S.A. GOVER.NCR GENERAL'S CUP RACE

by Peter Moir

T 0931 on a bitterly cold morning I sat in the right-hand seat of Jack Davidson's Tripacer CCA rvhilc .track held her with the brakes against take-off power, and intently watched the starter's fag. The flag fell, Jack released the brakes, and for us the 1961 Governor General's Cup Air Race had started. It had begun two and a half hours earlier for limit man Dr. N. J. Gilliland in his Autocrat, while scratch man Dick Harmse was not due to take off in his fuel-injection Bonanza fot another two hours.

Air races are fun -:nd the 1961 South African Covernor General's Cup Air Race was no exception. Flown over a 1,153 mile route through all foi-rr provir-lces, it provided plenty of fun for all tire competitors. Changes of scene, too; from the dry, brown, wintry highveld, past the rugged grandeur of Basutoland, through greener N.rtal, over more mountains and miles of afforestatioi-r, through the hot lowveld and thence over the flat l-Lighveld agairr, on to the fiirish among the pictr-rresque mine dumps of the Reef.

Thil ty-eight aircraff came under starter's orders on that cold morning at Baragwanath aerodrome, near Johannesburg. The previous day they l-rad all becn processed by the handicappers and flown at fult power both ways between trvo points to establish top speeds. Pipers predominated: there were nine Tripacers, two Corlmanches, two Pacers and one Cruiser. There were ten assorted Cessnas, three Bonanzas and a Debonair, two Globe Swifts and two Tiger Moths. The balance of the field comprised single examples of Autocrat, Hornet Moth, Proctor, Ercoupe, Fairchild 24 and Turbulent.

Yourugest Pilat

Youngest pilot was l8 year old Mathilda Rossouw, whose pilot's licence had been issued only a fortnight before; she was navigated by her flying instructor. Veteran of the race was C. S. Coppen, who flew in the first Governor General's Cup Air Race in 1937. I was navigating Jack Davidson, owner of the hotel at the small Zlululand coastal resort of Richards Bay. We got away nineteenth in the fletrd of thirty-eight.

The first leg of 263 miles to Kimberley was without incident except for Durban undertakers Campbell Dove and Basil Swanson in their Tripacer. They were flying really low over the flat, featureless country near Kimberley when they identified their position over a saltpan with a road curving around it. They were sure it was the correct saltpan and road right on their track, but when they had flown their ETA by two minutes without seeing Kimberley they realised that it wasn't. They had been blown well off track, and they gave a colourful description o f

Fairwood Aerodrome

RUNWAY LENGTTilS : 11012903,500ft. 050/2304,850f1. 16013403,960f1.

Position : 5I"o 36'N., 04o 04'W. Elevation : 300ft. A.S.L.

the episode during the compulsory one hour refuelling stop at Kimberley.

S"f"ty First

South African Airways had kindly altered their schedules in and out of Kimberley so as to interfere with our activity as little as possible, but Tom Griffiths of Bloemfontein was held on the starting line pending the arrival of a Viscount. Tom and his engine both became a bit heated in the ten minute wait. He could have been off and well clear before the Viscount entered the circuit, but to aerodrome controllers safetY first is the order of the daY.

Yowgest

We relaxed on the second leg of 265 miles to Harrismith. Favourable winds at altitude demanded that we climb high, and Jack flew that leg at 10,000 feet ASL, in crystal clear air, smooth as a billiards table and with unlimited visibility which made the navigation a gift' At Harrismith we had to let down to 300 feet above the aerodrome for identification before turning on to course for the next leg of 47 miles to Ladysmith.

That leg to Ladysmith really gave one the impression of racing. Flown at low altitude, wiitr a tailwind of nearly 40 knots, we fairly tore along. Our groundspeed was 170 mph in the Tripacer, so you can imagine how the Bonanzas urd Cotnmanches moved. This leg was marked by violent turbulence, particularly over the Van Reenen pass, and with no wish to pun, it is worth recording that the Turbulent was particularly hard hit. Hollander BettBuitenhuis and his ex-Luftwaffe navigator Heinz Hersh had reason to bless the sponge rubber they had stuck to the top of the Swift's canopy. The Swift has precious litile head room even in smooth air, and in

Pilot witlt Navigator and Aircraft

turbulence such. as was then experienced, it is rril.

The public of Ladysmith enjoyed watching the faster aircraft, particularly tl-re Bonanzas and Commanches, screaming over the line at fuil bore, going downhill and ridir-rg the 40 knot tailwind.

We spent the night at Ladysmith, accorrmodated in the motel on the aerodrome and entertained by members of the Country Club. More th.an one crew went to bed that night later th.an was wise in view of the arduous flying scheduled for the second day. At Ladysmith the Autocrat was still holding first place, but the Turbulent had relinquished second position to one of the two Tiger Moths entered by the Defence Flying Club. Meanwhile Jack and I had been fortunate enough to improve our position from nineteenth to fourteenth.

Ingenious Fuel System

Many felt that the handicapping of Nic Turvey's Turbulent was unrealistic, and later in the day Nic was forced to retire from the race Popular Fly ing, July.August, 1961.

when it became obvious that he could not finish the course in daylight. But Nic did not complain about the handicapping. Instead he showed me his modification to the fuel system. In the minute luggage compartment behind his head he had stowed a reserve fuel tank connected with a plastic pipe to the main tank.

A further fuel supply was contained in a 26 oz. gin bottle, and the drill was that when Nic's fuel level had dropped in the reserve tank he would reach behind his head, remove the filler cap and empty the contents of the gin bottle into the tank. This was a praiseworthy acrobatic feat, for Nic is a big fellow, and the Turbulent fits him like a glove. Despite his ingenious fuel system, Nic nevertheless had to land at Nelspruit for additional fuel, so he lost more time.

Nic was not the only pilot with fuel trouble on that 344 mile leg to Tzaneen via a check point at Nelspruit. Monty Vermeulen found himself short of fuel in his Tripacer and landed on a road near a farmhouse, borrowed ten gallons of motor spirit from the farmer and took off again, to the astonishment and delight of the farmer's native labourers. Monty was sweating profusely when he recounted this experience at Tzeneen: he claimed he had not recovered from his fright, but I suspect that it was just the heat of the day; we had flown from bitter cold at Johannesburg to midsummer heat at Tzaneen.

Compalsory Stop

At Tzaneen there was a compulsory stop of some three hours, during which the aircraft were refuelled and the crews fed magnificently by a band of industrious women. We enjoyed the hospitality of the Letaba Flying Club and particularly appreciated the shade of their large open thatched shelter, from which we watched the preparation of our lunch on several open flres made in 44 gallon petrol drums.

It was on this leg, too, that Willie Botha of Somerset East got into trouble: trouble not directly of his own making. Flying through majestic mountainous country Willie saw another Tripacer ahead of him. Willie was racing Popular Flylng, July-August, t961, the hard way, doing his own navigation, and the temptation to rely on the Tripacer in front was too great, so Willie tossed his map in the back of the aircraft and confldently followed his leader. Shortly after that his leader altered course violently and after ten minutes altered course agait and then again. Now Willie realised that the aircraft in front was mildly lost, and since he had not been watching either the ground or a ffi&p, so was he. He then abandoned his leader and flew on until he was able to fix his position. The aircraft in which he had placed his faith had led him some thirty miles off track !

Erciting Finish

Things became exciting as the field closed up on the 234 mile leg to Brakpan via Potgietersrus. We had improved our position to ninth, but although we expected to overtake a few of the slower aircraft the faster boys were coming up from behind, and Pretoria Insurance representative Nollie Nieman, the eventual winner, had an interesting modification to his Fairchild. The Ranger engine in the 24 has a notorious thirst for oil, and Nollie had rigged up a plastic pipe from his oil tank to the cabin; therb the pipe terminated in a screw cap from a plastic bottle. On the floor behind his seat were six quart plasticlbottles of oil, and his navigator periodically had the job of screwing a bottle on to the pipe and then sitting on the bottle to force the oil through to the tank.

Nollie was lying second, six minutes behind C. H. J. Van Aswegan of Plettenberg Bay, who was in a Cessna 172, blut Van ran foul of the confusion of built-up areas, roads, railways, mines and industrial developments which comprise the Reef and could not locate Brakpan aerodrome. The public on Brakpan aerodrome could see him stooging along the Reef between Germiston and Brakpan, searching. Then he saw Nollie's Fairchild, and followed it into second place. That lapse cost him [300 in prize money-f,5O a minute. Third man home was T. Delyannis of Johannesburg who, in his Proctor, has been placed third in the last three Governor General's Cup Air Races.