14 minute read
FLYING ADVENTURE
RALLYING CALL
Pandemic, asymptomatic, prodrome, pathogen and coronavirus were words most of us were unfamiliar with until the beginning of this year. So, leaving them behind for now, Martin Ferid takes a fond look back at last year’s RSA Rally at Brienne-le-Château. With one eye on 2021…
There have been about 20 serious epidemics and pandemics throughout history, with the first known occurring in Hamin Mangha, a village in north-eastern China around 3000 BC, long before modern religions and their designation of such events as atonement for our sins. When we look at what the ancients would have called prophecies or witchcraft, and what we refer to as science fiction, I for one believe all the far-fetched crazy ideas. From Star Trek and teleporters to life on Mars and contact with aliens, who are hopefully far more intelligent than us and manage survival without the need to destroy each other or their planet. The question is, will humanity be prepared enough and able to cope when the time comes, or will our ‘cherished’ world leaders be so bogged down with their own agendas that they can’t see the wood for the trees?
Time travel, now that’s a biggy to get your head around, especially the mechanics of how it would work. The measurement of time itself began around 1500 BC Main The Napoleon Museum is housed in the former École de Brienne-le-Château, one of 12 elite training establishments that fed the École Militaire in Paris, and is where Napoleon learned his military craft. with the ancient Egyptians, initially using sundials, the Merkhet, candle clocks, water clocks, hourglasses and eventually mechanical clocks. It wasn’t until 1868 that Swiss luxury watchmaker, Patek Philippe, made the first wristwatch, for the Countess Koscowicz of Hungary. Yoko Ono gave one to John Lennon for his 40th birthday, but for the majority of us the nearest we are going to get to sporting one is a cheapo fake from Thailand. However, if it wasn’t for you and I, or at least our aviatory forefathers, and open-cockpits, the humble wristwatch may well have remained second choice to the pocket watch. The Santos-Dumont watch was created for practical reasons in 1904 by Louis Cartier, to honour the eponymous Brazilian inventor and pioneering aircraft builder. In 1901 Alberto Santos-Dumont had won the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize for flying around the Eiffel Tower in his S-D No 6 airship. Spending most of his adult life living in Paris designing and building hot air balloons and early dirigibles, he was eventually drawn to powered flight. In 1906, it was his 14-bis design, the
Oiseau de Proie (bird of prey), that was the first aeroplane to be recognised by the Aéro-Club de France as having actually flown in France. As far as our own flying goes, just as the weather was beginning to improve, I was composing an email to those on our fly-out list with the intention of a nice early start to the season and a visit to the AERO exhibition at Friedrichshafen, with a Liverpool-based pathologist, Dick Shepherd. The world then changed, seemingly overnight, and we went from being told the virus was ‘nothing much more than flu that would evaporate in April’, to becoming the worst pandemic in living memory and crippling the world.
European flying
Since their inception, our fly-outs have given many touring neophytes the impetus and opportunity to sample the wonders and thrills of unfettered European flying and, although without a vaccine it’s looking more and more like things aren’t going to quickly return to any kind of normality, this season’s event calendar could well Top The Chateau in Brienne-le-Chateau. Built between 1770-1778 it replaced a longruined edifice that dated back to 951.
Above left Hotel de Ville (town hall) which was built with a million franc legacy from Napoleon, and features a statue of him outside.
Above right A display of Evra props. Richard Evra has been a regular at the Rally for many years and Martin had hoped to chat to him about a new prop for the Jodel. be written into the annals of sport aviation history as ‘not having happened’. However, we can dream. After all, isn’t that the very beginnings from which all of our flying activities evolve, a dream and a desire to explore a seemingly unattainable goal?
My dream is that normality will return in the shape of the events that we have sadly seen cancelled so far this year, some of which are backed by decades of success.
This month’s destination was to one such event, the RSA Rally at Brienne-le-Chateau, and was to act as an encouragement to entice newcomers and old campaigners alike to venture across the Channel to enjoy some Gallic charm, hospitality and interesting aeroplanes. Sadly, like so many others, that event has now been cancelled and, like me living that dream, the organisers are already promising next year’s event will be something special. So, in looking forward to next year let’s look back at last year’s successful French Homebuilder’s rally and plant the seeds of that dream, the ambition to spread our wings. Look at it this way, you have over 12 months to think about it!
The RSA Rally is similar to that of the LAA in so far as it’s had a bit of a nomadic past and, having followed both events to each new location, their current respective homes appear to suit them well. Funnily enough they are also something of a home-coming as both organisations have been based at their current locations in the distant past.
The quandary behind hosting such events, of course, is finding somewhere that can not only off-set the risk if no one turns up but is also able to accommodate everybody and his uncle if the sun gods shine. Also, there are the exhibitors and vendors to consider, who given good attendances have a captive audience but can be left pretty desolate and distinctly out of pocket if no one makes it. In my case, I wanted to have a chat this year with Richard Evra, of Evra propellers, as I need to discuss buying a new prop for the Jodel as the old one had seen better days. (www.helices-evra.com). In total there were 330 arrivals at Brienne over the weekend last year, and although it’s not quite up to its glory days, with more than 800 arrivals when it was based at Moulins in the 1990s, after a while in the Below This French design, the Orion, sadly only sold a handful of kits, but it was a bold attempt at something different. It reminds me of the Cirrus VK-30, also a low production kit but whose instigators, Alan and Dale Klapmeier, went on to greater things in the certified world of course. doldrums it is back on the right track and I was pleased that our little contingent of 10 aircraft added somewhat to the overall total. My preference for this kind of busy event is to overnight somewhere nearby and fly in daily, although many stay for the whole weekend, taking full advantage of nights under canvas and a drink or two until the wee small hours. Among other places, I’ve stayed in Verdun when it was at Chambley, Amboise when it was at Vichy and currently prefer the charms of Troyes, which is only a 15-minute flight away. Troyes really ticks all the boxes as, for those within range, you can fly there direct from the UK, as it has customs on site. Fuel can be purchased with a normal credit card, the landing fee is around €12 and there are both grass and tarmac runways. The bus stop into town is a 20-minute walk away, adjacent to the industrial estate where there is also a supermarket and several chain-type eateries. Conveniently for those attending the Rally, the Golden Tulip hotel is just a 10-minute walk from the airport – RD 619, Route de L’Aéroport, 10600 Barberey-Saint-Sulpice +33 3 25 71 74 74 (https://troyes.goldentulip.com).
If you plan to fly in to the Rally you will need to register on their website and book a slot, although in true French fashion nobody seems to mind when you arrive or leave once you are registered. https:// euroflyin.rsafrance.com. You can of course drive in, and onsite camping facilities are available for both arrivals by air and road. The RSA owes its embryonic roots in part to Henri Mignet, who started building aircraft at the age of 18, producing the HM1 sailplane in 1911, followed by his first powered aircraft, the HM2 in 1920. Over the years came a whole series of aircraft, with the delightful HM8 Avionnette parasol forming the subject of his first book on aircraft construction Comment j’ai Construit mon Avionnette (How I built my Avionnette), including the plans of course, in 1931. The better known HM14, his famous Pou du Ciel (the Flying Flea) followed 1933, and its book, Le Sport de l’Air, in 1934. By 1946 the mood in post-war France was similar to that in the UK, with renewed hope and aspirations and in a bid to avoid unnecessary and burdensome regulation, the Amicale de l’Aviation Légère de Lyon and the Pou du Ciel Club de Valenciennes merged to launch La Fédération RSA (Réseau du Sport de l’Air) on September 18, 1947. As usual, a large contingent of G registered aircraft attended the 2019 RSA Rally, from venerable vintage types that meander along at a leisurely pace, to the latest go-faster hot-ships that leave home in the morning and are there by lunchtime. They are guaranteed any number of previously unseen aircraft, one-offs that are often weird, always wonderful and sometimes incredibly innovative. The French have long Above This delightful composite EXIA single-seater turned up in 2018. Powered by an Aixro wankel rotary of 35hp it weighs in at just 134k and cruises at around 95kt. been strong on individuality in aviation, and it has to be said that their relatively unfettered system has encouraged the amateur designer.
Out and about…
Much as it is great to see the aeroplanes and socialise, what of the town and its environs? Well, the original Château, which forms part of Brienne’s name, was an old feudal castle mentioned in manuscripts dating as far back as 951AD. After years of neglect, it was eventually torn down and replaced with the grand Château we see today, designed and built by JL Fontaine between 1770-1778 and known as ‘the little Versailles of the Aube’. Getting into town is going to have to be by taxi, unless you can wangle a lift, as there is no bus service to the airfield and the walk would take over 1½ hours.
The Napoléon museum
You can’t really talk about Brienne-le-Château without mention of a certain little Corsican who was descended from minor Italian nobility and born as Napoleone di Bonaparte.
The current museum building originally housed the École de Brienne-le-Château, one of 12 elite training establishments that fed the École Militaire in Paris. They were the special reserve of the aristocracy and the nine-year-old Napoléon Bonaparte only gained entry on a bursary set aside for the poor nobility.
More than just the ‘poor relation’, throughout his time there he was taunted and bullied with the added cruelty that wealthy young (and older) boys with a ‘God-given’ right to rule could dispatch. In this severe
and austere environment, he was an outsider and couldn’t actually speak French on arrival, adding greatly to the philippic. As he gradually learned the language his heavy accent earned him the nickname Nez de Paille (Mr Straw Nose), due to the way he pronounced his own name. Added to this, he was short, naturally awkward and reclusive, although much of his reticence was likely further exacerbated by the treatment he received. In his time at Brienne, he would have encountered around 600 rich and privileged society hot shots destined for command, and even more in his final year in Paris. I do wonder how some of those who had tormented him fared through their military careers as, given his nature the antipathy towards the alumni could well have seen them experiencing the forlorn hope of progression time and again. He left the Parisian Academy a second-class artillery lieutenant, but his ambition and the opportunities created by the French Revolution saw him with the rank of general by the age of 24. The rest, as they say, is history, but there was a final reference to Brienne when, from St Helena, as a parting gift before his death he bequeathed one million Francs to the town. The town hall was built in his honour in 1859 by Napoleon III, and features a statue of Napoléon created by Rochet. It bears the inscription ‘As regards my thinking, it is not Corsica but Brienne that is my native land, because it was there that I formulated my first opinions of mankind’. Napoleon Museum is on 34 rue de l Ecole Militaire. +33 3 25 27 65 80. www.musee-napoleon-brienne.fr
And so to rest…
Brienne is not exactly a bustling tourist town and accommodation is in short supply. However, not too far from the airfield, on the access road in fact, is the Hôtel Air Lane. Don’t be fooled though, it’s probably a half-hour walk from your aircraft along an unshaded road. If you don’t mind booking in French, it is cheaper booking on the website directly, charging around £60 as opposed to the comparison sites at around £70. ZI Saint Christophe, 10500 Saint-Léger-sous-Brienne. +33 3 25 92 55 55.www. hotel-air-lane.fr
Where to eat
La Table du 13 bis is quite a pleasant restaurant, which serves a €28 set priced menu for lunch and dinner except for Saturday evenings or Sunday lunchtimes. It is by far the nicest restaurant in the town and they are proud of their locally sourced produce. 13 B Boulevard Napoleon. +33 3 25 27 24 41. www.latabledu13bis.fr L’Estaminet is nicer inside than it looks on the outside, with a set menu for €22 for three courses. It serves French food, but nearly everything comes with chips, 5 Avenue Pasteur. +33 3 25 27 12 98. Le Grand T’Est is a lot cheaper at around €16.50 for a three-course menu, plus more basic food. 1 avenue de Verdun. +33 3 10 11 09 67. All three have outside seating for the summer evenings and each one is a little dearer than the other. Unless you book well in advance for the time of the Rally, it will be down to which one has a table available. If you don’t mind what you eat, there are fast food and pizza outlets too. As I said earlier, the 2020 event has sadly been cancelled, but if you’d like to get a taste of what the event is like take a look at www.rsafrance.com/index. php – and start planning that gallic adventure for 2021! Next month we go to Germany and the gateway to the Black Forest, Freiburg im Breisgau. ■
Get touring with the author!
Martin Ferid is a Class Rating Instructor and Revalidation Examiner and specialises in helping qualified pilots expand their horizons by flying with them in their aircraft both for day trips or a few days at a time. If you need a bit of confidence building, want to cross the Channel, or would like some help with touring in general, just ask as we are only too pleased to help. Contact details are below. A browse through the ‘favourite destinations’ section of his website should provide inspiration for places to visit. The ‘touring’ pages contain a useful amount of information with regards to formalities, radio procedures, flight plans etc. if you want to go it alone. And for a little amusement on days stuck at home, try the ‘bit of fun’ section on the contact page. Email: lightaircrafttraining@yahoo.com Tel: 07598 880 178 www.lightaircrafttraining.co.uk
When things return to normal…
Throughout the season, in conjunction with this monthly column, we have been arranging fly-outs to destinations in both the UK and abroad. The idea is to get you guys to take part in the adventures that they read about and are literally at your fingertips.
The message is getting through, with more and more pilots succumbing to temptation and taking that first bite of the apple. Now, more than ever, picture a weekend away; a nice town, good food, a glass or two and a bunch of like-minded people. If you would like to join us, you will be most welcome. It makes no difference whether you are a seasoned tourer or have never crossed the Channel before, there’s enough support and experience around to help allay those fears.
