On the Wing

BY ARBUTHNOT

Elsewhere in this month's PoPULAR FLYING the reader can flnd the account of this year's best yet RSA rassemblement, the French ultra light toy. incidentally hate to call it a Rally, at which a iotal of about one hundred aircraft passed through in the course of a week-end'

The main point in mentioning the affair here is to again highlight the success of, the T'K' Flying Group at Hatfleld in sending their newly finished Turbi such a long way on its first crosscountry flight. The moment was an historic one' flrstly the T.K. Turbi is the first truly amateur built in this country since the war, there have been rebuilds, overhauls and others, but this aircraft is the flrst ' genooine Bedooine Ayrab' to make the grade. A second and equally important point is the fact that having bragged for some years thal a British built ultra light would arrive among our French friends at their annual pilgrimage, at last it has happened, and in doing so whipped off the third prize to bootA11 credit not only to Neil Harrison the pilot for this trip but to the lads who backed up and were huppy with the fact that they had played a partNot least is the help of Pat Fillingham, Chief Production Test Pilot of de Havillands who gave a lot of time indeed to help the aitctaft through its flrst flight and carry out later tests which will be of great value for the other Turbis underconstruction.

One hears a great deal around the aviation set up that of course these little ultra lights are no good for what is termed seriotts flyingMostly the people who say this with great conviction have never flown an ultra light, rather like the languid young gent who told this column with such heat that,.uUy you know the Turbulent is useless because your pyjamas have to be sent by'ail' Enquiry elicited i,e fact that despite his professed enthusiasm for .something.ror. in the hot rod line, old man ,, this youth has appar_ ently never flown an aircraft. This is , ;;i" reflection on the scene, every aerodrome is now besieged by 'experts ' who brandish note books and cameras and discuss old so and so,s Proctor and somebody else,s Gemini , a, tfrougf, sharing the innermost secrets of the owners, minds, yet they don,t fly. Here is the extension of the spectator complex, which affects oth;; sports, now very apparent in aviation. This is a pity, there are greater prizes for those who will fly, and the easy and cheap way is in an ultra light as the T.K. members have proved. An opportunity to fly the Turbi incidentally a few week ends ago confirmed the fact that th! work_ manship is equalled by the good flying .hu.u._ teristics and roominess of the cockpits.- croydon is a word which by all accounts wi]l appear in future British vocabularies as a descriptive and colloquial expression m.aning something other than a pleasant grass airfield serving the citizens of London who Ry, ura tfr. important visitors.who buy our goods, and hel supply our daily bread. Certainly, there trur. been times when this column has thought in the heat of the moment that drastic surgery has been necessary in certain parts of its administrative anatomy, but that does not alter the public scandal of a Minister's disregard for the .r*ni; of law-abiding members of the communiti UV peremptorily closing this historic place ugui# expert advice. One is told that niggin Hiliwith its camp-like atmosphere, so beloved of the civil service mind in aerodrome matters, is the alternative, yet aircraft from Biggin Hill will be flying over the same area as those from previous Croydon so the noise yarn will not hold over much water. Then we are told that CroyAon cannot be integrated into the London Air Traffic pattern. Such an argument overlooks that Biggin is nearer the good-ship Gatwick and another sinister aerodrome from the point of view of traffic confusion. Nothing has been said, by the Ministry that is, about ,h. .orr.nience of users who wish to reach London qui.ny urJ not spend their time going through the inter_ minable circus act of nnaly"Uecomiig rrm"i.rity sanitary to be allowed to join the long t..t of motor traffic into London where, if you still have the strength, you can att.rO to your affairs an{ th.e1 fight your way back to your aircraft and, with luck, Ieave the whole horrible situation. One little tale about this corner of the sceptered isle affects a gent who makes constant complaints about the noise at Croydon, is he the same man who wants to build a motor_.y.t. dirt track and greyhound stadium?

On the training group side no better example of how to do it could be found than the.;;ilJ;; effort of the Armstrong Siddeley Flying Club in holding their recent Tipsy Week End. Ittfrough for one reason or another some of the ,.;irri;; Tipsies were absent the tipsy spirit certainli wound up in the course of an excellent .r.riri.

^Hearing a right aeroprane passing overrread is, of course, Iike a red ,u! to a'bull io some of our citizenry who insist thit at all costs, their peace and quietness is not disturbed. Who can blame some of them some of the time ? A motor_bike with stub exhaust pipes wourd soon arouse the local constabulary, so why, in fairness, should an unduly noisy aircraft have any place ln the society of reasonable people among which we nearly all class ourselves. The Piper Cub designers soon realised the value of good silencing and this has been carried on in the larger versions of the same aeroplane, strangely they seem to sell a great number of these aircraft. Equally the pre-war de Havilland breed were all well mannered with their long pipes which did not seem to affect performance very much. It has been said that A.R.B. clearance would cost a fortune but the latest bush telegraph discounts that, and it seems that ARB are prepared to play a helpful part in the desirable state of affairs of placating the ire of bucolic old colonels glaring and shouting at equally angry. young men who if they don't bust blood vessels in the meantime will eventually be complaining about the damned rockets being flred at the bottom of their gardens. Next year there could conceivably be aprize for the best silenced aeroplane at some of our competitive rallies.

That quietness can go with efficiency has been proved conclusively by the active George Stewart at Croydon. Instead of talking about it, George has got cracking, and has startled many critics by operating a Turbulent and proving that there is a need for such aricraft among folk who wish to fly cheaply. Despite bad luck this group has cracked on and their enthusiasm is the sort which encourages this association to say to the minister ' hands off CroYdon'.

Our President, Peter G. Masefield, was recently one of the members of a delegation from the Royal Aero Club which approached the Minister personally with a view to having the matter reconsidered but it is understood that despite the eminence and expert background of the delegation's members they received short shrift. How many members of the P.F.A. remember the Gatwick furore and the record of broken promises which followed, now Croydon is to be placed on the sacrificial altar, what next in this slow process of strangling aviation; presumably chopping A.T.C. Scholarships and the petrol rebate for clubs and groups, or is that letting a rather scrawny cat out of an official so hush bag?

Despite all that, there are still people prepared to have a shot at producing a light aeroplane and the Garland-Bianchi Linnet, a Piel Emeraude in disguise, has made its welcome and long awaited appearance, being test flown in the hands of none other than Neville Duke. This little example of international co-operation has enchanted all who have seen it and its excellent workmanship and cabin arrangement. Perhaps by next season we shall see a few more, as the Linnet has already graduated to a Special Category C of A, with a full Normal in view. Also in this Indian Summer another ultra light has flown to gladden the eyes of the biplane enthusiast. The Currie Wot, G-APNT, built at Eastleigh by John Currie and John Isaacs bids fair to become a popular amateur builder's mount, particularly as all the components are small enough to be built in a garage. Viv Bellamy of the Hampshire Aeroplane Club did the pushing to get the Wot built and carried out the tests. Now there is talk of a Hot Wot fitted with a Mikron engine which should be quite a dish" already in this column's eye the idea of a Hornet Wot begins to take shape. Viv Bellamy incidentally was part constructor of a Luton Minor in the Isle of Man before the war.

Also exciting pre-war nostalgia was the arrival at Elstree recently of the doyen of amateur constructors, Henri Mignet, with his 'noo Poo', the H.M. 350. This occasion was a meeting of the Tiger Club to which a number of French pilots had been invited. Infernal weather spoiled the whole affair from the point of view of visitors from France but the Scanor Emeraude, paying a personal visit to Harold Best-Devereux, managed to scrape through and join two Turbis and a Turbulent on the Elstree tarmac. A Jodel from Caen and the Mignet arrived the next morning for a too brief visit. Bad luck for the Tiger Club who do so much to wave the flag.

The Editor regrets the iateness of popurln FLyTNG this month but asks all members for their indulgence. The delay has been due to matters entirely beyond control.