FLYING THRILLS AT HENDON.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 212, 4 September 1920, Page 19

FLYING THRILLS AT HENDON.

WORLDS G-RiEATEST AIR PAGEANT. All the firing world of Great IBritain wen: to Hendoa on Saturday, July 3, for the nKrst spectacular raffeant of fhe air ever devised, writes Alan Bott, in the "Daily Chronicle." In spite of tennis finals at Wimbledon, rowing finals at Henley, cricket at the ■'Oval, and the racing at Alexandra Park, BO.OOn groundlings weet There also, thus showing; that flying can hold its own against Alder sports. There wore thousands of ex-aviators "who since 101$ have climbed no h'lg-her than a 1 bousMop. Til or make entries into ledgers, sell motor cars, and tin-tacks, study medi-i-ine and the lan-, or walk the City pavemeulu in weary quest of a jou. The Tvar gave them more than their nil of aviation, ■they will tell you: but offer any of them the loan of a machine on a sunny Satnrday j aMcruoon, without 'the p'ro'hibitivc cost of hire, and you will .hear no more of toeing 'j"fod up with flying." 1 After six Avros had opened the ball with 'si relay race, there was a nippy combat '! bet ween a iMarolnsyrte .Scout and a JJV>kilier. It was poetic justice Iliait fhe pilot j who Hew the ex-German Fokker s-hmiM ' be a man who .ha«l destroyed sixteen Ger- ■ , iiuin aeroplanes end one kite-ba'liloon. j -Followed an exhibition of circus-flying 'on an SHC>n. J-oops, rolls, spinning nose'dlves—ail the contems-«i>f the aerial bag "of tricks were displayed at a height of 1000 ft, ito lie accompaniment of gasps from Iho packed enclosures. A FIGHTING 'KCJUAD.ROX. ,i iXext came s-nme • "ly magnificent formai itioii flying. Three separate teams charged , towards 'the railings, l>ft rhe earth ■simul- ; taneously. swept xnarLngly on the climb • above the crowd, with only a machine's i.lenpth between eanh two craft. The IBri,'tlsh Fighters, in particular, gained admiratJon by the way 'they flew behind the 'leader ] In straight line. *wung into column, and j chased each other round in a perfect circle. A second exhibition of trick flying was given by Fli!gtot*../ie<w. Ix>ngton, most expert of all the "stun't-nierchants. of the 1 R.A.P. Taking 'Ms Camel in front of the ! spectators, he rolled it on to Us back, and '.flew upside down for several minutes. l j 'Some 'little scorns and some four-engined 1 ■Suiper-HandleyiPnffes—the dra.gonflies and eagles of mechanical flight—left the ground together, and showed astonishing contrasts of wing-speed and .bulk. One of 'the 'HJP.'s dropped a red, white and Wlue abject, which soon resolved itself into a getutlyswinyi.ng parachute, beneath which was Miss 'Sylvia Boyden, the lady'aeronaut. IBUR&TS OIF 'FIXE. Two Snipes and a Bristol Fighter circled and divert around ami among cacti other in a well-manoeuvred fight, complete wi;h raprapping bursts of fire. The star turn of the pageant was the shooting down in flames of a kite-ballocn. A Slliipe attacked the great sausage in three quick dives, while firing incendiary bullets. A small flame appeared on .tihe staTboard side, and twenty seconds later the whole fabric was a mass of dancing flames. As the burning balloon dropped an "observer" was spen to parachute from the basket. . Near the ground he .was enveloped by falling taekile and flames, so that many expected' the afternoon to be spoiled by a tragedy. lit was only 'tragi-comediy, 'however, for the "observer" was a dummy. Large numbers were unaware of this for a while "Oh! oh;" said a lady by my side, who believed that the parachutist was again .Miss 'Boyden, "I saw her crawl out of the wreck all covered in flames!" ■STRAIFLNG A TRENCH. Five 'Bristol Fighters gave a display »of "groun'd-etraflng," by diving to "within 100 feet of a trench and raking it with ■machine gun fire. This event rather suggested the footlights and the prompter, for when the trench blew up in sudden spurts of flame the explosion vraa too vivid and too -late, and everybody knew chat It must ha-ve been caused below by stage-haode in mechanic's overalls.