Group News

Armstrong Siddeley Flying Ctrub

By now all members will be aware that the Tipsy is in one piece again, airborne and this is due in no small measure to the very excellent service provided by Mr. Humphries of Silverstone, the engineer responsible for the overhaul of the spare engine. The most optimistic estimate for the engine strip-down and testing was six weeks, but by pulling all the stops out, he completed the work in just about two weeks.

With such service available for Walter Mikron engines, they must seriously be considered by anyone building a Turbi.

Having got the engine back, the task in hand was to get it back into the airframe again and our thanks go to Cyril Millhouse and Reg Cleaver and their all-too-small band of helpers who got the Tipsy airborne agair-r in record time. Nor must we forget the valuable services of Noel Roper, who performed all the final engine checks.

The last 'Honourable Mention' goes to Stan Clarke again. With nothing left to do he set about cleaning the Tipsy down lrom nose to tail and from wing-tip to wing-tip. Quite a considerable solo effort when you think of the surface area involved.

So, after being flown to Elmdon for the Annual Airframe Check, by the last weekend in June we were again a Flying Club in the true sense of the word. As might have been expected the weather clamped and curtailed the prograrnme somewhat, but that of course is nothing new.

Last year, whilst the Tipsy was on C. of A. we had the most marvellous weather as soon as it came back it was either raining or gusting with wind up to 30 knots. Would members thir-rk me too much of a rotten swine if I said I hope the Tipsy packs up flying for the two weeks, 3rdll6th Ar"rgust?

It seems that our fame not only goes before us but travels over the seas to foreign parts.

A short while ago our Secretary had occasion to correspond with Mr. Maurice J. P. Tips, the designer of the Tipsy and Technical Manager of Avions Fairey, Belgium. In his reply Mr. Tips said he had heard that we produced a Club Newsletter, and could he please be sent a copy each month and also any back numbers we had available.

Naturally we were highly delighted to be able to comply with this worthy gentleman's wishes but we can't help wondering how on earth our modest effort has cast it influence so far afield. They do say though that a first class article is its own advertisement.

One pace forward the man who said 'Bighead'.

The Committee mernber responsible for keeping the Aircraft log books up to date is Charlie Reeves, and l-re was telling us that whilst browsing through some early entries l-re finds that the Tipsy has been flown by no other person than Peter Twiss, the chappie who holds the Official World Air Speed Record.

It's as we have said all along. If you start right -you just can't go wrong, and what better way than starting with the Tipsy. True, by that time, he probably had a few tl-rousand hours in his log book on Spitfires and the like-but what's a Spitfire or two when talking about the Tipsy?

Experimental Flying Group Summer Camp, 1957

In all, some 15 members of the Group were able to attend the Summer Camp, which was based at

Waldringfield in Suffolk, from the 20th to the 27th July, 1957. Of these, eight were present for the whole period and the remainder spent various odd days there. An additional member, who joined the Group for the period, was Mike Darbyshire, ol the Cardiff Group, who came along to complete his P.P.L. course which he did by putting in 15 hours'flying and passing all his tests.

One Maggie, G-AITN, was based at Ipswich Airport for the first five days of the Camp and then G-ALIO took over when the former became due for a check 2. Between them, the aircraft flew a total of 54 hours.

One item of interest in the flying programme was a landing competition. For this each competitor had to climb to 2,000 feet a.a.l. and descend on to the aerodrome without use of the engine, carrying out forced-landing procedure and attempt to touch the wheels on a line across the runway. Ken Guest, one of the student pilots, won the contest, touching l1 yards from the line and David Tester came second with 40 yards. It was encouraging to note that nobody undershot the airfield. Each competitor contributed 5s. to the kitty and as nine took part the first prize came to one hour's free flying.

Ipswich possesses a wonderful aerodrome with smooth and level grass landing strips and to Group members who are conditioned to the controls and frustrations that are sometimes imposed on us at Croydon, flying at Ipswich was a holiday in itself. There were absolutely no restrictions and we were even allowed to move the landing tee on to either runway direction to suit the wind conditions-and ourselves ! The excellent clubroom and bar were placed at our disposal and we received the utmost co-operation from the staff of the airport, to whom we are greatly indebted. Actually they are very lucky to have their airport still as all members on the Camp were for moving the whole outfit to London, lock, stock and barrel, as a replacement for Croydon ! A novelty for those who indulged in crosscountry flying from Ipswich was the complete absence of hills and the profusion of disused airfields in East Anglia. The 'lumpiness' of the terrain around and on Croydon was particularly noticeable on returning home.

In addition to the flying, boating facilities were available at Waldringfield close by the site of the chalet and tents which comprised the camp. A dinghy with outboard motor was in great demand, especially as it was easier to handle than the small yacht, which completed the nautical equipment. This latter vessel proved somewhat dicey to handle, particularly in a wind of any strength ar-rd it succeeded in capsizing and pitching three members into the water on the last day of the camp ! They spent a very damp half,-hour clinging to the yacht before the dinghy came to the rescue. It appears that one can stall other things besides aeroplanes !

Further alarm and despondency was caused early one mornir-rg when the dinghy, complete with outboard motor, was found to have dragged its anchor in the night and had vanished. As tl-re site of the camp was roughly halfway between the tidal limits of the River Deben, a distance of about eight miles, the dinghy could have drifted up river or even out into the North Sea and a search with the yacht would have been a lengthy process. A quick solution to the problem was available and the Maggie was pressed into service. Within five minutes of commencing the search from tl-re air at the mouth of the river, the missing dinghy was discovered about one and a half rniles downstream from the camp. By a prearranged signal system of wing-waggling and steep turns over the dinghy's position, a speedy salvage operation was carried out. This was, for us, a novel use of the aeroplane.

Tl-re Ipswich Camp was the idea of David Tester and Ian Burn, owners of tl-re chalet at Waldringfield and was an experiment to combine flying with other holiday activities. Everyone agreed it was a great success and we can thoroughly recommend tl-re idea to other Groups.

Cardiff Ultra-Light Aeroplane CIub

The Cardiff Ultra-Light Aeroplane Club was founded in April, 1947, when D. B. Atkins, of Cardiff, and W. G. Williams, of Barry, both individual members of the Ultra-Light Aircraft tragedy came when FJS crashed while trying to make a forced landing (stalled). This resulted in the death of two members. This naturally caused a severe drop in membership, but once again,'a hard core' remained who believed in the future of aviation, and the part that light aircraft have to play in it. In April, 1956, the club was started again with a Tipsy, G-AISA.

Association, as it was then called, were put in touch with each other by the Association. They placed an advert. in the local press, gathered a few enthusiasts, and so the club was started. Weekly subscriptions, raffies, and a dance, were put on, and eventually they had enough money to buy the club's first aircraft: a 40 h.p. 'PiperCub', G-AAFH. This was overhauled by the members, but the day before the insurance was taken out, a freak storm hit the aircraft, and it was blown over on to its back in the hangar, and wrecked.

Although badly shaken by seeing 12 months' hard work destroyed, the lads rolled their sleeves up; they sold the wreckage for f,50, borrowed some money and purchased a Tipsy, G-AFJS, at the end of 1948. An ex-R.A.F. instructor, Hugh Davies, was the club's instructor (C.F.f .). About ayear later, a second Tipsy was purchased (G-AFSC) with the aid of a loan from the Kemsley Flying Trust, and under the leadership of Hugh Davies (now well known as 'Taffy' Davies, C.F.I. to the Lancs. Aero-club, at Barton) the club thrived. The club were the winners of the Masefield Trophy, which it retained for the second year also. However, when Hugh Davies left the area, training was brought to a standstill and the club had to sell FSC in order to retract. This Tipsy (FSC), was sold to the A.S. Flying Club. The club carried on with the generous help of the Cardiff Aeroplane Club, whose C.F.I., Mr. G. Kemp, gave what time he could spare, assisted by I. Lewis, who had now obtained an assistant instructor's ratrng, to club training. In July, 1955, real

After this severe setback the club was not easy to get moving, but today, very slowly, it is rebuilding itself up. We sincerely hope that we shall be able to add our names to the list of winners of the Masefield Trophy.

Cornish Gliding (& Flying) CIub

Cornish Gliding (& Flying) Club got airborne on 26th May and have had nearly 1,000 flights so far, and now have 120 members.

Two ab initio solos so far and another six nearly ready. In July/August, everyone is flat out for catering for visitors here, but by autumn I think there will be more interest in private owner groups.

One snag is, no more room in the hangar but we are applying to the Air Ministry (W.L.), Tavistock Square, for permission to erect a roof and a wall round some of the old Spitfire bay pens.