THEN AND NOW

Evening Star, Issue 20089, 1 February 1929, Page 11

THEN AND NOW

m SOPWITH’S FLIGHT AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS Mr T. 0. M. Sopwith, one of the pioneers of British aviation, who first learnt to tiy in 1910, piloted a machine again in December for the first time For sixteen years, and found some marked differences in the behaviour of an aeroplane after that interval. The interest, of the (light (says the .London - Times j lies in the more or less direct comparison made possible by that, gap of sixteen years, and Mr Sopwith found that whereas a* pilot when he first flew was rather like a tightrope walker, and had to exercise constant vigilance in the control of his machine, to-day the aeroplane more or Jess flics itself. Re was flying a now type of- two-seater made by his own firm, and ho found that there was no difference in (lie feel of the aeroplane whether lie was flying at 80 or 120 miles an hour, while the total speed range came as a revelation when he recalled that in the early days no one flew at more than probably ten miles above the stalling speed simply because there was so little reserve of power avai lablo with tho engines of that period. Flag-lieutenant P. W. B. Bulmaii accompanied Mr Sopwith, but actually did not take the machine off at Brooklands or land it at the destination. This was apparent from (be angle at which the machine was taken off. lor Mr Sopwith, still with memories of the early days when aircraft were so underpowered that tlicrce was no margin for climbing, flew off the ground at a very small angle and only gained height very gradually, not realising that to-day (be control column can be pulled back and a machine climbed steeply once in the air, and with more than flying speedHe flew from Brooklands to Martlesham Heath, for more than half the distance was flying through cloud with only occasional glimpses of the ground, and made an excellent landing right in the middle of Martlcsham Heath aerodrome.

Another interesting comparison with the old days was that Mr Bop with was flying for the first lime with an airspeed indicator; or, at any rate, one that was sufficiently reliable to las trusted. His genera! impressions as compared with the early days were that the modern pilot .bad practically nothing to do for in the type of aircraft lie was flying the machine practically Hew itself ’’once in the air.