DRAWING LONG BOW

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 200, 24 August 1945, Page 4

DRAWING LONG BOW

ARCHERY MATHEMATICIAN

When Dr. John Boorman, of Cessnock, Australia, shoots an arrow into the air, he can tell you the exact angle at which it has entered the ground and its velocity at, say, .2.5 seconds after leaving the bow.

Dr. Boorman is not one of those archers who go around potting rabbits and things. He is an archery mathematician. He uses stop watches and a specially-constructed pendulum buffer through which the arrows are fired. x

The apparatus showed that in a recent Australian record shot of 438 yards the arrow was travelling at 350 ft a second when it was six feet from the bow. The shot was made on level ground on a windless day. He used a 551b yew bow and a fine white arrow that weighed only 230 grains.

He knows of no longer shot in the British Empire, but in 193G American archer Curtis Hill shot an arrow 625 yards. Hill, however, used two hands and both feet to release a 1501b bow.

Dr. Boorman says crisply of his hobby: "The flight-shooter is necessarily an energetic, inquisitive) and enthusiastic type with his horizon affinity always striving for that extra yard, but never reaching his goal, for it lies beyond all measure."

He is writing a book on mathematics and archery. It is long odds against it being a best seller.—Hugh Dash in the Sydney Daily Telegraph.