MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR OF SWANSTA

14th August, I 961

Ifrfrrs me much pleasure to welcome the Popular Ftying Association International Rally to be held at the Swansea Municipal Airport on the 9thll}th Septernber.

I am satisfied there could be no more ctetightful venue. The Airport /s situated on the fringe of Gower, an Area of outstanding natural beauty. It is also on the threshold of Swansea, a large, spacious and modern industrisl town and seaside resort.

I wish the Rally every success.

(Signed) A. MOR.GAN, MaYor.

(Councillor Andrew Morgan, J.P.)

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Popular Flyins, September-Ot'tober, 1961.

On the eve of this year's Rally, Dr. F. E. Roche, Secretary of 39 (Rutherglen) Group, F.F.A., has written this gem on the misfortunes that befell a colleague and himself when flying to Cranfield Iast September. Although perhaps not the ideal way to get to a Rally, this flight was in many ways a memorable experience.

TURBI

G-APBO made her first flight on 'r- 22-7-60. Harry Devereux took her round for an hour and a half, and pronounced her a 'sweet little aeroplane'. During the whole of final assembly we had neyer seen a cross wind at the field (which runs east-westwise) but on the day of H.B-D's arrival, a steady ten knot wind from the north blew across the strip and stayed with us for the first nine flying hours.

The Rally was now ciays away, and as we were all up to the eyes in our various jobs, most of the testing was carried out with dusk coming on. This was naughty, but dictated by circumstance. One evening, I became fascinated with the light in a fairground in the Clyde Valley, and after flying round the area for half an hour, I suddenly realised that the field was fllteen miles away in opeR country, and that it was dark. [t was my ninth night landing. The other eight were with an instructor at Scone ! We got nine hours test flying in, and the permit to fly arrived three days before the Rally. Looking back, we made a wrong decision. The Turbi should have had fbrty or fifty hours of flying, with moderate cross country work, before being put to the long jaunt south.

Solo to Reffiew

On the morning of 8th Sept., the field was soggy from a night of rain, so we decided that it would be prudent to fly her solo to Renfrew Airport where I could pick up my co-pilot, and leave with a full tank. We climbed away for the East Coast behind a front that had gone through in the wee small hours. We had CAVU conditions all the way to Newcastle. The small transistorised intercom worked well, and helped us to check each other's map reading and relieved the monotony.

lopular Flying September.October, 1961.

There was dense haze inland of the town so I decided to dogleg in from the city to Woolsington. At 2,900 over the built-up area the instrument panel started to vibrate, and the revs fell to 1,500. Within a minute the panel was really jumping, and the motor was banging and transmitting a somewhat frightening vibration into the airframe. I reckoned I could nurse her over to the aerodrome at her then rate of descent. This was a wrong decision. The Town Moor in Newcastle can be used in emergency, and was just astern of us. Unfortunately, we only learned of this concession afterwards, and so I pressed on. Woolsington was about fi.ve miles ahead to the right, and things looked feasible, when the revs went below 500, and we began to lose height rapidly. Quick scanning below indicated that electric pylons had suddenly sprouted up everywhere. A large field appeared one mile ahead, running 45 degrees out of wind. I made for this, and reckoned that we could clear the wood that ran along its near edge. Up popped another line of pylons hiding coyly behind the far border of the wood. An inferior field lay parallel and in front of the big field. Time had run out. I stuffed the nose down in an aileron turn, levelled off, and tried to swishtail off the increased airspeed. The far hedge came up and we had still 35 knots indicated. Stick hard back scraped her over the hedge, and hard forward the neutral stopped her from ballooning up. She dropped on heavily, and shed her starboard wheel in a pothole, slewing round on the wheelless stub.

Police Help

As we surveyed our old friend, the Rally looked very far away. I left my co-pilot, and made for the nearest road, which involved going through a latge dairy farm byre' I was very impreised by a lone cow-hand therein' I mJntioned that we had dropped in from aloft' and were in need of a telephone' He indicated the happy bovine throng all munching peacefully in their sialls. o'Ah can't use it" he quipped, in pure Durham, o'and they don't need it!" A mil. ulottg the road, spirits somewhat low' I flagged down a police motor cyclist' This bo!- wut ex-R.A.F. and in thirty seconds was on the blower to H.Q' from a police call box. From then on, things rea1ly hummed' By the time we got back to the kite, we had the charming company of a pipe-smoking inspector and a humorous, lean and agile superintendent of police. The local school had just debouched a horde of youthful intellectuals who were giving my cobber a rough time' Some of them rno*.d wiling to do a one wheel take-off'

Came the Dawn

Two extremely attractive young women in jodphurs came on the scene, and asked us up io tt. farmhouse for tea, and indicated that we were in 'oone of daddy's flelds"' We were taken over terrain reminiscent of Hill 60, and in the intimacy of the Land-Rover, the farm alsatianendeavouredtohavealightmealotrtof my companion. Dad, busy and al1 as he was with the harvest, was there to greet us' The master of Manor Top Farm, Kenton Bank' his wife, and two charming daughters excelled themselves in hospitality. Putting the harvest (a very poor one), to one side, dad's only interest was to get Turbi to Woolsington for repairs' so that we could make the Rally' As a result of all-round co-operation from the police, dad' and dad's lorryman, plus the skilted help of Messrs' Donnachie and Forsyth, Chief Engineer and Second, at Woolsington the Turbi was on a 20-foot lorry at eleven. Mr' Donnachie drove us to his home on the coast, which we entered armed with three fish suppers'

In spite of the lateness of the hour' Mr' Donnachie regaled us with some good yarns from Coastal Command in which he had been a good and loyal driver. He gave us a shout at

3.45, ancl at 4.10 a.m., the lorry slipped out of the farmyard, police escorts on motor-cycles ahead and astern, and the Turbi, quite out of her element, began the stow, last four miles to Woolsington. t shall never forget lifting her starboard wing tip over halt signs, crossing signs, and school signs in that cold Durham dawn.

Owing to att this intelligent and charitable cooperation, the aircraft was repaired and ready by breakfast time. The carburetter fault was remedied, and we got away before noon on the lngoldmels leg. Once bitten twice shy, John Oriffy, my co-pilot, was taking no chances, and flew to York at 4.500ft. There we were' purring along, hope rostored, and right on track, when we came tl'rrough on the intercom, oDoc' I think she's starting to run rough again, l'm going to set down'. He did a classical preIuutio,l".y landing in a field next to the mainline to York, at Pilmoor Junction' We had a quick look round, and found the magnetoes hotter than that on which Old Alf burned the cakes.

Back in the Air

After running repairs I took her round the circuit and found l-rer faultless' John did the same, and when he landed, the mags were cool' We took off, and flew without further worry to Ingoldmels. We got there, 40 minutes before sulrset. We had a lifr into town, I phoned the Group, and tl-rey got the call just as they were sittrng down to dinner' Like the gooO lads they are, ihey took off in Hugh Lhup*o,r's Roo/or, and i-n:t ine at Feterborough' I had succeedectr in rooting out a man who only did rush jobs. [t cost a lot of money, but it was further education, an'd well wortl-r while' I had not been aware tirat a Ford Zepl'tyt could corner at seventy true. We got to tl-le Colleg: al 11.10 p.m. Food ha<1 been left for us in a charming lounge and then our ears were assailed with comrniserations, congratulations' and, from the more knowledgeable, reprobation' It is probabty superfluous to mention that the flight back to Scotland was comp'leteIy uneventful !

Part 4 : Repwirs to the Fabric co,uering

IAMAGE greater than that dealt with '-' again, the original damage rnust he carried out properly.

in a previous article must be repaired by clear of supporting structure in order that

The whole panel will require renewir-rg if tl-re damage is more extensive than this, and in any case, the structure witrl reqLrire examination. An insertion repair is illustrated and is straightforward, altl-rough extreme care is needed to avoid pulling the stitches anci l"raving the final repair far too strack for the dope to pultr up properly. The damage is cut out square to the warp and weft, witl-L a diagonal cut in each corner so that the four edges can be folded under for a half inch.

LA. f)eL,erell I

The new patch, of similar material, is treated likewise as shown. It is advisable to pin the patch in place in order to allow the herring bone stitching to be carried out properly. The stitching is finally sealecl with doped on serrated three inch tape. Four coats of dope will finish the job, each coatapplied wtrrenthe previous one has thorougl-ily dried, the fourth being applied after the third has been gently and carefr.rlly rubbed down.

The complete panel replacement, mentioned insertion, but once ; the repair can be above, is ioined by the "balloon" seam as described in a previous article; restringing of ribs is carried out where necessary.

It is advisable to call in the advice of a qualified man in this latter case; indeed that is not a bad idea in any case. I would like to encourage all owners to keep a log book for their aeroplane. Although an official tyre log book is the best, a good note book can serve the same purpose. This book can be a yery interesting diary of the flying hours of airframe and engine and a log of all maintenance and repairs. One must appreciate that maintenance is prevention and" not cure. Good maintenance prevents little troubles appearing and is in fact money in your pocket.

It is very rare that a very expensive snag suddenly appears; it is nearly always a development over a period of time. Good maintenance can prevent the snag reaching an expensive stage. The log book is handy in telling us when we did an oil change, last checked the tyres, lubricated certain moving parts, nuts and bolts checked, certain glue joints checked, etc.

NEXT ISSUE ; The material used in light aircraft construction.