LONG TRAINING FLIGHTS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27169, 13 October 1953, Page 10

LONG TRAINING FLIGHTS

Preparations By Winners CREW TOGETHER FOR FOUR YEARS Twenty-four hour flights are not new to Flight Lieutenant R. L. E. Burton or to his navigator, Flight Lieutenant D. H. Gannon, winners of the air race. On training flights this crew (they have been together for the last four years) kept awake up to 40 hours m stretches, and previously made flights lasting 24 hours. Thirty-six hours before the race started they made a final training flight lasting 24 hours. Thirty-five year-old Flight Lieutenant Burton is a tall unassuming man. A heavily built 14 stone, he relaxes by playing a useful Rugby game as second row forward in Royal Air Force inter-station competitions. He enjoys shooting, and wants to shoot some deer while in New Zealand. Therefore he brought a rifle and ammunition with him in the Canberra.

Flight Lieutenant Burton’s face carried no indication of the strain of war service or jet flying. There are no tell-tale lines like those below the eyes of many a jet pilot. He is a slow talker and weighs his words before giving a thoughtful opinion. Under the pressure of his press conference when reporters, firing questions, stood close all around him, he was the least flustered in the room. He answered a variety of queries—some technical, some personal, others slightly inane —with easy assurance. In 1937 Flight Lieutenant Burton joined the Royal Air Force as an engineer tradesman, and became a pilot in 1941. He was an instructor in Airspeed Oxfords in the war and later served in Mosquitos. The nearest Flight Lieutenant Burton had been to New Zealand until Saturday was’Cocos Island 5000 miles away. When he passed over on Friday he experienced the only turbulence of the whole trip. His aircraft ran through a patch of cumulus cloud. A large towering mass of threatening cumulo-nimbus was sighted, but this was dodged.

Approach Equipment Praised Fuel consumption in the winning Canberra worked out to calculations, according to Flight Lieutenant Burton. “I had enough fuel but did not want to waste any. You must remember you can’t mess around in a jet. I had to land at Harewood, whatever happened.” Flight Lieutenant Burton was enthusiastic when asked about the Royal Australian Air Force’s ground-con-trolled approach equipment used for the race. ‘‘l have never seen better overseas.” he said. “It was first-class, and I had no trouble at all. “The ground crews did a first-class job for very little reward. If it had not been for them we just would not have got here. They changed Flight Lieutenant Furze’s turbo-starter in under half an hour. I think it was a feat to go in the annals. I am going to send them all a telegram thanking them for their troubles. We were put back into the race at Shaibah.” From London to Christchurch Flight Lieutenant Burton and his navigator. Flight Lieutenant Gannon, flew mostly at a height of 30.000 ft. but between Perth and Christchurch their height was 40,000 ft. They were flying on a direct line from Melbourne to Christchurch. and came over the Southern Alps at 40,000 ft just south of Hokitika. Their let-down did not take much time as the Canberra loses height at 6000 ft a minute.

On the flight the Canberra did not encounter any jet streams. “We were hoping we would have one behind us,” said Flight Lieutenant Burton.