Down on the farm 57 last month 9/23

Klemm L25C G-ACXE

Not much to report as I have just had my heart by-pass operation in Brighton Sussex County Hospital. Came out after 5 days and had pneumonia, back into Eastbourne hospital for another 6 days. Not allowed to lift anything heavy so just light duties.

The M12 long reach Iridium spark plugs arrived, I machined up a set of ¼” long spacers so we could fit them in the Pobjoy engine which use short reach plugs and it transformed it , we have yet to run it with all iridium plugs but it has flown with 4 iridium in different cylinders and it was fine.

These were fitted and the new Hercules propeller fitted. The plane was taken outside by Jim and Tony Berryman and we tied to the back of my Audi. The engine started really easy and then after a warm up we tried full power runs. The first reading was about 3100rpm and then we got 3180rpm a great success.

I had previously sent in a mod4 form to the LAA, so I sent in pictures of the tacho and a video and now we have to wait weeks for the paperwork.

Vintage Aircraft Club prize

Jim Copeman and I have been awarded the Desmond Penrose Silver Salver for the Vintage Aircraft of the year and we are to be presented the prize at Sywell at the VAC Annual Dinner and awards evening on the18th of November. As it’s a joint affair, Phil Trangmar (inspector and more) and Tony Berryman (Test Pilot) are coming.

Deanland Fly-in

Tony Berryman had hoped to take the Klemm to the Deanland fly-in but it was not to be and given it was still in test phase probably wise anyway.

The Tiger was got ready but there was no way I could get out of a plane if it meant lifting myself out. So it was planned that Tony went with Jim to Deanland. My wife ferried me around to Deanland and we shared a breakfast. They could not have picked a better day, the weather was stunning. The Fly-in was a great success; it was a charity event for the benefit of the Air Ambulance, a very worthwhile charity. We left early and went home. The Tiger was due back about 11.30 to 12.00 but it was very late coming back; the starter had failed to start it and it was left to a local man to hand start it. When I looked at the problem, the volts were OK but the cranking current was way down. So I have fitted a different battery which gives a much higher cranking current, the old battery was giving 220amps and the new one as soon as it was filled and before charging 538amps, the guy at Pavilion batteries had seen over 600amps from some of these. We will have to wait to see how much better it is now but the old battery was about 7 years old, so I guess it was past its sell by date.

Meetings and events over the coming year

We need ideas for strut talkers for next year.

We have 2 strut trophies which I have on the window ledge waiting for a suitable candidate; please nominate a club member for something outstanding.

Tony Palmer

Events

This month’s Strut evening is on Wednesday 4th October at The Longshore, Shoreham; Talk: ‘The Aviation History of Blackpool’ by Blay Whitby

Aviation is not usually the first subject that comes to mind when someone mentions Blackpool. However Blackpool was the site of the first official public flying display in Britain in 1909 and went on to find space for two busy airports during the 1930s and 1940s. During World War 2 the Blackpool area was the centre for more RAF training operations than anywhere else in UK and a shadow factory produced 2,584 Wellington bombers there. In the 1950s the factory produced Hawker Hunters.
This talk is a brisk, illustrated tour through the aviation history of Blackpool: concentrating on the 20th Century.

Blay Whitby is a keen private pilot and experienced speaker who grew up in Blackpool. He is currently an instructor on the PerryAir Lancaster simulator at Shoreham and gave us a talk on the R.101 in 2016.

Strut events scheduled for the remainder of the year are:

• October strut night: Talk: ‘The Aviation History of Blackpool’ by Blay Whitby
• November strut night: Film show
• December strut night: Xmas dinner

For a fuller list of events go to the website Events page.