GRAPPLING IN THE BLUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 206, 30 August 1921, Page 9

GRAPPLING IN THE BLUE.

SHAM riGcITR " ~ HEHDOM. AlliY V\\ ll> I"' , ,: i.!. IH/'.K Tin , >v liir , . -.::: . ; ..;•■'.i , , ;i ttplen,li.i ,i(— -'riptiMi- hy Di-ii'iiiiiv McKay of lire jr.'Hi ni'V.'iruilii , I'.i-tplav at Uvndon ~ii .Inly -1. Vu wrifer -ny>: - \ ln!:iilri''l ;('■•■■ >j«laiic- swnrmwl at 11, ii lon (ii-iliiy. li-injr. circling, rollinp, li-npiiiu. li'npiii". diving, and settling 10 .ml Jn .it ii ilijiht. The frrcut" air liiijii'iini \<!iiiii marked in the popukr iuiii'l t '■■ iiiuiiiiil training of the ItoyoJ \ir I'm ■'■ ;i:c.\ ii hundred thousand |ii'n|jli' i • I In- iM:--!n<mr«M about the ae.roilronii. , iiiiil :i- iimny more jrathcred on (he iulj.ufiu liiil -nil , - arid the i«mriiiM lid.!- i,i -(~• a ilfinorfM ration ihiii !i.ul iv;i! : : :i.,,-. i<. rank near "Hip uriMti-nt »liim ~■ rarili." tt-'mitovi-r Mint mny .u'tunlly i ■.. 115-aii aiii>vi> I ho liuz:<inj »-ar.-A.i.-|,-. loiiinli-ly aloft, niiw lulllvi iliil liy thin Hi (.. -' fif i-loiid, now .•li-ui- iinaiii-1 .i 1.nm.l ii.i.l ~f liluu sky. :iml :iunill .liviiijj mil uf -i-|,i in ~|oiid ■ •lii-inu. ili. , "i-iMii air-hij, I;."..". |.n(rolleil I In- ii|>|iiT nir. Lint}! 1. ,, , ..re tin' .illiriiil iirogramuia •iiMiinriHi'd tlii< nir wns lull of 'pianos iiiiikinj< tt'.-l llijfhls and pasaengpr ,li s !it*.. I'lu-ir i>n K im. sonff, most thrillinj. of all i)w iimisi,- of power. V \i»<S over in tlw nir. --liniiibitinM- inlPrcst anil inllatini; I'Vitl'lHCllt. 7.F.R0 lloi i;. Tin iv n'l-liK-k was z,-ro hour for the lir-l cvimil. .mil iK-forp the time couto l>o ,linked liy ulanccs at wateh-diale, tlio rimr ~t' :i macliino -ijrnalled the start of the Itrst handiravp rail-. The Held comprised such varied mai-hinrs that it looked like n sort of mechanical zoo. for each type emanaitod ;i i-liurai tvr and. art it almost st-emed, a. life of its own. THE LOW, STRAIGHT I'LIG-HT. l.ittle iime was wasted in climbing, and the raoers crossing and re-crossing tho aerodrome in their course Hew low enough over the heads of t'ho upectators, for each change of position to be fully fullowed, each buret of speed plainly noted: and for the airmen possibly to hear the volleying dicers that rose aB Mret an Avro and then the supreme Niirlit-Hawk or the cyclonic little R.A.T. opened out. and with » triumphant roar of engines .-wept past a linnvli of i-onipt'titors. Low to the ground, tho machines roared, dipping a.- they wheeled at fight angles for the final burst, and, tlien, as nacli passed the winning post, it whirled ifkyward again. Most wonderful of all was tho leap of the little blue ''Bat." which ,-cemed to rise almost vertically, as though it were a leaf met suddenly and tossed upward by a gale. Turniug, twisting, and tumbling were the 'planes thiit next the eager watchers saw in ii. mock-combat between a Bristol fighter and two Sop\wth Snipes. Feinting and falling, leaping out or range with sudden loops, charging and evading, fluttering earthward in. the '•falling-leaf stunt," to straighten out and dart away from the enemy—more at liome in tiic air, it seemed, than the swallow;. themselves—these 'planes, aerial acrobats in tsuth, held all tho watchers transported to a world far above the mere ground on which tliey stood, following every turn of tho manoeuvres, with something of the same absorbed interest which held the men in the trenc-hes when the real thing was on. A TUMBLER OF THE AIR. Flying-Officer Bulman, of the R.A.F., away up in the thousands of feet above the arena, was, according to the programme, ""showing looping, rolling, and spinning-" That may be the coldly official description of what he was doing, but to the earthraan he was performing all the careless frolics and impossible freak measures of air-dancing that could have been compassed by P»ter Pah in his first delight at the gift of flight. Following his mazy manoeuvres came the ordered fantasy of formation flying by live Sopwith Snipes from the Central Flying School. Five machines, sailing in a birdphalanx, solemnly, silently, and simultaneously somersaulted in air, like five clowns of the firmament. Together they rolled and span, and with great harmony and precision they all turned over on their backs and flew across the eky with their toes turned up. Their wheels looked absurdly like the claws of birds vvlllph liad determined to fiy upside down and get sunburned in front after the fashion of the peek-a-boo human. Growling at each other in loud and lofty engine-inutterings, a SidUoley Xight-Hawk and a Westloy Wagtail raced towards head-on collisions which time after time were averted by side-slip, loop-leap, or dive, and the rat-tat-tat of machine guns was simulated every time ihe two single-seaters^—the luet word in one-man fighting midlines —were in fighting position. Xine British fighters having been up together to show that there were some phases of formation flight that the vSopwith Snipes had not attempted, and Flight-Lieutenant Longton, in a Sopwith Camel, having demonstrated that tho head-down position is. the most natural for a good long stretch, one of the headiest thrills of the afternoon was staged—or aired. Three of the giant Handley-Page bombers were pursued and harried by a Hight of live speedy Snipes, tormentors who Hashed about, above and around tlieni, with immensely superior speed and flexibility. Two of the bombers were quick*? (theoretically) in flames and forced to earth. The device which sent Jiuge volumes of dense black smoke pouring from them lent a colour of realism to tile play as the machines circled swiftly downward, leaving great dark whorls and spirals behind them in token of their disaster. The smaller victors leaped ahout the sky as though disporting themselves in devilish glee. From the surviving Handley-Page a figure leapt, and speedily resolved itself into that of a woman. " It was Sylva Uoyden, a noted parachutist, who had volunteered her services on the occasion of this pageant, tho profits of which go to a fund for the maintenance and education of airmen's orphans. Swiftly her parachute opened, but after floating a moment, she dropped away from it fdummiu-like. till the second parachute, spread itself. Again she cut away, and fell, and on the third parachute came swaying down to earth., MERCURY'S WINGED TEAMS. Tn these days of "wireless" there is little need in any part of the world for runners with the fiery cross, and relay races have descended from the sphere of useful training to the merely spectacular, but in the picturesque phase have lost nonp of their attraction. Where 'planes •;i ■■ :iring up and racing down with' c day there is a new- fllip to the iu.e. -i. of sport-loving minds. How keen :liat interest may be made was shovi:. by the 28-mile air relay contest, between 13 teams, each consisting of an Avro, a Bristol, and a Snipe, in which

the first and second machines flared past the post within a hundred yards of each other. The low-flying Wae not the least excit- ! ing feature of the afternoon, and it .reached its climax when Flight-Lieuten-ant _ NoakcF. setting himself a height j limit of 50ft or so. set out in an Avro, brilliantly coated with red paint, to do v hat-full of the tricks which arc generally reckoned safe about 3000 ft up. It is a well-known maxim of flying that the further you have to fall the more risks you may take. "Crazy flying" was the programme description of"this performance by a Scarlet Folly of the air. Every movement of the machine was as cranky and erratic as it should not \<F. Lieutenant Noakes has crammed into his repertory every blunder that every beginner has made In his first the crush—and invested them with an extra absurdity, which Is peculiarly his own.