How to Win the King's Cup with a Little ,Un

Memories of Baginton told by the Barton Flying Group of Barton, Manchester

Do all Groups have the same trouble in deciding on the aeroplane to buy? We ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, from Proctors to Comper Swifts in our original discussions, and finally, after one member offered to give up his work and live on the petrol rebate from a Proctor, we decided we wanted a Tipsy. At this stage the Jonahs all waded in-'ns spares, laid up lor months', 'light as a feather, turn over in a gentle breeze', 'kill yourselves', and similar encouragement whilst we looked for one of these rare machines. Eventually a fellow told us he knew of a man who had a friend who had one which was for sale. We viewed her finally at White Waltham one sunny Saturday afternoon (what visibility they have there !), and decided we would have it for very much less than was being asked. Many weeks, and haggles, later we took delivery, our leave-taking of White Waltham being cut short by a message from Control'clear off in 15 minutes or you'll be here till tomorrow-the Duke's coming to fly'. The writer'cleared off' just before the Heron, shaking his flst, well down in the cockpit. The weather decreed that Coventry would be as far as we should go on this flight and there we first made lriendly acquaintance with the ArmstrongSiddeley Flying Group. This friendship has grown although so far we are deeply n their debt for kind acts and hope to put this right some time.

Back at home base 'the man from the Board' kindly proffered a box of Swan Vestas on his first inspection, subsequent attention to the machine being very costly in consequence.

A11 being put to rights we decided that the next venture should be the King's Crp, no less ! The smallest, lightest, boldest and most easily impressed member of the Group 'volunteered, to enter the machine and preparations were put in hand at Sherburn-in-Elmet. The machine was only ready on the morning before the practice day, and then fate struck in the shape of a sick magneto. Once again our friends at A.S. Flying Group came to our aid with a spare mag., and it lell to the writer to leave for Coventry at dawn, collect the mag., take it to the nether parts of Yorkshire, have it fitted, and then ring the competitor so that the latter gentleman may come over and fly down to Coventry. However, during the whole of the day the weather was such as has never been seen since Noah got so worried and upset, and by the time the aircraft was ready even the birds were walking. On top of this our Gentleman Competitor came on the phone to say that he could not fly across the pennines and so take the Tipsy to Coventry, and it would. therefore seem that the writer would have to do it. The writer had been driving since early morning and was hungry, and since the visibility in the hangars was bad, let alone on the field, he set his face against this idea altogether. However, further pleas from the anxious man in Manchester prevailed, although there were very hard words when he said the sun was shinin! there and at Coventry. It was too, but at Sherburn it seemed unlikely ever to shine again. The writer now spoke to the local met. man for advice on a flight to Coventry, and was met with an Aurora-like 'W-h-a-t'? All else failing it was felt that to go by 'rail' would be best in the circumstances, and af,ter having wrung the mechanic's heart to gain assurances of the safety of the pilot-to-be (and his widow and two little orphans), as the flight was to be conducted at the height of some one hundred feet only, cloud base being some one hundred and fifty feet only. Those who have done any instrument take-offs will know the heavy heart with which this take-off was done without any ! Finally the shine of rails, not so very far below was discerned and we 'set off'. A veil should be drawn over the rest of the flight, except to thank British Railways for the very nice shine on their main line rails, to apologise to the pilot and co-pilot of a Viking which flew beneath me at Bawtry (and I thougl-rt I was low)-we looked long and hard at one another and it would be hard to decide who felt more sorry for the other. Finally an apology to the driver of the No. 8 bus in Melton Mowbray bus station who seemed to bite his tongue instead of the meat pie. To him I would point out that Melton Mowbray is sited on rising ground and the gap between the cloud base, myself and the No. 8 bus was then about 50 feet-and in a torrential downpour into the bargain. Strange as it may seem the sun really was shining at Rugby, the 'front' having passed through. I had formed the opinion it was a wall not a front. However the rare atmosphere was reached at 2,000 feet again and as Baginton was in sight it was decided to arrive in the 'grand manner'. As the speed built up a little reflection showed that any handicappers might suspect that this strange bird normally flew at this speed, and as later experience showed that they did, it was as well that the arrival was more circumspect. Credit is due to Mr. James Batho who in his generous way had been keeping the aerodrome open late for this solitary aircraft. Not much of that spirit about nowadays.

Air racing proves to be much less exacting and frightening than might be thought and it certainly provides a lot of fun particularly when you are operating on a shoestring. The P.F.A. had given us a lot of 'push' and it was a big help to see the smiling Imray sorting things out for us novices. Obviously many of the entrants have spent more

Popular Flying, January f February, 1958 than the profits on a Bank Rate leakage on their machines, but with animal cunning it is reasonable to expect a fair chance amongst them. Some very interesting things are to be seen; one engine which cruises at2)00 revs. was seen to give 3,200 revs. on a ground test! There is a lot of practice flying to be done over the King's Cup course for, of course, there is no time for navigation. The writer (*ug again) and the competitor came to the conslusion that the organisers had studied the surface of the moon and discovered that its counterpart on Earth was to be found in the area Baginton/Sywell/Peterborough/ Baginton.

The great day arrived and having made a brave show in the National Air Races we prepared for the King's Cup. As you may have guessed the Tipsy was first off. We were on the line in plenty of time and then some certified maniac persuaded the pilot to switch off. This is not a thing to do lightly with a Walter Mikron engine and so we spent the last moments of the count-down swinging the prop in a frenzy. If any American rocket scientists want to know what final success is in matters of this kind we can tell 'em. We hung on to the Tipsy with the engine going all out until the flug fell (not difficult really) and then away she went. Actually it is quite a thrill after all the weeks of polishing and such like to see your aeroplane set off in a big race. We recommend it to all and sundry. You may tell the handicap for we walked over to friend and competitor Fred Dunkerley after the Tipsy was away, and he had over half an hour to wait even then. As we all know we were all able to wave Fred off and then see him back again very smart like, half an hour handicap or no ! Nevertheless the Tipsy was the second in sight (with binoculars) but then we had the humiliation of seeing every damned aeroplane in the race overtake it, some of them inside the boundary even ! We shared a big drink out of Fred's big cup later however, that is when we could get it away from some rude petrol company man with a loud voice who seemed to imagine he had won it. We know which free petrol we shall accept next yearl lcontinued page t6

The first picture shows Mr. Best-Devereux of the Technical Sub-Committee in flight over Elstree Reservoir. No points are awarded for identifying his mount as a Turbulent ! The picture was taken during the visit which this machine paid to Great Britain last year. This particular model, built in France, was flown from Roger Druine's workshop to Elstree, around England and back to France without incident-save for a small misunderstanding with the runway whilst taxiing which necessitated a new propeller. We are indebted to Charles Brown for permission to reproduce his Picture.

The second picture depicts the Luton Minor now living at White Waltham. This machine was constructed by Arthur Ord-Hume, seen here in the driver's seat, from the remains of his previous Minor which, in turn, was built from the wreckage of a far distant G-AFIR of 1938 vintage. Powered by a 37 h.p. J.A.P. engine, the Minor cruises at about 65 m.p.h. Frank Parker, 'FIR's new owner, hopes to visit many Groups just as soon as warmer weather arrives. The writer appreciates this last bit since his nose and ears turn blue and take days to recover from the effects of flying lidless aeroplanes in Arctic conditions.

Picture number three is, perhaps, a little out of place for the aeroplane is no longer in existence. It is the pre-war Luton Major two-seat tandem monoplane which had folding wings. The Major, of all-wood construction, had a span of 35 ft. 4 ins. (11 ft. 8 ins. folded) and a length of 23 ft. 9 ins. The empty weight was 600 lbs. and the all-up weight 1,030 lbs. The prototype was fitted with a Walton Mikron Series I which gave the Major a cruising speed of 87 m.p.h. The stalling speed was 38 m.p.h. No flaps were fitted. Initial rate of climb was 700 ft. per min., and the take-off rLIn, in still air, 80 yards. The Major was test-flown by Group Captain

(then Squadron Leader) E. L. Mole at Denham Aerodrome on 12th March, 1939.

During the war, the Luton Aircraft factory at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, was destroyed by fire together with this aircraft, three others in various stages of construction, a Luton Minor production model and the one and only Luton Buzzard single-seat pusher'powered-sailplane'. From the wreckage, the badly burned drawings for the Major were salved. Recently, Phoenix Aircraft Ltd. has taken over the interests of the Luton Aircraft Company and have embarked on the redesign and construction of a new prototype of the Major. It is the ultimate intention of the company to prodr.rce the Major for construction by amateurs and to make the drawings available through the P.F.A. This company are also working on the Minor and, as stated last month, drawings for the latest version will shortly be available.

Picture four is of a little-known two-seat, side-by-side biplane-the Robinson Redwing Mk.2. The Redwing first appeared in 1930 fltted with an 80 h.p. A.B.C. Hornet engine. Later models had a wider and shorter fuselage and G-ABNX, seen here, has a Genet motor. 'BNX appeared alter the war in a hangar full of old office furniture at Elstree. The College of Aeronautical Engineering at Redhill rebuilt the machine and put it into flying trim. However, other than limited test hops, it remained in mothballs, save for a brief appearance at the 1951 Hendon 'Fifty Years of Flying' show. Two years ago it was taken over by a group of enthusiasts who planned to fly it. Unfortunately they were unable to work on the machine and it now lies at Panshanger. If anyone in that area is interested in this delightful biplane, they should contact Mr. Gilbert at the aerodrome.

Picture number five, shows the Hirtenberg

H.S.9a belonging to the Hirtenberg Croup at Denham, which was the subject of a feature article in popurlR FLvTNG for September last.

Our last picture is of the Aeronca Champion. This machine was savagely attacked by another aeroplane during a storm at Shoreham last year whilst they were both 'living rough' behind a hangar. Champ took a pasting and had its tail practically severed. The machine is now at Elstree where, under the lovin g care of Ernie Chick, the l'uselage has been repaired and recovered. The Champion, seen here in its original American markings, will grace our skies again this coming summer.

Next month we will present a page of pictures of anrateur-constructed aircraft from America.

One of the most active flying organisations around Southern England is the Tiger Club. Although not strictly P.F.A. nlotters, their doings are usually interesting and we are glad to publish this.