TOP:
Portsmouth
Aerocar G-AGTG
manoeuvring at very
low level.ABOVE:
Geoffrey Tyson
inverted in the
Saunders-Roe
SRA/1, perhaps the
defining image of
the 1948 show.ABOVE LEFT:
The Planet Satellite
made its debut
appearance, but
was far from
finished. It was
registered G-ALOI
the following April
and made two short
flights, both ending
in mishaps. It was
scrapped in 1958.AEROPLANE JULY 2018 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 61AW52 “seemed very fast”, though both
were deemed “unusually quiet” and the
AW52 was “a beautiful shape in flight”.
By contrast, the Supermarine Seagull,
flown by Mike Lithgow, showed
performance that was “outstanding
for this class of aircraft”, and while
the Vickers Viscount’s four Dart
turboprops were described — not for
the last time — as “shrill”, its handling
by ‘Mutt’ Summers impressed,
with “tight turns and confident
manoeuvres”. In that newcomer at
least, Britain possessed a machine that
had truly stolen a march on its overseas
competitors.
For the weekend public, the show
had two particular surprises up its
sleeve. George Errington in the
Airspeed Ambassador took off under
the power of just its starboard Bristol
Centaurus engine, powering it up
once airborne before feathering the
port powerplant. Then there wasthe unheralded appearance of the
DH108, “flown by John Cunningham,
in whose hands its silent approach
and tremendous speed astonished
many a visitor into ducking under
cover as the machine suddenly shot
across the crowds.”A crowd of some 60,000 attended
on Saturday, and even more on
Sunday, some estimates suggesting
as many as 90,000. “No doubt
this was due to the fact that most
families have to do their shopping
on Saturday morning”, opined The
Aeroplane. However, Sunday’s dismal
forecast proved correct. Flying had
to be curtailed early, though not
before Cunningham had put on a
“particularly commendable” show in
the DH108.
In the wider scheme of things, that
mattered not. The crowds went homeFARNBOROUGH AT 70
satisfied, and the pattern was set. The
Farnborough show was here to stay,
as was the new generation of jet and
turboprop aircraft. As The Aeroplane
put it, “those who went to the show
must, above all, have been impressed by
the way the turbine engine is gradually
becoming an accepted part of British
aviation. The jets which, a few years
ago, would turn every head as soon as a
compressor started shrieking, are now
a part of the occupational noises of the
SBAC display.”
That hasn’t altered, but much
else has. Previewing that inaugural
1948 display, and commenting on
the distance Londoners would have
to travel to get to Farnborough, a
Flight editorial by C. M. Poulsen
said, “doubtless the Southern will
organise a good train service...”
That now seems as fanciful a notion
as the Planet Satellite reaching
production.There were 50 aircraft on the
programme. Pilots were allowed only a
couple of minutes over the crowd
54-56,61-66_AM_Farnborough_July18_cc C.indd 61 04/06/2018 13:49