts.
Gt. Britain—Fairey-Napier, 8,544 kms., 5,309.24 miles.
Cranwell-Walvis Bay.

1933 Captain Rossi and Captain Codos.
France—Blériot-Zappata, 9,104 kms., 5,657.23 miles.
New York-Rayack.

1937 Colonel M. Gromov and crew.
U.S.S.R.—A.N.T., 10,148 kms., 6,305.97 miles.
Moscow-San Jacinto (via North Pole).

1938 Squadron Leader R. Kellett and crew and Flight Lieut. A. N. Coombe and crew.
Great Britain—2 Vickers Wellesleys, 11,520 kms., 7,158.6 miles.
Ismailia-Darwin.

1945 Colonel S. C. Irvine and crew.
U.S.A.—Superfortress, 12,686 kms., 7,883.08 miles.
Guam-Washington.

1946 Commander T. D. Davies and crew.
U.S.A.—Lockheed P2V-1, 17,978 kms., 11,171.53 miles.
Perth, W. Australia-Columbus (Ohio).
HEIGHT RECORDS

The first height record was set up by Hubert Latham on an Antoinette monoplane, with motor of the same make, at the world's first aviation meeting at Rheims on 29th August 1909. He reached a height of 155 metres or 508½ feet.

In the early days, height records were measured with theodolites from the ground, but when aeroplanes were able to reach heights of 5,000 feet it was often impossible to use a theodolite. Unless the weather was exceptionally clear, the machine could not always be seen from the ground, so, during 1910, height was first measured by a sealed recording barograph carried in the aircraft. That method is used to the present day.

As with the speed and distance in a closed circuit records, the height record went in the early days to the country in which the record was made, regardless of the pilot’s nationality. For example, when the Frenchman, Louis Paulhan (the winner of the first London to Manchester flight prize) set up a new height record of 1,209 metres or 3,966.53 feet at Los Angeles in January 1910, that record was credited to the United States.

The following is a list of height records by aeroplanes from 1909 to 1950:

1909
- Hubert Latham, France. Antoinette. 155 metres; 508.50 ft.
- Comte de Lambert, France. Wright 300 metres; 984.30 ft.
- Hubert Latham, France. Antoinette. 453 metres; 1,486.18 ft.

1910
- Hubert Latham, France. Antoinette. 1,000 metres; 3,280.80 ft.
- Louis Paulhan, France*. H. Farman. 1,209 metres; 3,966.53 ft.
     (*Originally credited to U.S.A.)
- Walter Brookins, U.S.A. Wright. 1,335 metres; 4,379.93 ft.
- Hubert Latham, France. Antoinette. 1,384 metres; 4,540.19 ft.
- Walter Brookins, U.S.A. Wright. 1,900 metres; 6,233.60 ft.
- Armstrong Drexel, U.S.A. Blériot. 2,012 metres; 6,601.07 ft.
- Léon Morane, France. Blériot. 2,582 metres; 8,471.13 ft.
- Georges Chavez, France. Blériot 2,587 metres; 8,487.53 ft.
- H. Wynmalen, Holland**. H. Farman. 2,780 metres; 9,120.17 ft.
     (**Originally credited to France.)
- Armstrong Drexel, U.S.A. Blériot. 2,880 metres; 9,448.77 ft.
- Ralph Johnston, U.S.A. Wright. 2,960 metres; 9,711.25 ft.
- Georges Legagneux, France. Blériot. 3,100 metres; 10,170.60 ft.

1911
- M. Loridan, France. H. Farman. 3,177 metres; 10,423.22 ft.
- Captain Felix, France. Blériot. 3,190 metres; 10,465.85 ft.
- Roland Garros, France. Blériot. 3,910 metres; 12,828.01 ft.

1912
- Roland Garros, France. Blériot. 4,900 metres; 16,076.10 ft.
- Georges Legagneux, France. Morane. 5,450 metres; 17,880.54 ft.
- Roland Garros, France. Morane. 5,610 metres; 18,405.51 ft.

1913
- M. Perreyon, France. Blériot. 5,880 metres; 19,291.27 ft.
- Georges Legagneux, France. Nieuport. 6,120 metres; 20,078.72 ft.

1920
- Major R. W. Schroeder, U.S.A. Le Pere. 10,093 metres; 33,133.12 ft.

1921
- Lieut. J. A. MacReady, U.S.A. Le Pere. 10,518 metres; 34,507.45 ft.

1923
- Sadi Lecointe, France. Nieuport Delage. 10,742 metres; 35,242.39 ft.
- Sadi Lecointe, France. Nieuport Delage. 11,145 metres; 36,564.72 ft.

1927
- Lieutenant C. C. Champion, U.S.A. Wright Apache. 11,710 metres; 38,418.41 ft.

1929
- Lieutenant Apollo Soucek, U.S.A. Wright Apache. 11,930 metres; 39,140.12 ft.
- Willi Neuenhofen, Germany. Junkers W.33. 12,739 metres; 41,794.55 ft.

1930
- Lieutenant Apollo Soucek, U.S.A. Wright Apache. 13,157 metres; 43,166.09 ft.

1932
- Cyril F. Uwins, Great Britain. Vickers Vespa (Bristol). 13,404 metres; 43,976.42 ft.

1933
- Georges Lemoine, France. Potez 50. 13,661 metres; 44,622.78 ft

1934
- Commander Renato Donati, Italy. Caproni (Bristol). 14,433 metres; 47,352.57 ft.

1936
- Georges Détré, France. Potez. 14,843 metres; 48,697.78 ft.
- Squadron Leader F. R. D. Swain, Gt. Britain. Bristol 138 (Pegasus). 15,223 metres; 49,943.66 ft.

1937
- Lieut.-Colonel Mario Pezzi, Italy. Caproni 161. 15,655 metres; 51,360.95 ft.
- Flight Lieut. M. J. Adam, Gt. Britain. Bristol 138. 16,440 metres; 53,936.53 ft.

1938
- Lieut.-Colonel Mario Pezzi, Italy. Caproni 161. 17,083 metres; 56,046.31 ft.

1948
- John Cunningham, D.S.O., D.F.C., Great Britain. de Havilland Vampire (modified), Ghost turbojet. 18,132.983 metres; 59,492 ft.

The absolute height record was made in a balloon in November 1935, when Captain O. S. Anderson and Captain A. W. Stevens. U.S.A., reached 22,066 metres, 72,394 feet.
THE WORLD SPEED RECORD

The first world speed record was set up at Bagatelle, France, on the 12th November, 1906, by the French-Brazilian, Alberto Santos Dumont, flying a biplane of his own design. His recorded speed was 41.292 km.p.h. (25.65 m.p.h.). His flight was a hop of 721 feet (220 metres), and that was the course for the first speed record to be observed officially on behalf of the F.A.I. In addition to gaining the speed record, he was also credited with gaining the "distance en circuit fermé," even though the circuit was not "fermé."

Henri Farman next put the record up to 52.70 km.p.h. (32.73 m.p.h.) over a distance of 770 metres (2,526 ft.).

Paul Tissandier, on a Wright, put the record up to 54.8 km.p.h. in May 1909. By that time aeroplanes were able to fly further, so speed records were usually timed over a closed circuit.

During the world's first aviation meeting at Rheims in August 1909, the American, Glen Curtiss, on a biplane of his own design and construction, raised the record to 69.810 km.p.h. (43.35 m.p.h.). He did that during the Gordon-Bennett race, the first international event, which developed into a race as important as the Schneider Trophy contest later became.

His record did not stand for long, for on the next day the great Louis Blériot, fresh from his Channel honours, put up the speed to 74.318 km.p.h. (46.15 m.p.h.) and raised it again by about 2 m.p.h. four days later.

It is interesting to note that the spirit of one of the earliest holders of the record, Blériot, later urged men on to still more speed by his gift of a trophy to the first man to fly at over 1,000 km.p.h. for more than half an hour. That had not yet been won in 1950.

At this time, motor cars were faster than aeroplanes. In 1911, the German driver, Burman, on a Benz car, had put up a speed for a "flying kilometre", of 141.173 m.p.h. In 1913 Maurice Prévost, the Frenchman, who was the first winner of the Schneider Trophy, made a record of 126.59 m.p.h. on a Deperdussin monoplane with 160 h.p. Gnôme motor. That record stood unbeaten until after the 1914-18 war, when that ever-smiling and happy Frenchman, Sadi Lecointe, raised it to 170.94 m.p.h. Thereafter the aeroplane kept right ahead of the car as regards speed.

From the end of the 1918 war till 1922, there was a constant duel between the French Nieuport and Spad, flown by Sadi Lecointe and the Comte de Romanet. One of their targets was 200 m.p.h., which Sadi reached first in September 1921.

After the 1918 war, speeds had risen so high that it was realised that an aeroplane's maximum speed was not adequately recorded over a closed circuit of five kms., so the F.A.I. brought in new regulations that an aircraft must fly once in each direction (in the course of a single flight, without landing), over a straight course of one km. The aircraft must have made two safe landings shortly before the record attempt.

After speeds of 200 m.p.h. had been reached in 1921, such a course was too short for accurate timing, so it was lengthened to three kms. and had to be flown twice in each direction.

Additional rules were made to prevent artificial speeds being recorded by diving to attain extra speed. Two posts or marks were set up 500 metres from the start of the course at each end. The course was to be covered twice in each direction at a constant height of not more than 50 metres, which must also be the height of the aircraft for 500 metres before entering the course. The height reached during the flight must not be more than 400 metres from start to finish. The average speed of the four flights, which must be timed separately, was the speed for the record. Automatic timing apparatus, approved by the F.A.I., was used. A previous record must be beaten by at least 8 km.p.h., and the flight must be observed by an official observer appointed by the national aero club on behalf of the F.A.I.

Until 1924, all speed records were made on land aeroplanes. But thereafter, the extra drag of floats on seaplanes was offset by the advantage of having greater, and less restricted, areas for taking off and alighting on water. The huge land aerodromes with hard runways of later days were not then envisaged, nor thought to be necessary. Seaplanes held the records for speed from 1923 until 1939, which was largely due to the influence and impetus given to that class by the Schneider Trophy contests.

After 1931, there was not much speed increase until 1939. The speed records after 1931 were made by Italian machines which had been built—too late—for the 1931 Schneider Trophy contest. It was with one of those craft that Scapinelli got a temporary hold on the Blériot Trophy in 1933 by flying for half an hour at 614 km.p.h. There was no other machine fast enough to take it from him before 1939, and none has tried since then. The trophy could be held temporarily by a pilot who flew progressively faster at over 500 m.p.h. for thirty minutes.

A German captured the speed record in 1939 at 469 m.p.h. on a "hotted-up" version of the Me109 land plane. It could not have flown for the necessary half hour to gain a hold on the trophy, as it had a special short-life "sprint" motor, and Germany was too busy preparing for war to go for the Blériot Trophy. That was the only occasion on which Germany gained the speed record. It was almost certainly our long experience, and research in attempts to gain the Schneider Trophy and speed record, which kept our motors and fighters ahead of those of Germany during the war of 1939-45. For records, special "racing freaks" with dangerously high alighting speeds were used until 1939, but in 1945 the record was won by a very slightly modified fighter. That was made possible by the enormously increased power made available from jet propulsion.

People often ask what is the good of record attempts. The best answer is that Rolls-Royce first built up their reputation, whereby the name is synonymous with super-excellence, partly by making their standard cars capable of withstanding the rigours of the great continental car trials from 1905 onwards.

Rolls-Royce never entered cars for races, and those they sold were done so with a proviso that they would not be used for racing. The first time that the firm was officially identified with racing was when they built special motors for the Schneider Trophy contests of 1929 and 1931. Rolls-Royce jet engines, in R.A.F. aircraft, have gained the world speed record twice since the war, and in aircraft for the R.A.F. and Navy, in the hands of test pilots, have competed in races since 1946.

Herewith is a complete list of all speed records homologated by the F.A.I. from 1906 to 1950. The nationality given is that of the pilot to whom, after 1927, the record was officially credited.

1906
- Alberto Santos Dumont, France. Santos Dumont. 41.29 km. 25.65 m.p.h.

1907
- Henri Farman, France. Voisin. 52.70 km. 32.73 m.p.h.

1909
- Paul Tissandier, France. Wright. 54.810 km. 34.04 m.p.h.
- Glen Curtiss*, U.S.A. Curtiss. 69.812 km. 43.35 m.p.h.
          *(Originally credited to France.)
- Louis Blériot, France. Blériot XI. 74.318 km. 46.18 m.p.h.
- Louis Blériot, France. Blériot XI. 76.995 km. 47.85 m.p.h.

1910
- Hubert Latham, France. Antoinette. 77.579 km. 48.21 m.p.h.
- Leon Morane*, France. Blériot. 106.508 km. 66.19 m.p.h.
          *(Originally credited to U.S.A.)

1911
- A. Leblanc*, France, Blériot. 111.801 km. 69.48 m.p.h.
          *(Originally credited to U.S.A.)
- Edouard Nieuport, France. Nieuport. 119.760 km. 74.42 m.p.h.
- A. Leblanc, France. Blériot. 125.000 km. 77.68 m.p.h.
- Edouard Nieuport, France. Nieuport. 130.057 km. 80.82 m.p.h.
- Edouard Nieuport, France. Nieuport. 133.136 km. 82.73 m.p.h.

1912
- Jules Vedrines, France. Deperdussin. 145.161 km. 90.20 m.p.h.
- Jules Védrines, France. Deperdussin. 161.290 km. 100.23 m.p.h.
- Jules Védrines, France. Deperdussin. 162.454 km. 100.95 m.p.h.
- Jules Védrines, France. Deperdussin. 166.821 km. 103.66 m.p.h.
- Jules Védrines, France. Deperdussin. 167.910 km. 104.34 m.p.h.  
- Jules Védrines, France. Deperdussin. 170.777 km. 106.12 m.p.h.
- Jules Védrines*, France, Deperdussin. 174.100 km. 108.18 m.p.h.
          *(Originally credited to U.S.A.)

1913
- Maurice Prévost, France. Deperdussin. 179.820 km. 111.74 m.p.h.
- Maurice Prévost, France. Deperdussin. 191.897 km. 119.25 m.p.h.
- Maurice Prévost, France. Deperdussin. 203.850 km. 126.67 m.p.h.

1920
- Sadi Lecointe, France. Nieuport. 275.264 km. 171.05 m.p.h.
- Jean Casale, France. Spad. 283.464 km. 176.15 m.p.h.
- Comte de Romanet, France. Spad. 292.682 km. 181.87 m.p.h.
- Sadi Lecointe, France. Nieuport 296.694 km. 184.36 m.p.h.
- Sadi Lecointe, France. Nieuport 302.529 km. 187.99 m.p.h.
- Comte de Romanet, France. Spad. 309.012 km. 192.02 m.p.h.
- Sadi Lecointe, France. Nieuport. 313.043 km. 194.53 m.p.h.

1921
- Sadi Lecointe, France. Nieuport. 330.275 km. 205.23 m.p.h.

1922
- Sadi Lecointe, France. Nieuport Sesquiplane. 341.023 km. 211.91 m.p.h.
- W. G. Mitchell, U.S.A. Curtiss. 358.84 km. 222.98 m.p.h.

1923
- Sadi Lecointe, France. Nieuport. 375.000 km. 233.03 m.p.h.
- Lieut. A. Brow, U.S.A. Curtiss. 417.059 km. 259.16 m.p.h.
- Lieut. Alford Williams, U.S.A. Curtiss. 429.03 km. 266.60 m.p.h.

1924
- Adj. Bonnet, France. S.I.M.B. (Bernard). 448.17 km. 278.50 m.p.h.

1927
- Major de Bernardi*, Italy. Macchi. 479.29 km. 297.83 m.p.h.
          *(Originally credited to U.S.A.) 

1928
Major de Bernardi, Italy. Macchi. 512.78 km. 318.64 m.p.h.

1929
- Wing Commander A. H. Orlebar, Great Britain. Supermarine S6. 575.70 km. 357.75 m.p.h.

1931
- Flight Lieut. G. H. Stainforth, Great Britain. Supermarine S6b. 655.00 km. 407.02 m.p.h.

1933
- Lieut. Francesco Agello, Italy. Macchi. 682.08 km. 423.85 m.p.h.

1934
- Lieut. Francesco Agello, Italy. Macchi 709.20 km. 440.69 m.p.h.

1939
- Flug. Kapitan Fritz Wendell, Germany. Me109r. 755.14 km. 469.25 m.p.h.

1945
- Group Captain H. I. Wilson, Great Britain. Gloster Meteor (2 Rolls-Royce gas turbines). 976.00 km. 606.49 m.p.h.

1946
- Group Captain E. M. Donaldson, Great Britain. Gloster Meteor IV (2 Rolls-Royce gas turbines). 991 km. 615.81 m.p.h.

1947
- Col. Albert Boyd, U.S.A. Lockheed "Shooting Star" (modified), Allison turbojet 1,003 km. 623.24 m.p.h.
- Major M. E. Carl, U.S.A. Douglas D558 1,047.536 km. 650.92 m.p.h

1948
- Major Richard Johnson, U.S.A.F. American Sabre (General Electric J 47 turbojet) 1,079.841 km. 671 m.p.h.   






21 and 22. Most competent airline stewards. Left, Frank Emery, who personifies the phrase "B.O.A.C. takes good care of you"; and right, Harry McLean of B.E.A., who exudes confidence. Such men can add much to the contentment of their passengers.







23. B.O.A.C. Short "Solent" flying-boat, still the most pleasant airliner at the end of 1950.






24. Air Commodore J. W. F. Merer, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Berlin Air Lift, 1948 to 1949.






25. Wing Commander Tim Piper (left) talking to Group Captain Brian Yarde, in the control room at Gatow airport, Berlin.






26. The single concrete runway at Gatow which carried most of the Berlin Airlift traffic into Gatow for nearly a year. The country seen beyond the airport was in the Russian zone.
CHAPTER 29

F.A.I. AND ROYAL AERO CLUB MEDALS

F.A.I. gold medal—names and feats of winners—silver medals—R.Ae.C. gold, silver, and bronze medals—all the winners.

AMONG the most highly-prized honours conferred on members of the aviation fraternity are the gold and silver medals bestowed by the F.A.I. and the gold, silver, and bronze medals bestowed by the Royal Aero Club of the U.K. In the list of these medals are the names of many men, and a few women as well, who have become almost legendary figures to the modern generation.

In 1925 the F.A.I. decided to award annually one, and only one, gold medal to whomsoever they considered had accomplished the most outstanding performance during the year.

The first medal was awarded to General the Marquis de Pinedo who, with an engineer, Campinelli, flew in a Savoia S16 flying-boat from Rome, across India, and via the Dutch East Indies, to Broome on the north-west coast of Australia. Thence he flew right round the coast of Australia to Darwin, and on to Tokyo. From Tokyo he flew back to Rome via India. The total distance covered was about 35,000 miles in 201 days. The last 15,000 miles were covered in 22 days.

Pinedo was hailed as a hero in his native Italy, but later he incurred the displeasure of Mussolini. He was killed a year or so later when his aeroplane caught fire when taking off from a New York airfield in an attempt to fiy the Atlantic.

The first F.A.I. gold medal awarded to a Briton went in 1926 to Sir Alan Cobham for his flight from Rochester (England) to Melbourne and back between 30th June and 1st October 1926 on a DH50 (385 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley "Jaguar"), a distance of approximately 28,000 miles in 320 flying hours. For the journey each way between England and Darwin, the aeroplane was fitted with floats. These were changed for a land undercarriage for the stretch between Darwin and Melbourne. At the end of the flight, Cobham alighted on the Thames between Westminster and Lambeth bridges, and came ashore at the terrace of the House of Commons, where he was received by the Speaker. After this flight he was awarded the K.B.E. by the King.

In 1927 the gold medal was awarded by the F.A.I. to Colonel Charles Lindbergh for his solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris in his Ryan monoplane Spirit of St. Louis (220 h.p. Wright "Whirlwind").

He left New York on 20th May 1927, and after 33½ hours flying, landed at Le Bourget, a distance of 3,600 miles, which broke the World Distance Record.

The F.A.I. awarded the Gold Medal for 1928 to Squadron Leader H. J. L. (Bert) Hinkler, A.F.C., D.S.M., R.A.A.F. for a "record" flight in a light aeroplane from Croydon to Darwin. In 1928, in one of the first Avro "Avians" (80 h.p. "Cirrus"), he covered a distance of 11,005 miles in 15½ days. It was not until several years later that the F.A.l. officially recognised point-to-point speed records, of which London to Darwin is one.

In 1929 the F.A.I. Gold Medal was awarded to the Frenchman, Dieudonné Coste, who, with his co-pilot Maurice Bellonte, broke the world distance record by a flight on a modified Bréguet XIX A2 (600 h.p. Hispano-Suiza) from Le Bourget to Moulmart near the border of China and Siberia, a distance of 7,905.140 kms., 4,743.084 miles.

General Italo Balbo was awarded the Gold Medal for 1930 for leading a flight of eleven Savoia-Marchetti flying boats from Italy, across the South Atlantic to Rio. Twelve boats started, and one crashed, with fatal results, on the way.

Dr. Hugo Eckener was awarded the Gold Medal for 1931 for his work with the Graf Zeppelin airship which included a flight to the Arctic and three flights from Germany to South America and back.

In 1932 a Gold Medal was awarded to the Spaniard, Señor don Juan de la Cierva, the inventor and pilot of the autogiro. He did work in England which later rendered the helicopter a practical proposition.

The Gold Medal for 1933 was awarded to the one-eyed American Indian, Wiley Post, for a solo flight in a Lockheed "Vega" round the Northern Hemisphere from New York, via Berlin, Moscow, Novosibirrsk. Irkutsk, Rukhlova, Kharbarovsk, Nome, Fairbanks, Edmonton, and back to New York in 7 days 18 hours 50 minutes. In landing in Alaska he damaged the airscrew. He telegraphed for another similar machine to be flown to him, with which he completed the circuit of the world. But for that mishap, his time must have been some hours less.

For 1934 the Gold Medal was awarded to C. W. A. Scott for his flight with Campbell Black in a "Comet" from Mildenhall, in Suffolk, to Melbourne in 71 hours 0 minutes 18 seconds, whereby he won the MacRobertson race.

No award was made for 1935, but for 1936 the Gold Medal went to the Frenchman, Jean Mermoz, who pioneered and operated the first air mail service across the South Atlantic on a regular schedule, for Air France. At the end of 1936, on 7th December, he and a crew of four vanished in the South Atlantic in a Latécoère flying boat. They had pioneered a route from Paris to Santiago in Chile, 9,600 miles, and Mermoz had become a French national hero.

For 1937 the Gold Medal went to Miss Jean Batten, C.B.E., for breaking the solo "record" from Darwin to London in her "Gull" by a flight of 5 days 18 hours 15 minutes. The F.A.l. awarded her the medal, as they considered that this flight was a culminating point in her career, following her record flight from London to Wellington, and her flight from England to South America across the South Atlantic.

For 1938 no award was made because the delegates could not agree if the Gold Medal should be awarded to Howard Hughes or to Squadron Leader R. Kellett, so it was decided to award a cup to each of them. Kellett had been the leader of the R.A.F. Long Distance Flight which broke the distance record by flying with a formation of "Wellesleys" from Ismailia to Darwin non-stop. Hughes, on a Lockheed 14 (two Wright "Cyclones"), accompanied by Lieutenants Connor and Thurlow, with Stoddart as radio operator, flew round the Northern Hemisphere, on a somewhat similar course to that taken by Wiley Post, in 3 days 7 hours 17 minutes.

For 1946, the first Gold Medal to be awarded after the war, went to Igor Ivan Sikorsky, a Russian pioneer of 1912 who went to America in 1918 and became naturalised American. He was awarded the medal for contributing to helicopter development.

For 1947 no Gold Medal was awarded.

For 1948 Captain Charles F. Yeager (U.S.A.) won the award for being the first person to exceed the speed of sound.

At the forty-third Annual General Conference of the F.A.I. in Stockholm in May and June 1950, it was decided to withhold the award of the Gold Medal for 1949 as no one was deemed to have been worthy of it. It seems to be a remarkable omission that no Gold Medal of the F.A.l. nor of the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom has been made to Sir Frank Whittle for his outstanding work in making gas turbines both possible and practicable!

The F.A.I. make an award of a silver medal to all pilots who break a world record for speed, height, or distance.

The first gold medals awarded by the Aero Club of the U.K. were given on lst December, 1908, to the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, who at that time were on a visit to England. At the time no real flights had been recorded in Britain. The Wrights had first flown five years previously, and had come on a visit to Europe, where they had given demonstrations of flying, though they did not fly in Britain. They were given a dinner by the Club at which the medals were presented.

The second gold medal went to Louis Blériot for his epoch-marking flight across the English Channel on 25th July, 1909, which he accomplished in 37 minutes.

On 7th September, 1909, a gold medal was awarded to Henri Farman for a number of fine flights at the first aviation meeting in the World at Rheims, during which he flew 180 kms. non-stop, the world distance record in a closed circuit. He also flew during the meeting with two passengers at once.

On 22nd October, 1909, a gold medal was awarded to the Frenchman, Hubert Latham, for a meritorious flight during the Blackpool meeting of 18-25th October, 1909. Thursday, 21st October, had been a blank day of flying owing to bad weather. Friday, 22nd October, looked like being another day just as bad. At 1 p.m. the wind registered 28 m.p.h. and was proportionately gusty, but to everyone's surprise and satisfaction the red flag was hoisted to announce that flying was about to start. Latham's Antoinette was then dragged by a horse from its shed to the starting line. The motor was run up, but watchers could see that the pilot was having difficulty in controlling the monoplane on the ground. When he took off, Latham could be seen almost wrestling with the curious two-wheel control of the Antoinette. His top-speed was probably not much more than 45 m.p.h., and his progress against the half-gale seemed very slow. He landed safely after two circuits which had taken him more than ten minutes. The flight was described as the "most daring on record".

In 1949 and 1950 modern pilots, accustomed to high power, have been unable to fly similar old aeroplanes at the Royal Aeronautical Society garden parties, and the R.A.F. Display, because the wind has been blowing at 10 m.p.h. or slightly more!

The next gold medal was awarded on 2nd June, 1910, to the Hon. C. S. Rolls for his flight that day on a Short-built Wright across the Channel and back, which is described in the chapter on Channel flying.

A gold medal was awarded posthumously to Cecil S. Grace on 31st December, 1910. The Baron de Forest had offered, through the Royal Aero Club, a prize of £4,000 for the British subject to make the longest flight from England to the Continent before 31st December, 1910. T. O. M. Sopwith had flown a Howard Wright biplane from Eastchurch to a point in Belgium 177 miles from his starting point, which finally secured for him the prize. Cecil Grace left Dover on 22nd December, 1910, to try and beat Sopwith's distance. He reached Les Barraques near Calais, but wind was too strong for him to have any chance of beating Sopwith, so he started to fly back to England to try again when weather had improved. There was a Channel haze; he had arranged to follow the mail-boat Pas de Calais but it was ten minutes behind schedule. Fog farther out in the Channel was much thicker. The sound of an aeroplane was heard at the North Goodwins lighthouse, but Grace was never seen again. He had been one of the original band of British pioneers at Eastchurch.

The next gold medal was awarded on the same date to Claude Grahame-White for his great victory in the Gordon-Bennett Cup.

The next award was made on 3rd September 1912 to S. F. Cody. In that year the War Office had offered prizes of £10,000 to be awarded internationally for the best military aeroplanes. One prize was for the best aeroplane in the world, and another for the best British one. Cody won the first prize in each category, but his aeroplane merely beat the rules. It was no good as a military aircraft and was not developed. The competition is described elsewhere.

Two gold medals were awarded, dated 14th-15th June, 1919, to Captain Sir John Alcock, K.B.E., and Lieut. Sir Arthur Whitten-Brown, K.B.E., for making the first direct flight across the Atlantic in a Vickers "Vimy" (two Rolls-Royce "Eagles"), from St. Johns, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Ireland. The flight is described in the chapter on Atlantic flying.

Two gold medals were awarded to Captain Sir Ross Smith, K.B.E., and his brother, Captain Sir Keith Smith, K.B.E., for making the first flight from England to Australia (also in a Vickers "Vimy").

On 28th November, 1923, a gold medal was awarded to Lt.-Col. Sir Francis McClean, A.F.C., in appreciation of his pioneer work in the advancement of aviation. Sir Frank learned to fly at Eastchurch in 1909. He bought Eastchurch aerodrome and presented it to the Aero Club as the Club's private flying ground. To be quite accurate he did not give it: he sold it to the club for one shilling. That transaction had to be made to make the deal legal. Sir Frank loaned two Short aeroplanes to the Admiralty in 1911 on which the first four naval aviators learned to fly. He was also the first to set the fashion of flying through the Tower Bridge, a feat he performed when he flew up the Thames from Eastchurch and alighted on the river near Westminster Bridge. In 1914, he flew a Short seaplane up the Nile from Alexandria to Khartoum. He has been an indefatigable worker at most flying meetings.

Alan J. Cobham was awarded a gold medal on 22nd March, 1926, for his series of Empire flights, culminating at that time with a flight from England to South Africa and back.

Captain Charles D. Barnard was awarded a gold medal in 1929 for a flight in a Fokker (450 h.p. Bristol "Jupiter") from England to India and back in eight days. He carried the Duchess of Bedford as passenger and R. F. (Bob) Little as mechanic. They started from Lympne and flew via Sofia, Aleppo, Bushire to Karachi, and back by almost the same route to Croydon. At a dinner given to celebrate the flight, at which the Duchess was the guest of honour, Barnard found himself sitting next to a gushing woman of uncertain age. Not knowing he had been the Duchess' pilot, she asked him if he had ever flown. He replied that he had just been to India with the Duchess of Bedford. "Oh," said the gusher, "you must have felt very safe with her." The Duchess had not then learned to fly at all!

Two medals were awarded for a flight, earlier the same year, by Squadron Leader A. G. Jones-Williams, M.C., and Flight-Lieut. N. H. Jenkins, O.B.E., D.F.C., D.S.M. They made the first non-stop flight from England to India, 3,948 miles, on 24th-26th April, 1929, in a Fairey monoplane with a 450 h.p. Napier "Lion" motor, while attempting to beat the distance record by flying to Ceylon. They were killed a few months later trying to fly non-stop from Cranwell to Cape Town, when they ran into the Atlas Mountains at night.

A gold medal was awarded in 1931 to Squadron Leader H. J. L. (Bert) Hinkler for the flight from New York to London via South America for which he won the Britannia Trophy.

In 1934 gold medals were awarded to C. W. A. Scott and T. Campbell Black for their flight of 71 hours 0 minutes 18 seconds from Mildenhall in Suffolk to Melbourne.

In 1936, a gold medal was awarded to Mrs. Amy Mollison (Miss Amy Johnson) for various meritorious Empire flights, including her first one from England to Australia in 1930, and subsequent flights, including a fast solo flight from London to Cape Town and back.

In 1937, a gold medal was awarded to Miss Jean Batten for meritorious Empire flights including record flights from London to Wellington, and Darwin to London.

The gold medal for 1947 was awarded posthumously to Geoffrey Raoul de Havilland, eldest son of Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, for his services to aviation as a test pilot. He had done much pioneer work flying jet aircraft near sonic speeds. He was killed in September 1946 when the DH108 research monoplane broke up over the Thames Estuary when he was preparing to break the world speed record of 616 m.p.h.

In 1948 the gold medal of the Royal Aero Club was awarded to John D. Derry, D.F.C., for being the first British subject to exceed the speed of sound in Great Britain. He did this on 6th September, 1948, on the DH108. In May of the same year, Wing Com. R. P. ("Bee") Beamont had exceeded the speed of sound on a North American P86 research fighter, when on a visit to America, but no official recognition had been made by the end of 1950 of this epoch-marking performance.

The first silver medal awarded in 1910 by the Royal Aero Club went to Alec Ogilvie for obtaining third place in the Gordon Bennett Cup race in a Wright biplane which was won in New York by Claude Grahame-White.

The next silver medal went to Robert Loraine for making the first flight across the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dublin in a Farman biplane (50 h.p. Gnôme) on 11th September, 1910.

Pierre Prier, French instructor of the Blériot School at Hendon, was awarded a silver medal for his non-stop flight from London to Paris on 12th April, 1911.

James Valentine, one of the earliest British private owners, was awarded a silver medal in 1911 for his performances in the Circuit of Europe, and Circuit of Britain in June and July respectively, 1911. Valentine did not get beyond the first stage in the Circuit of Europe, but he was the third competitor, and the first Briton, to finish in the Circuit of Britain. He flew a Deperdussin in each race.

S. F. Cody was awarded a silver medal in 1911 for finishing fourth in the Circuit of Britain. His was the only British aeroplane to finish.

Harry Hawker was awarded a silver medal for his flight in the Daily Mail Seaplane Circuit of Britain in 1913. He started from Southampton on 16th August, 1913, on a Sopwith float seaplane (Green motor). He carried a fellow Australian, Harry A. Kauper, as mechanic. They were the only competitors and they followed the coast east and north from Southampton to Inverness and then went via the Caledonian Canal and the west coast of Scotland to a point near Dublin. There Hawker attempted to alight to examine his motor. His foot slipped on the rudder-bar, and the seaplane dived into the sea. Hawker was not much hurt, but Kauper broke an arm. They had covered 1,043 miles.

Silver medals went to Owen Cathcart-Jones and Kenneth H. G. Waller for meritorious flights during 1934 in a "Comet", which included a flight from England to Australia in the MacRobertson race, followed by a fast return flight. They made the return flight between England and Melbourne in 13½ days.

In 1948, the silver medal was awarded to Alan E. Bristow for delivering supplies by helicopter to keepers of the Wolf Rock lighthouse in such stormy weather that attempts to relieve them by sea failed. Bristow made the flight on 7th February, 1948.

In 1949, the silver medal was awarded to Cecil L. Pashley for 40 continuous years of "circuits and bumps"; he has spent all his life from 1910 as a flying instructor.

Only four bronze medals have been awarded by the Royal Aero Club. The first went to Harry Kauper, Harry Hawker's passenger-mechanic in the 1913 Seaplane Circuit. In 1919, two bronze medals were awarded to Sergt. W. H. Shiers and Sergt. J. Bennett, who were mechanics to Ross and Keith Smith when they flew from England to Australia.

In March 1926, a bronze medal was awarded to Arthur B. Elliott, who was mechanic to Alan Cobham on his flights from London to Rangoon and back, and London to Cape Town and back. Arthur was shot by an Arab when flying with Cobham over Irak later the same year.

Two silver and two bronze medals have been awarded by the Royal Aero Club for ballooning. John Dunville was awarded a silver medal for a trip across the Irish Sea from Ireland to England on 15th February, 1910. C. F. Pollock was awarded a silver medal for general merit in 1911. Henry Spencer was awarded a bronze medal for obtaining second place in the Gordon-Bennett balloon race in 1921, and Squadron Leader F. A. Baldwin was awarded a bronze medal for obtaining fourth place in the same event.
*                    *                    *                    *

At the time of going to Press it was announced that silver medals had been awarded to Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland and Major Henry A. Petre, for flying as pilots for forty years. A bronze medal was awarded to Fred Dunkerley for consistently good performance in the national air races of 1950.
CHAPTER 30

GLIDING

Gliding taught power-flying—early gliding—effect of Versailles Treaty—great meeting at Itford Hill—gliding dies out—is revived by Kronfeldt—British Gliding Association formed.

MANY of the earliest practical experiments with heavier-than-air craft were made with gliders. Experimenters wanted to find out something about control, and to learn to balance themselves in the air, before proceeding with motor-propelled flight. The Wright brothers made successful gliders on which they practised the art and control of flight, before trying motor-propelled flight.

In America, Professor John J. Montgomery made a glider in which he launched himself from a balloon in 1887. That was generally regarded as the beginning of controlled flight.

In Germany, Otto Lilienthal was making glider flights in 1890. He was a true pioneer of heavier-than-air flight. An Englishman, Percy Pilcher, made a close study of his flights, and made experiments of his own. Montgomery, Lilienthal and Pilcher were all killed.

In 1908 and 1909 José Weiss and Gordon England made many gliding flights off the Sussex Downs at Amberley.

After the 1918 war, the Germans were prohibited from building military aircraft, and were limited to the size of civil aircraft which they were permitted to build, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, so they turned their attention to gliding. In 1921 and 1922, they were making a number of sustained soaring flights in gliders, at a gliding centre established at the Wassekuppe, near Frankfort. As a result, people in all parts of the world became interested in gliding.

Whatever the verdict of history on the Treaty of Versailles may be, if there had been no Treaty there would almost certainly have been no gliding as we know it to-day. Everyone would have been too much occupied with the development of power-flying to have bothered about it. Gliding, as a world sport, was sired by the Treaty of Versailles, out of Germany.

One day, in the summer of 1922, a young man named Paul Bewsher, a reporter on the Daily Mail, who had served in the R.N.A.S., came to see me in the office of The Aeroplane, by which paper I was then employed. He wanted some reliable information on gliding. I took him in to see the editor, C. G. Grey. Discussing the German flights, Grey told him that if Lord Rothermere, who had just succeeded his more famous brother, Lord Northcliffe, as the proprietor of the Daily Mail, wished to help flying as his brother had done, he could not do better than to offer a prize for gliding.

In the middle of August 1922, the Daily Mail announced that a prize of £1,000 would be offered for the gliding flight of the longest duration, made at a gliding meeting to be organised by the Royal Aero Club in October at Itford Hill on the Sussex Downs near Lewes. The meeting would be open to the world.

That gave just three months for the building and testing of gliders, for there was none at all in England. In spite of that, there were 36 entries. Of that number, 16 came to ltford Hill and 13 of them flew. No German competitors came, though a young Englishman named J. Jeyes had bought a Klemperer monoplane, a type which had done well in German competitions. Because of lack of experience he damaged it through a landing mishap early in the meeting. Anthony Fokker entered two biplanes, which he and Gordon Olley flew. There were two French gliders, one a Dewoitine, flown by G. Barbôt, and the other a "tandem wing" monoplane flown by A. Maneyrol, who won the prize with a dramatic last-moment flight.

The gliders gathered in tent hangars at the foot of Itford Hill. Most of them arrived on Saturday, 14th October, 1922, ready for the start of the meeting on the 16th. There was one entrant named J. J. O'Freddy who never materialised. His entry was shown as a biplane whose power was provided by the "pilot paddling." During the meeting he sent a wire to say he was arriving from Sheerness by air. Presumably he was some sort of practical joker, but no one ever discovered what was his object in entering or who he was. He got no sort of publicity which could do him any good.

The site was chosen because the prevailing wind was alleged to be south-west, so that it would blow up a gentle hill from Newhaven. That south-west wind blew for a little on the 14th and 15th, but thereafter the wind went to north-east and stayed there for the rest of the week. This entailed launching the gliders from the much steeper Firle Beacon at the eastern end of the ridge.

The first real glide seen at this gathering was by Eric Gordon England, who had made gliding experiments on the Sussex Downs in 1908 and 1909. His first glide at Itford lasted about three minutes.

On the opening day, Monday, 16th October 1922, the wind was north-east, so three of the pilots, led by Fokker, who had previous experience of gliding in Germany, took their craft along the ridge to Firle Beacon. Fokker had brought a two-seater, so he took Paul Bewsher as passenger, and made a flight in which he stayed airborne for over seven minutes and rose 200 feet above his starting point. That was the first soaring flight seen in Britain.

F. P. Raynham had a glider built by George Handasyde, who had been the "syde" of the famous Martinsyde firm. Neither had expected any extended glides, and as there was so short a time to build for the contest, "Handy" had connected the ailerons by a direct wire passing through the cockpit, instead of connecting it with the control-stick. He wrapped a portion of it with insulating tape and the pilot got his lateral control by moving the wire horizontally. That would have been all right for short downhill glides, which were all Freddie expected to accomplish.

After Fokker had made his seven minute flight, Freddie was launched from Firle Beacon. He gained height and remained in the air for about ten minutes. The next day he was launched again, and remained in the air for one hour 53 minutes. He had cramp in his hand when he landed from gripping the wire of the aileron control. His flight created a sensation. He might have remained in the air for much longer, but, seeing another glider about to be launched, he flew along the ridge to another area, but the lift was not so good there, and his flight soon ended.

There was no more good soaring weather for the rest of the week until Saturday, the last day. That afternoon Maneyrol brought out his curious looking Peyret tandem monoplane. He was launched into the strong north-east wind. To everyone's surprise his craft rose steadily, and seemed to control well, but even a soap-box would have soared in that wind. He remained airborne for three hours 21 minutes, and only came down when the meeting ended.

A young R.A.F. officer, Alec Gray, brought out a "home-made" glider, the wing of which was from a Fokker D VII captured German fighter, and the fuselage was that of a Bristol fighter. When he was first launched, his craft fell back on to the ground from about three or four feet, and hit the ground with a loud thud. That did no harm to the glider or the ground, but the craft sounded so heavy that no one expected to see it fly when it was launched a few minutes later, but it soared up into the air and remained airborne for about one and a half hours. Alec Gray only landed then because he was hungry and thirsty and there was not sufficient time left before sunset for him to be able to beat Maneyrol's time.

The meeting came to an end at sunset, when cars were lined up with their headlights switched on to light the ground for Maneyrol to land. By then it was quite dark, and the rules prohibited competition flying after sunset. We all adjourned to the Esplanade Hotel at Seaford, where a dinner was given to competitors, officials and helpers by the Daily Mail.

Most of those who were present were of the opinion that we were at the beginning of a gliding era, and that people would be able to build and fly gliders cheaply; others were already talking of fitting small motors.

The next year the Daily Mail offered a further prize for so-called "motor-gliders," which were to be gliders with small "auxiliary" motors, whose cylinder capacity did not exceed 750 c.c. So gliding died out, but it was revived on 4th December 1929 when the British Gliding Association was formed, The B.G.A. invited an Austrian glider pilot, Robert Kronfeld, who joined the R.A.F. as squadron leader and was awarded the A.F.C., to come over and give demonstrations at Itford Hill. Several British pilots, notably C. H. Lowe-Wilde, who did so much to revive British gliding, were there too. Kronfeld was killed in February 1948 testing a flying-wing glider.

The result of the meeting at Itford Hill, at which Kronfeld made many notable soaring flights, including one flight all along the South Downs from Lewes to Portsmouth, was that much enthusiasm for gliding was revived, and a large number of flourishing gliding clubs started all over the country. People were surprised to learn that at some clubs, notably the London Gliding Club at Dunstable, flying time was being measured, not in seconds or minutes, but in hours. By the time war came in 1939 many people had gained their first introduction to flying through gliding.

Here are two contemporary Press accounts from The Evening News showing how gliding was beginning to hold public interest in 1930. The first notice appeared on 20th January, 1930. It read:
GLIDING TESTS OVER SURREY HILLS

REVIVAL OF INTEREST IN AERIAL SPORT

By Our Air Correspondent

     A movement is on foot to revive the sport of gliding in England.
     In 1922 the Daily Mail gave a prize of £1,000 for the flight of the longest duration in a glider, which was won by the late M. Maneyrol, who remained in the air over Firle Beacon, in Sussex, for three hours and 21 minutes.
     From that meeting sprung the light aeroplane movement. Small engines were fitted to the gliders, with the result that the Moth type light plane was produced.
     In Germany, however, gliding has been carried on with great success, and from these gliding experiments aero-dynamical knowledge has been gained which has resulted in the improvement of power-driven aircraft.
     Several gliding clubs are now being established in England, and suitable sites near London are being sought.
     It is probable that the first tests will be made on the Surrey hills.

Then, on 28th May, 1930, this appeared:
GERMAN GLIDER T0 GIVE EXHIBITIONS

7,000 FEET UP WITHOUT AN ENGINE

AMAZING FEATS

By Our Air Correspondent

     Herr Kronfeld, the German glider pilot who holds the world's duration record and has actually reached a height of 7,000 feet above his starting point in an engineless machine, arrives in London to-night.
     He is bringing with him a number of gliders and during his month's stay here will give gliding demonstrations and instructions in soaring flight to members of the British Gliding Association.   


In 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950, the British Gliding Association have held national gliding competitions in England. This was made possible by the generosity of Lord Kemsley who guaranteed the B.G.A. against financial loss. There is little of a spectacular nature at a modern gliding and soaring meeting as most of the prizes are for flights to a distant goal, or to a distant point, previously declared, and return to base; greatest height reached, and speed round a course away from the base. Therefore there is almost nothing to see at base, so the meeting cannot be made to pay by taking gate money.

Boy cadets of the Air Training Corps can have gliding courses at A.T.C. gliding schools, and the Corps is the biggest gliding organisation in the country. Unfortunately many A.T.C. commanding officers are non-flying types with little interest in flying of any kind. Thus they discourage their cadets from gliding as this takes them away from Sunday parades which, they think, are so much more important than flying or gliding.
CHAPTER 31

THE LIGHT AEROPLANE MOVEMENT

Motor-gliders—first light aeroplanes—prizes offered—first Lympne meeting—two-seater competition was sterile—de Havilland produces the Moth—flying clubs start—the movement spreads—war potential—old and young fly—Kemsley Fund.

SOON after the gliding meeting of 1922, designers turned their attention to the design of "motor-gliders", which were gliders with small motors developing just enough power to give level flight, whether or not there was the necessary up-current of air to keep them from descending.

In France, Barbôt, who had flown a Dewoitine glider at Itford Hill, had fitted a motor-cycle engine of 7-10 h.p., and on 3rd April, 1923, he made a first flight. The next day he reached a height of 1,500 feet and made a short cross-country flight.

In England, W. O. Manning, who had designed aeroplanes at Brooklands in the days before the 1914 war, designed a small aeroplane, named the Wren, which was built by the English Electric Company, who in 1949 built the Canberra, first British jet bomber. The Wren was fitted with a two-cylinder horizontally-opposed A.B.C. motor-cycle engine, which was normally rated at 3 h.p. On 8th April, 1923, Squadron Leader Maurice Wright, who became a director of the Fairey Aviation Co. Ltd., made a flight of seven minutes, and thereafter he made extended flights.

Several other designers were building small aircraft, so the Duke of Sutherland in April offered a prize of £500 for the longest flight on one gallon of petrol on an aeroplane with a motor whose cylinder capacity did not exceed 750 c.c. Gordon Selfridge had also offered a prize of £1,000 for the first flight of 50 miles in a straight line in a glider. There was a time limit for the winning of the Selfridge prize, which was never won.

About a month after the Duke of Sutherland had announced his £500 prize, the Daily Mail offered a prize of £1,000 for a "motor glider" competition. The prize, as with the Duke's prize, would go to the aircraft which could cover the greatest distance on one gallon of fuel.

In due course, the Royal Aero Club announced that the contest for these prizes, and for others which had been offered, would be held at Lympne in Kent during the week 8th-13th October, 1923. There were 28 entries, 23 of which performed, including four foreign.

Among the entries was Maneyrol, the winner of the gliding contest the previous year. This time he flew an orthodox monoplane designed by L. Peyret. Maneyrol's monoplane had no chance for the main prize with the British machines, so towards the end of the meeting he tried for the height contest, for which there was a special prize. He took off and disappeared in the direction of the Channel, gaining height fast.

The next we saw of him was about an hour later as he was descending and approaching to land. I was watching him through my field-glasses, when I saw his wings break downwards. Evidently he got a "top-loading" as he was gliding steeply. The machine dropped 200 feet on to the ground at the far side of the aerodrome and Maneyrol was killed. The assumption was that the machine had received considerable buffeting high up, which had caused some structural failure. This was a sad end to a notable pilot.

Among the pilots were several who were then well-known, or have since achieved fame. They included Lankester Parker, the famous Short test pilot, Maurice Wright, Flight Lieut. Walter Longton, who was killed in a race collision at Bournemouth a few years later, Bert Hinkler, Larry Carter, Hubert Broad, Stanley Cockerell, Major "Lemnos" Hemming, Freddie Raynham, George Bulman, Jimmy James, Maurice Piercey, Rex Stocken, Norman Macmillan, Charles Barnard, and Gordon Olley.

Oswald Short, Captain Geoffrey de Havilland, Handley Page (later Sir Frederick), and others, who were, even then, important executives, were often to be seen working on the machines which their firms had built. A designer who came to the fore for the first time was W. S. Shackleton who designed the winning A.N.E.C. A. V. Roe was also busily working on the Avro monoplane and biplane which Bert Hinkler was flying.

There was one prize for the pilot who covered the greatest number of laps of the 15-mile course during the meeting. Bert Hinkler entered for this. One day he had been lapping all the morning, and, about lunch time, A. V. Roe was anxiously waiting for him to land, so that they could go into Hythe for lunch. Someone suggested to "A.V." that the only way to lure Bert down to earth was to put some bread, cheese, and beer out on the aerodrome as bait!

The Parnall firm had produced an interesting little monoplane designed by Harold Bolas, who has designed the Cierva Air Horse huge helicopter. The monoplane had two sets of wings, one of normal size, and a second set, for speed, which had a wing-span of 17 feet 10 inches. With the racing-wings the machine was flown at Lympne, chiefly by Frank Courtney, and it gave a very fine impression of speed.

The course of 15 miles had been arranged with a turn over Lympne aerodrome, and other turning points at Postling and South Hill. The Postling-South Hill leg was along a range of hills which formed part of the North Downs. The idea of choosing that course was that when a south-west wind was blowing the "motor-gliders" would be able to soar on the up-current, which should come up from the range of hills.

Professor A. M. Low, the famous physicist, was in charge of the measurement of fuel, and he carefully measured the petrol which he put into each tank before competitive flights, measured the amount left at the end of the flight, and checked it against the distance which had been covered. He told me that, if aero motors became any smaller, he would need a fountain pen filler to fill the tanks!

The meeting lasted for a week, during which the pilots, officials, Press, and others stayed at the Imperial Hotel in Hythe. We all came to know one another, and met one another's wives. Those evenings, during which we all foregathered, danced, talked and drank, and generally had fun, were times the memory of which I shall long cherish.

I had no car, so Jerry Shaw appointed himself my driver between Hythe and Lympne. He was then just beginning his long and successful career with the Shell petrol company. There was great rivalry between the three petrol firms, Shell, Anglo-American, and B.P., and each representative used his persuasive power to induce pilots to fly on one particular brand of petrol. There were all sorts of stories going the rounds about "bribes" or bonuses being offered. Whether there was any truth in that allegation I cannot say for sure, but such bribery had been common practice in motor-racing.

One day I saw Jerry Shaw listening intently to a motor which was being run up on Shell petrol. As he heard its steady purr a smile of almost benign satisfaction spread over his face. Suddenly there was a misfire. "Ah, a drop of B.P. must have got in," he said.

The main competition for prize money for flying the furthest on one gallon of petrol resulted in a tie. Walter Longton and Jimmy James flying Manning's Wren and Shackleton's A.N.E.C. respectively were both measured to have covered a maximum distance of 87½ miles on one gallon of petrol. The A.N.E.C. which was powered by a 700 c.c. Blackburne motor was slightly faster than the Wren, which had a 400 c.c. motor. In a speed test the A.N.E.C. did 74 m.p.h.

There were many important visitors, among whom were King George VI (then Duke of York) and Sir Samuel Hoare.

These little aeroplanes were such good fun, from the point of view of both the pilots and the spectators, that the Royal Aero Club tried to revive racing round pylons at Hendon. There was an amusing meeting, and Hubert Broad gave a fine display of stunting on the little DH53 named the Humming Bird. As a similar type was flown by "Lemnos" Hemming, it was suggested that Hemming Bird would have been a better name.

The Hendon meeting was enjoyable for all, but the idea did not catch on with the public, and there was no further one.

The DH53, though it won no prize at Lympne, was in many ways the most practical of these little aeroplanes, and Alan Cobham flew one non-stop from Croydon to Brussels.

However, people were not satisfied with single-seater machines, so the Air Ministry announced that the following year they would give a prize for a two-seater with a slightly bigger motor. That was due to the initiative of Air Vice-Marshal Sir Geoffrey Salmond, who was then Member of the Air Council for Supply and Research.

In January 1924, the Air Ministry announced that they would give a prize of £3,000 for a competition among two-seater light aeroplanes, the cylinder capacity of which must not exceed 1,100 c.c. It was confined to British-made aircraft and motors, flown by British pilots. The contest was again to be at Lympne, and would start on 29th September and end on 4th October, 1924.

There were 19 entries, most of which materialised. Roy Fedden (later Sir Roy) was then just beginning his successful career as chief engine designer for the Bristol Aeroplane Co., and had designed a special two-cylinder horizontally-opposed motor, the "Cherub". This motor had only about six months for design, building and development, so it was rather natural for it to have many teething troubles at Lympne. Roy worked like a hero on the Cherubs in all machines, with the result that often he did not get back to Folkestone, where we had made our headquarters, until dinner was almost over.

Of the 18 machines which turned up at Lympne, ten failed to pass the eliminating contests, partly due to the fact that motors had been delivered just before the start and so gave trouble. The eliminating tests were fairly simple, comprising, among others, a transport test in which the aircraft were to be folded and wheeled through a ten-foot field gate, and the pilots had to fly the machines from either the front or back seats.

In the contest itself, there were fast and slow flying tests, taking-off and landing tests.

There were a number of interesting aircraft. Among them was an all-metal monoplane built by Shorts, which was flown by Lankester Parker: this was dubbed "Parker's iron balloon". Parnalls entered an interesting little monoplane with an extra wing, which could be attached to make it a biplane. The extra surface helped it in the slow-flying tests. There were two of these entered. One was flown by a young R.A.F. squadron leader, W. S. Douglas, who became Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Lord Douglas, chairman of B.E.A. He had been an old friend of mine since we had been at school at Tonbridge together. A few weeks before the meeting he had asked me if it would be possible for him to get a machine on which he could enter. I gave him an introduction to Bolas, who designed the Parnalls, and he fixed Douglas up with one of them for the meeting. Motor trouble prevented him from doing well.

Once again the design of W. S. Shackleton won the major prize. He had moved from the A.N.E.C. works to William Beardmore and Co., for whom he had built a monoplane very like the 1923 A.N.E.C. Maurice Piercey flew it to victory. The motor was one of Roy Fedden's Bristol "Cherubs". Cyril Uwins won second prize in the Bristol "Brownie".

The results of this contest seemed to show that there was a general desire for higher power. The little 1,100 c.c. motors did not provide enough power for sufficient climb and speed for cross-country work.

The more far-sighted Captain Geofrey de Havilland did not produce a special aircraft for the contest. He was thinking on more practical lines.

The Aircraft Disposal Company at Croydon, which had bought up all the old aircraft and motors left over from the 1918 war, had a number of eight-cylinder French Renaults. Lieut.-Colonel M. O. Darby, managing director of the Aircraft Disposal Company, had always shown a great interest in private flying. He had been discussing with Captain de Havilland the possibility of producing a cheap motor of about 60 h.p. and thought that such a motor might be made with Renault parts. He engaged Captain Frank Halford, who had already designed the reliable "Puma" motor, and in a very short while the 60 h.p. "Cirrus" motor was designed and produced. This had four Renault cylinders, and most of the rest of it was made from Renault parts.

Meanwhile, the de Havilland Company had designed a small two-seater biplane, to which the Cirrus motor was fitted. This little aeroplane became famous as the "Moth", and was used in huge numbers all over the world.

Captain de Havilland made the first flight in it on a Sunday afternoon in February, 1925. The Moth founded the fortunes of what became the great de Havilland Enterprise.

Hubert Broad, Alan Cobham, Charles Barnard and others flew the Moths all over the country. Here was a really practical, light, cheap, two-seater aeroplane which clubs, and those who wished to own their own aeroplanes, could afford to buy and to fly.

A number of light aeroplane clubs were formed or reformed in 1925, the first of which was the Lancashire Aero Club, which beat the London Aeroplane Club into existence by a few hours only. Others formed by the summer of 1925 were the Newcastle Aero Club, Midland Aero Club, the Yorkshire Aeroplane Club and the Hampshire Aeroplane Club. All of them had bought Moths with the aid of a subsidy from the Government, which was given to encourage private flying. That was negotiated by the great Sir Sefton Brancker.

The Moth was eventually priced at £595, and second-hand Moths, in good order, could be bought for about £200, or even less. Other light aeroplanes, notably the Avro "Avian", came on the market.

Gala meetings and race meetings were organised, and there was seldom a week-end without at least one meeting organised by the light aeroplane clubs which were springing up all over the country.

The following appeared in the Evening News on 25th September, 1925, and is an instance of how private flying was already beginning to hold public interest:
200 LONDONERS LEARNING TO FLY

New Baby Plane Clubs Take to the Air in Earnest:

Two Buy Machines Out of their Own Incomes

By Our Air Correspondent

     Now that the Midland Aero Club has taken delivery of its Moth, all the light aeroplane clubs are equipped with flying stock and serious training has begun.
     There are five clubs which, under the Treasury scheme, receive subsidies to help them, and so far there are two which do not receive subsidies.
     The five which receive financial support from the Air Ministry are:—
          The London Aeroplane Club.
          Newcastle Aero Club.
          Midland Aero Club.
          Lancashire Aero Club.
          Yorkshire Aero Club.

Moths began to make flights about the world. The first of these was in 1926, when Neville Stack, who had been an instructor at the Lancashire Aero Club, with a fellow instructor, Bernard Leete, flew in two separate Moths from England to India. Dick Bentley flew from England to South Africa and back in a Moth in 1927, for which he was awarded the Britannia Trophy.

Women, too, began to learn to fly. The first of the new brood of women pilots was Mrs. Sophie Elliott-Lynn, who later became Lady Heath. Lady Bailey and Sally O'Brien were her contempories at the London Aeroplane Club. Lady Bailey flew to South Africa and back in a Moth. Sally O'Brien was killed, not unexpectedly, as she was not a good pilot. Lady Heath was killed in a road accident in tragic circumstances many years later.

The number of flying clubs throughout the country grew steadily, as also did the number of owners of private aeroplanes. There was a time, up to 1925, when I knew every civil pilot in the country, some only by sight, but, with the growth of the movement, the number of pilots increased very rapidly and it was impossible to know them all.

Not for long were people content with the 60 h.p. Cirrus in the Moths and Avians, the Aircraft Disposal Company were doing good business with its sale. The motor was cheap, quick, and easy to produce, and they were unwilling to embark on the new and expensive venture of tooling up to build another. Sales of light aircraft did not begin to forge ahead until 1928 or 1929, and there were no immediate prospects of a return on the capital outlay which would be required.

The de Havilland Company, however, thought differently. The sales manager, F. E. N. St. Barbe, flew around the country in a Moth, usually with Hubert Broad, to demonstrate the aeroplane at all flying galas which were given to launch new clubs. St. Barbe and Broad nearly always succeeded in selling at least one Moth to a club or to a member at each visit.

They adopted many novel sales methods. On one occasion they were flying along the Great North Road, and descended to about 100 feet to look for expensive-looking sports cars. On the occasion in question, the car driver seemed to be trying to give a race to the 80 m.p.h. Moth. On straight stretches the car was able to get ahead, but on curves or through villages the aircraft was able to gain a lead.

When the Moth was ahead of the car, St. Barbe and Broad saw a field suitable for landing in, by the side of the road. They landed, and waited for the car to catch up. The driver stopped: he had not seen a Moth before, but had been impressed with the superior speed of it over the car across country.

He was surprised, too, to find that the petrol consumption was about the same, or less, than that of his car and that it was so cheap. They adjourned to a nearby hostelry where the racing driver was eventually persuaded, without much difficulty, to buy a Moth.

As the Aircraft Disposal Company were not willing to build a newer and more powerful motor which his company wanted, Captain de Havilland asked Major Halford to design a motor for his firm to build. De Havillands had not then begun motor building, but the firm decided that they might as well produce the complete aeroplane, motor and all, just as most car-making firms built complete motor cars.

Major Halford designed an entirely new motor for the de Havilland Company. The first model developed 80 h.p. and was given the type-name of "Gipsy".

The first Gipsy was intended to be ready for the little monoplane "Tiger Moth" racer, built for the 1927 King's Cup race, but was not completed in time. Soon after the race, the Gipsy was installed in the Tiger Moth, which succeeded in breaking a number of speed records for light aeroplanes.

The Evening News of 25th November, 1927 carried the following notice—compare it with that of 1925 to see how far and how quickly private flying had progressed.
BRITISH FLYING CLUB BOOM

MEMBERS WHO BECOME PILOTS FOR £14

More Private Owners

By Our Air Correspondent

     Early this year a statement in The Evening News that it seemed probable that by the end of 1927 there would be 50 owners of private aeroplanes in England, and by the end of 1928 there would be 500, was regarded in some quarters as being over-optimistic, as there were at that time only half-a-dozen private owners.
     At the present moment there are no fewer than 60 private owners who between them own 70 aeroplanes.
     It remains to be seen whether by this time next year there will be 500 owners.
     This rapid increase is due solely to the flying clubs, 40 out of the 60 owners belonging to light aeroplane clubs.

The Gipsy was then installed in the ordinary Moth, to which it gave a much better all-round performance, and the sales of Gipsy Moths soared. But soon, even the increased speed of 90-95 m.p.h was not enough. St. Barbe went to South Africa with a Moth, and came back of the opinion that a much higher cruising speed would be required if the light aeroplane was to sell in the Empire. He told me that one fine clear day he was flying towards Cape Town, and when Table Mountain came into view he thought he would soon be there, but, after more than an hour, it seemed no nearer. Actually that was due to the wonderfully clear atmosphere in that climate.

When he returned to England, St. Barbe recommended to Captain de Havilland that a faster type of aeroplane be produced, and suggested that some sort of cabin type would be better. As a result, the Puss Moth appeared in 1929: this was a high-wing monoplane with a still more powerful Gipsy motor. The view forward from the pilot's seat was much better than in the Gipsy Moth, for Major Halford had devised a system of lubrication whereby the motor would run with the crankcase on top and the cylinders beneath. Thus, the whole motor could be installed lower, and the cylinders did not impede the forward view. That was the first "inverted" motor.

By this time, the air in the neighbourhood of airfields from which flying clubs and schools were operating was getting very crowded. There were some collisions between aeroplanes approaching to land whose forward view was restricted, so the Puss Moth was a great advance in that respect. Alan Butler, chairman of de Havillands and a keen and enthusiastic pilot, told me that until he flew a Puss Moth he had never realised how many other aeroplanes could be in the air near him.

The Aircraft Disposal Company saw that they would have to improve the Cirrus if the sales were to continue, so they produced the Cirrus II and III, and an entirely new motor, the Hermes. The newer Gipsies and Hermes developed about 120 and 130 h.p., so newer and faster aeroplanes were produced to make use of the additional power.

As power went up, so did costs, both initial costs of aeroplanes and motors, and the running costs, so there was a slight move back to "motor-gliders", or "ultra-light" aeroplanes, as they were later named. The first of these was named the "Drone". This was produced by C. H. Lowe-Wilde, who had formed a company to build gliders. He fitted a small motor, developing 20 or 30 h.p., to his two-seater glider, turning it into a small, slow, cheap and easy-to-fly single-seater. The top speed was 60 m.p.h.

The "Drone" was amusing for beginners to fly. One could fly it for about a quarter of the cost needed for Moth types. There were other "ultra-light" aeroplanes, such as the American Aeronca, and the British Luton "Minor". At the other end of the scale, "sports" types were being developed. A young man named Fred Miles built a little single-seat low-powered biplane called the "Martlet". It was very pleasant to fly and was fully aerobatic.

In 1932, Miles built another rather similar type, the "Satyr". In August of that year he was flying it from Yate, near Bristol, to Shoreham, and landed at Woodley, near Reading, for lunch. There by chance he met Charles Powis, of the firm of Phillips & Powis, who handled most of the car work of the district. Miles and Powis talked business, the result of which was that Powis' firm agreed to build aeroplanes to the designs of Fred Miles. That association later became Miles Aircraft Ltd.

From 1932 Phillips and Powis produced a long series of Miles "private-owner" types, such as Falcons and Hawks. The first Hawk was a monoplane with attractive lines, a two-seater with a Cirrus III, selling for £395. That was a big move in the direction of bringing aeroplanes within the reach of the man or woman who could afford a motor car. Miles aeroplanes began to make a big reputation in the hands of their test pilot, Tommy Rose, who won the King's Cup with one. Fred Miles did more than anyone, except de Havillands, to give cheap flying.

Edgar Percival entered the light aircraft market, firstly, with a very successful fast two-seater cabin monoplane named the "Gull"; that aeroplane was developed into the "Vega Gull", which won the 1936 England to South Africa race. Secondly, he introduced the tiny single-seat "Mew Gull", which in 1939 was flown from England to Cape Town in 39 hours by Alex Henshaw, who also won the King's Cup in one in 1938 at 236 m.p.h. There were many other types of light aeroplane, which, until 1939, could be bought and run at prices comparable to those of sports cars.

When war seemed inevitable at the end of 1938, the Air Ministry prepared a scheme, in consultation and collaboration with the flying clubs, known as the "Civil Air Guard". They subsidised the clubs to an extent that men and women were able to learn to fly for half-a-crown an hour. It was possible to be trained to the stage of gaining an "A" licence for less than £5.

When the war broke out in 1939, the flying clubs were able to provide a great number of men who had already reached the "A" licence stage. These men were absorbed quickly into the R.A.F. and Fleet Air Arm as air crew, or into the Air Transport Auxiliary, which was a force formed to deliver aeroplanes from factories to Service squadrons. Many club-trained women pilots joined the A.T.A. and did good work as ferry pilots. [Note 6].

Most club airfields, premises and aircraft were requisitioned by the Govemment at the outbreak of war.

Many secretaries and other officials of flying clubs were killed during the war, so it has been difficult to tabulate the war effort of their members, but it was very great. The flying club organised by the Midland Bank provided at least 450 aircrew for the flying Services, nearly 50 of whom won decorations, and 230 of whom lost their lives on active service.

At the Yorkshire Club, a young man was trained to fly a Moth. During the war he became Air Vice-Marshal G. Ambler. W. Cutting learned to fly at West Suffolk Aero Club, as a member of the Civil Air Guard, for less than £5. He volunteered for the R.A.F. as a pilot, was rejected because of his age, but managed to get in as an air gunner. While on an operational flight in a Whitley, his pilot was killed. Though he himself had only previous experience of piloting a light aeroplane of the Taylorcraft (Auster) type, Cutting took control, and brought the Whitley back to base safely. For that action he was awarded the D.F.C. That was an outstanding case of a pilot, who had learned to fly with the aid of a small state subsidy, saving many thousands of pounds' worth of aeroplane, and the lives of the crew.

When the war ended, an attempt was at once made to get the flying clubs going again, but it seemed that there would be no more cheap flying. The cost of everything had gone up, and new aeroplanes were beyond the reach of most of the clubs. The Ministry of Civil Aviation, which had succeeded the Air Ministry in 1945 as the Government authority controlling civil flying, made a limited number of Austers and Tiger Moths available to the flying clubs for about £50 each, but not enough machines for the demand were forthcoming. The Government were also very slow in handing back property, such as club houses and airfields, which they had requisitioned so promptly at the outbreak of war.

The year 1946 was one of preparation during which 49 flying clubs began operations. Most of those were the old clubs revived, others were old ones reconstituted, and some were composed of new bands of enthusiasts.

The Council of Light Aeroplane Clubs, formed under the control of the R.Ae.C., was disbanded in November 1945, and in its place the Association of British Aeroplane Clubs was formed; this A.B.A.C. became the central body controlling the flying club movement. The clubs worked under very great handicaps after 1945, but they had one very great asset—the intense enthusiasm of the members for flying. As Captain Duncan Davis, who had formed the pre-1939 flying club at Brooklands, and who had taken over control of others at Shoreham, Lympne, and other places, said, "The flying clubs will carry on regardless."

Most of the flying clubs would have closed down in 1947 if it had not been for the generosity of Lord Kemsley, owner of Kemsley Newspapers. As a personal gesture, he made available to the Royal Aero Club a sum of money in excess of £100,000, which was intended to help flying clubs to bear the huge cost of post-war flying, and to buy aircraft and motors. This was not in any way a "newspaper stunt" and it received very little publicity.

Lord Kemsley guaranteed the National Gliding contests and the Royal Aero Club race meetings in 1949 and 1950 against financial loss. In spite of the fact that the flying and gliding clubs had been proved in 1939 to be valuable war potentials, the short-sighted Government of the day, which had been in power from 1945, refused to subsidise them. The private enterprise of Lord Kemsley rnade up in small measure for the neglect of plain duty by the Government.

A young man with money, who, about 1930, had become an enthusiast for motor-racing first, and for flying later, was Whitney Straight. He formed a number of flying schools and clubs and was forming a chain of airfields throughout the country, and did more than any one man to put private flying on its feet in the years before the outbreak of war in 1939. In the war he fought gallantly in the Battle of Norway, in which he was awarded the M.C. by the Army, and in the Battle of Britain, in which he won the D.F.C. He was shot down in a sweep over France, escaped, did more valuable work, and was made Air Commodore. It was a popular move when he was made chairman of the Royal Aero Club in 1946. In this year, too, he became deputy chairman of B.E.A., and from 1947 to 1949 was managing director and chief executive of B.O.A.C. In 1949 he became deputy chairman of B.O.A.C., a position for which he is well suited as a practical pilot with a flair for organisation.
CHAPTER 32

PER ARDUA TO THE COMET

Birth of enterprise—first de Havilland biplane—DH flies with own motor in 1911—official designer to R.A.F. in 1912—Aircraft Manufacturing Co.—the DH series starts—closed down—de Havilland at Stag Lane in full production—first offices—Stag Lane engulfed—move to Hatfield—first Comet wins race—Geoffrey de Havilland (jun.) as test pilot—Albatross—Mosquito—Vampire—wonderful Comet.

OF THE great aircraft-building firms which form the British industry, none has so romantic or forceful a history, nor such great success, as the great de Havilland Enterprise. I have watched it grow from very small beginnings to 1950 when it developed the wonderful jet Comet airliner in the remarkably short time of under three years. It is current practice with other firms to take up to seven years from design stage to first flight. No firm could be more pleasant in business approach than the de Havilland Company.

So let us trace the growth of this remarkable firm from the days about twelve years before the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. was founded in 1920.

Geoffrey de Havilland, as he then was, designed and built his first aeroplane at Fulham in 1908. That was a year before aviation became really practical in Britain, for not until the next year, 1909, did Blériot fly the Strait of Dover, nor did Cody exceed an hour in the air until September 1909. Just before Cody made that flight, he had been designer and constructor to the Army Balloon Factory at Farnborough, which is now the R.A.E. Cody was dismissed by the Factory, when, to use his own words, "My machine and I were thrown out on to the rubbish heap."

The Factory soon looked round for fresh talent, and de Havilland was by 1910 flying quite well on the pusher biplane which he designed. It had a 45 h.p. horizontally opposed engine, also of his design, driving a propeller with adjustable pitch and twist. He was engaged as designer and test pilot by the Army Balloon Factory, and held that post when it became the Royal Aircraft Factory in 1912, so he can justly claim to have been the first chief designer to the R.A.F.

In Flight and the Aero (forerunner of the Aeroplane) of 1910, I remember reading each week of successful flights of the de Havilland biplane, as his machine was then called. From the earliest days at Newbury, and previously when he was building his first and his second machines in Fulham, he was assisted by F. T. Hearle, who has been with him ever since.

I first remember actually seeing "DH" (as many of us have been privileged to call him over the years) flying when I was at a Public School's camp at Farnborough in 1911. Our camp was pitched on about the spot where the runway now starts. As a boy of fifteen I was already very air-minded, and was thrilled to be camped on an aerodrome. In the calm of the early mornings or just about sunset, which were then the only parts of most summer days calm enough for flying, I can remember hearing the roar of an aeroplane engine and seeing DH staggering off the ground in his big biplane with its 45 h.p. motor. It was some of the first real flying I had seen. All cadets in the camp were taken one afternoon to "visit the aircraft" in the big balloon shed which still stands there. It was the first time I heard the word "aircraft" applied to aeroplanes. It was then used in the correct sense as there were airships, balloons, and man-lifting kites, as well as aeroplanes, to be seen.

We had camp concerts in the evenings and I recall the words of a topical song typical of schoolboy humour of the day:

     "If I were Mister Blériot, I would, I would
     If my airship broke, I'd not take fright,
     I'd simply say 'All wil bur wright'."

Wright and Blériot were not the legendary people which they must seem to-day. They were just contemporary "grown-ups" who did things we longed to do. That was the atmosphere in which I first remember DH.

He continued experiments at the "Factory", and in 1912 there were two important events. The Royal Flying Corps was formed. Civilians were invited to take commissions in the Special Reserve and DH became a second lieutenant. The War Office also announced prizes for military aeroplanes open to the whole world. Cody showed the Royal Aircraft Factory that they had been rather foolish to dismiss him, by winning the chief prize in the section open to the whole world, as well as that for all-British aeroplanes.

DH, as official chief designer to the Royal Aircraft Factory, was not eligible for the competition, but he then did something which he has done so often since with official specifications. He examined all the rules and built an aeroplane which was far better than the rules demanded, even if it did not comply with all of them. That biplane was called the B.E. and was one of the earliest tractor biplanes. The Factory had decided that Blériot was the originator of the tractor type of aeroplane so they decided to call DH's biplane the "Blériot Experimental", or B.E. Naturally in military parlance this was the "Mk I", so it became the "B.E.1".

The Military Trials were held at Lark Hill on Salisbury Plain in August 1912. DH flew the B.E.1 through all the tests and showed them then that his own design was at least one stage ahead of everyone else's. On 12th August 1912, with Major F. H. Sykes, who was then Commandant of the R.F.C. (Military Wing), as passenger, he flew the B.E., fitted with a 70 h.p. Renault motor, to 10,560 feet and established a British height record which was only about 2,000 feet less than the world solo height record.

DH continued as chief designer to the R.A.F., improving the B.E. into the B.E.2. The latter was developed by the late E. T. Busk and Harry Folland into the B.E.2c, probably the most famous aeroplane of the 1914-18 war, in which the ancestry of the Moth can be seen.

Soon after Paulhan had won the London to Manchester flight in April 1910, George Holt Thomas, his sponsor, formed the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (later known as Airco) to build Farman aeroplanes in England under licence. In 1914 Holt Thomas decided to have a designer for the firm's own aeroplanes, so he engaged DH. That was the real birth of the de Havilland Enterprise, for the aeroplanes soon began to be known by the familiar series number which still continue. Prototypes were designed and built in about three months, and the DH1 appeared early in 1915 soon after DH saw the fighting type needed. It was a two-seat fighter with an observer in the nose who could fire a gun. When war came in August 1914 DH was, as already related, an officer in the R.F.C. Reserve, but the War Office was persuaded that his value to the country lay in his ability as a designer rather than a pilot, and he was seconded for design duty with the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., where naturally he spent the remainder of the war. I first met him soon after that time when I was sent to Hendon to take a DH1 to Gosport. I well remember that encouraging, smiling figure seeing me off on a rather misty Sunday morning.

His second machine was the DH2, which was a single-seat pusher fighter. In those days the role of the fast single-seater had been envisaged as a scout rather than as a fighter, and so throughout the 1914-18 war all single-seaters were classified as scouts. How vividly I can still see, in my mind's eye, DH flying his DH2 on its acceptance tests over the measured mile at Farnborough, and being told by a young gunner, Captain Sholto Douglas (now Marshal of the R.A.F. Lord Douglas), that this was the latest idea to win the war; for hitherto the tractor-screws had prevented pilots being able to fire straight ahead when in pursuit.

The world's first scheduled airline, formed in August 1919, Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. (A.T. & T.), was a subsidiary of the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., and used converted DH4 bombers as airliners. Holt Thomas had decided to put Airco on a more solid peace-time foundation financially, by allying it with the motor car industry, which seemed a very good bet, so it became part of the B.S.A.-Daimler organisation. After the war came a slump and the directors of B.S.A.-Daimler decided to close down Airco in 1920.

In September 1920, Captain de Havilland decided to form his own firm. Holt Thomas found some of the finance, and some of the old Airco staff, notably C. C. Walker, F. T. Hearle, W. E. Nixon, and F. E. N. St. Barbe, and about fifty others still with the firm, came with him. A large field was rented, at the end of what was then a country lane, called Stag Lane. It did not look very different in 1920 from the scene depicted on a Christmas card, which I received from the de Havilland Engine Co., showing what it was like in 1848.

In September 1920 I had been told that DH was forming this new company, so I went to see what was "cooking". I found literally what was cooking in a not very large wooden shed at the end of Stag Lane. There in a very damp field was just this one shed, the door of which I opened and discovered the newly-formed de Havilland Company in full production, the whole staff working flat out—there were D.H., Charles Walker and Fra St. Barbe as happy as kids brewing tea over a stove! I was given the same sort of typical DH happy welcome which has always made it a pleasure to visit the firm ever since. During the remainder of the firm's tenure of Stag Lane aerodrome, it was always such fun to go and lunch with Fra, Walker, or DH, first at the "Bald Faced Stag", which mightily increased as a result of the firm, and later in the staff mess on the aerodrome. When I go to Hatfield now, I find the same sort of welcome and also the same happy spirit with the newer and younger members of the firm, whom I enjoy meeting as much as I did the old birds in days gone by.

Stag Lane had been an airfield before DH settled there in 1920. Before the 1914 war, Hendon was getting a very crowded aerodrome for school work, so one of the schools there, who used Caudrons, took a large field at the end of Stag Lane to use as an annexe where they could give pupils circuits and bumps in a less congested atmosphere. The Caudrons were flown from Hendon to Stag Lane over completely open country in the morning, and the wooden shed, which became the DH general office, was used to park clothing and such office equipment as was required. That hut is now preserved as a museum just inside the main gate at Hatfield. It gives me a nostalgic thrill whenever I pass it.

The new firm stated that it was its intention to enter the aircraft industry to build civil aeroplanes—a bold decision for the civil market was then almost non-existent, although the old Airco firm had just produced the DH18, an airliner which carried eight passengers on 500 h.p. at 100 m.p.h. The newly fledged de Havilland Aircraft Co. put this into production and built about four more. They also carried on tests with the DH14, an "enormous" day-bomber for the R.A.F. with a single 600 h.p. motor.

The first original airliner was the DH29 or "Doncaster". This was a high-wing ten-passenger monoplane, a great advance on current practice. Two were built, but trouble with the longitudinal stability of the type, due to unfamiliarity with monoplane arrangements, could not be cured in time to meet an urgent delivery order. Consequently DH made the hard decision to drop the 29 and go ahead with the development of the DH18. Soon afterwards the firm produced the DH34, which was used successfully on the continental airlines by Daimler Airways, the Instone Airline and Handley Page Transport for several years.

About 1920 or 1921, I met at Croydon two young men who had a great influence on the Company. One summer evening a Camel landed and out of it climbed a very young man who told me his name was Broad. He had been flying his Camel with a joy-ride concern in the West Country by way of additional attraction. Hubert Broad almost immediately joined de Havillands, first of all flying a DH9 on photography work and on the then novel "air-taxi" work, on which another young man, Alan Cobham, was specialising. The second young man whom I met arrived one evening at Croydon in a Bristol "Tourer" which he had bought. His name was Alan Butler. He wanted an aircraft firm to build him a special touring aeroplane, but could not find one willing to do so. He was introduced to the new and very enterprising firm of de Havillands, of which he was soon to become chairman.

For the 1922 Itford Hill International Gliding Contest, two gliders were built by de Havillands, which flew quite well but won no awards. They were flown by Hubert Broad and E. D. C. ("Buller") Herne. The following year the DH53 was made for the first Light Aeroplane Competitions. This was a very practical little aeroplane of a type which would prove extremely valuable to the Ultra Light Aircraft Association of to-day. The next year, 1924, there was a contest of two-seaters with motors under 1,100 c.c. cylinder capacity. DH did not believe there was any future for such low-power machines, so he designed the Moth, a two-seater with a 60 h.p. Cirrus motor, and folding wings. Two prototypes were built, G-EBKT and G-EBKU. On the last Sunday of February 1925 DH took KT on her first flight; thus was the father of all Moths introduced to the world, and the foundations of the real fortune of the de Havilland Enterprise were laid. How often has Fra St. Barbe said to me in the succeeding years, "The Moth is our bread and butter!"

The Moth made possible the formation of British flying clubs, and they in turn caused the Moth to multiply. To cope with that, erecting sheds and other buildings arose at Stag Lane, and certain other large civil aeroplanes began to appear, such as the Hercules, a three-motor job for the Cairo-Karachi route.

In order to be independent of another firm for engine supplies, Frank Halford was invited in 1926 to design a new four-cylinder motor for the Moth. He produced the Gipsy which was installed in the first Tiger Moth—a single-seat, low-wing racing monoplane in which Hubert Broad established a speed record.

The Gipsy was developed steadily and surely, and took its place in the Gipsy Moth. In due course, motor-making became a considerable part of the Company's business and occupied a new shop in the south-east corner of the airfield. Now the Engine Company headquarters are at Stonegrove and what were once the main works and sheds of Stag Lane are now the headquarters of the Engineering Division of the Engine Company. We little thought in those days how Frank Halford would lead the engine section to the great industry which it became.

Until 1929 the Moth continued to be the main product, but during the 1929 Aero Show we first heard of the Puss Moth. This was the first light aeroplane in the world to have a saloon body. I well remember all the silly arguments put up by those who will always argue against anything new. The occupants would be trapped inside the cabin and burned to death in a bad crash, they said; and how impossible it would be to fly when the pilot could not feel the wind on his face. This was long before the days of instrument flying as it is known to-day.

But the days of Stag Lane as an airfield were rapidly drawing to an end. The Underground Railway had been extended to Edgware via Colindale in the middle 1920's. That made the district so easily accessible from central London that it became the site of dormitory suburbs, and Stag Lane became engulfed in a sea of houses.

This all happened very suddenly. In 1929 I can remember so often coming in to land over the Edgware Road when the "Bald Faced Stag" was about the only building, other than Burnt Oak station. Passing the main road, one was over open fields but for a row of tall trees a couple of hundred yards from the airfield perimeter. Gradually the tide of houses rose. A new airfield was sought and in 1930 Hatfield was acquired. I first saw Hatfield one afternoon late in 1930 when Hubert Broad flew me over in a Puss Moth. Work had already begun on clearing the landing area, but there were no buildings of any sort, nor were there any nearby. In the course of the next twelve months the move was made from Stag Lane. I believe the Flying School and the London Aeroplane Club were the first to go.

The first aeroplane of real importance to emerge from the new Hatfield factory was the first Comet for the MacRobertson race in 1934. The Dragon and Rapide emerged about the same time. In 1938 came the beautiful Albatross airliner for Imperial Airways.

In 1941, the firm surprised the Air Ministry even more than the Luftwaffe with the production of the Mosquito, which was a bomber faster than current single-seat fighters. Meanwhile, Frank Halford was working on jet propulsion and the Goblin turbo jet was produced in 1942. This was built into the DH100, the famous Vampire.

In 1938, Geoffrey Raoul de Havilland, eldest of the three sons of the founder, became chief test pilot to his father's firm. During the war, he made the prototype tests of the Mosquito and Vampire. When the war ended, he made the prototype tests of the DH108, and was becoming outstanding among civil test pilots for his superb flying at the 1946 Air Show at Radlett, and the air race meeting at Lympne. Just after the Air Show he was preparing for an attack on the world speed record of 617 m.p.h. He had told me he had reached a true speed of over 630 m.p.h. Then, on 27th September 1946, when he was on a test flight, the DH108 disintegrated and fell into the Thames Estuary and Geoffrey was killed. He was mourned by a large circle of friends. His friend John Cunningham succeeded him as chief test pilot. Another of Sir Geoffrey's three sons, John, was killed during the war in a Mosquito which he was testing.

In 1940 de Havillands bought Airspeed Ltd., which had been founded in 1931 by Hessel Tiltman, N. S. Norway, now better known as Nevil Shute, the novelist, and Sir Alan Cobham. Airspeeds have assimilated the true de Havilland spirit and that same spirit is exuded in full measure by Rod Douglas and Jack Davidson, chairman and managing director, respectively, of the South African branch, from their fastness in Maritime House, Johannesburg. The de Havilland spirit is something that no other aircraft concerns have quite got. The same spirit is very evident, too, in the D.H. Company of Australia at Bankstown, Sydney. Rollo Kingsford Smith, a nephew of the great "Smithy", who showed me round in June, 1950, combines the D.H. spirit with that of Smithy himself, whom he closely resembles.

When peace came the firm produced the Dove, a twin-motor six-passenger monoplane which has been sold all over the world.

In about 1947 we began to hear rumours of a jet-propelled swept-wing airliner. No details of it were given, except a few meagre ones early in 1949; its serial number was DH106. In May 1949 a few more details were given about this aircraft. The name "Comet", made famous by the winning entry in the MacRobertson race of 1934, would be revived.

Then, on 27th July, two years and ten months after the design began, the Comet made its first flight. This was the first airliner in the world to be designed from the start for jet propulsion. Soon after 7 a.m. John Cunningham with a crew of four brought the Comet from its hangar and taxied round the perimeter track to the main runway. He then taxied fast, and finding everything satisfactory lifted it a few feet from the ground and flew for 500 yards. Then he did the same thing again, and she was taken back to the hangar for minor adjustments.

At 11 a.m. a party of Pressmen was invited to inspect her and Cunningham brought her out for further taxi-ing. The motors gave an unearthly scream as they were idling. Sir Frank Whittle, the jet inventor, who was watching, told me that noise would be suppressed, and in any case would not be evident when the engines were giving cruising or full power. Whittle, who had been in very poor health for many months, told me that the sight of the Comet in the air had done him more good than any doctors could do. This was his dream come true.

In the evening, Cunningham brought the Comet out again and took off with the intention of making a real flight. He was airborne at 100 m.p.h. and soon climbed to 10,000 feet. He made climbing turns, gentle descents, and stalls, and found control and stalling characteristics were very good. A speed in the region of 500 m.p.h. was attained. She looked the essence of a B.O.A.C. "Speedbird".

I expect that many people visualise a record breaking flight in the Comet as something of a "flap" with long preparations and a wait for suitable weather; and the flight itself as a few hours of extreme discomfort and excitement; but it is, in real life, nothing of the sort. On 21st March 1950, I flew in the Comet, piloted by John Cunningham and a test crew of five, with eighteen passengers, 608 miles from London to Copenhagen in one hour 18 minutes 36.5 seconds at an average speed of 453.98 m.p.h. We flew back to London in the afternoon against prevailing wind in one hour 26 minutes 43 seconds at an average of 420.44 m.p.h. Both these speeds were inter-capital-city point-to-point speed records in each direction.

When the morning of 21st March came, there was some slight uncertainty as fog was reported from Copenhagen, and there was a possibility of Stockholm as an alternative destination for the record. By 9.30 we got an all-clear from Copenhagen and embarked in the Comet, the first load of passengers other than members of the firm and Ministry of Supply officials.

This Comet was the prototype, G-ALVG. The interior was not yet sound-proofed and there was no upholstery. Twenty "lash-up" comfortable arm chairs were fitted. The cabin and flight-deck were not yet fully pressurised and, at the height of 34,000 feet at which we flew, conditions were similar to those existing outside at 12,000 feet, which are comfortable for most people provided they do not walk about the cabin too energetically. To do so makes one feel a bit gaspy.

Manufacturers of airliners with small windows, big chord wings and huge engines, which prevent passengers from seeing the ground, have often given the excuse that from 25,000 feet you cannot see much anyway, and the ground is usually hidden by cloud, or you are over the sea most of the time, which is not worth seeing. Flying in the Comet at 34,000 feet debunked all that nonsense, and I was glad to know John Cunningham agreed with me. We flew much of the time over cloud, it is true, but the good view obtainable from the Comet windows enabled us to see much of interest when cloud cleared, as it often did, and during the take-off, climb and let-down.

The four Ghost jet turbines give a rather soothing rumbly-grumbly noise in spite of the fact that they develop between them 15,000 h.p. when climbing at 300 m.p.h. When cruising at 490 m.p.h. at 34,000 feet they develop the equivalent of 11,500 h.p.

We took off from Hatfield at 9.54 a.m. The turbines were run up fast, the brakes released and there was a surge forward and the Comet was airbome in about 1,000 yards. We climbed through clouds at about 1,000 feet, and flew to the west of London Air Port, which we approached with a shallow dive at over 500 m.p.h. Being timed for the record at L.A.P. control tower, we swooshed past at 300 feet from the ground; then began an immense climb which took us in 20 minutes to 34,000 feet as we crossed the English coast in Suffolk.

I walked up forward to the flight deck to have a word with John Cunningham and here there was hardly any engine noise to be heard at all. John told me that when the Comet is fully sound-proofed and the motor noises have been still further reduced, as they can be, the level of silence will be the same in the cabin as it is now on the flight-deck. It seemed amazing to be able to walk about the cabin in comfort and chat to other people when we were crossing the North Sea at a height equivalent to being one mile above the summit of Mount Everest, at a speed greater than the world speed record until 1945, which was only then raised by a special jet fighter. The sky at this great height is a much deeper blue than when seen from nearer the ground. Also it was a new experience to fly through cirrus cloud and then to look down on such clouds. We ran through some small "clear air bumps" which felt like very mild turbulence below clouds at much lower levels.

The earth was invisible below a layer of thick clouds all the way from England, but as we neared Denmark—in an incredibly short time, it seemed—the cloud cleared and from this great height we saw most of Denmark looking just like it does on a map. One hundred miles from Copenhagen we began the let down. This was made rather more quickly and steeply than would be done on a normal passenger service, as we were record breaking. Ears began to pop a bit and l had to swallow faster than usual to clear this, but as I have always had a very good swallow it made no real discomfort, and any such trouble should be entirely absent when the cabin is fully pressurised and a normal passenger let-down is made. We swept over the line at Kastrup airport right up against the south edge of Copenhagen, where the public enclosures were thronged to see the now famous all-British Comet. A wide circuit was made over Copenhagen and the Sound which separates Denmark from Sweden. As we made our slow approach over the city I noted the air-brakes, strips of metal about six inches high which stand vertical on the wing for a distance of about 12 feet at the point where the flaps fare into the wing. Such air brakes are necessary to slow down such a clean aircraft as the Comet from 500 m.p.h. to the 120 m.p.h. of the approach speed. Also I was surprised to note the huge area and angle of the flaps. This is necessary as there are no airscrews to give any braking effect. Touch down was surprisingly slow—at under 100 m.p.h.—and the aircraft pulled up in less than 1,000 yards.

We were driven into Copenhagen and entertained right royally to lunch by the Royal Aero Club of Denmark at the Hotel des Angleterres, and at 3.58 p.m. (G.M.T.) we took off again for London to set up a record for the homeward trip too. By special request John Cunningham circled Malmo airport in Sweden, about 14 miles distant across the Sound, so we flew from Denmark to Sweden—in under four minutes—and overflew Malmo at about 1,200 feet. They called up John on the radio and asked him to fly lower, so we swept back again at under 500 feet at 500 m.p.h., with which Malmo seemed well satisfied. Recrossing the Sound, I saw occupants of boats wildly waving us a Danish farewell. At about 150 feet at over 500 m.p.h. we swept across Kastrup Airport to be timed for the record. And "that's Copenhagen, that was." We at once started our climb to 34,000 feet. At that height, the outside temperature could be gauged by the way frost gathered on the metal handles of the escape hatches which were in direct contact with the outer air. I first noticed them by what appeared to be smoke coming in, but it was the cold of the metal condensing the surrounding air and making tiny local fogs around each handle! When we descended to warmer air, the frost melted and began to drip like the inside of a London bus on a cold foggy day!

Exactly a week previously I had flown in an American piston airliner from Amsterdam to London, 200 miles, in one hour 20 minutes. We had flown three times the distance in the all-British jet Comet in two minutes less time! The contemporary airline schedules for the run between London and Copenhagen was three hours 40 minutes against the Comet's one hour 18½ minutes!

As we made the coast of England over the mouth of the Thames the whole of Kent seemed spread out like a map model. Thick rain cloud covered London. Let down began from over the Estuary, 100 miles from London Airport. As we went through dense cloud I felt very thankful for the rigid rules and regulations which govern aircraft flying in the control zone surrounding major airports, though they seem such vexatious, irritating, frustrating red-tape when I am safely on the ground. The first land-mark I recognised when we were below the cloud and over the heart of London was the tower of B.O.A.C. Airways Terminal at Victoria. By coach the journey to London Air Port from there normally takes about 45 minutes or more. I timed the Comet from that point to crossing the line at L.A.P.—it took just two minutes five seconds!

At the end of April 1950, the Comet gave some indication of what would be possible on the Commonwealth routes. On 24th April, piloted by John Cunningham, with 17 passengers, who included Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, and with ballast to give the equivalent weight of full crew, 34 passengers, two stewards and luggage, the 2,196 miles from London (Hatfield) to Cairo was flown in five hours six and three-quarter minutes at an average speed of 427 m.p.h. This beat the record established six months previously by a single-seat fighter.

The next day the Comet flew 2,197 miles from Cairo to Nairobi in five hours nine minutes, to undergo the high-altitude tropical tests. It is wonderful to have been able to start tropicalisation tests within a year of the Comet's first flight.

By the end of 1950 three Comets were ready to fly and six more were nearing completion, so Sir Miles Thomas' hope that B.O.A.C. will be able to begin an experimental express service to India and Australia with Comets in 1951 may well be fulfilled.

De Havillands have announced that they are investigating the possibility of Comets powered by higher thrust axial-flow turbo jets such as the Rolls-Royce Avon or Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire to give longer range. Such super-Comets could fly non-stop from London to New York against the prevailing wind in nine hours.                                                 





CHAPTER 33

THE RISE OF THE BRITISH AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

Handley Page starts it off—Short Bros.—Bristol Tramways get airminded—embryo industry in 1914—S.B.A.C. founded—a steady rise—all-out war effort—so America goes ahead with airliners—Comet, Viscount, Ambassador, Marathon, Solent, Brabazon, Dollar Princess.

THE aircraft industry of Great Britain may be said to have been founded on 17th June 1909 when Frederick Handley Page, who became Sir Frederick, founded Handley Page Ltd. So confident was the founder in his own destiny that he did not even include the word "aeroplane" or "aircraft" in the company's title. Probably he foresaw, as he has foreseen so many things, that the name "Handley Page" would soon become synonymous with "aeroplane".

In 1906 Frederick Handley Page, aged 21, became interested in flying, and he laid the foundations in 1908 of what has become a great concern known all over the world. Of all the aircraft firms started before the 1914 war, Handley Page Ltd. is the only one which has remained unchanged with the same title, and has the original founder still leading it. In 1950 Sir Frederick may be regarded as the leading and most striking—not "striking" in the modern industrial use of that word!—figure in the aircraft industry. He is sometimes called "The Dean of Aviation"!

As a sign of faith, it is significant that Handley Page Ltd. was formed more than a month before Blériot flew the Channel. Short Bros. had been formed in 1898 to build balloons but was not registered till much later.

On 19th February 1910 the British & Colonial Aeroplane Co. Ltd. was registered by Sir George White as an offshoot of the Bristol Tramway Co. The name was changed to "Bristol Aeroplane Co. Ltd." in 1919.

The British aircraft industry began as a number of small groups of pioneers who were building experimental aeroplanes. None of them had very much money, yet on that foundation, laid by the pioneers of those days, has grown the huge industry on which hundreds of millions of pounds were spent during the 1939-45 war, and which rose to be the biggest single industry in the United Kingdom.

In the days before 1914 the aircraft industry was in a rather nebulous and fluid stage. Firms came and disappeared again. Of the firms that were formed before the 1914 war some are still in existence, though not all of them in their present form. The industry was at first a branch of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The Society of British Aircraft Constructors was not formed until 1916. The firms of those days which are still surviving are the Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd., Handley Page Ltd., Short Bros. & Harland Ltd., Blackburn & General Aircraft Ltd., and A. V. Roe & Co. Ltd.

One big firm of early days was the Sopwith Aviation Co. Ltd., founded by T. O. M. Sopwith and Fred Sigrist, who were joined by an Australian, Harry Hawker, as test pilot. In 1920 the firm was liquidated and, on its foundations, the Hawker Aircraft Co. was formed, with Sopwith and Sigrist at the head. Hawker was killed soon afterwards. Two of the earliest firms have amalgamated: the Aircraft Division of Vickers Ltd. and the Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd., now welded together as part of Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd.

At the end of the 1914-18 war one of the greatest aircraft building concerns in the world was the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. This firm was formed in 1912 by George Holt Thomas to build Farman types under licence in the United Kingdom. In 1914 Captain Geoffrey de Havilland, who had been designer to the Royal Aircraft Factory, where he had designed the famous B.E. biplane, joined the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. as chief designer. That firm produced more British aeroplanes in the 1914-18 war than did any other British firm.

Captain de Havilland, with his associates, formed the de Havilland Aircraft Company in 1920, at about the same time that the Sopwith Company was revived as the H. G. Hawker Engineering Company. Another firm which existed before 1914 was the Aeronautical Syndicate Ltd., of which the moving spirit was Horatio Barber, donor of the Britannia Trophy. He closed down the firm in 1912, because he said that, to keep abreast with the times, it was necessary to build a new model about every three months, which was too expensive. After the 1918 war Barber made a fortune from insurance in the United States, and lived in Bermuda.

One of the earliest of the famous firms was that of Martin and Handasyde who built the Martinsyde aeroplanes. The firm went into liquidation in 1920. George Handasyde—"Handy" to all—tried to form a new company, but had not sufficient capital. After that he joined various firms as works manager. He celebrated his 75th birthday in 1947, being the first of the great pioneer designers to score three-quarters of a century. One of his sons, Bob, held an important sales post in Vickers-Armstrongs in 1950.

Howard Flanders designed and built some successful monoplanes before 1914, but there had been some accidents to monoplanes in the R.F.C., with the result that the War Office put a ban on them, pending an enquiry. The enquiry exonerated monoplane design and construction, but although his firm's aircraft did nothing to cause the ban, Howard flanders was not able to weather the interim period.

Howard Wright built many interesting biplanes and monoplanes on which several early aviators, including Sopwith, learned to fly. With him was associated W. O. Manning, a designer of great note. However, his firm could not carry on.

The Grahame-White Aviation Co. Ltd. was extremely prosperous until after 1918. Besides building aircraft, the firm owned Hendon aerodrome. They bought it quite cheaply in 1910 and sold it to the Air Ministry after 1918 for a sum that was rumoured to be about a quarter of a million pounds.

The Handley Page Company sprang into prominence by building the first "giant bomber", which was a big twin-motor biplane driven by two 350 h.p. motors. That firm also built in 1917 a four-motor biplane with a wing spread of 128 feet.

A. V. Roe, as recounted in other chapters, had been one of the first men to fly in Britain. He formed a small company with works at Brooklands in 1910. With him was a youngster named Roy Chadwick, who later designed the Avro Lancaster. A.V. was supported on the business side by his brother, H.V., and John Lord, who were running a prosperous concern which made Bulls-eye braces. Hence the jibe that Avros were kept up by Bulls-eye braces.

A.V. told me that when the war came in 1914, and he suddenly had to expand his works, a number of youngsters applied at the gates of the factory in Manchester for jobs. He picked out one likely looking lad and asked him if he knew anything about design drawing. The lad said he did, so he was engaged. Later A.V. found the lad knew nothing about design, but was a capable office worker and administrator. That lad became Sir Roy Dobson, managing director of A. V. Roe & Co.

Other early firms of pre-1914 vintage included S. E. Saunders & Co. of Cowes. A. V. joined that firm in 1928 when A. V. Roe & Co. was bought up by the Siddeley concern, and Saunders-Roe Ltd. was formed. Samuel White & Co. was another boat-building firm which began early to experiment with aeroplanes, but did not continue after 1918.

Before 1914 none of the present firms who make aero motors was then doing so. There were a few British concerns who built aero motors, most notable of which was the Green Engine Company, the moving spirit of which was Fred May. Wolseley exhibited a motor at the 1913 Aero Show, and they made some good motors during the 1914 war. The firm was absorbed by the Nuffield organisation between wars and built a useful motor, the "Scorpion," at the instigation of Miles Thomas, later Sir Miles, Chairman of B.O.A.C.

The Isaacson Company built a radial motor before 1914 but had little success, and Vickers built a French motor, the Viale, under licence. One concern took full-page advertisements in Flight and The Aeroplane round about 1911, advertising that the "Boyd engine was the engine of to-morrow". It is still the engine of to-morrow for it has never made a public appearance. Sunbeam built aero motors for a few years from 1912.

Rolls-Royce and Napier began to make aero motors during the 1914-18 war, as did also Armstrong Siddeley. Rolls-Royce made motors for the Government, rather against the wishes of Henry Royce, who in the early days would not even be persuaded to make an aero motor by his partner, Charlie Rolls. After 1918 they continued to make the famous "Eagle" and in 1929 produced a motor for the Schneider Trophy Contest on which the Merlin was based. The firm was among the first in the field with gas turbines.

Towards the end of the 1918 war a young man named Roy Fedden had designed a nine-cylinder motor named the "Jupiter" which was built by a company in Bristol called the Cosmos Company. When the war ended, the motor had just begun to be a success, but orders were cancelled and the firm was compelled to go into liquidation.

Roy Fedden took his plans for the motor to most of the British aircraft firms, but none of them would make it. Dispirited, he returned to his home in Bristol, and, as a last resource, called on the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which decided to build Fedden's design. The Bristol motor materially assisted the Company to tide over lean times in the inter-war years, and became its greatest asset.

At the end of the 1918 war the Napier "Lion" motor of 450 h.p. was beginning to show promise. Napier motors won the Schneider Trophy in 1922 and 1927.

Armstrong Siddeleys produced radial motors with some success, but they never seemed to be the equal of the comparable motors. Roy Fedden told me that it was partly due to the fact that he was allowed a much freer hand by his directors than was his opposite number with Siddeleys. In 1950 Armstrong-Siddeley gas turbines are among the world's best.

Alvis Ltd., Coventry car makers from 1921, turned their attention in 1935 to making aero motors. They produced a nine-cylinder air-cooled radial of about 400 h.p., which has been developed into the "Leonides" of nearly 600 h.p. This was adapted to run in the horizontal position as the power-plant for nearly all British helicopters.

There have been many mergers and changes in the industry. A. V. Roe & Co. was bought by Siddeleys, and then in the nineteen-thirties the great Hawker-Siddeley Group was formed with T. O. M. Sopwith at its head, and Fred Sigrist. The combine absorbed the Hawker, Armstrong Whitworth, Armstrong Siddeley, and Avro firms, to which the Gloster Aircraft Co. also was later merged. The Gloster firm was formed by a decorating firm of H. H. Martyn & Co. to help to build aeroplanes in the 1914-18 war. The firm went into the aircraft business seriously in 1921 when they acquired the services of Harry Folland as designer. Their first original production was the famous "Bamel" racer of 1921.

Three important firms came into existence during the 1914-18 war: Fairey Aviation Co. Ltd., Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd., and Westland Aircraft Ltd. In about 1910 a young man named Richard Fairey was assistant to an experimental concern named Blair-Atholl Syndicate, which made tailless machines with swept-back wings. He then joined Short Bros. and in 1915 formed the Fairey Aviation Co. Ltd. That great firm was chiefly concerned in 1950 in providing aeroplanes for the Royal Navy.

The old-established firm Boulton & Paul Ltd., of Norwich, famed for wire-netting, built aeroplanes to the designs of other firms during the 1914-18 war, and continued making them to their own design afterwards. They were replaced in 1934, when Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd. was formed at Wolverhampton under J. D. North, who had been with the Aeronautical Syndicate which built Valkyries, and the Grahame-White Aviation Company before the 1914 war. In 1950 Boulton Paul got a good contract from the Ministry of Supply to build the Balliol trainer for the R.A.F. In November 1950 F. F. Crocombe, designer to Blackburn and General Aircraft Co., joined their design staff.

During the 1914-18 War the famous Yeovil oil-engine firm, Petters Ltd., started making aeroplanes and formed a section called Westland Aircraft Works. They took over the development of the DH9a from the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., for which aircraft Westlands can justly claim the credit, and produced many aircraft of original design. In 1946 they acquired the rights for building helicopters to the designs of the Sikorsky firm of America.

W. E. W. Petter, grandson of the founder of Petters Ltd., designed several notable aircraft for Westlands. In 1944 he joined the English Electric Co. Ltd., for whom he designed the Canberra, Britain's first and highly successful jet bomber. He resigned in 1950 to join Folland Aircraft Ltd.

Between wars several new firms sprang up, the most notable of which were General Aircraft Ltd., which combined with Blackburns, Percival Aircraft Ltd., which was taken over by Hunting Aviation Management Ltd., Auster Ltd., which builds highly successful small aircraft suitable for private owners, and Airspeed Ltd. The latter, as recounted in the chapter "Per ardua to the Comet", is now part of de Havilland Enterprise Ltd.

Miles Aircraft Ltd. was formed in 1935 under the title of Phillips & Powis Ltd. It became a very great concern and Miles aeroplanes built before, during, or just after the 1939-45 war, have formed the bulk of the entries and won much success in post-war air races. Unfortunately Miles Aircraft Ltd. got into financial difficulties in the post-war slump and went into liquidation. The founder, F. G. Miles, formed a new small firm, F. G. Miles Ltd., at Redhill in 1950 mainly for repair. By the end of that year he had produced the Aries, which was a development of the highly successful Gemini built by Miles Aircraft. Everyone in aviation hopes to see F. G. Miles Ltd. grow into a great firm so that the whole world will benefit by the great talent of Fred Miles. His brother, George, joined Airspeeds in 1949 and became chief designer.

The Society of British Aircraft Constructors, the S.B.A.C., came into being on 29th March 1916. There were 38 founder members, 14 of whom had been interested in aviation before the outbreak of war.

In 1950 nearly all the members were solid firms, very different from the little groups of pioneers who formed the industry in the days before 1914. Fortunes have been made by many of the pioneers, which they have well deserved, not only for their early faith and hard work, but the great work they have done for their country in two wars. They have proved, both in war and in sporting flying, that when British designers put themselves wholeheartedly to the task of building aeroplanes for any special tasks, if they have adequate backing, they can beat the world. When there was the competition for the Schneider Trophy, Britain proved that her designers were the best. When the competition came from German fighters and bombers, again British aircraft were superior.

During the 1939-45 war all the might of Britain's aircraft industry was employed in building fighting and bombing aircraft with which to defeat the enemy. The design and building of airliners ceased altogether.

In 1943 a committee was set up by the Government under the chairmanship of Lord Brabazon of Tara, to decide on what airliners would be needed after the war, but actual construction could not be started until the end of the war was in sight. During the war the United States continued to build airliners, with which class they had therefore a clear lead over the rest of the world from 1945-50, so that, when civil flying was resumed on a peacetime scale in 1945, the British concerns had to rely mainly on American designed and built airliners, with some help from a few adapted bombers. Chief among the latter were the Avro York and Lancastrian developed from the Lancaster bomber with which B.O.A.C. operated their routes until they could get delivery of American Constellations. Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd., by intensive work, produced the Viking in 1946, which was an entirely new fuselage with Wellington wings. This kept B.E.A. routes running for over four years and has sold well abroad. Avros produced the Tudor which consisted of a new fuselage with Lincoln wings. Though this aircraft had the best record of any aeroplane for regularity, reliability and loads on the Berlin Air Lift, it had an unfortunate record as a passenger airliner and was only used, after a short and sad record with British South American Airways, for charter work. For the first five years after the end of the war in 1945, the British industry was designing for the years ahead.

I have described the wonderful de Havilland Comet in an earlier chapter. In 1950 that airliner looks as though it may give Britain as big a lead over the rest of the world as America had from 1945-50.

In 1947 Airspeed Ltd., a part of de Havilland Enterprise, showed the Ambassador at the Air Show and impressed everyone. This was a 45-passenger high-wing machine which will cruise at 280 m.p.h. at 20,000 feet.

The following year Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. produced the Viscount which was the world's first turboprop airliner. This was a revelation in which to fly. The gas turbines were so smooth and quiet that one had to look out of the window when on the ground to see if the motors were running, and it was very silent in the air. So smooth is it that it is possible to balance a coin on edge on the table in the cabin when in full flight. Coin balancing was possible too in most parts of the Ambassador. Both these aircraft were ordered for B.E.A.

In 1946 Miles Aircraft Ltd. produced the Marathon, a 20-passenger liner, which was intended for short hauls of up to 500 miles. But soon after the Air Show of 1947 the Miles company failed. The Marathon was taken over by Handley Page Ltd. who formed a separate branch named Handley Page (Reading) Ltd. to produce it. The Marathon was ordered by B.E.A.

Since 1944 the Bristol Aeroplane Co. Ltd. had been at work on a huge project which they named "Brabazon". Fully loaded it weighs 130 tons and has a wing-spread of 230 feet. A special runway and erecting hall were made for it at the taxpayers' expense. With Bill Pegg at the controls the Brab made its first flight on Sunday, 4th September 1949. So successful was it as an aeroplane that Pegg flew it over the Air Show at Farnborough on 8th September.

The Brabazon I is powered by eight Bristol Centaurus motors. In that form it is only intended as a flying test-bed. The Brab 2 will have Bristol Proteus turboprops and is intended to fly between London and New York non-stop with 100 passengers.

In 1946 Saunders-Roe Ltd. announced that they were starting to build three flying-boats each weighing 140 tons and capable of carrying 105 passengers over stages of 3,000 miles. They would be powered by ten Proteus turboprops. They were originally ordered for the South American run of B.S.A.A. and when that firm was absorbed by B.O.A.C., the latter decided to carry on with the project.

These boats are officially named the "Princess" class. They were conceived by Sir Arthur Gouge, who designed the successful range of Short flying boats from the "C" Class Empire boats of 1937 to the Solents, which latter have given the greatest passenger comfort of any airliner to the present time.

When I suggested to Sir Arthur that the Princesses might be called the "Dollar Princesses," he thought the name would be an apt one as he expected they would be good dollar earners.

The first of the Dollar Princesses is due to make its maiden flight in the summer of 1951, when I expect that it will set a new standard to the whole world of comfortable swift travel. It is designed to cruise at 380 m.p.h. at 40,000 feet with 105 passengers.

In the latter part of 1950 B.O.A.C. took delivery of a fleet of Handley Page Hermes and put them into service on the routes to Africa. These were the first entirely new British airliners to go into regular service in quantity since the end of the war, though the Viscount turboprop prototype went into limited service on the B.E.A. routes in August 1950 as recounted in the final chapter.

With the Dollar Princess, Brabazon, Comet, Hermes, Viscount, and Ambassador, the years of post-war, solid, slow preparation will soon blossom into years of fulfilment.

At the end of April 1950 Saunders-Roe announced that they had completed the design of a jet airliner flying-boat to be called the "Duchess" type. It will have a wing-span of 135 feet 6 inches and will carry 74 passengers at 500 m.p.h. Power plant will be six de Havilland "Ghosts", four of which provide the power for the Comet. The Duchess will be future history for it is not likely to fly before 1954 or 1955.
*                    *                    *                    *

After the 1918 War, the S.B.A.C. was, for some years, quite a small concern, with offices in Albemarle Street. The director was Charles V. Allen, and the secretary Harold R. Gillman, who became Director-General of the F.A.I. in 1950. In 1930, Edward Bowyer joined the S.B.A.C. as chief of the Information Department; before that, he had been air correspondent of the Daily News, which was merged into the News Chronicle. Ted Bowyer has shewn unexpected powers of organisation and has become a very important factor in the S.B.A.C. and in British aviation. In 1946 he succeeded Allen as director, and has been largely responsible for its great rise in importance since then; it is also chiefly due to him that the Air Shows have been such a success since the War. Sir Frederick Handley Page, the Society's treasurer, has always seemed to be the chief source of inspiration of the S.B.A.C. in latter years, and Ted Bowyer the architect.

In 1950, the Society, with a big staff, was well housed in premises in Savile Row, off Bond Street, London, opposite the old premises of the Royal Aero Club in Clifford Street.






27. F. J. (Jeep) Cable, A.F.C., the first to obtain an Aviators' Certificate on rotary wings.          
  




28. Alan Marsh (in cap) with the Author, emerging from the Cierva Air Horse, the world's biggest helicopter, after a flight in March 1950. 





29. The 130-ton Bristol "Brabazon" airliner alighting at Filton after its first flight on 4th September 1949.






30. The Canadair 4, called the "Argonaut" by B.O.A.C., the first airliner built in the Commonwealth, to go into service.
CHAPTER 34

THE AIR SHOWS

First R.A.F. Pageant—the annual displays—S.B.A.C. show grows from R.A.F. show—a separate aerodrome—great revival in 1946— jets show us speed—Farnborough—S.B.A.C. should have own airfield.

IN 1920 the first of the really great air displays was held. This was staged at Hendon aerodrome, London, by the R.A.F. to raise money for their Benevolent Fund.

A crowd estimated at 100,000 flocked to Hendon to see pilots of the R.A.F. display their prowess on the latest aircraft. The first year it was named the "R.A.F. Pageant", but in succeeding years the name was changed to "R.A.F. Display". At that first Pageant, Squadron Leader Jack ("Oogy") Noakes gave the first exhibition of what became known as "crazy flying", in an SE5b.

One of the principal features was a "New Machine Park", called by the more irresponsible the "Amusement Park", or "Fun Fair", in which the latest British aircraft, both civil and military, were displayed.

In 1932 the suggestion was made that, in order to show these aircraft to foreign buyers, a day should be set aside after the Display when those concerned could come to Hendon and see the aircraft at close quarters and in the air, unencumbered by the crowds at the Display itself. So in 1933 the Monday after the Display was set aside for the purpose. That was the start of what has been so clumsily named the "S.B.A.C. Flying Display and Exhibition".

No one has ever called the annual Motor Show the "S.M.M.T. Static Motor Car Exhibition"; so usually, in this book, I have referred to the S.B.A.C. Show as the "Air Show".

After 1937 the Air Ministry decided to end the series of R.A.F. Displays because they alleged that the speeds of aircraft, which were then reaching about 200 m.p.h., made such exhibitions dangerous. However, it was revived at Farnborough in 1950, though speeds had become three times as great.

When the Hendon R.A.F. Displays ended, the S.B.A.C. Show of 1938 was held at the de Havilland Company's airfield at Hatfield. The Show of 1939 was planned to be there, but the war prevented its being held.

The Air Show was revived in 1946 at the Handley Page aerodrome at Radlett. lt was on lines similar to that of 1938, that is, one 'static' day when aircraft were on the ground for inspection, and one 'flying' day. A hangar was laid out as an exhibition hall. This was the first opportunity that many people had of seeing flying at 600 m.p.h., and they all were mightily impressed. The show was held again at Radlett in 1947, and lasted over more days.

There was a general demand for the Air Show to be made open to the public, who, as taxpayers, financed it, but the approach to Radlett was by only one narrow road along which it would have been impossible to control the huge crowds who would come. So in 1948 the Air Show was held at Farnborough on a bigger and grander scale. It was extended for two extra days, Saturday and Sunday, and the expected large crowds came in spite of one very wet day.

Again in 1949 the Show was at Farnborough. It was blessed with fine sunny weather on all days including the public ones. That year was indeed a year of fulfilment for we saw many new turbojet, turboprop, and "prancing-piston" powered aircraft with which we had been "threatened" ever since the war. The Comet caused the greatest sensation, though the Brab nearly stole its thunder on the one and only day on which it put in a majestic appearance. The Comet was regarded as much more of a practical proposition.

We saw the Viscount again, now a well-proved airliner with over 200 hours' flying to its credit, and the Armstrong Whitworth Apollo, a rather smaller turboprop airliner. We saw a turboprop version of the Handley Page Hermes, which, if it had been chosen instead of the Hermes 4 with prancing-piston motors to replace the Solent flying-boats on the B.O.A.C. routes through Africa, would have been a big advance. Unfortunately the Hermes 5 was not apparently considered sufficiently developed to go on service yet.

Then we saw, for the first time, that "amazing piece of ironmongery" the Cierva Air Horse, the biggest helicopter in the world, and we were astounded at its agility.

We saw Mike Lithgow fly the Vickers-Supermarine Swift at 675 m.p.h., and that old warrior of the R.F.C., R. T. Shepherd, fly the Meteor with Rolls-Royce "Avons" on a climb into the blue, going almost vertically right out of sight.

There were demonstrations for the first time of turbojets with "after-burning", a method of injecting huge quantities of paraffin into the jet-pipe to increase thrust in emergency.

The 1950 Air Show was again held at Farnborough, and is described in the final chapter, as is also the R.A.F. Display.

It would seem that the time is now coming when the great Society of British Aircraft Constructors should have an exhibition ground of its own instead of having annually to disrupt the way of life of the R.A.E. at Farnborough for about a month. Such an aerodrome could be of use all the year round for makers to demonstrate their products singly to overseas buyers and to the Press. Permanent timing apparatus could be set up at such an airfield for record breaking and performance calibration. Such a site might be obtained now which has quick approach from the Metropolis by London Underground Railway.

A further suggested improvement for the Air Show which could come now would be to hold the static show in London at Earls Court, so that the evenings of the Air Show could be spent there; for it is often too much for many people to absorb the flying and static shows in one day, and Farnborough is 30 miles from London. Such a static show in London opened to the public would surely be as big a financial success as the Motor Show.
CHAPTER 35

JET PROPULSION

Gas turbines—Cranwell cadet thinks—Whittle sees how—they didn't believe him—first struggles—the "Pioneer" flies—sonic speed—Mach numbers.

THE fact seems to be generally agreed that the development which has been of the greatest benefit to aviation since Orville Wright made his first flight in 1903 and the Gnôme motor of 1909, is the gas turbine motor which makes jet propulsion possible and which is a prime mover able to turn an airscrew. The gas turbine has only one moving part and gives much greater power for weight than a "prancing piston" motor can. Jet propulsion was foreshadowed in 1866 in a paper read to the Aeronautical Society.

In about 1928 a German, Fritz von Opel, was beginning experiments with rocket-propelled aeroplanes. Soon after that time, the Germans began experiments with gas turbines.

In 1928 a Cranwell cadet named Frank Whittle turned his thoughts seriously to the problem of jet propulsion. After he left Cranwell, he tried, without much success, to interest the authorities in a practical gas turbine motor he had planned. His ideas were too far ahead of their time for the officials of the Air Ministry to grasp. In January 1930 Whittle, with the help of Pat Johnson, took out a patent for a gas turbine to generate sufficient reaction by means of its exhaust to propel an aeroplane. No one seemed to want it, so for five years he made no further effort.

In 1935 Whittle was fortunate in meeting M. L. Bramson; a Dane, long domiciled in Britain and a naturalised British subject, "Bram" has always had a progressive mind. He introduced Whittle to the banking investment firm of O. T. Falk & Co., and, with their help, a company called Power Jets was formed on a capital of £2,000.

The firm contracted the making of a gas turbine to B.T.H., and by April 1937 the first British jet turbine had been completed and made its first run on the 12th of that month.

The result exceeded all expectations. The turbine roared away up to 8,000 revolutions per minute, even with the throttle valve closed. This was a defect caused by the trapping of air in the fuel lines and was easily overcome. Great progress was made and after the tests the Air Ministry were stirred to take notice.

A year later the turbine was reconstructed with multiple combustion chambers and was run up to 17,000 r.p.m. In March 1938 the Air Ministry placed an order with Power Jets for a complete gas turbine. It was doubtful if any existing aeroplane could be adapted to take a gas turbine.

Whittle visited the Gloster Company's works where he met George Carter, who later designed the Meteor. Carter was most interested, as he himself had taken out a patent for a gas turbine when he was 22. Carter was summoned to the Air Ministry and asked to design an aeroplane to take a gas turbine. The contract for that aeroplane was not placed until 3rd February, 1940, after war had broken out.

The first taxi-ing tests were made at Brockworth near Gloster on 7th April 1941 by P. E. G. Sayer. The next day he made short hops.

The machine was then sent to Cranwell where there was more room for testing than at Brockworth. Jerry Sayer made the first jet-propelled flight in Britain at Cranwell on 15th May 1941 in the presence of Frank Whittle and George Carter.

After 500 or 600 yards the "Pioneer", as the machine had been named, left the ground. The first flight lasted for 17 minutes.

That was the first jet-propelled flight in Britain, but it was pre-dated with a flight by a German Heinkel 178 on 27th August 1939. The Italians had claimed a jet-propelled flight in 1940 but the jet was produced with a ducted airscrew driven by a petrol motor and was very inefficient.

The complete story of jet flight in Britain is told in Jet Flight by John Grierson, one of the Gloster test pilots who did much of the early test work with jet-propelled aircraft, and who was one of Jerry Sayer's team.

On 21st October 1942 P. E. G. Sayer was killed. He was visiting a squadron of "Typhoons" in Northumberland which had been equipped with new gun sights which he wished to test. He and another pilot in another "Typhoon" climbed into cloud with the idea of having a practice fight in the clear air above. Neither aircraft returned. John Grierson says in his book that scraps of evidence obtainable suggest that there was a collision. The work which Jerry Sayer did in the first stages of jet-propelled flight will always have a prominent place in the history of aviation.

The power of a jet-propulsion motor is measured, not in horse power, but in pounds of thrust which it produces. The equivalent horse power of a jet motor can only be given for a certain speed. Jet motors which were in use in 1946 were giving about 5,000 lbs. thrust. At 600 m.p.h. that would be equivalent to about 10,000 h.p. By 1950 7,000 lbs. static thrust was being produced and 10,000 lbs. thrust was in sight.

The power available in gas turbine motors was far greater than had been available in piston motors. With the advent of jet-propulsion, the makers of the motors were able to provide more power than the makers of air frames could at first use. Hitherto the aeroplane designers had always been calling on the motor makers for more power so that aeroplanes could go faster and carry more load.

Gas turbines enabled aeroplanes to travel at a speed near to that of sound. At the speed of sound, which varies according to height and temperature, but which at sea level at normal temperature of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit is about 760 m.p.h., the air does not behave as it does at lower speeds.

When aeroplanes fly at speeds near that of sound they come up against what is called "compressibility effects". The air flow does not behave as at lower speeds, the air appears to become more solid, and does not flow over the surfaces of an aeroplane normally. As the speed of sound varies according to height and temperature, the speed of an aeroplane is expressed in terms of its relation to the speed of sound. It is expressed as a "Mach" number. This is the ratio of the true air speed to the speed of sound at the same height. The speed of sound diminishes with height, so that a Mach number of .5 at ground level will represent about 380 m.p.h., but at 36,000 feet it will only represent 330 m.p.h. The increase of head resistance, or drag, is directly related to the speed of sound, so it is more convenient and accurate to speak of flying at a Mach number, rather than at so many miles per hour.

The speed of a given aeroplane with a motor giving a definite thrust varies according to temperature when flying at sea level. When Group Captain Teddy Donaldson broke the world speed record at Littlehampton in September 1946, he did it in comparatively cold weather. Shortly after Donaldson gave up further attempts for 1946, Geoffrey de Havilland, the eldest son of Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, the great pioneer, announced that he would make an attempt on the record at Littlehampton with a DH108. As described earlier he was killed in practising for this attempt.
CHAPTER 36

THE BERLIN AIR LIFT

Russia sets a problem—Air Lift starts—it grows—a great operatian—Combined Air Lift Task Force—high frequency—civil aviation taught a lesson—2¼ million fed by Air Lift alone for one year—flying into Berlin with Plainfare—final score.

WHEN THE Soviet Government decided on 24th June, 1948, for no apparently valid reason, to close the railways, canals, and roads from the Western zones of Germany into Berlin, the British, American, and French sectors of Berlin were cut off from their zones except by air. On 28th June 1948 a freight service from Wunstorf near Hanover was hastily organised by the R.A.F.; and from Frankfort by the United States Air Force on 26th June.

In the Quadripartite Agreement signed by Britain, United States of America, France and Russia in 1945, four air corridors twenty miles wide each were mapped out along which aircraft of the four nations were to be given free access to Berlin. Only three of these affected the Air Lift; the fourth led to Warsaw.

Early in 1948, before the blockade was imposed by the Russians, a Russian Yak fighter, which was flying dangerously in one of these controlled channels near the British air terminal at Gatow, collided with a British European Airways Viking civil air liner, and all aboard both aircraft were killed. That led to a dangerous situation; the Russians denied that the responsibility for the crash lay with the Yak pilot.

The three corridors which were used during the Air Lift were as follows: Frankfort Corridor, 216 miles, from the south west, by which the U.S.A.F. aircraft flew to Tempelhof; the Hamburg Corridor, 95 miles, from the north west, by which all craft from the British Zone flew to Gatow or Tegel; the Hanover Corridor, 117 miles, to the west, by which all, with just a few exceptions, flew out of Berlin for the Western Zones.

Throughout the Air Lift work went on by night and day. Airport lighting sets of semi-permanent construction were designed for the purpose. At the most intensive part of the early period before the organisation of the Air Lift was stabilised, the rest periods of the aircrews and groundcrews were irregular.

The British part of the Air Lift began with Dakotas alone, and before Yorks could be used, extensions had to be made to the runways at Gatow. That was done with great speed—a pleasant example of what can be accomplished when the need is great; we have become accustomed to the thought that the construction of runways at civil airports takes years so that it was interesting to know that new concrete runways were made at Gatow, Tegel, Celle and other Air Lift airports in weeks only. At Celle the runways and taxi-tracks were relaid completely in concrete in ten weeks.

When pressure on Gatow and Tempelhof became very great, a new airport at Tegel, in the French sector of Berlin, which was completely built under U.S.A. supervision on virgin wooded land, was opened formally on 1st December 1948. A trouble was experienced at the Berlin airfields which had never manifested itself before in aviation. The concrete runways showed signs of wearing out under the weight of excessive traffic. This was specially evident at Gatow which for several months had only one concrete runway. A pieced-steel-planking (p.s.p.) runway was laid parallel to the concrete runway at Gatow which had to be used for short periods when the concrete runway was being repaired, but it could not stand up for long to continuous landings of fully laden aircraft. Later the p.s.p. runway was replaced by one made of rubble from the ruins of Berlin surfaced with tarmac.

One of the Tegel runways became so battered towards the end of the operation that its surface became wavy.

At first the Air Lift cargoes were mainly food, but when the operation was in full swing only 26 per cent. was food; 55 per cent. of the total deliveries was coal. Other cargoes consisted of fuel oil, clothing, mail, and heavy machinery such as generators for power stations.

Each crew approaching Berlin declared its cargo over the radio so that the necessary ground transport could meet it. The radio operator of a U.S.A.F. Skymaster who had made many routine flights into the city was heard, as he approached, chanting over the radio: "Here comes a Yankee with a blackened soul, flying into Gatow with a load of coal." A U.S.A.F. captain flying down the Hamburg corridor into Gatow saw below him a Bristol Wayfarer, a freighter with an old-fashioned look. He called Gatow and said "What is the funny looking old crate flying below me? Have the Wright Brothers joined the Air Lift?" Gatow replied it was a Wayfarer. Whereupon the Yank replied "Did you say the Mayflower? Sure you guys are bringing everything in!" A British pilot announced that his load was 7,500 lbs. of flour and 200 lbs. of scrambled egg. Gatow rightly guessed that the latter load was a rather portly air officer; air officers are those of the rank of air commodore or above, who owe their nickname to the gold oak leaves on the peaks of their caps which are referred to by the more lowly (and perhaps jealous!) as "scrambled egg".

The R.A.F. land-based aircraft at first operated solely from Wunstorf and the flying-boats from Finkenwerde on the Elbe at Hamburg. The former landed only at Gatow until Tegel was finished, and the flying-boats alighted on the Havelsee lake alongside. High-speed loading and unloading was done by willing bodies of Germans under the supervision of the Air Dispatch Service (Royal Army Service Corps) and the Load Control personnel of R.A.F. Transport Command.

The Western democracies imposed a counter-blockade on goods going into the Soviet zone, which caused considerable embarrassment to the Russians.

None of the aircraft was overloaded, except accidentally on one occasion when a Dakota was given a York's load—nearly double. The captain, on arrival at Gatow, made the classic understatement, "Landed a bit heavily, didn't she?"!

The load was progressively increased after a trial period in each case when all parts such as undercarriage, motors, etc., likely to be affected were continually inspected by the maintenance staff. All load increases were approved by the engineer staff in consultation with the aerodynamic specialists.

The normal load for a Dakota before the load was increased was 4,500 lbs., which was stepped up to 7,500 lbs. Yorks began with 11,000 lbs. and increased to 15,000 lbs. In the British sector there were no accidents due to heavy loading or to the intensity of the operation. The U.S.A.F. at first used Dakotas from Frankfort to Tempelhof, but later replaced them with Skymasters which carried 20,000 lbs.

The R.A.F. originally aimed at bringing into Berlin 750 (British) tons of freight per day. When the Air Lift expanded to its peak on Good Friday 1949, 12,940 short tons were landed in Berlin.

When the Air Lift started there was only one concrete runway at Gatow, 1,500 yards long. It was quickly extended by 500 yards and the p.s.p. runway was soon added, so that an aircraft could take off from one while another aircraft was landing on the other. In the early days every aircraft which could carry a few tons into Berlin was needed, so some R.A.F. Sunderland flying-boats of Number 201, 230, and 235 Squadrons, and Hythe civil flying-boats operated by Aquila Airways Ltd., alighted at Klare Lanke on the north shore of Schwanen Insel on the Havelsee. They operated until the end of the year, and were withdrawn when winter came and the Havelsee was expected to freeze. When Spring came the boats were not re-introduced, as by that time sufficient land-based aircraft were available, and a fourth terminal complicated control. If one hundred flying-boats capable of carrying 20,000 lbs. or more had been available they would have been most valuable, for the problem of wear and tear of runways would not have arisen.

The part of the Air Lift operated from the British zone was known by the code name "Plainfare". The U.S.A.F. called theirs "Vittles". The Berlin Air Lift was the most important and significant air operation which has ever been undertaken. More was learned about ground and air control, and about the possibilities of the carriage of heavy freight by air in vast quantities, than under normal circumstances in ten years. Before the operation began no one seriously thought it would be possible to supply a city of two and a quarter million inhabitants for a full year by air alone. Yet when the blockade ended, the Berliners were getting more rations than they were when it was imposed.

The cost of the Air Lift to the British tax payer was estimated at about ten million pounds. The cost to the United States of their own effort was considerably higher. It may be asked what did we, or the world as a whole, get for this huge expenditure. First and foremost, by refusing to be intimidated by the Russian blockade, the Western democracies made a gesture of defiance to the Communists, instead of adopting the bad old doctrine of appeasement and withdrawal, which would almost certainly have led, in time, to war with the Soviet Union. A war would have cost Britain far more than ten million pounds per year.

Secondly, aircrews of the R.A.F., R.A.A.F., S.A.A.F., R.N.Z.A.F., and U.S.A.F. received training under conditions so closely approximating to active service that, if war had come then, we would have had crews highly trained and ready for immediate war service, or for carrying troops or freight. In the sphere of ground control, lessons were learned and a system was put into daily operation which would have been thought impossible until Plainfare showed the way. At the London airports at Heathrow and Northolt, under conditions of poor visibility, it was not thought possible to bring in by G.C.A. (ground control approach, by which the crew of an incoming aircraft is "talked down" on to the runway by a groundcrew who can see the aircraft by radar) more than one aircraft every fifteen minutes. At Gatow and the other Berlin airports they were able to bring in, under V.F.R. (visual flight rules) throughout the twenty-four hours, one aircraft every two minutes in clear weather, with a take-off in between landings, and up to every five minutes in worse conditions. The traffic frequency can be compared with electric train traffic at Charing Cross in London, through which three lines run, at rush hours. For half this frequency the weather minima for Plainfare at Gatow and Tegel were cloudbase 200 feet and horizontal visibility 800 yards. Many landings were made in weather below these minima in exceptional circumstances. At Tempelhof, which is right in the built-up area of Berlin (the others are in more open country), operations had to stop when conditions were not so bad as at Gatow, as the approaches are obstructed by high buildings.

At civil airports approaching aircraft had to orbit (make a circuit) before being given permission to land. That leads to "stacking" which meant they had to orbit at given levels, which wasted time and cost money. Aircraft approaching Berlin made straight approaches and landed at once.

Nothing was allowed to interfere with the even rhythm of Air Lift traffic. If an approaching aircraft made a mess of his approach, or was baulked by ground control, he could not circuit and try again as is done elsewhere. He got no second chance but had to fly back to base with his load and come back again in another wave.

Similarly, if an aircraft had a minor crash so that it could not move from the runway, no mercy was shown! A bull-dozer lying in wait for such a mishap would drive up and hitch a rope to the damaged aircraft. If the undercart was so damaged that the aircraft could not be towed clear, then the bull-dozer would charge the aircraft and push it aside so that it did not obstruct the next take-off or landing.

The Air Lift was a joint British and United States effort, fully co-ordinated, known as Combined Air Lift Task Force (C.A.L.T.F.). The supreme commander was Major General William Tunner, U.S.A.F., who was in command of the famous "Hump" service, which took supplies to China during the 1939-45 war, when the Burma Road was closed by the Japanese. He had his headquarters at Wiesbaden. His Deputy was Air Commodore John W. F. Merer, R.A.F. who had his headquarters—at first called "Advanced Headquarters No. 46 Group" but later expanded and called "H.Q. No. 46 Group"—in an old Schloss at Buckeburg near Hanover. This H.Q. was moved in March 1949 to Luneburg to be more central for all Plainfare bases.

Major General Tunner, as well as supervising the whole operation, controlled entirely the all-U.S. part which operated from the bases at Wiesbaden and Frankfort into Tempelhof. Air Commodore Merer was in charge of the joint British-U.S.A. part which operated from bases in the British Zone into Gatow and Tegel.

There was no rivalry between the R.A.F. and U.S.A.F.; it was a case of real co-operation between the separate forces. The Combined Air Lift Task Force should be described as an integrated R.A.F. and U.S.A.F. formation. The two services were closely entwined.

For example, when the weather deteriorated, so that the flow into the Berlin airports was slowed, the British forces who used aircraft which carried smaller loads than those of the U.S.A.F. gave way to the U.S.A.F. Skymasters. What mattered was not which Force was putting up the best record, but how much total tonnage could be landed in the city. Later, with the opening of Tegel, the three terminals could handle all the traffic and preferential treatment was necessary to a far less limited extent.

After an interview with Air Commodore John Merer in his Schloss headquarters on 1st November 1948, when he fully explained to me the intricate mechanism of Plainfare with the help of charts, diagrams, maps and models, I flew the next morning from Buckeburg to Lübeck in an Anson put at my disposal by R.A.F. Transport Command. There I was at once taken care of by the R.A.A.F. unit who were working from there with other units from the Commonwealth. The Australian commanding officer was Squadron Leader Cy Greenwood, and he showed me how Plainfare functioned from Lübeck. Soon after I arrived, fog at Gatow caused a temporary cessation for about two hours. This was disappointing as Cy had arranged for me to fly on Plainfare into Gatow in a Dakota piloted by Flying Officer Dave Evans, the youngest Captain, a lad of twenty-two.

However, when we went to Movement Control about 4 p.m., the good news came that the fog was clearing, and the R.A.A.F. were on detail to go in as a wave from 6.40 p.m. At 6.33 p.m. Dave and his crew, with myself as extra freight, were driven in a Jeep by a German driver to the hard-standing where we found our Dak already loaded with 7,300 lbs. of flour and dried vegetables. The boys had been warned that the weather at Lübeck might "clamp" before they returned, so each packed a grip ready for a night stop at Gatow.

I asked them about the stories of Plainfare aircraft being "buzzed" by Russian fighters—and found I had touched on a sore point! An Australian journalist had sent a story home which received wide publication saying Dave had been buzzed by a Yak, quoting him as saying his "trigger-finger felt itchy." He assured me that all he had said was that, when he was flying along the Hanover Corridor, a Russian fighter, which was not a Yak anyway, had passed about half a mile away and took no notice. All pilots at Lübeck and elsewhere assured me that, since Plainfare began, the Russian fighters at times tried to show off and had been rather a nuisance, but had never been dangerous.

We took off at 7.3 p.m. on a night which was dark but clear, and we had a fine view of the brightly-lit city of Lübeck. Soon after we took off, Noel Peel, the second pilot, got up and invited me to take his seat, from which I had a good view of the Corridor. It gave me a thrill when Dave told me we were over the Russian zone. We flew on down the corridor and passed some way from a Russian airfield at Perleberg from which there was a revolving searchlight beam. On the intercom I could hear all in the airstream ahead of us calling "Gatow" (rhyming with "cow" and not with "toe", of which I have more to say later) and Gatow answering.

Then Noel pointed out to me a light which was on the radio beacon at Frohnau in the French sector of Berlin which marked the Berlin end of the Hamburg corridor; this marked the final run in to Gatow. As we turned over this beacon we were given our time of touch-down at Gatow and had to land within thirty seconds, either way, of that time. Such was the split-second timing to which Plainfare conformed.

Soon the lights of Berlin came into view and my thoughts turned to those many aircrews who had flown over the city during the war and received a very different reception! In front of us a lighted airfield appeared which I thought must be Gatow, but Dave told me that it was the new Tegel airport testing its lighting. Soon after passing Tegel a long line of single lights, running for about one mile to a double flare-path, indicated Gatow. We had flown along the corridor at 4,500 feet, the height allotted to our wave, and after passing Frohnau, Dave throttled the motors and began a long downhill slide. With beautiful timing he put the Dak on the runway just as a Skymaster was taking off ahead of us, and before we reached the end of the runway, another took off over us; and as we turned on to the perimeter track, another Dak from our wave landed. That was the day and night frequency of Plainfare.

Dave taxied through a maze of lights and circling torches to his allotted hard-standing, and at once a lorry driven and manned by Germans backed up to us. Almost before the crew could disembark, the unloading began. The freight was taken to a storehouse from which another fleet of Germans drove it as quickly as possible for distribution in Berlin. As my feet touched the soil I felt another thrill when I was actually in that city from which so much evil has come since the beginning of the century. For an hour or so I watched a continuous stream of aircraft cataract out of the night sky, and a further stream take off between landings. It all looked so smooth and unhurried that, unless one watched closely, there did not seem to be much going on.

Early the next morning the weather "clamped" at the zone bases and Plainfare came to a standstill for ten hours, the longest break until then. There were twenty-five Skymasters, five Yorks, and two Daks grounded at Gatow, and they had to stay there till 10.30 a.m., when Plainfare began to move again.

There were several trained crews to operate G.C.A. at Gatow, as well as at other bases, and they worked for eight hours at a stretch. It was a most gruelling and exhausting responsibility, for a slight error or lack of concentration could have led to severe loss of life and curtailment of the operation. In the later stages there was a new type of radar scanner installed at Tempelhof which enabled the controller to see the aircraft in the corridors nearly a hundred miles away. If they were off course, or ahead of or behind time, he could check them. This scanner is now in use at civil airports, who owe its speedy introduction to the Air Lift.

On 28th June 1948 a Dakota, carrying 6,000 lbs. of flour and bacon had flown from Wunstorf along the Hanover Corridor to Gatow. The crew were Pilot 1, B. G. Hughes; Navigator 2, S. A. Botsford; and Signaller 2, K. Driffill, of No. 18 Squadron of No. 46 Group. That was the beginning of Plainfare.

At 11 a.m. on 28th June 1949, that same Dakota, manned by the same crew, touched down again at Gatow, with 6,910 lbs. of newsprint, with Air Commodore John Merer as an additional member of the crew. The Deputy Commander-in-Chief of C.A.L.T.F. had flown into Berlin to take part in the first anniversary celebrations of what will go down in history as one of the world's greatest air operations of all time.

When the operation was first announced, no one seriously believed that it would be necessary for long. Thus, when crews of No. 46 Group were ordered to Germany to carry food into the beleaguered city, they were told to bring kit and supplies for ten days only, for no one envisaged the operation lasting any longer than that.

Before the blockade 10,500 short tons of food, fuel, clothing and supplies were daily brought into the British-American and French sectors of Berlin from the west by road, rail and canal. On Good Friday, 15th April 1949, in an all-out effort to show how the Air Lift could be increased immediately if required, 12,940.9 short tons were flown in and landed at the three Berlin airports within twenty-four hours, of which Gatow alone handled more than half. The Air Port Commandant at Gatow throughout Plainfare was Group Captain Brian Yarde; his Wing Commander (Flying) was Tim Piper. To these two goes much of the credit for the organisation which before the Air Lift handled only about half a dozen movements per day, but which was stepped up within a year to nearly one thousand daily. Whenever I saw them during the whole period of Plainfare they were most cheerful, unflurried and helpful. During my visits I was given a document entitling me to fly in any Plainfare aircraft when there was room—the hitch-hiker's dream!

From April 1949 till the end of the Air Lift the daily tonnage brought to Berlin by air in all weathers was 8,000 short tons, which represented more goods than the 10,500 short tons which came by surface transport before the blockade because the weight of packing was much reduced and most food was dehydrated. An amusing cartoon appeared in a Berlin paper showing a stork carrying a tiny bundle labelled "Dehydrated baby. Soak in warm water to reconstitute".

The total freight brought into Berlin in one year, up to midnight on 27th June 1949, was 1,952.660.7 short tons in 236,290 sorties. American aircraft were able to carry a far greater tonnage than were the British, for the same reason that they were ahead of Britain for the first few years after the war, in civil airliners; because the British had to concentrate, when fighting for their existence, on fighters and bombers, while the United States, by agreement, continued their development of troop-carriers and freighters. They had a fleet of two hundred Skymasters, which I saw, from the lettering on them, had been combed from the U.S. forces in all parts of the world. These carried 10 short tons of freight each. The most numerous aircraft used by the British was the Dakota, which carried 3.3 short tons; next most numerous was the York which carried 7.4 short tons; there were eighteen Hastings each of which carried 9 short tons. The Sunderland flying-boats carried 5.5 short tons. In addition to the R.A.F. and Commonwealth air forces, very great assistance was given by British charter companies who were integrated under British European Airways. In a paper which he read to the Royal Aeronautical Society in April 1950, Air Commodore Merer said that the best record for reliability for any type of aircraft went to the Avro Tudor, which carried over 10 short tons per sortie and often more. These were operated by British South American Airways, and by Fairflight Ltd., a private charter company owned by Air Vice-Marshal Don Bennett, who flew a very great deal himself. Sir Alan Cobham's Flight Refuelling Ltd., formed to refuel aircraft in mid-air, had a number of Lancastrians fitted for that work as tankers. These joined Plainfare as soon as the need was seen to bring petrol and oil by air to Berlin. Bennet's Tudors were converted as tankers and other civil machines also. Air Commodore Merer, in his paper, said how valuable were the charter firms as auxiliary freighters to the R.A.F. in emergency.

The flying-boats had been mainly used for carrying salt, as they are already treated to resist corrosion by salt water. It was found quite early in the operation that when salt was carried in land-based aircraft it seeped from its packages and corroded the controls. When the boats were withdrawn a version of the Halton, which is the civil Halifax bomber, was produced with an underslung pannier for the salt, and the controls and other vital metal parts were out of reach of the seeping cargo.

I last visited Plainfare on 28th June 1949 to see the birthday celebrations. Those of us who had seen the operation carrying on with its grim, tough routine throughout the winter were delighted to see the component parts—aircrews, groundcrews, controllers, administrators—"let their hair down" and throw a party. How they deserved it! At Lübeck I found a cocktail party in full swing in the garden of the mess which was built for the Luftwaffe, but the only member of the Luftwaffe there was Bruno, an ex-N.C.O. pilot who dispensed drinks to his conquerors from behind the bar. The attractive garden of the mess, overlooking a lake, was lit up for the occasion with coloured lights—possibly a hint to the merry-makers to get lit up too! I personally was taken very good care of by the R.A.A.F.

Before the party was properly under way, I was flown from Lübeck to Gatow in a Dakota piloted by Pilot 2, Guy P. Eddy, for Plainfare still carried on at its full intensity, and only those not on duty could attend the parties. It was a fine clear sunny summer evening as we approached Gatow over the centre of shattered Berlin, and I was able to see how complete was the destruction over the whole city. At Gatow I found another cocktail party in full swing on the lawn of the officers' mess, and from the amount of food and drink laid out it was hard to believe that I was in a city which had been blockaded for a whole year. The R.A.F. were hosts, and the guests included the Commonwealth Air Forces, the U.S.A.F., British, French, and American army people, and even some German civilians such as Herr Reuter, the Mayor of Berlin. There were no Russians!

As we stood on the lawn overlooking the airport, we watched a never-ending procession of Plainfare aircraft arriving and departing. Some of the aircrews besought me, on this birthday, not to wish them too many happy returns of the day. The end of Plainfare was in sight and most of them had had enough of a very strenuous operation.

Civil aviation authorities all over the world should study the control methods used at the Berlin airports. Seeing aircraft flying at such close intervals in all conditions of visibility might seem dangerous, but it must be emphasised that no single accident was due to the intensity of the operation. There were only seventeen serious accidents during the fifteen months' operation, causing fifty-one deaths. The Air Lift methods of flying control proved to be as safe as those in civil flying, and the regularity in bad weather was maintained in conditions which would have "scrubbed" air-line work. The beneficial results of lessons learned in the Berlin Air Lift have already begun to manifest themselves at civil airports.

The following are the "close of play" statistics of the whole operation:

The Berlin Blockade began on 26th June 1948 and ended on 11th May 1949. The British section of the Air Lift began on 28th June 1948 and ended on 6th October 1949. The reason why it was continued after the blockade had ended was that, until supplies were flowing freely by surface transport and reserves had been built up to a safe level, it was not considered wise to begin to scale down, in case the Russians reimposed the blockade without warning. When the ground supply system was running smoothly again, a planned run-down was begun, and the Air Lift finally came to a stand-still on 6th October 1949, having brought into Berlin down the corridors over the heads of the Russians 2,326,205 short tons in 277,728 sorties.

Of these totals the R.A.F., R.A.A.F., S.A.A.F., and R.N.Z.A.F. carried 394,905.3 short tons in 65,900 sorties. The British civil charter firms which included B.E.A., B.O.A.C., B.S.A.A., Aquila Airways Ltd., Flight Refuelling Ltd., Fairflight Ltd., Skyways Ltd., Lancashire Aircraft Corporation, and some others, carried 147,727 short tons in 21,984 sorties. The U.S.A.F. with its bigger fleet of heavier aircraft carried 1,783,572.7 short tons in 189,844 sorties. In addition the British carried a heavy backlift from Berlin to Western Germany, of goods manufactured in Berlin, and 93,133 German passengers, who were mainly children. The R.A.F. carried 11,888 short tons of freight and 23,800 short tons of mail, and the civil charter firms carried 986 short tons of freight out of the German capital.

A final word should be said on the pronunciation of the name "Gatow". The B.B.C. always pronounced it as though it were the French word for a piece of cake, "gateau." Everyone else pronounced it to rhyme with "cow." When I wrote to the B.B.C. about this they replied that their pronunciation "was based on the correct German pronunciation and we have discussed it with people connected with the R.A.F. in Germany before recommending its use." Yet everyone to whom I spoke at Gatow pronounced it to rhyme with "cow"—Germans, R.A.F., Americans, Army, in fact everyone. When one listened on the Air Lift radio, the ether was alive with planes calling Gatow rhyming with "cow", and Gatow replying the same. It seems that in this matter we were all out of step except the B.B.C.!

In the years ahead perhaps we may be grateful to the Russians for imposing the Berlin Blockade, for it enabled the air forces of the free world to exercise together in an operation of great value which could not normally be laid on in peacetime, and it has advanced our knowledge and practice of air transport very greatly. So perhaps it may not be out of place here to offer a vote of thanks to old Uncle Joe Stalin and all, for being unintentionally such a great help to the progress of flying.






31. The de Havilland "Albatross" of 1938, from which the "Ambassador" was developed.






32. The Lockheed "Constellation", the American inter-continental airliner which kept most of the airlines flying from 1946 to 1950 and beyond.






33. The first turboprop airliner, the Vickers "Viscount", which started on passenger services for B.E.A. in July 1950.






34. The beautiful Airspeed "Ambassador" airliner, for B.E.A. in 1951, which was developed from the "Albatross" of 1938.





CHAPTER 37

INTO THE SECOND FIFTY YEARS

Imperial Airways passes—B.O.A.C. formed in fog of war—early teaching—constant change—no continuity of policy allowed—B.O.A.C. get a good board—the Branckers—B.E.A. calved—an uncertain start—Douglas and Masefield in control—profits begin—flying-boat lack of faith—Aquila show how—Ministry of Civil Aviation formed—Air Minister no longer lord of the air.

WE HAVE come a long way from Ader and his Avion and the Wright brothers to the wonderful de Havilland Comet. Probably a future generation will look back on the Comet as "one of those funny old sub-sonic crates which needed wings to fly"; much as to-day we look back on some of the aircraft I have described, which I remember as "super" when they first appeared.

Though B.O.A.C. was with us in 1940, I look upon it as a post-war product, which it really is.

From 1920-39 airlines were just growing up and radio and ground aids were in an embryo stage. Such aids were very greatly advanced during the war, while those airlines which carried on did so in skeleton form with greatly reduced staffs.

Before the war began there were two separate British airlines, Imperial Airways (which was then the biggest airline in the world) and British Airways, which was a merger of independent unsubsidised lines. A decision was made to amalgamate the two into B.O.A.C., but war broke out before that merger could be made. B.O.A.C. came into existence on 1st April 1940 and started its career in the chaos of war. If it had not been for war, the merger would have been made smoothly and the growth, like that of Imperial Airways from a small airline linking London with France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany in 1924 to the great airline which covered most of the world in 1939, could have gone on gradually.

The first managing director of Imperial Airways was Lieut.-Colonel Frank Searle, who had been put into A.T. & T. as managing director in 1920 by the Daimler car interests who had control of the firm. Colonel Searle then became managing director of Daimler Airways in 1922 with Major George Woods-Humphery as his general manager and chief executive. Colonel Searle did not stay very long with Imperial Airways, but returned to the motor-car business. When he left, Major Woods-Humphery became managing director of Imperial Airways. Politician and business man Sir Eric Geddes was made chairman which was then only a part-time job.

George Woods-Humphery is regarded as the real architect of imperial air communications, which he built up with very little money and no precedent. In 1938 he was removed from that post by political intrigue of the very worst kind, mainly at the instigation of Neville Chamberlain, then Prime Minister. Woods-Humphery was replaced by Sir John Reith as full-time chairman and managing director. Reith was the man who had built the B.B.C. In his book "Into the Wind" he described how he was forced to become chairman of Imperial Airways, very much against his will, and to take on the unpleasant task of removing Woods-Humphery who was an old friend. Reith was responsible, too, for the plan to merge Imperial Airways with British Airways as a nationalised corporation.

The subsequent succession of B.O.A.C. Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen, until Sir Miles Thomas and Whitney Straight were appointed, did little to make any place for themselves in this or any other aviation history.

When the war ended in 1945, there had been enormous progress, fostered by the needs of war when expense was no object, in radio aids, weather forecasting, airliners themselves and airports. The Air Age had arrived under cover of war, and air travel had become swift and safe, and an accepted form of travel for all who could afford it. Airports which otherwise would have been a charge on civil aviation had been laid down over much of the world at military expense.

Consequently, B.O.A.C. came into its peace-time existence presented with the problem of immediate expansion, which would normally have developed gradually over six years, and with the need to re-equip almost entirely with a new fleet of aircraft. Two other corporations were formed to cope with this expansion. These were British European Airways (B.E.A.) to operate services throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, and British South American Airways (B.S.A.A.) to operate services from the United Kingdom to South American countries. Both corporations absorbed several existing lines. In 1949 it was found desirable to merge B.S.A.A. into B.O.A.C.

The sudden expansion of B.O.A.C. led to many teething troubles both with aircraft and administration, as was inevitable when changing the whole British aviation set-up from a war to a peace basis.

There were many changes in the "higher command" of B.O.A.C. which were not at all helpful to a continuity of policy. Since the end of 1948, there has been a much more settled state of affairs at the top. Sir Miles Thomas was appointed chairman, and Whitney Straight and J. W. Booth as deputy chairmen, who among them have many years' experience of aviation and successful business.

Sir Miles Thomas won the D.F.C. as a pilot in the Middle East in the 1914-18 war; after which he bought aeroplanes from war disposal stock which he "cannibalised" and flew in races. He joined Lord Nuffield (then Mr. W. R. Morris) and became his right-hand man. He was responsible for the Nuffield Organisation's development of aero motors, and the great work which Nuffield did in setting up an aircraft repair section which was such a potent factor in the Battle of Britain and after.

Whitney Straight had made a big success as quite a young man by his organisation throughout Britain of a chain of flying-clubs, flying schools and airfields. He won high honour and rank in the R.A.F. during the 1939-45 war as a fighter pilot. So, with all his wealth of experience and his well-known initiative and enterprise, he was an ideal choice first as Deputy Chairman of B.E.A., and then as joint deputy chairman of B.O.A.C.

J. W. Booth was until 1949 chairman of B.S.A.A.. and, after the merger with B.O.A.C. took place, became joint deputy chairman of B.O.A.C. He has very great experience of shipping, having been chairman of Booth Steamship Co., a director of Alfred Booth & Co, the Cunard White Star Co., and the Union and General Marine & General Insurance Co.

In April 1950, it was announced that Booth had resigned as joint deputy chairman of B.O.A.C., as he was compelled to give more time to his shipping interests, which are a family concern. His valuable experience of travel and commercial methods was not lost to the Corporation altogether as he continued as a part-time director. Whitney Straight became sole deputy chairman and chief executive. With these men of vast experience of aviation, shipping, and business, the weather should be "set fair" for the future.

New and economic aircraft, which should soon turn the B.O.A.C.'s immediate post-war financial loss into annual profits, are on order and will soon be in operation on most routes.

An important factor in the success towards which B.O.A.C. is being steered is John Brancker, who in 1951 became General Manager, International Affairs. John is a young man in both years and mental outlook. He is the son of the great Sir Sefton Brancker, the irreplaceable Director of Civil Aviation who was killed in the disaster to the airship R101 in 1930.

Sir Sefton was the first army officer to fly in India, having done so in 1911. He held high rank in the 1914-18 war, during which he was Major General in the R.F.C. and Air Vice-Marshal in the R.A.F. When the 1914-18 war ended he retired from the Service and became a moving spirit in the world's first airline, A.T. & T. of which he was managing director. When that line ceased operations for lack of Government support, Sir Sefton Brancker became Chairman of the Air League. In 1922 he was appointed Director of Civil Aviation in succession to Major General Sir Frederick Sykes, who had been Controller General of Civil Aviation. Sir Sefton changed that office from a not very potent force to one of huge influence and activity. He himself was a man of outstanding ability, energy, tact, and good humour.

Brancker had been succeeded as Director of Civil Aviation by Sir Francis Shelmerdine, who had been with the civil aviation department of the Air Ministry from the start in 1919. He had a hard job to follow the great Brancker, but carried on nobly till he died in 1941.

Sir Francis was succeeded by W. P. Hildred, who remained in that post until the Ministry of Civil Aviation was formed and the post lapsed. Hildred became Sir William in 1944. When free world-wide civil aviation began again in 1946, Sir William was the obvious choice for the important new post of Director-General of I.A.T.A., a post which he was still filling with distinction at the end of 1950, with headquarters in Montreal.

Brancker's one son, John, naturally graduated into civil aviation and was at first given a lowly job in Imperial Airways. John went "through the mill," and by his own strength of character has risen by his own efforts to become a general manager. He has inherited much of the tact, charm of manner, drive, and energy from his famous father, and B.O.A.C. are extremely lucky to have him as a high executive. I am not making many prophecies of the future in this book, but I foresee John as a future chairman of B.O.A.C. or some other big job.

Like his father, John Brancker wears a monocle, but in his left eye, whereas his father wore his in the right. Neither was affectation but an entirely necessary aid to vision.

British European Airways was "calved" from B.O.A.C. on 1st August 1946 under the Civil Aviation Act, and British South American Airways came into separate existence on the same day by the same Act, taking over the British airline, Latin-American Airways. Because of shortage of aircraft as the result of the decision to ground Tudors in which B.S.A.A. had pinned their faith, the line was merged with B.O.A.C. on 30th July 1949 under the Airways Corporation Act.

B.E.A., as a new concern, had considerable teething trouble and for the first three years there was much unrest, which did not make a very happy spirit among employees. This was reflected in unreliability of service and a "couldn't care less" attitude towards passengers and those who had any dealings with B.E.A. In the early part of 1949 a great change for the better came over the whole Corporation when Marshal of the R.A.F. Lord Douglas of Kirtleside was appointed chairman. and Peter Masefield became chief executive.

Lord Douglas was an airline pilot in 1919, afterwards returning to the R.A.F., in which he served until 1946. His last appointment with the R.A.F. was Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Germany and Military Governor of the British Zone.

When he was appointed chairman of B.E.A. in April 1949, after having been on the board of B.O.A.C., he was attacked violently in Parliament and in the Press. It was suggested that, as he had spent nearly all his life in the R.A.F., he could have no commercial experience. Also, it was alleged, that as he was a Socialist, he was given the job by favouritism. He was accused of being an opportunist for embracing the creed of Socialism to get preferrnent. I know for a fact that Sholto Douglas has been a supporter of the Labour party for thirty years. In 1918, during a General Election I said that I presumed he was voting Conservative. He replied, "Oh no; I'm Labour." That is proof that his was no opportunist conversion, but I have never understood why it is considered by many people to be discreditable to be an opportunist. The road to failure is said to be paved with lost opportunities!

Peter Masefield was only 35 when he was appointed chief executive. He has spent all his adult life in aviation and has a brilliant brain. He is that rare combination of slide-rule merchant, practical man, and likable human being. And he is a very competent pilot and organiser.

With Sholto Douglas running the business side and Peter Masefield looking after operations, B.E.A. have a very able and strong crew at the helm. With their guidance it was not really surprising to find that in the first summer months after they had assumed control B.E.A. began making profits instead of the steady losses which had been regular, month by month, before. Moreover, after he had been at the helm for only four months, Douglas announced that he had placed an order for the turboprop Viscount. This airliner, a great advance on current types, had been passed over by the previous management. It required great courage to order an airliner with the radically new and hitherto untried turboprop, but it is by such courageous decisions that British airlines can lead the world.

Sir Miles Thomas had made an equally courageous decision by placing an order on behalf of B.O.A.C. with de Havillands for fourteen Comets "off the drawing board" a year or more before the first Comet flew. Both Thomas and Douglas deserve great credit for these decisions if the Comet and Viscount do what is expected for British airlines.

In the process of general nationalisation of many British industries, the Socialist Government passed the Air Corporation Act which limits the carriage of passengers and goods by air, for hire or reward, upon any scheduled journey between two places, of which at least one is in the United Kingdom, to the Corporations and their associates. That is the main bone of contention between the Corporations and other civil airlines, for it forces upon the Corporations a "dog-in-the manger" attitude. For example, no British airline can set up in opposition, in fair competition to the subsidised State airlines, without the consent of the Corporation in whose sphere of operation a route lies. Until such time as the whole world is socialised or communised—from which may Heaven forfend—the British Socialist Government cannot prevent competition from foreign air lines, whom they cannot prevent from flying into the United Kingdom on equal terms.

Healthy competition would be a good stimulus, and the Corporations would start with the advantage of being heavily subsidised by the State. A private concern which wished to run in opposition would presumably do so to make money. Subject to certain safeguards and conforming to regulations for carrying passengers, there can be no good reason why they should not do so. Such competition might well prove to be to the ultimate advantage of the Corporations.

Aquila Airways were granted permission by B.E.A. to operate a flying-boat service between Southampton and Madeira, to which B.E.A. had no service at all. The route was opened on 1st April 1949, and Aquila operated this at a profit—at a time when B.O.A.C. were withdrawing flying-boats which, they say, cannot be made to pay. One of Aquila's satisfied passengers was Winston Churchill, who flew home by flying-boat from Madeira, where he was on holiday. He wanted to return to England quickly for the General Election in February 1950. Aquila Airways applied for permission to extend their service from Madeira down the West Coast of Africa to Johannesburg, when B.O.A.C. withdrew their popular flying-boat service in 1950. That route would be for most of the way over new places to which B.O.A.C. did not operate. Aquila, when B.O.A.C. withdrew their Solents, was the only airline in the United Kingdom to operate flying-boats, and will thereby be preserving flying-boat technique which has been built up at considerable cost by Imperial Airways and B.O.A.C. during the past 25 years and more. If B.O.A.C. were allowed by the Socialist Government to co-operate a little with Aquila, or at least were not allowed to oppose Aquila's plan, then, when the time comes, as come it will, when B.O.A.C. have to return to flying-boat operation for reasons of economy, much time and money will be saved by making use of the marine airports and flying-boat experience which Aquila have been able to preserve. B.O.A.C. and successive—if not successful—Ministers of Civil Aviation would do well to think on these things.

In November, when B.O.A.C. finally withdrew their flying-boat services, and No. 4 Line was closed down, a "Princess Unit" was formed at the B.O.A.C. base at Hythe, Southampton, to prepare the way for the 140-ton 105-passenger "Dollar Princess" flying-boats, the first of which is due to fly in August 1951.

B.O.A.C. was divided into four "Lines," later reduced to three. No. 1 Line operates Argonauts to South America, Asia, the Far East; No. 2 Line operates Hermes to Africa; No. 3 Line operates Stratocruisers to North America and Constellations to Asia and Australia; No. 4 Line operated the Solents to Africa and will, presumably, operate the Dollar Princesses. lt has been a real weakness that the airlines have not been able to perpetuate the crew system, whereby the same personnel always fly together as integral crews, which proved so successful in Bomber Command, R.A.F., in war.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation was established on 25th April 1945 by the Civil Aviation Act passed by Churchill's coalition government on 25th April 1945 to administer civil aviation in the United Kingdom. By this Act the Minister of Civil Aviation appoints the chairmen and deputy chairmen of the Corporations, keeps a general control over their finance and general administration, and provides airports and facilities. Previously, civil aviation was the responsibility of the Air Ministry.

When the Air Ministry was formed in 1917, the first Air Minister, who was appointed in 1918 was named "Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force," for that was the only source of British aerial activity. When civil aviation began, in 1919, the minister was called "Secretary of State for Air." But when the control of the Fleet Air Arm began to be ceded to the Admiralty in 1937, my lords of the Admiralty had to be given a small corner of the air by the lord of the air.

Up to 1945 the Air Ministry was the sole controller of civil aviation. But when the Ministry of Civil Aviation came into being in 1945, my lord of the air had to cede air to them also, and he had to give quite a bit of air to the Minister of Supply. So as the Secretary of State for Air has only about a quarter of that air for his own domain, he should rightly and more accurately be styled once again "Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force."
CHAPTER 38

ROTARY WING FLIGHT

First helicopters fail—Cierva shows them—the autogiro—Brie and Marsh—telegraph boy test pilot—Cierva killed on fixed wings—helicopters fly—flying from Hammersmith—an amazing piece of ironmongery!

EVER SINCE heavier-than-air craft have flown, there have been schools of thought whose members advocated flying by flapping-wing machines like birds, or with rotating wings which would give direct lift.

The first vertical lift aircraft was built by the brothers Louis and Jacques Bréguet in France. That machine lifted off the ground vertically on 29th September 1907. The Bréguets then turned their attention to fixed wing aircraft, with which they have been most successful, but it seems that they always had a feeling for the helicopter for, after the 1939-45 war, the Bréguets built another one. There have been many attempts since 1907 to build a successful helicopter. During and after the 1918 war the Air Ministry financed Louis Brennan at the R.A.E. at Farnborough, where a helicopter was built on which vast sums of money were spent. It never rose from the ground, and its test pilot, Frank Courtney, assured me that it never could.

A young Spanish engineer, Señor Don Juan de la Cierva first made the helicopter a possibility. He was the inventor of a rotary wing aircraft which was not a helicopter. He called it an "autogiro" which name was eventually registered as a trade mark. On 31st January 1923 at Cuatro Vientos airfield, Madrid, Cierva's first autogiro was flown by a Spanish officer round a circuit of 4 kms.

In 1925 Cierva was invited to England. Frank Courtney was asked to fly his autogiro, and he did so at Farnborough. A few days before he was due to fly it, Frank and his wife dined with me. Frank was not too confident of success, but said he had seen a film which showed that this autogiro could fly. The day after his first test flight, Frank telephoned me and seemed most enthusiastic. "The autogiro was so easy to fly that a cripple or lunatic could do so," he said. "It is the aeroplane of the future."

The first autogiro consisted of a four-bladed rotor placed above the fuselage of an Avro 504. The rotor ran freely and was not driven. That is the difference between an autogiro and a helicopter. In the latter, the rotor is driven by the motor and provides the lift and the propulsive force. With an autogiro the propulsive force is derived from a motor driving an ordinary airscrew, and the flow of air through the rotor causes it to rotate.

The first autogiro which Courtney flew at Farnborough was powered by a motor of about 120 h.p. The rotor was set turning in it very primitive way. A rope was wound round a special neck on the rotorstem, rather as a string is wound round a boy's top to spin it. The rotor was spun in just that way. After the motor had been started the autogiro then ran along the ground till its motion increased the turning speed of the rotor. When a turning speed of between 120 and 140 revolutions per minute was attained, the autogiro became airborne. At first it was an uncanny sight. When one was used to the normal stalling speeds of aircraft, it seemed very dangerous when Courtney flew across Farnborough aerodrome against a 20 m.p.h.- wind at a ground speed of about 4 or 5 m.p.h. We were amazed when he made an almost vertical descent, running only a few feet after touching down.

Courtney told me that, before he flew the autogiro, one of the more theoretical and less practical scientists of the R.A.E. had proved mathematically that it could not fly!

The autogiro first flew in public at the R.A.F. Display at Hendon in 1926 when Frank, very self-conscious in the uniform of an officer of the R.A.F. Reserve (for he was a civilian of the deepest dye), gave a demonstration which was one of the outstanding events of the show. The autogiro in most subsequent displays was demonstrated with the tailless "Pterodactyl", and the much slotted and flapped Handley Page "Gugnunc", both designed to tackle slow-flying from different approaches.

In 1926 the Cierva Autogiro Company was formed to experiment and develop the idea. The firm of J. & G. Weir Ltd. was among those who supplied the finance. A. H. C. A. Rawson was engaged as test and demonstration pilot, but Cierva himself did most of the difficult test flying.

Rawson took an autogiro round the country giving demonstrations with Sir Alan Cobham's air display, and piled up more than 1,000 hours' flying on a rotary wing machine. He was the first to reach 1,000 hours' flying on rotary wings.

In the summer of 1930, Rawson asked me to come to Heston to fly in the autogiro with him one Saturday just after lunch. Business prevented me from getting there at the time I had arranged.

Rawson waited in the clubhouse with a friend, Eric H. Alliott, and they had great success with a "fruit machine," and won plenty of money. As I had not arrived, Rawson decided to take Alliott for a short flight. The latter was an experienced pilot of normal aircraft, but had not tried rotary wings. Before they started Rawson said he would take the autogiro off and then hand over to Alliott. The machine made strange evolutions and Rawson thought Alliott was trying it out, but in a few minutes they swooped down over an orchard off the Great West Road and hit an apple tree. Both were injured and had to go to hospital. It subsequently transpired that Rawson had told Alliott on the headphones to take over, but he had omitted to plug in, so Alliott did not hear. Neither of them was controlling the machine.

Soon after the crash I arrived with Reggie Brie, who was flying in the R.A.F. Reserve. He was interested in the autogiro and wanted to learn about it. We made contact with Air Commodore J. G. Weir, a director of the firm, and it was arranged that Reggie should try the autogiro with a view to becoming the firm's pilot.

That is how Reggie Brie, Wing Commander R. A. C. Brie, considered by many to be the most experienced rotary wing pilot in the world, and holder of No. 1 Helicopter Pilot's Certificate, came to the world of rotary wings.

Brie soon began to take over more and more of the control of the Autogiro Company's work at Hanworth Aerodrome, where the flying headquarters had been established.

A flying school also was established there, with Alan Marsh in charge. Many people, men and boys of all ages, as well as women, learned to fly autogiros.

Mr. J. A. McMullin began to fly one when he was 69 and so did Griffith Brewer, who was an associate of the Wright Brothers in 1908.

The first person who ever learned to fly a rotary wing aircraft without having experience of fixed wing aircraft was a 16-year-old telegraph boy, F. J. Cable. In 1931, I organised a flying club for the messenger boys of the Commercial Cable Company of London, which is the English branch of the American Postal Telegraph Company. About 30 telegraph boys, aged 15-17, were very keen on aviation, so I arranged for men and women prominent in the air world to give them talks, and on Sundays I took them to London airfields, at which I had arranged with a firm or private owner to give them flights. One of those who co-operated with me most wholeheartedly was Cierva.

He offered to train one of the boys to fly an autogiro. I selected "Jeep" Cable, who was a tall, cheerful, and enthusiastic lad, just turned 16. The Cable Company still kept him on its books and continued to pay him as a messenger boy while he attended Hanworth each day for flying instruction. When he was not quite 17 he qualified for his Aviators' Certificate. I went up with him as his first passenger, and did not feel in the least nervous as I had confidence both in him and in the autogiro.

After the boy had qualified, Cierva took him on the staff, and he went through the shops and learned the theory and construction of rotary wing craft. Brie and Marsh both took a close personal interest in him, and it was a great source of satisfaction to me when, during the 1939-45 war, he became a squadron leader in the R.A.F. Helicopter Unit, in which he was one of the principal instructors, and was awarded the A.F.C. At the time of his tragic death, and that of Alan Marsh, he was one of the finest helicopter pilots in the country, and ranked as No. 3 after Reggie Brie and Alan Marsh. He was chief helicopter test pilot to the Ministry of Supply.

The Cierva Company continued with development work at Hanworth from 1930 to the outbreak of war. One of Cierva's first improvements was to take away the fixed plane, which was placed beneath the rotors with ailerons on it for lateral stability. He dispensed with the elevator and rudder, and devised mechanism so that the angle of attack of the whole rotor system could be altered to change the direction of flight in the vertical or horizontal plane. That was a very great advance. He then produced a cabin autogiro, the C24, which had a fuselage rather like that of a Puss Moth. Cierva took me for many flights in it. He also arranged a tail surface which could be moved when the autogiro was on the ground, so as to divert the slip-stream from the airscrew on to the rotor. That gave it an initial rotating speed when on the ground, and so dispensed with the necessity of spinning with a rope.

The next development was to gear the rotor hub to the motor by means of a clutch. When the motor was started, it was first engaged with the rotor hub so that the rotor could be given a high rotating speed. The clutch was then disengaged and the autogiro would become airborne after a very short run.

The next stage was the "jumping giro" of 1935. In that type the motor was geared with a clutch to the rotor so that it turned the rotor at zero lift and at more than the required speed for lift. The clutch was then disengaged, the bearers took positive lift and the autogiro would jump into the air to a height of 15-20 feet. The forward pull of the airscrew would then begin to take effect, and the machine would move forward after a slight sink.

The autogiro was thus beginning to approach helicopter technique. It could jump out of a small space with no forward run but, when landing, required a short run in a calm; in a breeze of 15 m.p.h. or more it would land with no forward run at all.

Cierva was killed in 1936 in an accident to a Douglas DC2. He was flying from Croydon to Amsterdam by K.L.M., and the machine swerved when taking off from Croydon airport in a fog and crashed in flames at Purley. All on board were killed.

It was tragic that Cierva should have been killed in a fixed wing aeroplane, for his life work had been concerned with eliminating the dangers inherent with the fast-landing qualities of that type and he was a good pilot of these aircraft. When the Autogiro Company first began operating as a company, it was installed on the Avro airfield at Hamble on the shore of Southampton Water. Cierva joined the Hampshire Aeroplane Club and often flew Moths.

When Cierva was killed, the master brain was lost to the company. Reggie Brie carried on nobly, and Dr. J. A. G. Bennett, of G. & J. Weir's autogiro department, was appointed chief designer. Raymond Pullin flew a Weir helicopter just before war came in 1939. Then the R.A.F. wanted craft which could get in and out of small spaces, so an autogiro unit was formed, which was also used for radar research and experiments.

Meanwhile, in America, Igor Sikorsky, a Russian who had become naturalised American, was working on a very successful helicopter. In Russia in 1914 he had built a big multi-motor biplane which carried sixteen passengers at a time, and helicopters which didn't work!

The Germans had made great progress with helicopters in the days before 1939. The Focke-Wulf firm had built the most successful helicopter to that date, designed by Dr. Focke. Focke-Aghelis helicopters held all the main world helicopter records in 1939. These were: Duration, 1 hour 20 minutes; distance, 230.25 kms.; speed, 122.533 km. per hour; and height, 3,427 metres. A "stunt" beloved by the Germans at that time was to give a demonstration inside one of the huge Nazi halls, round the interior of which a Focke-Aghelis helicopter was flown by a woman pilot.

Very great strides were made with helicopters in America during the 1939-45 war. Reggie Brie, "Jeep" Cable and others went over to learn the technique. Helicopters were carried in an experimental capacity on the decks of quite small ships from which they took off on anti-submarine patrols. They afforded very great protection. When the war ended in 1945, Britain had no British-made or British-designed helicopters. The R.A.F. Unit at Beaulieu was equipped only with Sikorsky's.

Very soon, however, British companies announced their plans. The Cierva Company produced a novel type, which had a jet stream from the petrol motor, to off-set the torque of the rotor, instead of the usual smaller rotor system working in a vertical plane. Alan Marsh demonstrated this at the S.B.A.C. display at Radlett in September 1946. He was not able to do more than hover and slow forward flight as the machine was in its very early stages of development, but it showed great promise. In 1949 Cierva's produced the Air Horse to carry twenty-four passengers at 140 m.p.h.

The Fairey Aviation Company announced its intention of entering the helicopter field in 1946 with a machine which had the advantages of both autogiro and helicopter. The Westland Aircraft works announced that they had secured the British building rights of certain Sikorsky models and Bristols also built helicopters.

Meanwhile, in America the helicopter was making great progress. A helicopter taxi service was inaugurated in New York City, with alighting places in congested areas.

We are nearing big helicopter developments. Reggie Brie has stressed the fact that the helicopter can never be a rival to the fixed wing aeroplane. It will not be able to achieve the same top speed nor carry comparable weight, but it will have the big advantage of being able to convey a passenger for the whole of a journey he wishes to make, right from one city centre to another, or from one point in a city to another point of the same city. A fixed wing aeroplane can only use properly laid out airports, which usually necessitates long journeys between the airport and the confines of the city. B.E.A. began a passenger service with helicopters in June 1950 between Liverpool and Cardiff.

This service was put into operation for two reasons. First of all B.E.A. wanted to get data on helicopter operation in all weathers, finding out any difficulties or "snags" which might arise, and to get passenger reaction. The second reason was that the Corporation have the duty of providing air services for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Until this service began, Wales was without an air service and the Welsh authorities were demanding one to link North and South Wales. B.E.A. decided they could give a service linking Cardiff in the South with Wrexham in the North and continuing to Liverpool. The total distance was about 120 miles and well within the compass of existing helicopters. The Corporation were already satisfied with the safety factor after a year's operation of an experimental day and night scheduled helicopter mail service in East Anglia throughout the previous year.

As helicopters with only single engines were then available, it was not deemed wise to fly in and out of built-up areas, so that the full advantage of a helicopter operating from a restricted space in a city could not be used. The service went from Liverpool airport to the airport of Cardiff. At Wrexham a landing was made in a five-acre field at the edge of the town, for which field B.E.A. paid an annual rent of £5. Normally the field was used for grazing cows which were driven into an adjoining field when the aircraft were there.

The return fare between Liverpool and Cardiff by helicopter was £5 10s., which was £2 more than by train. The train journey takes eight hours compared with 90 or 100 minutes by air. During the first three months of the service 446 passengers travelled and reliability was 98.5 per cent. The helicopters could carry three passengers at a time.

I flew on the service in October 1950 from Liverpool to Cardiff in a Westland Sikorsky piloted by Capt. Denys Bryon, a B.E.A. airliner captain who had converted to helicopters. We took off from the hard standing by the waiting room at Speke and climbed to 800 feet. The airport is on the north bank of the River Mersey, which is two miles wide there. So as to take no undue risk with passengers with single-motored craft, we flew six miles east to Runcorn where the river is only 450 yards wide. Heading south to Wrexham, the helicopter landed to pick up a passenger in this "wayside station" where R. Bowers acts as airport manager, booking clerk and airport staff. After a stop of less than ten minutes we took off, backed away from trees and flew south, cruising at 95 m.p.h. at 800 feet. It was pleasant to know that if the motor had failed we could have landed in almost any field, put the motor right, and taken off again.

We flew low enough to be able to distinguish geese from hens. The latter were the only animals which seemed to take fright from our passing, though I saw several cyclists fall off by trying to steer and watch us too.

There is a fine forward view from this helicopter and I got good views of the Welsh mountains, and was quite sorry when we landed at Cardiff, right outside the passenger building, eighty minutes after leaving Liverpool.

Brie points out that these aircraft might score over a fixed wing aeroplane for journeys from the centre of London to the centre of Paris. At a speed of 100 m.p.h., a helicopter could fly from the roof of a building in Piccadilly to a similar building in the centre of Paris in about two hours. A fixed wing aeroplane might fly, at 400 m.p.h., from Northolt to Le Bourget in half an hour, but there are usually delays at the aerodrome of destination before permission is given to land.

The drive from Central London to Northolt takes about 30 minutes, as does the drive from Le Bourget to Central Paris. Thus the whole journey may take longer than by the slower helicopter, with all the added discomfort of changing from car to plane at each end of the air journey.

Another use for helicopters, which Brie foresees, is for taking passengers from airports to city centres after they have made the greater part of their journey by fast fixed-wing airliner.

Is the helicopter the solution for bringing flying to a wider public? It may well be so in time. At present it is expensive; that can be overcome. That it will be ancillary to fixed wing services I have no doubt, and it can go to many places and be used for rescue work, or transport in mountainous or swamp regions where no other transport can be used.

If helicopters had been invented before fixed wing aeroplanes, would people have put up with high landing speeds, stalling characteristics, or landing fast through darkness and bad weather?

I have often wondered whether people would have taken to motor cars if air travel had been invented first. Used to the open spaces of the sky, would they have liked the idea of rushing along narrow ribbons of roads at 60 m.p.h., just missing by a few feet other vehicles rushing at a similar speed in the other direction?

I had my first flight in a helicopter with Jeep Cable from a sports ground near Hammersmith Bridge, London, in June 1947. ln a three-passenger American Sikorsky we made a vertical ascent to about 100 feet. It was fun floating about not far above crowded Hammersmith Broadway, which would be highly dangerous in a fixed wing aircraft. I did not find it strange to rise vertically or to go sideways or backwards. I knew a helicopter was meant to do that; so all was well.

A space about the size of a tennis court had been roped off for the demonstration. It looked horribly small as we approached at 600 feet, and it looked smaller still when another helicopter went in before us, but I found that when we landed there was ample room for both.

In January 1950 I had my first flight in that amazing piece of ironmongery, the Cierva Air Horse. I use the word "ironmongery" in no derogatory sense. We took off from Eastleigh at an all-up weight of 14,900 lbs. This was made up as follows: tare weight of Horse, 12,620 lbs.; oil, 135 lbs.; coolant, 120 lbs.; hydraulic fluid, 18 lbs.; fuel, 1,300 lbs.; five people, 800 lbs. Alan Marsh was the pilot, and J. Shapiro was in the second pilot's seat, taking vibration calibrations and timing the three auto-rotational descents which we made from 1,200 feet to 200 feet. Besides myself, there were two technicians.

We entered the flight-deck from the ground by a movable stairway about five feet high. The door remained open during flight, with a bar fixed across to prevent anyone making an unintentional exit. The Horse was only a flying shell, with no comfort or sound-proofing. The pilots' seats are in the nose, with an open doorway partly screening them from the rest of the flight-deck. In the flight-deck is the Merlin motor which develops 1,640 h.p. Aft of that is a bulkhead, behind which is the passenger or freight compartment. Though the volumetric capacity will only be enough for twenty-four passengers, the Horse could carry a much greater equivalent load.

When I told a friend in the Aero Club that I was going to fly in the Air Horse, he replied, "That will shake you—both physically and metaphorically!" But it did neither—much!

When the motor was started and the big rotors began to revolve, slowly at first, the whole structure did shake quite a bit. But as soon as we were going at about 190 r.p.m. the shaking stopped, and there was not much more vibration than in any fixed wing aircraft with piston motors, on the ground, with motors running. The motor, being right inside the flight-deck with us, was very noisy.

I had flown in Sikorsky "heli-go-rounds" once or twice, and I had not really got quite used to their behaviour. I was still astonished by the vertical—and easy—take-off. When we reached a height of 500 feet directly above our starting point and stood still, I was certainly astonished. Perhaps there was some alarm diluting my astonishment when I realised that the "Horse" had so far flown a total of only 38 hours, and was still exceedingly experimental. But the slight alarm soon faded, for I first flew with Alan Marsh in a rotary wing craft in 1932, and he inspired great confidence in me. To make such an ascent in a craft with a fuselage as big as that of a Dakota certainly seemed odd.

Once in the air, the shaking of the rotors disappeared; but Alan told me he thought it was "too rough" and would be improved. I stood just behind him during the take off, and for much of the time during flight, and I noted that his hands and feet did not seem unduly occupied. When he took a hand from the controls for quite long periods, the Horse did not buck nor bolt!

On reaching 500 feet we began to go forward and passed over the southern suburbs of Southampton, over Berth 50 (B.O.A.C.), and then over Southampton Water on which I could see B.O.A.C. "Solents" moored at Hythe, and Aquila "Hythes" off Hamble. We had by then reached 1,200 feet and our indicated air speed was just under 70 m.p.h. which was an actual speed of 80 m.p.h. Above that speed there was considerable vibration, so that was the fastest permitted then.

We turned over Hamble—in our own length by spinning half round—and went back over open country towards Eastleigh. There were clouds at about 1,500 feet under which I would normally expect considerable turbulence, but owing to the damping effect of the rotors we hardly bumped at all.

Over open country the motor was turned off and we auto-rotated down from 1,000 feet. The descent was slow and orderly, with slight forward speed, and was checked as soon as Alan turned the motor on again. He repeated the performance again with the same effect. I found no unpleasant effects looking straight down through the ever-open-door, though I am one of those people who hate looking from the top of a high building.

We came over the centre of Eastleigh airfield at 1,200 feet and began another auto-rotational descent which was checked at 200 feet. We moved slowly towards the down wind boundary, dropping slightly all the time, and then turned and faced the railway which bounds the north-west side. When level with the telegraph wires we crabbed sideways as far back as the hangar and faced an angle made by a hangar and a large shed. Thinking I was in a fixed wing aeroplane, I assumed we would make another circuit before landing. It is an odd feeling descending, in a machine as big as a Dakota, and going right at a hangar like this. It seems all wrong!

When we were within 30 feet of the ground I noticed that the down wash of the rotors was blowing dried grass and leaves into a whorl, and wondered what would be the effect in a sandy desert!

We touched down with hardly a jar, and with no forward movement. In my mind the Horse had changed from being an experimental freak, and I now regarded it as the embryo of a very practical vehicle which will serve a very useful purpose—once the few remaining bugs are out.

On 13th June 1950 Alan Marsh was teaching Jeep Cable to fly the Air Horse preparatory to Jeep's taking over the machine for the Ministry of Supply. They had been airborne for some minutes when one of the three rotor systems broke, fouled the others, and the whole machine crashed to the ground and burst into flames, killing Alan, Jeep, and technician J. Unsworth. The cause was a fracture of the carrier driving link to the front rotor. Finding this from the mass of burned-out wreckage was a fine piece of work by the staff of Air Commodore Vernon Brown, Chief Inspector of Accidents to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, who told me he considers it to be one of the finest pieces of investigation which his staff have ever accomplished.

A second Air Horse had been completed and flown before the accident, and flying experiments are to continue. The first Horse had flown for 69 hours total before the accident.
CHAPTER 39

AIRSHIPS

First air navigation—French lead—Santos Dumont—Count Zeppelin—first from Paris to London—Nulli Secundus and Cody—Willows—Army airships—Blimps—Zeppelin raids—R33—disaster to R101—R100 scrapped—Hindenburg disaster—Airship Club.

ABOUT THE time that men were beginning to make a success of the petrol motor, they turned their attention more seriously than they had done in the past to the idea of propelling and steering balloons. Enthusiasts had tried to propel balloons with oars, rather naturally without success.

When the petrol motor came into being, men soon tried to devise a version of the water-screw to be driven by a petrol motor.

The French, with their Lebaudy Airship, were the first to have any success, but until airships went out of use as serious factors in air transportation Germany led the world.

Airships in their earliest days were known as "dirigible balloons". That is why they were often referred to as "dirigibles", as an alternative name for "airships". One of the first authentic successful airship flights was at Tempelhof, Berlin, on 14th June 1897 by Dr. Wolfen. Dr. Swartz made a similar experiment there a few months later.

The French Brazilian, Alberto Santos Dumont, made a successful airship flight from Paris on 20th September 1898. His airship was an elongated balloon with a normal balloon basket hung much farther below the envelope than was usual in later airship practice. He built another one with a much more elongated envelope, and with a more modernised car slung much closer to that envelope. In a trial the envelope folded. All early airship experimenters were constantly up against the difficulty of the envelope losing shape, after loss of gas when descending. His third ship was more successful. Airships were of three kinds, "rigid", "semi-rigid", and "non-rigid".

The rigid class, of which the Zeppelins were the best-known examples, had a complete framework of metal or wood inside which were between ten and twenty balloons or gas-bags called "ballonets". When gas was lost from these by expansion due to heat or height, the framework did not lose its shape.

A semi-rigid was an elongated balloon with a girder, running from end to end of the gas-bag, which prevented it from sagging longitudinally from loss of gas; from this girder were hung the cars and motors.

A non-rigid was an unsupported elongated gas-bag from which the car containing the motors and passengers was slung by means of netting attached to a waist-band round the horizontal circumference of the balloon. The Blimp was the best-known of this kind. Non-rigids lost their shape if they lost much gas and sometimes folded up with disastrous results. That was overcome in later years by having inside the main gas-bag a ballonet into which air could be scooped by forward motion or by a pump.

On 13th July 1901 Santos Dumont made a flight from St. Cloud, a suburb of Paris, round the Eiffel Tower and back, whereby he won the Deutsch prize for the first airship journey round the Eiffel Tower.

The greatest of all airship inventors was Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who built his airship on the rigid principle.

He made his first journey on 3rd July 1900, and further trips, all from Lake Constance near Friedrichshaven, on 17th and 21st October the same year. He built many airships, each one of which was an advance on its predecessor. That cost a great deal of money, but the enthusiastic German public subscribed large sums to enable Zeppelin to carry on. He had many misfortunes with his early airships, many of which were wrecked, but the money subscribed enabled him to continue after these disasters. His success led to orders for airships for the German Army and Navy. Among his earliest helpers was Dr. Hugo Eckener, who carried on the Zeppelin Company after the 1914-18 War.

Zeppelin airships were used by the Germans for bombing raids over England in that first war, and it was from these that the first bombs were dropped on London in 1915. The first airship destroyed over England in 1916 was not a Zeppelin—though it was generally believed to be one—but another type of rigid airship, a Schutte Lanz, which had a wooden frame. Its destroyer was a young man of about 21, a most likable youngster named Leefe Robinson. We shared a room together at Farnborough when we learned to fly there in 1915 and I knew him very well.

A number of other people experimented with airships in the early years of the twentieth century, but when heavier-than-air craft became practical propositions, most experimenters turned to aeroplanes, which cost less money and seemed to show more promise.

The first flight of an airship from Paris to London was made on 16th October 1910 when a Clément Bayard non-rigid airship flew between the two capitals. The ship was being brought over with a view to its purchase by the British Government. No shed capable of housing it existed in England, so the proprietors of the Daily Mail paid for the erection of a shed big enough at Wormwood Scrubs in West London. That shed was called an "airship garage" for want of a better name. I saw the ship as it passed over Tonbridge, where I was at school, on its way from Paris. It looked like a lazy fat slug as it crawled slowly along, cruising at about 25 m.p.h.

Another airship, the Lebaudy, flew from France to Farnborough the same year to be purchased by the Government. As it was being taken into its shed at Farnborough, the envelope was caught by the top of the shed and the ship collapsed. The envelope was repaired, but a short while later the ship was wrecked when it fell on some houses just outside the aerodrome at Farnborough.

About 1908 the Army Balloon Factory, which became first the Aircraft Factory, then the Royal Aircraft Factory, and which is now the Royal Aircraft Establishment, began experimenting with airships. One of their first, the "Nulli Secundus", was navigated by Colonel J. E. Capper, Lieut. C. M. Waterlow and S. F. Cody from Farnborough to London. After passing round St. Paul's Cathedral, it tried to return to Farnborough, but a wind too strong for it had risen and the ship was unable to reach its starting point. It was steered to the Crystal Palace and was landed there in the cycle track. The strengthening wind made the pilots decide to "rip" it. All balloons and most non-rigid airships were fitted with a special panel in the envelope which could be ripped out, to release the gas quickly, and collapse the envelope in an emergency.

The sudden collapse of the Nulli Secundus resulted in stories in the daily papers that the ship had been wrecked. In fact she was packed up, returned to Farnborough and the rip panel replaced, and was in the air, after many alterations, in the following summer.

Other moderately successful airships made by the Aircraft Factory were the "Baby", "Beta", "Gamma", "Delta", and "Eta". They all made many successful trips in 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914. The Beta went to war in Belgium in 1914. She was used for observation but came back to England "in a box" as Captain E. M. Maitland realised that the kite-balloon would be far more efficient.

In 1909 the Admiralty decided to embark on a programme of rigid naval airships to be used for scouting, and Vickers Ltd. were asked to design and build one. That ship was known unofficially as the "Mayfly", an apt name. When completed, and filled with gas, she was found to be too heavy for extended flight, so alterations were made and weight saved. She came out in May 1911, and was moored out to a stub mast in a wind gusting up to 43 m.p.h. The ability to do this was a record at that time.

The Mayfly was again taken from her shed at Barrow-in-Fumess, Lancashire, on 24th September 1911. As she was half way out of the shed, a light cross wind caught her and she broke into two. That was the end of experiments with rigid ships in Britain until the middle of the 1914-18 war.

When that war broke out, Britain had a few small airships in addition to the Beta and Co. She had bought from the French an Astra-Torres, a curious ship with its envelope composed of three sausage-shaped balloons, so that the cross-section was shamrock. This was commanded by Squadron Commander N. F. Usborne, R.N., and Squadron Commander F. L. M. Boothby. The Navy had also bought a Parseval non-rigid from Germany.

A private experimenter in Britain was E. T. Willows, who had some success with a small non-rigid which he navigated from Cardiff to London and from London to Paris. He was killed in an accident to a captive balloon in 1926.

It was soon realised that airships could play an important part in the war effort by acting as scouts over the sea, especially on anti-submarine patrols. The first Sea Lord had asked for a small ship which could be built quickly and in quantity, so some BE2c aeroplane fuselages with motor, pilot's and observer's seats, were slung below some specially made envelopes 150 feet in length. Cruising at about 35-40 m.p.h. these little ships had an endurance of ten hours.

They were called "Blimps", so named by Horace Short, the eldest of the famous Short brothers. On seeing one, he said to a friend, "Look at that Blimp". When his friend asked him what he meant by the word "Blimp", Horace Short replied, "Well, what else could you call it?" "Blimp" is an "onomatascopic" word; one that is made from the look of an object.

Larger airships of the Coastal, Coastal Star, and North Sea classes did very well. Improved "submarine scout" ships proved of great value.

About this time there was a further experiment designed to give a BE2c a quick climb for attacking Zeppelins. Two gallant R.N.A.S. officers, N. F. Usborne and R. A. Ireland, took off in a BE2c complete with wings, with a Blimp envelope. The envelope was to take the BE2c quickly to a height of about 12,000 feet, there to release the envelope and fly as a normal aeroplane, but on the first test the release gear failed to work and Usborne and Ireland were killed. There were no parachutes available to the flying services then.

Many years later Squadron Leader de Haga Haig tried some similar experiments by successfully flying a DH53 light aeroplane from the airship R33, beneath which it was slung. He also succeeded in hooking on again. He told me that the chief difficulty with the latter operation was that the R33 was so slow that its top speed was only just as high as the stalling speed of the DH53.

Flight Lieut. Toni Ragg made some releases from the same airship in a Gloster "Grebe", which was the standard R.A.F. fighter of the middle nineteen-twenties.

The German airships were found to be too vulnerable for raids on England, and many were brought down. Almost the last raid which they made was in the winter of 1917-18, when about a dozen ships left Germany on what was known as "the silent raid". There was a strong east wind blowing and the Zeppelins drifted over London with their motors stopped, so that they were undetected, for radar had not been invented. They then switched on their motors and tried to cross London. Unknown to them the wind had strengthened to gale force, becoming northerly, and they were unable to make headway. Some of them were blown south across France where they were wrecked, and some were lost in the Mediterranean or North Africa. Only a few got safely back to Germany.

One passed over London and dropped a bomb which fell in Piccadilly about 50 yards from the Circus. A well known general of the R.F.C., who was in the habit of dining more well than wisely, was walking down Piccadilly towards his Club when he was blown flat on his face by the blast. That night he had not dined so unwisely as usual, so could not understand why he had fallen, for the warning maroons had not sounded and no one knew that Zeppelins were over.

Meanwhile, Britain had been building rigid airships. Short Bros. had built an airship factory at Cardington, where such ships as the R29 were built. Armstrong Whitworth had a factory at Selby in Yorkshire, and William Beardmore and Co. built one on the Clyde. At the last two places the R33 and R34 respectively were built.

British airships proved their value especially in escorting convoys. Of the thousands of sea-going vessels escorted, only two were lost to U-boat attack when airships were present, and none was lost to mines.

The first crossing of the Atlantic was made by the R34 with G. H. Scott in command in July 1919. That journey, and other trans-ocean flights, are described in the chapter on Atlantic flights. The flight round the world by a Zeppelin is described in the chapter on F.A.I. Gold Medals.

The R33 made many successful flights. One of her most notable feats was on 16th April 1925, when she was torn away by a gale whilst at her mooring mast at Pulham in Norfolk. There was a skeleton crew aboard under the command of Flight Lieut. R. S. Booth, A.F.C. The nose of the ship was torn off and the fabric was badly flapping, but the crew lashed it so that it would tear no further. By the time the gale had moderated the R33 had been blown over Holland, but Booth, by most skilful work, brought her back in reverse safely to Pulham.

That episode caused a great sensation at the time and Booth won another A.F.C.

In 1924 the Air Minister, Sir Samuel Hoare, announced a plan for building five rigid airships for passenger work, bigger than any ships yet made. That programme had to be moderated in view of a periodic national call for economy, and it was decided to build only two ships, the R100 and R101, the former by private enterprise and the latter by the State.

The ships took much longer to complete than had been expected. It was hoped they would be flying by 1926, and in his Air Estimates speech each year Sir Samuel Hoare would say, "Our two great airships will be flying in the spring." He did not specify which spring.

Eventually the R101 was launched on 11th October 1929. She looked impressive and, with the R100, which was launched soon after her, made many trips over London.

It was obvious that all was not well with R101. Her experimental heavy oil motors gave trouble; then the ship required more lift so an extra section was fitted amidships to house one additional gasbag.

In 1930 she developed trouble with her gasbags when flying over the R.A.F. Display. The bags chafed the framework, and she returned to base only just in time, before losing too much lift.

Lord Thomson had replaced Sir Samuel Hoare as Air Minister when the Labour Govemment came in. He was very anxious that the R101 should make a trip to India for an Imperial Conference which was being held there, and hurried the airship people, unwisely, to get the ship ready by the early part of October in time to take him to India.

On 4th October 1930, the airship, with Lord Thomson aboard, with the Director of Civil Aviation, the much loved Sir Sefton Brancker, Major G. H. Scott, our most experienced airship pilot, and nearly all the most experienced airship personnel of the country, left the mooring mast at Cardington, bound for India. During the night the weather deteriorated. In the early morning of Sunday 5th October 1930 the R101 crashed into high ground at Beauvais in Northern France, and caught fire. Of the 54 people aboard, only eight got out alive, two of whom died in hospital. Brancker, Thomson, and Scott all lost their lives. One of the great losses was Squadron Leader E. L. Johnston, navigator of the ship, in whose memory the Johnston Trophy is awarded annually by the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators for the greatest feat of air navigation during the year. The loss of Brancker was the greatest blow which civil aviation has suffered.

There was an enquiry into the loss of the ship. The blame for the accident was placed on the chafing gas bags causing loss of gas, and the exceptionally bad weather. Lord Thomson was blamed for wanting the flight to begin before the ship had been proved.

Though the cause of the disaster was officially attributed to the chafing gas-bags, that was only surmise as no evidence was available. It seems just as likely that it was caused by ice forming on the envelope, for in those days very little was known about the problem of ice formation on aircraft. In later years every airliner and many air force aircraft were fitted with de-icing apparatus to break up the ice as it formed. Icing occurs when an aircraft flies through cloud or humid conditions and the temperature is below freezing point. The night when the R101 disaster occurred was very stormy and icing conditions may well have existed.

A few months earlier, in August 1930, the R100 (captain, Flight Lieut. R. S. Booth, A.F.C.) had made a flight from Cardington to Montreal and back. She was a much better ship than the State-built R101, but after the accident to that ship the R100 was broken up for scrap by order of the State. That was the end of airship work in Great Britain.

There had been a previous airship disaster in Britain in 1921 when the R38, which was to be sold to the United States who had named her the ZR2, broke in halves over the Humber on 24th August with great loss of life. Air Commodore E. M. Maitland, C.M.G., D.S.O., A.F.C. lost his life. He was the man who kept airships going. He was also greatly loved by all who had the honour to serve under him.

Air Commodore E. A. D. Masterman, C.M.G., C.B.E., A.F.C., at an earlier date was head of the Naval airships. Up to 1916 he successfully worked out the tactical uses of non-rigids, and also piloted No. 9 and the R23 class rigids through their trials.

The Americans obtained an airship from the Zeppelin Company which was at first called the ZR3. She was taken across the Atlantic by Dr. Eckener in 1924 where she was delivered to the Americans at Lakehurst. Later she was named "Los Angeles". The Americans intended to launch a big programme of rigid airships. The Goodyear Zeppelin Co., formed to build airships, built the "Akron" and "Macon" both of which met with disaster.

Germany was the only country which had any faith in or success with airships. The Graf Zeppelin, built in the late nineteen twenties for passenger work, made many notable journeys, including one over the Arctic to the North Pole and a journey round the world. She operated a passenger service from Germany to South America and also across the North Atlantic. Eventually she was replaced on the Atlantic service by the Hindenburg, a newer and bigger ship. After running a successful service across the Atlantic for more than a year, the Hindenburg was destroyed by fire in May 1937 as she was mooring to her mast after her first voyage of the season from Germany. The cause of the fire was an electrical discharge from the ship to the mast, which caused heavy loss of life to those aboard. That was the end of rigid airships. The Germans had asked the Americans to sell them helium gas to fill the ship, but the Americans refused. Helium is the only non-inflammable gas with sufficient lift to replace hydrogen. The only known sources are in America and Russia.

The loss of the Hindenburg was the end of the hydrogen-filled rigid commercial airship, at any rate as we have known them up to now. It was the end of a chapter, in fact.

The Americans used 200 non-rigid airships for anti-submarine patrols in the 1939-45 war. These flew 550,000 hours and did not lose a single sea-going ship which they escorted (about 85,000) to U-boat or mine. They have been using them for advertising purposes since the war.

Lord Ventry tells me he thinks it very foolish of anyone to be certain that no more rigid airships will be built—he is convinced that they will be.

It is hard to keep an airship enthusiast down for long. In 1950 Lord Ventry formed "The Airship Club" to build and operate a small non-rigid airship. It was being built at Bournemouth and was to be 108 feet long and 27 feet in diameter with a cubic capacity of 45,000 feet. Its power plant was a 75 h.p. British Salmson and it was hoped to carry five or six people on short trips, or three passengers on flights of ten hours. This airship is due to make its first ascent in the summer of 1951.   





CHAPTER 40

WOMEN IN AERONAUTICS

Early feminine balloonists—first woman to fly—first woman aviator killed—first woman pilot—first British woman killed—women join flying clubs—Amy Johnson—woman wins King's Cup—women ferry pilots do great work.

WOMEN HAVE played a prominent part in aeronautics since the days of ballooning. When the Aero Club of Great Britain was formed, in the balloon, "City of York", after an ascent from the Crystal Palace in 1901, one of the four occupants was Miss Vera Butler.

The first woman to qualify for an Aeronauts' Certificate was the Hon. Mrs. Assheton Harbord, who was awarded No. 16. Mrs. Griffith Brewer was the first woman aeronaut to cross the English Channel in a balloon; she was also the first English woman to fly in an aeroplane, being taken for a flight by Wilbur Wright in France in 1908. Another well-known early balloonist was Miss Gertrude Bacon, who was also one of the first women to fly in an aeroplane.

The first woman who ever had a real flight in an aeroplane was Mrs. Hart O. Berg, wife of an American who had been one of the earliest believers in the Wright brothers when everyone else was calling them "bluffers". She was taken for a flight by Wilbur Wright at Le Mans in France on 7th October 1908. The flight lasted two minutes three seconds, which was about the duration of five shilling "joy-rides" in Britain for a long time after the 1918 war. The flight was not very long, judged by modern standards, but thereby Mrs. Berg gained a place in history.

The first woman to be killed in an aeroplane was Mlle. Denise Moore, an American domiciled in Algeria. She was learning to fly in a Farman biplane at Etampes, France. On 21st July 1911 her aeroplane stalled and, in the subsequent crash, the motor fell on top of her and killed her.

The first woman in the world to gain an Aviators' Certificate was a Frenchwoman, Mme. de la Roche, who qualified in the latter part of 1909. She was badly injured in a crash at the second Rheims flying meeting in 1910, and died in 1919.

The first woman pilot in England was Mrs. Maurice Hewlett, wife of a well-known novelist. She learned to fly at Brooklands in 1911, and qualified for her Aviators' Certificate No. 122 in August 1911. Mrs. Hewlett was also the first mother to teach her own son to fly, which she did in 1912. She formed a flying school in partnership with a Frenchman named Blondeau at Brooklands, and later had a factory as well. The firm of Hewlett and Blondeau built many aeroplanes during the 1914-18 war.

Other well-known women pilots before 1914 included Mrs. de Beauvoir Stocks, who was badly injured when flying as a passenger in a Champel biplane at Hendon with Sidney Pickles in 1913, and Mrs. Buller, who was a pilot of Bréguets in those early days.

There were other women pilots in England, as well as several French and Belgian women, who flew on the Continent, prior to 1914.

Other women, including actresses, threatened to learn to fly, possibly for publicity purposes, but their intentions did not often get beyond the "threat" stage.

Just after 1918 Miss Madge Saunders, an actress who was then playing in a flying musical comedy named "Going Up", announced she was going to learn to fly. Leonard Bridgman, in the Aeroplane, expressed a hope that she would not "shut her eyes when she starts to sway," quoting lines from one of her songs in the show.

The first woman to own her own aeroplane in Britain was Miss E. Trehawke Davies, who bought a two-seater Blériot, but she was never a pilot, and hired others, notably Gustav Hamel, to fly her. She was the first woman to fly the English Channel in an aeroplane, being flown across by Hamel in 1911.

The first woman to fly the English Channel alone was an American, Miss Hariett Quimby, on 16th April 1912, but she was an inexperienced pilot and was killed soon after returning to the United States.

No women flew as pilots in the 1914-18 war, but as soon as the civil flying schools opened again Miss Imelda Trafford learned to fly at Northolt with the Central Aircraft Company. She was making a flight in an early type of twin-motor biplane with a pilot named F. B. G. Castleman in 1920 and I was booked to go as passenger. I left my office rather late on a Saturday morning and when I reached the street found I had left my pipe behind. Rather than face a pipeless week-end I went back for it and, as a result, missed my train from Marylebone to Northolt. I caught the next train, and arrived at the gates of the aerodrome in time to see the machine take off without me. At a height of about 200 feet it went into a spin and crashed, killing all on board, including Miss Trafford, who was the first Englishwoman to be killed in an air crash.

Mrs. Dulcibella Atkey became a pilot of a DH9 in the very early nineteen twenties, in spite of the fact that she was very short sighted. The Hon. Elsie Mackay, daughter of Lord Inchcape, bought a DH6 on which she was taught to fly by E. D. C. ("Buller") Herne. In 1928 she was lost when attempting to fly the Atlantic with W. G. R. Hinchliffe from Cranwell.

Lady Anne Saville, who had been married to the German Prince Lowenstein Wertheim, was a keen passenger, and flew in the first King's Cup Race. Like Elsie Mackay, she was lost when aspiring to be the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air.

The opening of the flying clubs in 1925 gave many women the chance to learn to fly. One of the very first members of the London Aeroplane Club was Mrs. Sophie Elliott Lynn, a well-known athlete. A regular competitor at race meetings at that time, she bought a Moth, in which she did much flying, and was the first woman to qualify for her pilot's "B" licence, which entitled her to carry passengers for "hire or reward". She married Sir James Heath in 1928 and, soon after that, made a woman's British seaplane height record, reaching 12,833 feet in a Short "Mussell". Whilst in the United States she had a bad crash which affected her mentality, and in 1938 she died in tragic circumstances in a road accident in London.

The second woman pilot of the London Aeroplane Club was the Hon. Lady Bailey, who took her certificate when well past middle age and mother of a grown-up family. In July 1927, she made a British height record for light aeroplanes, when she flew a Cirrus-Moth to 17,279 feet.

A contemporary of Lady Heath and Lady Bailey was Miss Sally O'Brien, who flew in spite of the handicap of having only one leg. She was never a good pilot and was killed in a "Bluebird" when leaving Hatfield aerodrome in 1930.

Another woman who became one of the very best of British pilots, male or female, was Miss Winifred Spooner, who learned to fly at the London Aeroplane Club soon after it opened. She was very interested in mechanics, and did not mind getting her hands and face all oily, but in spite of this she was intensely feminine. She obtained a "B" licence, and became professional pilot to Sir Lindsay Everard. To the great sorrow of her big circle of friends, Miss Spooner died of pneumonia about 1930.

Probably one of the best known and most competent of women pilots was Miss Amy Johnson, whose exploits have been fully dealt with elsewhere.

Two notable women of the nineteen-thirties were Pauline Gower and Dorothy Spicer, who toured Britain with an air circus. Dorothy Spicer became a qualified ground engineer. She was killed in 1947 in an airliner in which she was a passenger which crashed in South America. Pauline Gower died within a few weeks of her, while giving birth to a child.

Mrs. Gabrielle Patterson was the first licensed flying instructress in Britain just before the 1939 war. She served in the A.T.A. during the war.

In the summer of 1930 the Hon. Mrs. Victor Bruce learned to fly, and, after forty hours solo, made a flight round the world. After her return, she took a flying circus round Britain on tour, and then organised an air charter firm named "Air Dispatch", which operated successfully from Croydon for some years before the outbreak of war in 1939.

Mary Bruce was a most competent business woman and became a good pilot.

Reference is made elsewhere to flights across the world in which the Duchess of Bedford went as passenger. When she was over 70, and very deaf, she was taught to fly reasonably well in the Moth she had bought. One day, towards the end of the nineteen-thirties, she took off for a flight from the grounds of her home at Woburn in Bedfordshire, and was last seen passing out to sea, over the Wash. It was assumed that she lost her bearings, ran out of petrol, and came down in the sea.

One of the most competent of women pilots was Miss Amelia Earhart (Mrs. Puttman), a young and enthusiastic American, who became the first woman to fly the Atlantic. Sorrow was world-wide when, in 1935, she set out to fly round the world in its broadest part and disappeared in the Pacific.

In May 1934, a young New Zealand girl, Miss Jean Batten, flew from London to Darwin in a Moth in 14 days 22 hours 30 seconds. In 1935 she flew solo from England to South America, crossing the South Atlantic in 13¼ hours; the next year she flew from England to Wellington, New Zealand, in 11 days 1 hour 25 minutes: both flights were made in a Gull. She was awarded the Britannia Trophy in both 1934 and 1935 for these flights. I last heard of her in May 1947 when she was having a holiday in Jamaica, whither she had flown in an airliner.

Miss Winifred Brown, a Lancashire hockey player of note, won the King's Cup Race in 1930 against a record field of 101 entries.

When war broke out many flying-club-trained women joined the Air Transport Auxiliary, which was a service of civilians, formed to ferry aeroplanes of all kinds from the factories to the squadrons. There were no less than 127 women pilots in that organisation. They flew fast single seaters and four-motor bombers. A story is told of one woman who had a forced landing when flying a 450 m.p.h. Tempest, who had to land in a confined space and wiped the wings off. She climbed out of the cockpit, and was seen to walk across the field towards the road. Then she turned round, ran back, and shut herself up in the damaged cockpit. When helpers arrived on the scene, she was asked the reason for the hurried retreat, and confessed she had seen some cows and would not venture past them without male escort. One wonders what she would have done if she had found a field-mouse in the cockpit on her return!

Mrs. Miles, wife of F. G. Miles, of Miles Aircraft, is a daughter of Sir Johnstone Forbes-Robertson and Gertrude Elliott; besides being a competent pilot she has designed many aircraft, and was at one time a very important part of the Miles Aircraft Company.

Many women did great work in the W.A.A.F. as radar operators and in other jobs, and many of them displayed great gallantry under bombing. In 1947 the R.A.F. announced that women would be trained as aircrew. In civil life many women have taken jobs with airlines as stewardesses, and have shown great initiative and gallantry in accidents in which their airliners have been involved.
CHAPTER 41

AVIATORS' AND OTHER CERTIFICATES

F.A.I. issue them for balloonists—first British Aviators' Certificate to Moore-Brabazon—conditions—Superior Certificates—for airship pilots too—Gliding Certificates—Helicopter Certificates.

ONE OF THE first acts of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale after its formation in 1905 was to draw up rules for Aeronauts' Certificates—aeronauts were balloon pilots. Soon after aeroplanes first flew, certificates were issued for aviators. Airship Pilots' Certificates also were issued.

In Great Britain, the first Aeronauts' Certificate was issued by the Aero Club on behalf of the F.A.I. on 14th June 1905 to C. F. Pollock. To qualify for this certificate a pilot had to make six ascents in a balloon, one of which had to be a night ascent, and for one ascent of at least one hour's duration he or she had to be alone in the balloon.

The first Airship Pilots' Certificate was issued on 14th February, 1911 to Colonel J. E. Capper, C.B., R.E. An airship pilot had to hold an Aeronauts' Certificate and to furnish proof of six ascents in an airship on different dates, one of which was of at least one hour's duration, and three of which were under the control of the applicant.

The first Aviators' Certificate was issued on 8th March, 1910 to Mr. J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon, who later became Lord Brabazon. An applicant had to make two distance flights of at least 5 kilometres during which a height of at least 50 metres had to be reached. During the flights he had to make five figures of "8" round posts at least 500 metres apart, and he also had to land with the motor stopped at or before the moment of touching the ground, such landing to be made in a normal manner within 50 metres of a pre-arranged point. The candidates had to be alone in the aeroplane.

After 1918 the tests were made more exacting. The pilot had to produce satisfactory evidence of having flown solo for not less than three hours during the twelve months prior to the application. He had to attain a height of 6,000 feet above the point of departure and a landing had to be made with a glide from 4,500 feet with motor stopped, the aeroplane stopping within 150 yards of a pre-arranged spot without restarting the motor. Five figures of "8" had to be made twice, in two separate flights at a height of not more than 600 feet, landing after each of the two flights.

The Air Ministry, between wars, and the Ministry of Civil Aviation for the first few years after 1945, accepted Aviators' Certificates as proof of competency for the issue of a pilots' "A" Licence. The age limit was reduced from 18, of pre-1914 days, to 17. An oral test on rules of the air and international air legislation had to be passed. After 1950 much more stringent tests were required for "A" and "B" civil Licences.

In 1911 a special certificate, called the "Superior Brevet" was awarded, to qualify for which a candidate had to make a successful out and home cross-country flight of at least 50 miles in each direction. The first such certificate was awarded to S. F. Cody on 6th December, 1911, for a flight from Laffan's Plain, Farnborough, to Shrewton and back. Only 11 such certificates were awarded, the last in 1917. After the 1918 war, the civil "A" licence came into being, so the Superior Brevet fell into disuse.

In 1930, Gliding Certificates were issued. They were divided into five categories. A, B, C, and the Silver and Gold Badges. Glider pilots could wear a badge indicating what standard of proficiency they had attained.

To qualify for an A, a pilot had to make only a single glide of 30 seconds' duration and, for a B, two preliminary flights of 45 seconds' duration each, after which he must make a flight of at least one minute's duration, in the course of which he must make an "S" turn. For the C test the pilot must make a soaring flight of at least five minutes' duration at a height greater than the height of release. Each test must be followed by a normal landing.

To qualify for a Silver Badge, a pilot must make a soaring flight of not less than five hours, covering a distance of more than 50 kms. either in a straight line or round a triangular course, each side of which must measure 17 kms. or more. A height of at least 1,000 metres above the point of release must be attained.

For the Gold Badge a pilot must make a flight of at least five hours' duration, covering a distance of at least 300 kms. either in a straight line or round a triangular course, each side of which is at least 100 kms. He must attain a height of at least 3,000 metres above the point of release.

For both Silver and Gold Badge flights, aero-towing is allowed, but releases must be made below 1,500 metres.

During the latter part of the 1939-45 war, a number of these certificates were issued to A.T.C. cadets, who valued them very highly.

The first Gliding Certificate was issued to C. H. Lowe-Wilde on 30th March, 1930. He was killed soon after its award, when flying a glider with a small motor attached.

In 1947 the first Helicopter Aviators' Certificate was issued by the Royal Aero Club to R. A. C. Brie, to whom there is further reference in the chapter on Rotary Wing Flight. Tests rather similar to those for an Aviators' Certificate must be passed as well as hovering tests and landing tests.

In Great Britain, all the above certificates are issued by the Royal Aero Club on behalf of the F.A.l. In other countries they are issued by the national aero clubs.

A Certificate consists of a pocket-size booklet containing a photograph, and other particulars of the holder. It contains the following paragraph in French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian: "The Civil, Naval, and Military Authorities, including the Police, are respectfully requested to aid and assist the holder of this Certificate".

These certificates were not very numerous. Many holders, on being stopped by the police for some motoring offence such as speeding, have produced their flying certificates to some officer of the law, both in Britain and abroad. The puzzled officer, reading the quoted paragraph, thinking the holder must be a Very Important Person, has given him a smart salute and speeded him on his lawful or lawless way. This might not work in Russia to-day! Or perhaps it might. It would be worth while trying in extremis.
CHAPTER 42

FULFILMENT—30,000 MILES IN 26 DAYS

B.O.A.C. planning—well up to schedule—crews and crews—tropical flying without cooling equipment—Bangkok and The Sleeping Buddha—Hong Kong—thunderstorms before Singapore—Darwin and Sydney—Auckland—overseas broadcasts with Steward Emery—home thirty minutes ahead of schedule.

WE have come a long way from the Wright brothers' first flight of 842 feet with 12 h.p. at the end of 1903, to the present time, forty-seven years after, at the end of 1950, when I have been able to travel half round the world in great comfort, punctuality and safety in four days, and to fly from London to Copenhagen at 490 m.p.h. at 34,000 feet in the Comet.

We have seen the progress of flying through all these years. What does it all add up to? Many people look upon the aeroplane mainly as a weapon of war. I have written this chapter to show, from my own experience in 1950, with what pleasure and comfort it is possible to fly to the Far East, Australia and New Zealand.

I flew much of the way in that fine old liner the American Lockheed Constellation, which, with the Douglas DC3, sometimes called the Dakota, has been used by most of the main air lines for the first five years since the war.

We have progressed so far and so rapidly that I find myself criticising the splendid Constellation for being too cramped and noisy and giving passengers a poor view—so much we now expect from aircraft. By the end of 1950 the Connie was becoming obsolescent for main trunk routes, which is hardly surprising when one realises it first flew in 1943, and newer, faster and more-spacious aircraft are getting ready to replace it. The DC3, that much loved Dak, first flew in 1935. Yet both of these machines still have many years of useful life: they, more than any others in the world, have enabled civil aviation to weather the very difficult post-war years, and will live in flying history.

Those people in the world of aviation who still seem to live only in the past, who judge civil aviation by a few exceptionally unfortunate experiences in the years before the war, or before 1948, may be interested in a tour which I made in May and June 1950. I travelled about 30,000 miles in 26 days by B.O.A.C., Qantas Empire Airways, and Tasman Empire Airways Ltd. The trip was arranged for me by the tours department of B.O.A.C. and it involved much punctuality between the airlines concerned if I were to catch my various connections and arrive home on schedule. In actual fact, I caught every connection and arrived home 30 minutes ahead of schedule, more than ever impressed with the safety and dependability of modern air travel.

We were slightly behind schedule now and then, but soon caught up again. The most serious delay was when I arrived in Hong Kong a day late. The airport, Kai Tak, is very small and surrounded by mountains, so it can be used only by day. A delay of three hours at Rangoon, caused by faulty hydraulics, made it impossible to arrive at Kai Tak before dark; had we been bound for a normal airport, a delay of only three hours would not have been important. However, only those who are the slaves of time and not its masters could have objected to an unscheduled night-stop at Bangkok; for otherwise we would have missed this wonderful city with its lovely willow-pattern-plate architecture, and beautiful temples containing golden images of Buddha.

We made a bad start from London on 22nd May, for, though we were due to start from Airways Terminal, Victoria, at 8 a.m., just as I was getting up at seven o'clock, B.O.A.C. telephoned me to say there would be a delay because of technical trouble, and they would telephone again. I did not much mind as it enabled me to be home to get my morning mail, in which there were two important letters bearing on the trip. At eight o'clock B.O.A.C. telephoned and asked me to be at Airways Terminal at 10.15 for take off at noon instead of 9.30. This was my first experience of B.O.A.C.'s No. 3 Line.

At 11.40 we embarked in Constellation G-ALAK, Brentford, whose faulty pressurisation had been the cause of our delay. This particular "Connie" is the most uncomfortable and cramped airliner in which I have flown in modern times. It is a veritable "flying motor coach." There is not enough room to stretch one's legs, there is no rack in which to put hand luggage, and seats are sited so badly in regard to the windows that one cannot see out without craning into an uncomfortable position. Vibration was so bad that a glass of iced squash which I had for lunch nearly vibrated off the "tin lizzie" table which is standard in this machine. The "driver" told me it was no worse than other Connies, but I am sure that is not so.

We were told we were passing landmarks, such as Lake Geneva and Mt. Blanc, when we had gone too far past to get more than a glimpse of them far behind. Fortunately I made the return trip with a most helpful skipper of this line, Captain J. Nicholl, who invited me to the flight-deck when any object of interest was coming into view, and an intelligent steward, Frank Emery, who saw that I missed nothing.

We had among our fellow travellers on the outward trip to Cairo two cabinet ministers, Strachey and Griffiths, and I formed the impression that this rather overawed the crew!

When we reached Cairo at 11.45 p.m., about three hours late, I felt glad that I was going no further with this aircraft.

I then changed to an Argonaut of No. 1 Line, where I once again encountered the "take good care of you" spirit. The Argonaut, which is a Canadair 4, is a much nicer aircraft than a Connie. It may be slightly noisier but not noticeably so. The cabin is divided into two and so does not give the motor-coach effect; there is plenty of leg-room, and a promenade-deck aft to which passengers can move for a change.

Captain R. Phillips, the skipper, made himself known to me the previous evening in Cairo, so we started on friendly terms, and he had a real live link in his first steward, D. A. Roe, who kept us well informed of objects of interest before we reached them. This crew took us as far as Karachi, where they slipped, and I was sorry to part from them. I had plenty of room to type in the Argonaut as, indeed, I had in all machines except that first Connie.

We left Karachi at 3.20 the next morning, with no night-stop or delay, but I managed to sleep fairly comfortably in my seat, as the Argonaut is nice and roomy. I was awakened at 6.30 a.m. by the light of the rising sun. Steward Roe had thoughtfully put my night-stop bag in the cabin as he thought I might want my shaving tackle. It seemed odd to be shaving as we flew at 15,500 feet at 250 m.p.h. over India with the same razor with which I normally shave in Chelsea! Captain S. W. Gooch and his crew, who had taken over from Phillips at Karachi, were still redeeming the high standards of B.O.A.C. In fact, all crews of B.O.A.C., Qantas, and Tasman with whom I subsequently flew were of high standard; and the last crew, in a No. 3 Line Connie, proved to be the best of the lot, rather to my surprise after that London to Cairo flight, and to my great pleasure.

At 9.15 a.m. we landed at Dum Dum airport, Calcutta, where we had breakfast in the restaurant while the Argonaut was refuelled. It had been hot in Cairo, and hotter in Basra; but at Dum Dum we encountered real scorching humid heat. Unfortunately, the ground blower, which should blow cool air through the aircraft cabin when stationary, was not working, and so it was almost unbearably hot when we re-embarked. I had hoped it would cool as soon as we were airborne; but owing to some B.O.A.C. stores re-organisation in the U.K., making spares unavailable for some weeks, crews had orders to use only one of the two cabin blowers. This did little to remedy the situation, so we had to endure that awful heat, which adversely affected some passengers, for three hours till we landed, thankfully, at Mingaladoon, the Rangoon airport, which had only one runway, of pierced steel planking. During the flight, Steward Jock McEwan and his second Steward, L. Ricci, kept us alive by an almost continuous service of iced squashes for those in need.

We had an interesting night stop at Rangoon in the Strand Hotel, which gave me a chance to see the famous Shwe Dagon Pagoda with the golden dome. To approach it one had to walk bare-footed up a stairway of nearly 500 yards, so I took it as read!

The next morning we embarked in the Argonaut at 6.46 a.m. but, after taxying out, it was found that the port inner airscrew went automatically into reverse, so we disembarked again. The heat was great and Arthur Bickmore, of B.O.A.C., acquired some Burmese straw fans for each passenger. These should be given to all passengers from Basra onwards, as they help to keep one cooler both on the ground and until the cabin has cooled: they are badly needed and, with a Speedbird emblem, would be good publicity.

The repairs took so long that we did not get off till noon and so could not make Hong Kong before dark; we night-stopped at Bangkok. We were quartered at the K.L.M. rest house near the airport, which was once the house of the Prime Minister and is extremely comfortable. We were driven by coach into the city and saw the Marble Temple with a great golden Buddha, and then to the Temple of the Sleeping Buddha, which houses a golden reclining Buddha effigy 60 metres long by 10 metres high. Then we visited a snake farm with huge king cobras and other snakes slithering about in pools.

Mosquitos are very virulent in Bangkok so we were given anti-malarial pills as soon as we had landed.

The next morning we made an early start at 5.50 a.m. Before embarking we watched a wonderful sunrise with turquoise blue and ruby red colouring. We flew across Indo China, over the South China Sea, and near Hainan Island. As we neared Hong Kong there were many islands, each of which seemed to have its own private cloud. Captain Gooch warned me that the approach was not quite like that to other airports—I saw what he meant when we entered the Strait between Hong Kong Island and the mainland through the Lyemun Gap, which is about 300 yards wide between rugged mountains 1,500 feet high. Then I found we were turning inland and flying down rocky valleys, twisting and turning till we touched down on Kai Tak airport on the water's edge, adjoining Kowloon. There are two runways 1,580 yards long and the approaches to both are unusual—I realised then why it could be used only by day and in clear weather! A whole chapter would be needed to describe adequately this unique airfield, but I must leave it at that now.

On arrival I was met by Pat Gillibrand, who was one of B.O.A.C.'s representatives in Hong Kong, and he produced the very best kind of B.O.A.C. hospitality I have yet met. I enjoyed my stay here, spending much of the time with "Gilly" and his wife Kay and his delightful boys, aged 4½ and 2, and bathing in the warm sea. I encountered Mike Newton, of Shell, who was well-known in the Royal Aero Club in London before he went to Hong Kong two or three years ago, and also met Marga Housley, now Mrs. Butler, who will be remembered by many as C. G. Grey's secretary on the Aeroplane before the war.

I had arrived at Hong Kong on the Saturday before Whitsun, and wanted to buy some shirts before the shops closed, but found that Lai Wah the shirtmaker near the Peninsular hotel would make me four by the following day. They were of shantung and less than ten shillings each. The Chinese, in this very hot climate, wear suits of material like shiny black leather, very thin and cool to wear; on Whit Sunday I was measured for one and it was ready by the evening of Whit Monday. I find it is excellent to wear when working in my flat, nor does it excite any comment when I wear it in the street in Chelsea in hot summer weather.

Many things are very cheap and good in Hong Kong, and the sight of the harbour and surroundings at night, bright with lights and neon signs in Chinese lettering, must be one of the most beautiful anywhere.

It was with real sorrow that I left Hong Kong and the Gillibrands four days later, in the same Argonaut, with Captain Jim Steer—a grand skipper with a fine crew, and excellent first steward, Watson-Taylor. We had a six-and-a-half-hours' delay at Saigon with more hydraulic trouble, and the great heat and flies were made bearable only by the happy comradeship of Jim and his crew.

Instead of arriving at Singapore at 3.30 p.m. it was 10 p.m. when we reached there, having passed what Jim Steer described as the "father and mother of all thunderstorms" off the East Coast of Malaya, near where the Repulse and Prince of Wales were sunk. There were almost continuous flashes from a cloud at 20,000 feet to one at about 10,000 feet, but it was very local and easily avoided.

When we landed at Kallang airport, which adjoins Singapore town, I found a car had been sent by the S.A.S.O. of the R.A.F. Station at Changi, my old friend, Air Vice-Marshal Toni Ragg, with whom I stayed for a night at his delightful house overlooking Johore Strait.

After three days in Singapore, some spent at Rattles Hotel, I was taken on in a Qantas Connie, over the Flores group of active volcanic islands, to Sydney. We touched down on the way at Darwin under a sky of brilliant tropical stars, most prominent of which was the blazing Southern Cross. I was driven to the nearby, and now disused, airstrip where Ross and Keith Smith landed after their flight from England in December 1919, and where Bert Hinkler and other pioneers also had first touched Australian soil. A kangaroo bounded across as we drove. I felt that I was on sacred ground, hallowed in the history of aviation.

We took off for Sydney just before midnight, and I was able to have six hours' good sleep in my seat, as this Qantas Connie was so much roomier than that first G-ALAK in which I flew from London to Cairo. We landed at Charles Kingsford-Smith Airport at Sydney, which everyone still calls by its first name "Mascot." Here I was met by Bennett Bremner of Qantas, interviewed by the Australian Press, whirled off to do a broadcast, and taken to the Australia Hotel, where I was to stay as the guest of Qantas. I could write a whole chapter on my week in Sydney and what I saw of Australian aviation. I re-met my old friend Hudson Fysh, founder and managing director of Qantas, which initials stand for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". It has grown from a small airline founded by Fysh in 1920 to link up railheads "out back" in those states.

Another old friend re-met was Sir Keith Smith, who is a director of Qantas.

"Brem" showed me as much of Sydney as he could in the short time available, and included a visit to Camden, some 40 miles from the city, where the Sydney Soaring Club operates. I watched some fine formation soaring by an Olympia and a Slingsby Gull, both of which were launched in succession towed by the same aircraft. "Brem" called for me each morning, with a mock-fiendish grin, saying, "Nemesis has come!"

On the third day in Sydney I was taken across the Tasman Sea in a Solent 4 flying-boat, with which Tasman Empire Airways Ltd. (T.E.A.L.) operates a daily service between Sydney and Auckland, 1,342 miles. These Solents are different from those of B.O.A.C. They are 1,000 h.p. more powerful, and so are faster (220 m.p.h. cruising) and carry 45 passengers against B.O.A.C.'s 39. They cover the eastward distance in six hours and westward in seven hours—the seaboat trip takes three or four days and costs as much as the air trip, so the Tasman service is well patronised. The line want bigger and faster flying boats, and are most interested in the "Duchess." [Note 15]. I arrived at Auckland at 3.30 p.m. and left again the next morning at 11.15 so did not see much of New Zealand; for it was the flying in which I was chiefly interested throughout the whole round trip.

This is an ideal flying-boat route, for the base is right in the busy part of Auckland, whereas the land base is one and a half hours' drive distant. The base in Sydney, at Rose Bay, is also right in the city, and nearer the centre than Mascot.

Though we left Auckland in bright sun we ran into heavy rain through which we flew for five and a half hours in very bumpy conditions, and I saw Sydney Bridge with relief as it signified the end of our turbulent voyage: I realised now why "Smithy" always wrote of it as the "stormy Tasman."

I had asked B.O.A.C. to post an especially good steward, Frank Emery, to my plane for the homeward voyage. I have flown many thousands of miles with Steward Emery and have found that he is the most attentive, courteous, dependable and efficient steward of any airline with whom I have flown. So I was delighted when I got back to the Australia Hotel to find a message from him saying he was on hand.

All was not quite plain sailing yet. On the morning of the day I was to start home, I got a 'phone call from Philip Hood of B.O.A.C. to say that the B.O.A.C. Connie in which I was to return had been delayed by technical trouble, so I would return on a Qantas Connie with a Qantas crew. Though I am always glad to fly with Qantas, this created a dilficulty, as I had arranged with Radio Malaya in Singapore to do a broadcast with Steward Emery during the short stop; and not just any steward is capable of that. Moreover, B.O.A.C. had gone to great trouble to recall Steward Emery from leave for this particular part of my trip, to help me with broadcasts. But Philip Hood, on behalf of B.O.A.C. in Sydney, got together with Qantas, and when I boarded the Connie that night I was glad to find Emery aboard as a supernumerary steward.

The name of the Connie was "Bert Hinkler", for the Company name their airliners after Australian pioneers, a point that B.O.A.C. might also adopt. I wondered what quiet unassuming little Bert would have thought if he had been told a great airliner would bear his name!

On the way from Darwin to Singapore we stopped at Djakarta in Java, which was known as Batavia till lately. Here we picked up about a dozen passengers, who included General Albert Orsborn, world head of the Salvation Army. Our scheduled stop was to have been less than an hour, but for no apparent reason it was over two hours and we could get no information from anyone. I was later told it was just the usual typical organisation at Djakarta.

At Cairo I had placed the Pyramids first on a list of places I never want to see again from the ground. During our enforced stop at Saigon, I put that airport as No. 2 on the list. I have no hesitation in placing Djarkarta airport as No. 3. The airport restaurant was hot and uncomfortable, and there was a concrete mixer in full blast, just outside, which made it hard to hear one's neighbour, and impossible to hear the loudspeaker announcements. I was glad to see the last of Djakarta!

At Singapore, where I stayed this time at the much nicer Seaview Hotel, Steward Emery and I did a successful broadcast, which we had also done in Sydney. Then we changed to a Connie of No. 3 Line B.O.A.C. for the flight back to London. I was not looking forward to it at all in view of my previous experience of that line, but when I got aboard I found a cheerful, helpful and friendly crew under Captain Jack Nicholl, and the homeward flight proved to be not only the pleasantest of the present tour but also by far the nicest of the many enjoyable flights I have had with B.O.A.C.

Moreover it was a roomier Connie, with more leg-room than in the cramped G-ALAK, and with a good rack for hand luggage, which the former had sadly lacked. This was G-ALAM, Belfast.

Owing to the fact that Steward Emery had just been transferred from another line to this one, and they had not yet found out his high capabilities, he was only second steward. However, the first steward was almost as good as Emery, and we had a most efficient stewardess, so we were indeed a happy party.

When flying up the Persian Gulf we heard of the loss of the second Air France Skymaster in two days, and were asked to fly low to help locate it. We saw its wing sticking up from the water off Bahrein Island surrounded by launches which had just found it. Our passengers were in no way disconcerted by this search for a crashed liner, for Captain Nicholl and First Officer J. W. Stratton constantly came back to the cabin and let us know what was happening. Nicholl proved the difference between a real captain and a mere "driver." We then flew across Arabia and as we passed over the Gulf of Suez visibility was so good that we could see the Canal for nearly all its length to the Mediterranean.

After a night-stop at Cairo we took off for the last day of this wonderful trip. It had begun so badly and was ending so magnificently. This, too, was a day of remarkable visibility. We had breakfast—one of those wonderful B.O.A.C. breakfasts—but this was of that extra high quality, of which Steward Emery alone seems to have the art of serving. As we ate we flew along the south coast of Crete, and marvelled at its rugged mountains, home of the ancient Minotaur, that fabulous monster of Grecian legend.

As we flew over the Gulf of Taranto we could see clearly snow-capped Mt. Etna, 10,000 feet, 115 miles distant. The skipper called me to the flight deck as we approached the Bay of Naples, so I had a fine view of Vesuvius, looking very dead, Capri, and the harbour of Naples from which six big vessels of the Italian Navy were steaming in line.

We landed at Rome for refuelling, during which we were taken for a coach drive into Rome and saw the Vatican City, St. Peter's, the River Tiber, and the balcony on the Palazzio Venezia from which the late and unlamented Mussolini addressed his frenzied adherents in moments of stress. This last feature was unimpressive, and reminded me of a boarding house balcony! We drove round the Colosseum and saw other parts of this historic city, then embarked for the very last time of this trip.

We passed over Pisa and saw the Leaning Tower and then climbed to 17,000 feet to cross the Alps, which were cloud covered on the Italian side but cleared as we passed Mt. Blanc and Lake Geneva, for both of which Steward Emery warned me in advance in plenty of time to see them.

Finally we reached the North Coast of France about 4.30 p.m. where there was still wonderful visibility—we could see Dungeness from over Dieppe. Over mid-Channel we did two sharp turns, the reason for which was that London Air Port radar had picked us up and the turns were for certain identification of our particular blip on the radar screen. We were brought straight in to L.A.P. and as we were landing saw the Brabazon standing on the runway. Just after we landed it took off to return to Filton after its first visit to London.

There was a great speed-up and lack of irritating formalities at L.A.P. and I was sitting in the coach to return to Airways Terminal within half an hour of touching down.

I had finished this 30,000-mile tour 30 minutes ahead of schedule. The last 8,000 miles from Singapore, with Captain Nicholl and his crew of No. 3 Line B.O.A.C., had been such a restful joyride that I felt quite ready to start this 26-day almost non-stop flying trip all over again.
CHAPTER 43

THE CLOSE OF THE FIRST HALF CENTURY OF FLYING

New series of R.A.F. Displays—B.E.A. operates gas turbines on passenger services—a new airport problem—greatest Air Show—tenth anniversary of Battle of Britain—"Daily Express" air race—future forecasts.

THE FIRST of the new series of R.A.F. Displays took place at Farnborough on 7th and 8th July 1950 and was seen by more than 200,000 people. The last of the old series was at Hendon in June 1937, when the R.A.F. fighters and bombers were all biplanes. Monoplanes, such as the Hurricane, were shown as single prototypes in the New Machine Park, and all the power plants were "prancing piston" motors. Then, too, a young officer named Frank Whittle, who at an earlier Display had given a show of crazy flying, was just working on his first gas turbine motor.

At the 1950 show, all the fighter squadrons were equipped with jet Meteors or Vampires. We watched an aerobatic display in a Spitfire with tolerance for a good old veteran, much as we watched with happy memories the loops made by a 1916 Sopwith Pup and the staid performance of a 1914 504K Avro. The latter two were the only biplanes in the show, produced as "museum pieces."

The whole Display was fast and furious—so fast, in fact, that at times it was a little slow, as we had to wait for two or three minutes while a squadron of Meteors or Vampires, which had been doing aerobatics, passed over the airfield and went nearly twenty miles away to turn or reform.

We were mightily impressed by a squadron of 37 Harvards, some of the few propeller-driven aircraft in the show from the Central Flying School, which approached in formation making the letters "R.A.F." Near the end of the show they again flew over, in honour of King George VI, who was present with the Queen and Princess Margaret, making the letters "GR VI"; they finally broke up into Prince of Wales Feathers.

Just before the end there was a great flypast of over 250 flying-boats, bombers, troop-carriers, and fighters. The R.A.A.F. flew a Lincoln and the R.C.A.F. a North Star (Canadair 4). The R.N.Z.A.F. and S.A.A.F. each manned a Dakota, and the Royal Pakistan Air Force flew two Hawker Furies. The Indian Air Force and those of Belgium and France also were represented.

We saw the shape of things to come when "Wimpy" Wade flew past at nearly sonic speed in the new Hawker 1081, and Mike Lithgow in the Supermarine Swift. Both the latter have swept-back wings, tail planes, fins and rudders. The Swift has a two-wheel undercart, which the Navy preferred a year ago when it was built. Both have Nene turbo jets by Rolls-Royce.

John Derry showed off the de Havilland Venom to perfection. This is a development of the Vampire; while reaching nearly sonic speed it retains the manoeuvrability of its famous predecessor. Joe Lancaster demonstrated a night-fighter version of the Meteor developed by Armstrong Whitworth, and "Bee" Beamont flew Britain's first jet-bomber, the Canberra, which, though a bomber, has the spriteliness of a fighter.

The set piece was a re-enactment of the famous February 1944 precision attack on Amiens prison, which was led by Group Captain P. C. Pickard who was killed on the operation. The walls of the prison were breached by bombs to set free 70 French patriots under sentence of death, and the part containing the Gestapo guards was destroyed, Gestapo and all.

We were shown modern improvements which would be laid on if such an operation were again needed. We saw a Hadrian glider dropped, and into it the escaped prisoners climbed, and then it was snatched up by a Dakota which engaged an astonishingly elastic nylon rope and towed it off with complete success, except on the last day when the rope broke.
*                    *                    *                    *

The 29th of July, 1950 will be a red-letter day in the annals of world aviation, for on that day an airliner, powered by gas turbine motors turning airscrews, went into regular service carrying paying passengers between London and Paris. This was the prototype Vickers Viscount powered by four Rolls-Royce "Dart" engines of 1,100 h.p. each.

British European Airways have ordered 28 bigger Viscounts with which they will put on smooth, fast, silent service from the United Kingdom to all parts of Europe in 1952. To get passenger reaction to the new smooth, silent power, and to get technical data of how gas turbines work under rigid schedule conditions, Peter Masefield, the capable and likable young chief executive of B.E.A., arranged with Vickers Ltd. to loan the prototype Viscount for some weeks. This had the added advantage of giving B.E.A. extra, much-needed seating during the peak period in August, as well as giving B.E.A. flying-crew a chance to get familiar with the new power, and to enable the ground control to get experience in fitting this much faster type of airliner into the airport approach system. After one month of operation, it was found that ground control worked well, and crews found the aircraft easy to operate. The engines showed a high reliability factor with less maintenance than for piston engines. Passengers praised highly the quietness and lack of vibration.

The first scheduled trip of the Viscount was from London to Paris. Among the passengers were Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the gas turbine, Lord Brabazon of Tara, holder of Aviators' Certificate No. 1, and Peter Masefield. The actual flying time between airports was 55 minutes for 225 miles, which was 20 minutes less than the normal service.

After operating on the London to Paris route for three weeks, the Viscount was then put on service between London and Edinburgh, a distance of 400 miles. I flew this route on 18th August 1950. The skipper was Captain Wylie Wakelin of B.E.A., who had with him Captain John Pengelly, who was learning the Viscount technique, and Radio Oificer Thomas Hedley. There were 32 passengers. We took off from Northolt at midday and climbed to 21,500 feet. At this height we were able to get a splendid panoramic view of the countryside four miles below through the fine large windows. It has often been said by constructors who put in small windows that passengers do not want to look out from such a height, and that in any case they cannot see anything. This is plain nonsense. The view from that height is fascinating. It is interesting to look down on a great city such as Birmingham and see it as a compact black area, quite small from that height. As we passed over Yorkshire we saw the Humber estuary just as it looks on the map.

The lack of vibration was most noticeable. When Steward Tom Price served to us an excellent lunch, I remarked the absence of vibration waves and patterns on the surface of the soup, drinks, or coffee, which one sees when drinking liquid in a Constellation or any piston-engined aircraft. Nor do plates, glasses, and cutlery dance and slide about the trays as they do in "Connies".

We cruised at 280 m.p.h. all the way, except when climbing, which we did at 250 m.p.h., and reached Edinburgh in 100 minutes, which is 35 minutes quicker than by the normal piston-engined liners.

The Viscount is much more quickly refuelled than most current airliners, which seldom do the job in under an hour; it was ready to start back to London in 25 minutes.

We made the homeward run to Northolt in 100 minutes again and flew at 21,700 feet. At that height the cold outside was such that the moisture inside the cabin froze into ice on the windows, but pressurisation made the inside pressure and temperature equal to that at ground level.
*                    *                    *                    *

In 1947 I wrote an article advocating the use of more airports for London, and in particular for the use of Gatwick as the Continental terminal for London. For the next three years the Ministry of Civil Aviation seemed to have been hardening their hearts and insisting on concentrating all air traffic, inland, Continental, and from outside Europe, into one airport at Heathrow; and we are ordered not to call it "Heathrow" because foreigners could not pronounce it, but "London Air Port".

The additional temporary London air port at Northolt is due to be closed to civil aircraft in 1953 and all traffic is to use Heathrow. The air controllers say there will be no difficulty in fitting the extra traffic into Heathrow. Maybe they are right; but when in February 1950 I was flying to Northolt in a south-west gale, which necessitated a diversion to Heathrow, we were held off for 40 minutes waiting to be fitted in. No doubt all the traffic can be taken at Heathrow in theory, but it may not work out that way in practice in spite of the very efficient system of traffic control now in operation.

A new problem has arisen and the question of bringing Gatwick in as the Continental terminal was very much alive again in 1950, and B.E.A. were pressing hard for that base to be brought up to standard as soon as possible. The new problem is not one of air traffic but of road traffic. It has been calculated that there will be an almost continuous convoy of coaches between the airport and city terminal with only three minutes between coaches in either direction. That is bound to lead to traffic chaos, unless a new railway is made or a vastly expensive road is built from Chiswick into Central London. Under day-time conditions, the time taken from Airways Terminal, Victoria to Heathrow is 50 minutes. At night it may be only 35 minutes. One of the great advantages of Northolt is that there is a fast run from Kensington Air Station to the airport with only a slight traffic hold-up at Shepherds Bush, so that the run seldom takes more than thirty minutes even in the daytime at a "rush hour" period.

There is always, during the daytime, a hold-up at Hammersmith Broadway; and when coming from Heathrow to London there is a very slow, narrow, congested one-way traffic system when approaching Hammersmith. That confusion will not only be worse confounded, but may cause complete chaos to traffic in both directions when coaches at a rate of one every three minutes are on the road.

There could be four solutions. The first would be the provision of an extra track each way on the existing electric railway between Hounslow West and Earls Court, with an extension from Hounslow to Heathrow. Earls Court could be the Airways Terminal for all.

The second solution would be the building of a competely new road, with expensive fly-overs, from Chiswick to Central London, and possibly widening of the Great West Road.

The third would be some sort of overhead rope-railway.

The fourth would be the use of helicopters as airport coaches. I doubt if that could be practicable, inside ten years, and in any case the thought of a stream of helicopters, one every three minutes in each direction, is not a very pleasant prospect to contemplate, especially in bad weather. It would give nightmares to potential controllers, and to those living below the helicopter route!

In Johannesburg, where the new Jan Smuts airport is being built, a new road, nine miles long, to the centre of Johannesburg is to be built to carry airport traffic.

B.E.A. asked the Minister of Civil Aviation to lay down runways at Gatwick, and said they were prepared to use the port with only one runway east and west for a while. They were prepared to divert to another port on the few days when gales made Gatwick unusable.

Gatwick is an hour or more by coach to Central London; but the Southern Region of British Railways told B.E.A. that they would be pleased to run trains between the port and Victoria in 30 minutes, and would build a siding at Gatwick for the airport trains. Then, if passport and customs formalities were done on the train instead of at the airport, great speeding of traffic would result.

From many European cities Gatwick would entail ten or fifteen minutes' less flying, which would very materially reduce the cost to the operators. The noise and danger of flying over London would be reduced, and the Gatwick air traffic would be widely separated from that of Heathrow.

Unless a highly desirable third airport can be made to the north of London, it might be better for the inland trafiic from Ireland, Scotland and the North to come into Heathrow, if that did not cause too much increase of road traffic. In any case the authorities will have to tackle the question of road transport between Heathrow and London, for we are only at the very beginning of the air age, and air traffic is rapidly increasing. It cannot be very many years ahead before air takes the bulk of the traffic, and no one will think of going by train or sea than they would, in 1950, seriously think of going to York, Edinburgh, or Glasgow by horse-drawn coach, or to America, South Africa, India, Pakistan, the Far East, Australia, or New Zealand by sailing ship. Already the air is taking a large slice of revenue from the shipping lines.

Foresight has always been in very short supply in civil aviation in Britain and elsewhere. The London airports' problem may be serious in a few years' time unless forethought and action are taken now.
*                    *                    *                    *

Out of forty of the latest British aircraft demonstrated at the Air Show organised by the S.B.A.C. at Farnborough from 5th to 10th September 1950, only sixteen were powered by the out-moded "prancing piston" motors, and these were mostly trainers or helicopters, apart from the Brabazon which will soon have turboprops. There were three pure jet airliners: besides the Comet in production for B.O.A.C. and Canadian Pacific Airways, there was a pure jet version of the Vickers-Armstrongs' Viscount, and the Avro Ashton, both of which latter are for high altitude research and not intended for service with airlines. Those with turboprops were the Viscount 700, a larger version of the Viscount which was undergoing flight tests for two years: the Armstrong Whitworth Apollo, which is smaller than the first Viscount; and the Hermes 5, which might have gone on the African service instead of the Hermes 4 which came into service towards the end of 1950.

In addition to the flying display, there was a static exhibition in a huge marquee on the airfield in which aeroplane makers showed models, engine firms showed engines, and ancilliary firms showed their wares.

Spectators were able to spend the morning examining the aircraft which were to fly, in the aircraft park, and then to watch the flying display in the afternoon. As has been the case since the end of the 1945 war, we were blessed with fine weather for most of the time. The show started with a fly-past by a "Heavy Circus". Each machine took off in turn, flew back at speed past the enclosures, flew past again slowly, and landed. The first machine was an experimental jet-propelled Viscount powered by two Rolls-Royce Tays neatly flown by Brian Trubshaw, who was a new acquisition to the Vickers team of test pilots. This was followed by the Avro Shackleton, a variant of the Lincoln, which is intended for ocean patrol to do the work which was done in the last war by flying boats. Its piston motors made it look rather out of date. Next came a Lincoln powered by two Bristol Proteus turboprops (which will drive the Dollar Princess 140-ton flying boat in 1951). Geoffrey Tyson, test pilot for the Princess, told me he hoped to fly it over the show in 1951. The Vickers Varsity crew trainer was flown by George Lowdell, a very old hand.

Then George Errington flew past with the Airspeed Ambassador, which will be in service with B.E.A. This was the fourth appearance of this machine and it remains the most beautiful and graceful aeroplane in the show, though the Brabazon ran it very close. Beauty was followed by the Beast, the Short SB3, an anti-submarine turboprop job flown by "Brookie" Brooke-Smith. This quaint looking craft carries its radar under its nose, which gives it the appearance of an elephant with trunk. It was followed by the very graceful blue Sealand amphibian flown by G. Moulton-Barrett. The last of this circus was a Percival Survey-Prince.

There followed a demonstration by Sir Alan Cobham's firm, Flight Refuelling Ltd., showing how a jet aircraft can be refuelled in flight. A Lincoln, adapted as a tanker, trailed behind it a long pipe on the end of which was a cone. A Meteor, with a long rod sticking out from the nose like a proboscus, flew behind the Lincoln and stuck its proboscus into the cone, where it was locked. Fuel was fed to the Meteor which then disengaged. By this means a Meteor has remained airborne for over twelve hours.

Then we had our first glimpse of speed when Neville Duke flew past in a Hawker Seahawk at about 600 m.p.h. The big Westland Wyvern strike-fighter with an Armstrong Siddeley Python is the most powerful single-motor propeller-driven aircraft in the world. J. W. Wilson then streaked past in a two-seater night-fighter version of the de Havilland Venom. Ben Gunn gave a convincing demonstration with the Boulton Paul Balliol, which has been selected as the standard trainer for the R.A.F. largely due to Ben's magnificient work not only as test pilot but as salesman. He is the youngest of our test pilots, having been a cadet in the Air Training Corps during the 1939-45 war. This was followed by the Avro Athena with which the Balliol was in competition—the Athena lost because it was said to be too easy to fly and so would not make such a good trainer!

Then began a series of individual demonstrations by twenty-five aircraft of all shapes and sizes. First came Harvey Heyworth of the Rolls-Royce test flight in the Avon-Meteor, which can climb to 40,000 feet in under three minutes, giving it a vertical speed of over 110 m.p.h. By contrast came the de Havilland Heron, a four-motor version of the Dove with fixed undercart and "built-in simplicity", flown by G. H. Pike, which is likely to have a big sale abroad to do the sort of work done in the past by DH Dragons and Rapides working from small fields, with little to go wrong. Then came the Blackburn Universal freighter, which was almost the "ultimate of ugliness". Its lack of grace is because it is intended to be a cheap tramp of the air with great internal stowage space. It is second in size only to the Brab among British aircraft. "Timber" Wood who flew it showed us what a very short space it needs for take-off and landing. P. G. Lawrence in a Blackburn YB1 anti-submarine turboprop job showed us how agile this big aircraft is carrying all the latest war gear. Ever since the show of 1946 "PG" has made a speciality of showing off the agility of big naval aircraft festooned with torpedoes and other warlike stores.

"Frankie" Franklin then flew past in the Armstrong Whitworth Apollo turboprop airliner, with a newly modified fin, which, Frankie told me, had greatly improved control especially at slow speed. It also improved its look. Jock Bryce followed in the Viscount 700, which made its first flight only a week previously. This machine, twenty-eight of which have been ordered by B.E.A., will seat from 40 to 53 passengers in place of the 32 of the old Viscount. Jock made a complete circuit with only one of its four motors running. Gordon Slade and Peter Twiss showed off the short take-off of the Fairey 17 anti-submarine aircraft with Double-Mamba. This machine has two coupled Mambas driving contra-rotating propellers, like other Double-Mamba jobs; when it went past on one Mamba with the other prop stopped, it seemed uncanny as it flew at speed with the running propeller invisible.

"Hazel" Hazelden then demonstrated the Hermes 5, with four Bristol Theseus turboprops, most adroitly. This was the biggest turboprop airliner in the world in 1950.

Then came Jimmy Orrell in the Avro Ashton jet airliner for research. The Ashton is actually a Tudor, and was at first called Tudor 9, but as that type-name is too much associated with unfortunate machines which disappeared in the Carribean area without a trace, Avro's were wise in changing it.

"Bee" Beamont followed in the Canberra B2 jet bomber, and threw this big aircraft, with 65 feet span, about like a fighter and flew past at a speed which was surely in excess of 600 m.p.h. John Cunningham followed in the wonderful de Havilland Comet, which looked beautiful painted in the new B.O.A.C. colour scheme with the upper part of the fuselage white for coolness in tropical climates, and a waistband, lettering and Speedbird emblem in dark blue. The graceful ease with which a Comet slides effortlessly through the air is wonderful to see, and it is good to know that in a year's time from now, 1950, the Comets will be starting service with B.O.A.C. to Egypt, Pakistan and India.

Joe Lancaster was the next with a new version of the Meteor, the NF11 for night-fighting, developed by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Joe showed us that this bigger aircraft with a very long nose has not lost the agility of the Meteor fighter. John Derry, in the de Havilland Venom, now in production for the R.A.F., showed off this neat fast fighter in his usual faultless way. He was followed by a Gloster Meteor 8.

Then came two high lights, the Hawker 1081 and Supermarine 535 flown by Wimpy Wade and Mike Lithgow respectively. Both aircraft were powered by Rolls-Royce Nenes. The 535 is likely to go into production for the R.A.F. and Navy. It has very small back-swept wings and looks like a dart. It is a worthy successor to the Spitfire, also made by Supermarine, so when Mike Lithgow asked me to think of a good name for it I suggested "Stinger" or "Quickfire". Mike has the ability to make whatever he flies seem the fastest aircraft present. The 535 has "after-burning" (which is burning paraffin in the jet pipe after gas has been through the turbine) in the motor to give short bursts of extra speed, and it is of smaller span than the Hawker 1081 so probably was faster. It must have a Mach number of very nearly one which means it flies very near the speed of sound. Mike is a second generation of pilots, for his father, the first flying doctor of the Royal Flying Corps, learned to fly in 1912 at the Central Flying School. Both the 1081 and the 535 flew past us looking more like projectiles than aeroplanes.

Gloster's Polish test pilot, J. Zurakowski, then demonstrated a Meteor with Armstrong Siddeley Sapphires, each of which has a thrust in excess of 7,000 lbs.; this, and the Rolls-Royce Avon, are the two most powerful motors in the world. This Meteor has a tremendous climb, but Eric Greenwood, former Gloster test pilot and now sales manager, tells me that it cannot be pushed above Mach .88 (equivalent to about 650 m.p.h.) however much extra power is available.

The next bunch were mainly for slower flying; trainers, helicopters, and light transport. First was N. J. Capper in the Scottish Aviation Pioneer 2 with wings fitted with slots and flaps to give slow flying. It took off in a surprisingly short space and landed almost as vertically as a helicopter. Hugh Kendall flew the Handley Page (Reading) trainer and R. G. Wheldon flew a similar job made by Percivals, which might be rather appropriately named the "Prune" after the mythical Pilot Officer Prune, R.A.F., who always does everything wrong, as no doubt many pupils on this trainer will do. But the Percival "Prune" might prevent Pilot Officer Prunes from breaking their silly necks!

Ranald Porteous demonstrated the Auster Aiglet, a useful four-seater which sells as cheaply as a pre-war three-seater but has a better performance. Pat Fillingham gave a good show in the Canadian-designed de Havilland Chipmunk, which was adopted as the standard trainer for the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. Bristol and Westland helicopters followed and could, no doubt, both have landed simultaneously on the wing of the Brabazon which was getting ready to fly.

Bill Pegg, who piloted the Brab, told me that he would not fly if there was a cross-wind of more than 10 m.p.h., for the Farnborough runways are only fifty yards wide, which left only fifteen yards on each side of the main wheels; but the weather was kind and he flew each day. The Brabazon towers above all other aircraft at Farnborough, but is so beautifully proportioned that it does not look big till one comes quite close. Its great size gives a false impression of its speed, making it seem slow. With no fuss, rather like a seagoing liner leaving dock, the Brabazon taxied to the position for take off. While still apparently taxying quite slowly she became airborne. The intercom was hooked up to the airfield loudspeakers so that we could hear Bill giving orders to his crew to retract the wheels, give more or less power from the motors, etc. He made a wide sweeping turn and flew past, at what seemed low speed, at about 500 feet. We heard Bill say his airspeed was 180 knots, but it looked less than half that. Then he made another wide sweep, a long, low, straight glide, and touched down and taxied back to the hard standing which had been re-inforced for this 130-ton monster.

Up till then some people had thought of the Brabazon as an expensive white elephant which could never be any good as an airliner. This demonstration changed the views of all but the most stubborn, and we visualise a fleet of Brabazon 2s with Proteus turboprops, one of which is being built, operating a luxury service between London and New York and capturing the cream of the Atlantic traffic as the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth have done. The Brabazon in 1950 is the only airliner in the world which is capable of flying from London to New York against the prevailing wind without a stop. I have never seen an airliner with such spacious comfort. Her performance at Farnborough proved that she will be able to operate from any runway which is of international standard. We had been promised the Brabazon at these Air Shows for so long that it seemed wonderful to have her really with us at last. The year 1951 may see the Dollar Princess fly over and then we will have seen all of the outstanding British airliners which have been promised ever since the war ended.

During the week of the show the Hawker Siddeley combine gave a cocktail party at the Dorchester Hotel, London, to which everyone of importance in the world of aviation was invited. That great pioneer, T. O. M. Sopwith, received the guests, among whom were most of the test pilots flying in the show.

Nowhere else in the world is there an air show like the S.B.A.C. Show, and buyers from almost every free country in the world were there to choose their aircraft, both civil and military, for future use. They had a wide choice and saw some wonderful flying by Britain's top test pilots.

Just after the Brabazon had landed on the opening day the Avro Delta was flown over from Boscombe Down by Roly Falk. It was extremely fast and as Roly only flew it for the first time that day he used a tail parachute to pull it up after landing. He told me it went very well, and remarked that he would not have flown it from Boscombe Down to Farnborough if he had had any doubts. It did not take part in the flying show, but was available for inspection. In 1949 the first Avro Delta was on show, but when flying on test a few days later it crashed, with fatal results to the pilot, Eric Esler.
*                    *                    *                    *

On 15th September 1950, the tenth anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Britain was celebrated. On 15th September 1940 the German Air Force, called the Luftwaffe, which literally means "Air Weapon", was so decisively defeated by the numerically smaller but spiritually much greater R.A.F., that Britain was never again attacked in daylight by large fleets of bombers. After that the Luftwaffe could attack only with big formations by night, or by single fast bombers or fighters, adapted to carry small bombs. This was the first British victory of the war.

In my diary for 15th September 1940 I wrote: "We had our usual Sunday morning daylight mass raid on London. About noon I heard the unmistakable drone of a mass formation very high up, and I could see, at about 15,000 feet, a dozen or more big formations of enemy bombers escorted by fighters with R.A.F. fighters attacking them. I saw a fighter coming down in a uncontrollable spin, well alight. They all passed away to the south east, fighting hard, and, soon after, our fighters began to return. Again in the afternoon I heard the sinister hum of a big formation and could see more enemy bombers very high, and heard bombs descending with a horrible whistle and a cr-r-rump! They were not far off. I cycled from Streatham towards London and saw a gas main had been broken and was flaming. No cafés could open as there was no gas with which to cook. There was a terrific raid in the night and bombs fell all over the place. It was reported on the radio that a Dornier was brought down in Streatham High Road, but I saw no signs of it. As I was walking home a bomb whistled down not far off. I said to a man, a stranger, "That was near", and he replied, "Well, there is plenty of room for them". I thought, "What a nice philosophic outlook!"

The 1950 Tenth Anniversary Week began on 10th September by a most stirring gathering organised by the R.A.F. Association at London's Albert Hall, to which thousands of ex-R.A.F. men and women flocked. Cadets of the A.T.C., who were kids of five, six or seven during the Battle, brought into the arena half-scale models of World War I aeroplanes, followed by a Spitfire, very well made and smartly erected by cadets of Chelsea A.T.C. Squadron, and, finally, a model of a present-day jet Vampire was let down from the roof. This episode was followed by that great song of the R.A.F., "Lords of the Air", splendidly sung by the newly-formed choir of the South Eastern Area of the R.A.F.A. That song could be a really great one if it were more strongly orchestrated, for it epitomised the spirit of the R.A.F. when it was played and sung in 1940 as the Battle of Britain was at its height. It was at that time that Winston Churchill spoke those famous words, "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few." Those who fought in the Battle of Britain have been known ever since as "The Few", and will, I hope, be suitably commemorated each year on 15th September.

To celebrate this tenth anniversary, a formation of R.A.F. and U.S.A.F. aircraft, led by a lone Hawker Hurricane (which type did more than any other to win the Battle), were to have flown over London to take our thoughts back to that fine, sunny Sunday in 1940, when formations over London were often those of the now almost forgotten Luftwaffe. The day in 1950 was rainy with low cloud at 12.30 p.m., the time arranged for the fly-past, so it was postponed until 5.30 p.m. At 1 p.m. the Air Ministry, with touching faith in their forecasts which have so often been wrong, cancelled the fly past as more rain and low cloud were forecast, but the flight could have been made, for at 5.30 p.m. it was fine and clouds were above 3,000 feet. The R.A.F. Association, through its branches all over Britain, organised fitting celebrations. The Association has many branches all over the world, especially in the Commonwealth and even in New York.
*                    *                    *                    *

On Saturday, 16th September, as the culmination of a week of celebration an air race, initiated by the Daily Express and organised by the Royal Aero Club was flown over a 202-mile course from Hurn Airport near Bournemouth to Herne Bay in the Thames Estuary. Aircraft flew at less than 1,000 feet and not more than 500 yards from the coast, passing Bournemouth, Cowes, Portsmouth, Bognor, Worthing, Brighton, Beachy Head, Eastbourne, Hastings, Hythe, Folkestone, Dover, Deal, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, and Margate, all of which towns took the first brunt of the famous Battle.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the coast, so this race was probably seen by more people than had witnessed any air race before.

Such a race would be useless if the main consideration were to get a maximum number of people to pay gate money, for the whole course was free except for the few who wished to go into Hurn Airport to see the start. This race gave great satisfaction to the T.B.U.—the "Throttle Benders' Union"—which is the name by which the new generation of keen young men with their own aircraft are known to themselves, for they push their throttles hard open for the whole race!

Before the race started, the great 130-ton Bristol Brabazon cruised along the course, majestically, at a height of 1,000 feet, flown by Bill Pegg. It seemed to be much lower and it was only when one comprehended that the wing-span was 230 feet, and that the Brabazon was at least four spans above the sea, that one could realise its height must have been 1,000 feet.

The race attracted 76 entries, of which 67 started and 61 finished. There were no high-speed jet-propelled aircraft, for the race had to be flown at under 1,000 feet; at full throttle at such low level there are not many jet aircraft which would have enough fuel, even for so short a course. The Marathon 2, powered by two Mamba turboprops, was the only turbo-powered entrant. It was flown by Hugh Kendall, who had recently flown the Marathon 1 to South Africa. He acquitted himself well and was among the first bunch to finish.

The winner was Norman Charlton, a car dealer from the North of England, in his Percival Procter, with de Havilland Gipsy Queen 2, who averaged 164.5 m.p.h. Charlton learned to fiy in 1947 "for fun"; after only ten hours solo, he flew to South Africa and back, with his wife as navigator. He was never among those fancied for the race, nor did he seem to be making the running, flying at about 50 feet above the water and only appearing as a possible winner in the last few seconds. He won the Daily Express Challenge Cup, £1,000 first prize, and £50 for being first in his class of aircraft. The next two places went to Miles aircraft; Ian Forbes, in a Nighthawk, won second prize of £500, and third was flight Lieut. P. Raymond, D.F.C., in a Hawk Trainer, known in the R.A.F. as a Magister, winning a prize of £250, and £50 for his class prize. The four women did not do well; Miss J. L. A. Hughes, in an American Fairchild Argus, finishing thirteenth, was the first woman home.

The race was important in that it brought the Miles family, Fred and George, back personally into sporting flying, in which their designs have had so much success in all races since the war. In this race one third of the aircraft were of Miles design. Fred himself, the former head of Miles Aircraft Ltd., which was liquidated in 1947, had entered a new design named Aries 1, built by his new firm, F. G. Miles Ltd. at Redhill. It is a development of the Gemini, but unfortunately he did not have it finished in time to start. His brother, George, designer of most Miles aircraft, who is now chief designer to Airspeed Ltd, flew a Miles Aerovan. George, in his fortieth year, is in a responsible position, so wisely decided to take no risks. He told me some weeks before the race that he thought it would be better to arrive slightly late, alive and in one piece, instead of coming in DEAD on time! That might be an excellent slogan for airlines. However, he won his class prize of £50.

Fifty-nine-year-old Louis Strange, who learned to fly in 1913 and saw active service in both world wars, in which he won the D.S.O., M.C., and D.F.C. and a bar, was the oldest competitor.

I watched the race from Herne Bay Pier, on which were Whitney Straight, chairman of the R.Ae.C., who was a Battle of Britain pilot, and Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding, who was Air Officer Commanding, Fighter Command when the Battle was won. We all had a real thrill when we saw that flock of small aircraft, like a swarm of midges, come into sight round Margate point in a real fighting finish.

As the Daily Express have offered their Challenge Cup, it is hoped that they will sponsor this race as an annual event in Battle of Britain Week, for it is a splendid race, alike for competitors and spectators. Charles Gardner, the B.B.C. air correspondent, gave a commentary which was relayed to spectators all along the route. This was a difficult and complicated commentary to make, but Charles gave it with his usual clarity and good humour, and materially added to the success of the race.

Here is the finishing order of the leaders:

1. No. 51—N. W. Charlton, Percival Proctor 1 (£1,000 prize);
2. No. 60—I. A. Forbes, Miles Night-Hawk (£500);
3. No. 36—Flight-Lieut. P. Raymond, D.F.C., Miles Hawk Trainer (£250);
4. No. 64—Squadron-Leader J. Rush, A.F.C., Miles Falcon 6;
5. No. 20—R. E. Clear, Comper Swift; and
6. No. 7—G. Reid-Walker, Piper Supercruiser.

Class prizes, £50 each, for aircraft attaining the fastest speed over the course—classified according to the fully loaded weight at take-off went to—

- Class 1 A (less than 500 kgs.)—No. 46: Captain J . H. Christie, B.H.T. Beauty (handicap); No. 20: R. E. Clear, Comper Swift.
- Class 1 B (500 to 1,000 kgs.)—No. 70: R. R. Paine, Miles Speed 6 (handicap); No. 36: Flight-Lieut. P. Raymond, Miles Hawk Trainer 3.
- Class 1 C (1,000 to 1,750 kgs.)—No. 64: Squadron-Leader J. Rush, Miles Falcon 6 (handicap); No. 51: N. W. Charlton, Percival Proctor l.
- Class 1 D (1,750 to 3,000 kgs.)—No. 68: C. G. Alington, Percival Q.6 (handicap); No. 21: G. H. Miles, Miles Aerovan 4.
- Class 1 E (3,000 to 4,500 kgs.)—No. 76: F. Murphy, Hawker Hurricane 2 c (handicap); No. 75: A. E. Gunn, Boulton Paul Balliol.
- Open Class (over 4,500 kgs.)—Handicap and speed—No. 74: H. Kendall. Handley Page Marathon 2.

First home of the woman fliers was Miss J. L. A. Hughes in her Fairchild Argus I. She finished 13th. [Note 6].
*                    *                    *                    *


Looking ahead and forecasting the future of anything is always dangerous, but having watched the results of prophecies about the future of aviation during the past forty years sort themselves, I get something of a clue to future developments.

In 1919, the year in which civil aviation first began, the Controller General of Civil Aviation, Major Gen. Sir Frederick Sykes, made a number of predictions for the future. One that I especially remember was that aviation would, like Ariel, put a girdle round the Earth and he confidently expected that an air service would fly with regularity from England to Australia in four days. Such a prediction seemed quite fantastic at the time, for Ross and Keith Smith had not made their flight from England to Australia in 28 days. Airline speeds were then less than 100 m.p.h. and the longest, and almost the only, air route in the world which was being flown with any regularity was that between London and Paris.

Alcock and Brown had only just staggered across the Atlantic. The predictions of Sir Frederick Sykes seemed highly fanciful at the time, yet one can now fly from London to Darwin almost every day of the week by either B.O.A.C. or Q.E.A. in just under four days, and to Sydney in four and a half days. Sir Miles Thomas, chairman of B.O.A.C., has stated that within two years there will be a service by Comet which will bring Sydney within thirty-six hours of London.

It is credibly reported from the United States that pilots have there been reaching speeds of 1,000 m.p.h. The record speed of the time has been the normal air travel speed of 10 or l5 years later. When I was flying from London to Copenhagen in the Comet in March 1950, cruising at 490 m.p.h. in perfect comfort, I was amazed to think that we were flying 150 m.p.h. faster than the speed at which John Boothman won the Schneider Trophy in 1931. If anyone had told me then that John's fantastic-looking speed would one day be the speed of an airliner, I am sure I would have thought it just one of those silly prophecies.

In July 1950 I watched the Fairey 17, with a fuselage as big as a small airliner and with a load which I was assured was as heavy as a dozen passengers, take off from the "apron" at White Waltham in 250 yards. It seemed to me that if the Fairey could do that with proper flappery, then an airliner with 50 or 100 passengers should be able to do likewise—and no doubt will do so within perhaps five or ten years, and certainly within twenty years. That is a natural development. Then perhaps the Ministry of Civil Aviation will be able to breed white elephants at Heathrow, or allow it to return to its original use as a food production area. As soon as designers turn their attention to developing efficiency at the low end of the speed range, then we shall get aeroplanes which can use short airstrips and fly safely in low visibility. That is a development which is inevitable.

If aeroplanes are already flying at 1,000 m.p.h., then it must follow, as the night follows the day, that airliners will fly at that speed and the 12,000 miles from London to Sydney will be flown in twelve hours. Indeed that time may, one day, be reduced to one hour. Even before then most of the pleasure may have gone from fiying—many people will say that pleasure has already gone from it. Having flown 70,000 miles on the airlines in the past 15 months, I most certainly do not agree, as I had a great deal of pleasure with B.O.A.C. and other lines taking such good care of me.

In the early days at Croydon we used to suggest that one day airliners would fly at 200 m.p.h. That speed seemed to be the very ultimate ever dreamed. A racer named the Bamel won the Aerial Derby of 1923 at 192 m.p.h., flown by ex-airline pilot Larry Carter. It seemed just silly to think that an airliner could ever fly, or at any rate fly safely, at a greater speed. Yet 200 m.p.h. is now considered far too slow for an airliner to cruise.

In the course of thirty-one years flying on the airlines, I have progressed from the wonder—and wonder it was—of flying in comparative comfort from London to Paris in two-and-a-half hours, to a flight of 30,000 miles in twenty-six days with no feeling of tiredness at the end.

Is it pure fantasy to suggest that in another thirty-one years it may be possible to have a trip around the solar system planned with as much oertainty as B.O.A.C. Tours Department planned my recent trip? It may even be that this is an underestimate and that, instead of merely trying to fly faster than sound, the next step will be to fly faster than light. The thought of flying faster than light in 1950 is no more fantastic than was the thought of flying faster than sound in 1919. Scientists have "proved" that it will be impossible to fly as fast as light, but scientists have "proved" many things to be impossible which subsequently were done!

Perhaps British Inter-Planetary Airways may supersede B.E.A. and at Kensington Air Station you will hear on whatever has superseded those cacophonous loud-speakers, "Will passengers for flight No. 222 to Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune please take their seats in the helicopter-coach at the back of the building". At the Airways Terminal of British Overdue Adastral Corporation you may hear, "Will passengers for Polaris, catching connection with Great Bear Airways, and for all stars to the Milky Way, take their seats in the rocket at the South end of this building". And I do not doubt that they will take good care of you.

Does the idea of travel in rocket space ships with forward jets for stopping, sound any more fantastic and dangerous than the idea of a 200 m.p.h. aeroplane from England to Australia appeared in 1919? Not to me!
*                    *                    *                    *

Here let me recall the early aeronautical popular songs. The earliest I remember, 1900 or before, was:

     "Up in a balloon, boys, up in a balloon,
     Sailing round with the pretty stars,
     And all around the moon".

Soon after the Wright brothers' first flight in December 1903, the pantomime songs of 1904 or 1905 included:

     "In my aeroplane for two,
     I will sail away with you.
     Don't waste any more time below,
     Let's get married and up we go.
     In my aeroplane for two,
     For miles and miles we'll fly.
     Oh, what a sensation!
     A honeymoon in the sky"!

And then this one:

     "All the girls began to cry,
     Hi, hi, hi, Mister Mackay,
     Take us with you when you fly,
     Back to the Isle of Skye".

But this is where I came in.

Finally, I will believe in 'flying saucers' when I see one, unmistakably—and can be quite sure it is neither hallucination nor meteorite!
POSTSCRIPT

News was received in London on the evening of 21st February, 1951, that the honour of making the first non-stop direct flight in a jet-propelled aircraft, without refuelling, across the Atlantic Ocean, had fallen to a British aeroplane, the Canberra light bomber built by the English Electric Co. Ltd., powered by two Rolls-Royce "Avon" axial flow turbojets. The Canberra flew from Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Gander in Newfoundland, a distance of 2,060 statute miles, in 4 hours 40 minutes at an average speed of 441.43 m.p.h. Though this was the fastest recorded flight across the Atlantic, it cannot be claimed as a record because there is no recognised record between those two points, and in any case it was not observed officially by the F.A.I.

The pilot was Squadron Leader A. E. Callard, D.F.C., and his crew consisted of Flight Lieutenant H. A. R. Robson, radio officer, and Flight Lieutenant E. A. J. Haskett, navigator.

They took off from Aldergrove at 12.43 G.M.T., and landed at Gander at 17.23 G.M.T. As Gander time is three and a half hours behind G.M.T. they arrived there at 13.53 local time. The flight from east to west was made against the prevailing wind which, at 40,000 feet (at which height most of the flight was made) blows at speeds of from 60 to 100 m.p.h.

The purpose of this flight was not to break records, but to deliver the Canberra to Washington, where it was flown for appraisal by pilots of the U.S.A.F. with a view to its adoption as a light bomber for them. News has since come from America that the Canberra is to be put into mass production there by the Martin Aircraft Corporation. It was already in big production in the United Kingdom for the Royal Air Force, and in Australia for the R.A.A.F.: the first jet-propelled bomber to be put into mass production anywhere in the world.

It first flew in the summer of 1950 and created a sensation at the Air Show at Farnborough that year, flown by the English Electric Company's chief test pilot, Wing Commander R. P. ("Bee") Beamont, and everyone was astonished to see this big machine with its wing-span of 63 feet show the agility and speed of a fighter.

It seems likely that the Canberra will be a predominant aircraft during the first years of the second half-century in Service aviation, just as the de Havilland Comet is the predominant air liner.
*                    *                    *                    *

The Royal Aero Club announced on 1st March, 1951, that the Britannia Trophy for 1950 has been awarded to Philip Wills for winning the national gliding contest in that year—his fourth consecutive win. It has been won for gliding only once before—in 1922.
ABBREVIATIONS

A.A. Automobile Association
A.B.A.C. Association of British Aero Clubs
A.F.C. Air Force Cross
A.F.M. Air Force Medal
A.F.R.Ae.S. Associate Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society
A.N.E.C. Air Navigation Engineering Company
A.O.C. Air Officer Commanding
A.R.Ae.S. Associate of the Royal Aeronautical Society
A.R.B. Air Registration Board
A.S.I. Air speed indicator
A.T.A. Air Transport Auxiliary
A.T.C. Air Training Corps
A.T. & T. Aircraft Transport and Travel, Ltd.
B.A. and  B.A.C. British Aircraft Company, Ltd.
BE Blériot Experimental
B.E.A. British European Airways  Corporation
B.G.A. British Gliding Association
B. & M. Bariquand et Marre (now known as Barimar)
B.M.W. Bayersche-Moteren Werke
B.O.A.C. British Overseas Airways Corporation
B. S.A.A. British South American Airways Corporation
B.T.H. British Thomson Houston
C.A.G. Civil Air Guard
C. of A. Certificate of Airworthiness
C.A.L.T.F. Combined Air Lift Task Force
C.B.E. Commander of the Order of the British Empire
C.F.S. Central Flying School
C.O. Commanding Officer
DC Douglas Commercial
D.F.C. Distinguished Flying Cross
D.F.M. Distinguished Flying Medal
DH de Havilland
D.S.C. Distinguished Service Cross
D.S.M. Distinguished Service Medal
D.S.O. Distinguished Service Order
E.N.V. en V (cylinder formation)
F.A.A. Fleet Air Arm
F.A.I. Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
F.R.Ae.S. Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society
G.A.P.A.N. Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators
G.C.A. ground-controlled approach
G.E.C. General Electric Company, Ltd.
G.M.T. Greenwich mean time
HP Handley Page
h.p. horse power
l.A.T.A. International Air Transport Association 
I.C.A.O. International Council of Air Organisations
I.F.R. Instrument Flight Rules
K.A.S. Kensington Air Station
K.B.E. Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
K.L.M. Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij
km.p.h. kilometres per hour
K.N.I.L.M. Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij
L.A.P. London Air Port
M.C. Military Cross
M.C.A. Ministry of Civil Aviation
M.O.S. Ministry of Supply
m.p.h. miles per hour
NC Navy Curtiss
N.C.O. non-commissioned officer
O.T.C. Officers' Training Corps
P.l.C.A.O. Provisional International Council of Air Organisations
p.s.p. pierced steel planking
Q.A.N.T.A.S. Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, Ltd.
Q.E.A. Qantas Empire Airways Ltd.
R.A.A.F. Royal Australian Air Force
R.A.C. Royal Automobile Club
R.Ae.C. Royal Aero Club
R.A.E. Royal Aircraft Establishment
R.A.F. until 1st April, 1918, Royal Aircraft Factory
R.A.F. Royal Air Force
R.A.F.V.R. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
R.A.S. Reserve Aeroplane Squadron (of R.F.C.)
R.Ae.S. Royal Aeronautical Society
R.F.C. Royal Flying Corps
R.M.L.I. Royal Marine Light Infantry
R.N. Royal Navy
R.N.A.S. until 1st April, 1918, Royal Naval Air Service
R.N.A.S. Royal Naval Air Station
R.N.Z.A.F. Royal New Zealand Air Force
r.p.m. revolutions per minute
S.A.A. South African Airways
S.A.A.F. South African Air Force
S.A.B.C.A. Société Anonyme Belge de la Construction Aéronautique
S.A.B.E.N.A. Société Anonyme Belge d’Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne
S.A.S.O. Senior Air Staff Officer
S.B.A.C. Society of British Aircraft Constructors
S.M.M.T. Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
S.N.E.T.A. Société Nationale pour l’Etude Construction Aéronautique
SPAD formerly Société pour les Appareils Deperdussin
SPAD Société pour Aviation et ses Dérivees
s.t. static thrust (power of jet motors)
T.B.U. Throttle Benders' Union
T.E.A.L. Tasman Empire Airways, Ltd.
U.S.A.F. United States Air Force
V.C. Victoria Cross
V.F.R. Visual Flight Rules
V.I.P. very important person
V.R. Volunteer Reserve
W.A.A.F. Women's Auxiliary Air  Force
W.O. War Office
W.R.A.F. Women’s Royal Air Force
ZR Zeppelin rigid





NOTES

1. Griffith Brewer was an English balloonist and aviator. He was also a founding member of the Royal Aero Club and a friend of the Wright Brothers.

2. Friern Hospital (formerly Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum) was a psychiatric hospital in North London.

3. The officially recorded speed of 41.292 kph actually equates to 25.65 mph.                      

4. With regard to the Accidents Investigation Committee set up by the Royal Aero Club, the instigator of this was Mervyn O’Gorman, who was Superintendent of the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough before the 1914-18 war, a dominant figure in early British aviation.
   
5. Though the Aero Club was founded on 24th September 1901, it was not registered at Somerset House until the 29th October of that year.

6. A flying replica of the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle was constructed for the film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) and was flown during filming by ex-ATA pilot Joan Hughes, who was sufficiently experienced and light in weight.

7. The author appears to have mistakenly applied the time difference in the wrong sense. An aircraft travelling east to west at sufficient speed would be able to arrive in America at the same local time that it left Europe.

8. Smith's copilot on this flight was Sir Gordon Taylor. With the right engine out of action with a shattered propeller and the left engine losing oil, Sir Gordon bravely left the safety of the cabin and crawled out—struggling against the slipstream threatening to blow him off the aircraft—to the right engine to collect oil in a vacuum flask. Then he repeated this hazardous procedure on the other side of the aircraft to transfer the oil to the left engine. Six transfers were needed to keep the left engine running and thus save the aircraft from certain ditching. For this feat Sir Gordon was awarded the George Cross.

9. Author Geoffrey Dorman writes: In connection with the sinking incident, Kenworthy has told me, for record in this book: "When the Pellet sank with me I was breathing air most of the time owing to some air trapped in the cockpit (or hull). I was not nearly so unconscious as I appeared to be when rescued by Lord Montague of Beaulieu in his motor-launch. I merely remained so because I was being revived by some old brandy out of his flask. I recovered when the flask was completely empty!"

10. If the noted time is correct this equates to a speed of just over 60 m.p.h.

11. Perhaps the author meant to write excluded fuel and pilot.

12. Internationale Studienkommission für den motorlosen Flug (International Study Commission for Motorless Flight).

13. All data as stated in the orginal edition of this book.

14. These figures are not compatible.

15. The Duchess was a proposed development of the Princess flying-boat which never materialised.



Steemrok Publishing
steemrok.com