NcD Fttnway pFolrlerrrs Ion the Britannia

The Bristol Britannia can operate from existingnrnways at airports throughout, the world. From a 6,000-foot runwav it can lift a 28,000-Ib payload, together with enough fuel for a sector distance of 2,500 miles including full allowances and reserves.

Powered by four 4,12O-horsepower Bristol Proteus engines, the Britannia cruises at a guaranteed 400 mph and x.ill carry up to 133 passertgers. No other aircraft, shows comparable economy over such a wide variety ofstage lengths.

fn fact, its remarkable economy is maintained on all ranges from the longest trans-polar flight to short, inter-city runs, coupled with unrivallecl standards of passen€fer comfort er.en in high clensit), configurations. Britannia,s are now in con-nnercial service with British Overseas Airways Corporation.

BR'STOLBa

The following operalors have ordered Brilannias :

British Overseos Airwoys Corporolion

El Al Isrqel Airlines

Cqncrdion Pocific Airlines

Ministry of Supply

Royol Air Force Tronsporl Commcrnd

Hunting-Clnn Air Tronsporf Northeost Airlines this despite a most intense activity by airlines and military aircraft, so once again another large uirpo.i is f ound where club aircraft operate with f..f.., safety alongside 'significant' air traffic'

The same thing, only more so' at Maison Blanche, the main airport of Algiers' with an activity that makes one blink' Perhaps these foreign types have some skill which is not latent in ou-r national make-up and which enables them to thread a dozen club aircraft on the same thin string as a Breguet Deux Ponts, a few Harvards' Vam"pir.r, Dakotas and D'C' 4's' not to mention u sight of the delightful Armagnac' Perhaps part of the answer can be found in the air-faring outlook so often proclaimed by our own president and which exists at the airport at Bone les Salines. At this rather pleasant spot a cha! withthelocalairlinetrafficmanagerresulted in a beautifully made two-seater R'A' 14 being wheeled out, this having been built by the local air line staff. A mention of this to the local director of the airline was equally productive and hisownmountturnedouttobeasingle-seater Starck, highly polished in the airline colours and sporting the pansiest pair of white walled tyres seen this side of Palm Beach' light two-seater being built in France' He had to eit his words when *itnitt twenty-four hours of theoffendingstatementanirateQuereyhad arrived, non-stop Deauville to Algiers' by l9!et and asked him in the equivalent French: What iio n. think this thing outside was, Highland Mist?

Another delightful little story of the true enthusiast concerns a member of the French R'S'A'' who landed at a large airfield where a somewhat liverish official poLpously asked whether he was flying in IFir, 'Oh no,' came the reply' 'I am flying in Jodel'' If people are so pompous they deserve to have the McMichae1 taken' the pansiest pair of white walled tyres ' ' '

Night stopping in Cagliari produced one of those- coincidences which seem only to happen in aviation, counting noses in a crowded lift Uto"gftt to the fore the genial Lucien Querey' the full-back size Jodel constructor of Bernay' who is producing two seaters at six a month and ,.liirrg them as fast as they are made' Querey is the-type ultra-light aviation needs more of as i*r, tofa UV a high official in Algerian aviation' who had rashly stated in print that there was no

.flying in IFR

A brief stop in Lyons could not pass without meeting Georges Beraud, the father of the French- ultraJight movement' and who continues to work unceasingly for the. future of our little aeroplanes. Among stories' humorous and serious, there stood out the news of Henri Mignet, the great visionary of the amateur aero;d;, who suffered so tragically when his iamented Pou du Ciel was banned' No matter what one may think of the Pou its instigator hasdevotedhislifetothedevelopmentoflater ;;;.;;t with a fervour that makes the ordinarv mortal gasp. This enthusiast has now built a two-seater, side by side cabin version' fitted with a Continental 9O which is flying regularly and apparently amazes all by its stability and ability to iorgir. the most ham-fisted mishandling' That inJfr". been done at the cost of going without meals and other essentials can only be appreciated as part of the true spirit which has made sporting aviation what it is.

Indicative of our shrinking Empire, sorry: Commonwealth, is a story which started, it appears, by some small minded official not being sure whether a flight to the Scilly Isles ranked as a foreign going clearance. This started a chain of events which led to one Group being pompously informed that such flights had not been 'envisaged' as qualifying for rebate. All this despite the fact that the aircraft is a Group aircraft and was being flown by two members of the Group, and who knows how many Group members were waiting to use the aircraft on its arrival in the Scillies? Scilly-I should say so. It need hardly be added that the Group in question is a model of proper behaviour in all its activities and keeps its aircraft in excellent trim, the members having carried out the C. of A. and a respray; keen types, Mr. Minister of TCA, why not encourage them?

Talking of keen types one cannot forget the Denham contingent of P.F.A. The Cosmelli Hirtenberg is a superbly maintained vintage piece while the sole Spartan is now fitted with a gleaming and overhauled engine. At the same time the little Chilton, soon to be Mikronised, is now a delightful study in blue and white. In fact the day is rapidly approaching when a well kept aeroplane is automatically assumed belong to P.F.A. members.

Assumed

To Belong

to P.F.A. members

A fine sight among the Tiger Club Tigers, themselves a fine sight, is a Turbulent, the first of several being built by Norman Jones at Croydon, in Rollason's hangar. A promising start has already been made to tackle the er-rgine situation and a recent snoop showed that three Ardems were well on the way, one actually running on the test bed and giving a healthy number of little horses. Perhaps next year's National Air Races will see a revival of aerial dirt track racing protagonised for so long by Don Ayre since he and others held such successful meetings with the first Drones some years before the war at Hanworth where one of the sights used to be our Chairman, Lord Sempill, riding a horse and, some say, beating the Drones in races around the club house so conveniently situated in the middle of the aerodrome. Now why would John Blake be at my door with a pistol-it must be time for press.

By Guess and by God

by the Hon. PETER VANNECK, A.F.C.

Cross-country navigation starts with that first look out of the window in the morning, if not with the television weather forecast of the night before. In other words weather means whether, or not. At the airfield, if the cloud base and visibility from the Met. Report are all right there is still the wind to reckon with, not only important in laying off the course-to-steer, but perhaps altering the chosen route by making a refuelling stop a must. If in doubt-and on a longish flight, perhaps flying through changing weather conditions, fortune may favour you more than you at first assume-arrange to overfly a potential refuelling spot fairly near the end of the flight, or consider where you would best deviate to one.

The great thing is to do all the brain work on the ground because it is axiomatic that pilots cannot think in the air, and since you will not longitr-rde line and gone up that' but the fact want to write anything down the mental arith- ,..*ir* that even the most assiduous of trackmetic required must be kept to a bare minimum. crawlers have at least to mark off their track' of course you know roughly how far it is you Now measure the distance and write it down' want to go before you considered the flight, and big, somewhere along the tine. Halve it and make you know the performance of the cab. iou also a Lark, halve the last half and make anotherthink to yourself that it pays to plug hardish into some purists will mark the first quarter too' a headwind and throttle back and waft along the poin, l:_thu, you can' with, for a pilot, comratherwithatailwind' rru "Pr! *'v o parative ease' look at yollr watch at half-way' you arso know, by the way, from ridir-rg a ioubre the elapsed time (assuming you remember bicycle, that if yo.r'hav. a headwind from A to B, when yor-r took off), and i, good time estimate stop for a drink or two and start back, it is just when, hence if, you will make it' The fi,al the perversity of inanimate objects that gives you quarter check gives you final reassurance' oi' a headwind from B to A' ii things are shaky tells you to divert'

To avoid accidents from over-optimism, the Nexi, having estimated, or measured with your just_a_fer,v_minutes-more-and-r-am-bound-to-see- kee, friend's protractor, the True track' convert something frame of mind, I think it is best to have to Magnetic and write it down, big, near the a deflnite time limit fixed in one,s mind. In a start of your line. Now light a cigarette and Tiger Moth, say, do not start if the trip works decide how much to aim off for the wind. Say ont to more than2f,hours, and at 2| loo[ around five degrees if it is nearly ahead or astern and and rand somewhere, regardl..r.'-' rvvr\ sr ten degiees if it is nearly abeam' You see' as with

The next consideration is the map. A one- cost accounting and a host-of other things' it is inch to a mile is really only useful if ; friend has the variance that counts' h'r other words even said .Land East-west in the field behind the if you do remember how to work the Daltort house, or the girr-friend,s picnic party has to be computer I will bet you will have to make at photographed from the air by a six-figure map reast one correction in the air' The great thing is' reference. Normal detail is quite adequate for having picked a course, to steer it steadily until light flying on the quarter-inch to a mile. per- you have a rea,y reliable indication of how far sonally I find even this unwieldy. I like the half- tut it is taking you, and yoLlr one correction million scale, and perhaps have ihe last few miles may then be bigger than if you had started by from the last unmistakable pinpoint also marked using the Dalto", u"t it will be no more complion a quarter inch, which can then be kept by cated or less accurate-and look at the trouble until wanted.

Lrrwrr vv ^-t' ^ you have saved. Welt, fold your map so it shows

Thebesthalf-milrionmapsarethepre-r.c.A.o. about 20-30 miles either side of the track' then ones, that is the ones that have not got the towns fold it as convenient up and down the track' in yelrow. I know the wood ,rrui., are rikely and it is high time to get airborne' Do not get a to be different, but the railways are much clearer, clearance unless you are going abroad' The tlie double track standing out thicker than the more light airc.uit p.ople tell officialdom tlie single, and the marks across the line coinciding more it will want to know' with each station. I rike, too, all those old war- Look at your watch, set the compass, get on time aerodromes, which can still so often be course on track and climb to height' I like about distinguished and make such excellent pinpoints 800 to 1,000 feet A.G'L', if the cloud base allows' _and to brazes with heights in metres. No one conditioned as the English are to jets

Having chosen your map, draw the track-rine has any complaint about a light plane puttering in. I know you can fly along a crease, and I past, ii tendsto get cord higher up, and one can have on occasion, when *.Iuth.. dictated a really enjoy the English. countryside and its change of pran in the air, jinked sideways to a statery homes from an altitude safely below the

dangers of the instrument-flxated air-liners'

Of course it may pay to climb for the benefit of a stronger, and veered, wind, and to see further for navigation, but unless one lets down very slowly' one seldom gets the full climb value on the descent in a light aircraft owing to the drag curve rise.

The hard work being all over, it merely remains to note which way you drift off track' letting the trend become fairly deflnite' Then when you are sure you are going, s&Y' three degrees to port, alter six to starboard until yoir regain track and then drop three to maintain it, and so on. Other alterations of course' in anticipation of observed errors, may be justified by smoke indications where for example a sea bieere near the coast nullifies the forecast wind' or, over the sea, a change noticed in the number and direction of the white horses' Avoid the temptation to jink back sharply on to track and to liy with the controls crossed ruddering into wind. When in doubt fly straight on' Your estimationmadeonthegroundisprobablybetter than your guess in the air, and something that yor, "u, recognise, even if it is the far coast' will

turn up in the end-if you have the fuel, mind'

At the half-way mark you will have your E.T.A. by doubling the time and you can check again at the three-quarter-way mark, if your trip is verging on the P.L.E'

When you get near the end, if the visibility is bad, you can change to the larger scale map at a gtod pinpoint and finish along road or rail' If you have got to hedge hop under cloud' I .."t*.rr.rrd river, rather than railway-crawling through the hills, as it is much more difficult to turn back in a cutting.

Finally, when you have landed, note your fuel consumption (from the fiIl-up) at the revs' used and what speed you were indicating' When you get consistent results you get confidence io. ti*it flying, and a knowledge as to what effect bucking fast into a headwind will have on endurance. Then you start stretching your trips' and, by and large, no greater joy can be given than a light aircraft on a summer afternoon' surveying0ld England, hill bones, Roman roads' line of river, edge of down, busyness of industry' grandeur of castle, matey village and stately [u.t-u heritage unimaginable from the ground'