p air mail today p - a virtual flying club dedicated to...

P Air Mail Today P

Published by the Golden Age Flying Circus Issue #2 Sept 2014

Editor's note And here we come again, another paper on your table to look into along with your morning cigar just before the first flight of the day. Soon the season ends this year with lots of spectacular air shows behind - one especially unforgettable part could have been seeing those Lancasters over England escorted by Spitfires. When I opened the virtual hangar's doors to get my Chipmunk out for a run I saw the bird lined up on the runway and heard the Gipsy engine running! So that's how my Chippie wanted to join the air show formation immediately to share the honour and glory but more likely I just forgot to reset my sim to cold and dark after reinstallation so all birds I loaded up started on the runway with engines running. Ok, pulled my friend over, opened up the cowling and installed a few tweaks here

May contain nuts! Don't forget: Golden Age Flying Circus is a roleplaying-based virtual sim-flying group so mind our imaginative reality when reading!

Thanks,

The AMT Team

and there and now it runs even on a higher fps happily. Also we seem great keeping the very strict "whatever-whenever" scheme here with this newspaper and that's quite alright. You'll have a famous old airliner to read about and many more whatevers I don't remember exactly but will see when I edit them in. Ah, and Waldo! Enjoy!

David Trevor Hughes

Waldo is here! I'm in the Green Dragon pub in Welshpool with the world-famous Waldo, sharing a few pints and asking him a few questions about himself and his travels.

Me: So... Waldo, from Waldoville, Maine?

Waldo: Yeah... I think Mom was having a weird pregnant-lady hormonal moment when she picked that name. Still, how many Waldo's have you ever met? So I can just go with one name, everybody knows who you're talking about.

Me: What's up with that sweater?

Waldo: I was a geeky, awkward kid when I got started on my adventures. I was really fond of this sweater Grandma had made...

And since then, it's become my trademark, you know? Me: Where all have you been?

Waldo: I've been to: Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota, Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota, Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma,

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Air Mail Today Published by the Golden Age Flying Circus Issue #2 Sept 2014

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Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma, Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador, Amarillo, Tocapillo, Baranquilla, and Perdilla, I'm a killer.

Me: Haha! Johnny Cash?

Waldo: The Man In Black himself! Me: So what's your favourite place you've been?

Waldo: Wow, hard to pick... it's like every new place I go, it's my new favourite. But really, I like to go someplace busy and see if I can disappear into the crowd. Me: Does it ever get old?

Waldo: Well... you know when you picked me up in Braga, Portugal? I'd been there for about six weeks. The Rooster of Barcelos is a cool story, but there's nothing else there! That happens

sometimes when you get around by bumming rides with any pilot willing to pick you up. But all in all, I still feel like I never want to go home, it's so much fun. Me: Something you never read in the books about your travels... you're putting those beers away like you have a hollow leg, and I've heard similar accounts from some of the other guys who have flown you around. Waldo: Those books are for kids, right? Not really the sort of thing you put in a kid's book! Doesn't mean it doesn't happen though! Me: Who was Phone?

Waldo: What?

Me: Magnets... how do they work?

Waldo: Right... time to call you a cab, Jake.

Jake Harlow

X Here's a classic! X

It may be hard to imagine what luxury an early airline could have offered in the 1930s but to have a good impression we just have to take a look at the Handley Page H.P.42. This turtle-faced huge biplane was used by the British Imperial Airways between 1930 and 1939 and had a remarkable good statistics with no lives lost in accident within these years of commercial operation. Only four H.P.42 were built, all named after ancient

historical and cultural characters with the letter "H" (Hannibal, Horsa, Hanno and Hadrian). There were four engines pulling the whole 130 feet wingspan structure with a moderate 87 knots cruising speed across the Channel to several destinations. That was slow, no question about it - even Anthony Fokker had a review on that saying this aircraft had a built-in headwind. But altogether (and thanks to the huge wing surface) the H.P.42 was able to land on a small piece of rough ground too with a similar speed as a Tiger Moth. Taking a ride on a H.P.42 meant the elegant way of travelling. No matter how the weather was affecting the flights, this aircraft provided a first class comfort for the 24-26 passengers: there was a saloon aboard, a separate area for a bar where one could have a cocktail and also a smoking section. Hot

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meals were served with shiny silver cutlery on the tables topped up with the best wine and liquor by the plates. Along with the slow speed it was also a scenic tour where the well-dressed passengers could enjoy the sightseeing on a multi-stop route from London towards Europe, South-Africa, Cape Town or India and stay in the best hotels when landed. The H.P.42 story was like a comet on the skies: shiny and short by today's standards. By the end of 1940 there was no aircraft operating after the second world war and the weather took their toll. "Hannibal" lost without trace over the Gulf of Oman in 1940, "Horsa" had a forced landing and burned out as a member of the No. 271 RAF Squadron, "Hanno" and "Hadrian" were destroyed by a gale on the ground.

DTH

Mind a few questions? Check the **Air Mail Today** section of our website to see how to win $5000 in FS Economy! 1. Who was the pilot made America's first air mail delivery? a.) Cal Rodgers b.) Jean Mermoz c.) Earle L. Ovington 2. Which commercial aircraft was first fitted with passenger seat belts? a.) Douglas DC-2 b.) Junkers F-13 c.) Lockheed L-10 Electra 3. To which airline company was the first DC-2 delivered in 1934? a.) TWA b.) KLM c.) Lufthansa

4. Which racer plane below had the highest speed (567 kph / 352 mph)? a.) Granville Model R-1 Super Sportster ("Bee Gee") b.) Hughes H-1 Racer c.) Curtiss R3C-2 Racer 5. Which aircraft had the most engines installed? a.) Junkers JU-52 b.) Boeing Model 314 Clipper c.) Ford Tri-motor Good luck! DTH

Hangar Quiz

Welshpool Airport (EGCW) is waiting for freelancer pilots to take some jobs from the ramps! Welshpool Runway 04/22, Elevation 233ft ASL We follow the "no landing fee" policy!

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Trailblazing for Aeropostale Scheduled air mail service was a real challenge in the early age of flight. The French Aeropostale became a well known organization operated from Toulouse. They established long and hazardous routes to Dakar, West Africa and in the late 1920s the routes reached SouthAmerica to serve Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Jean Mermoz was one trailblazer who became a French national hero soon after a few outstanding achievements. After flying the African route he was given the job to stretch out to South America in 1927. It was a challenging open market where one could present how air mail had a clear advantage over ground mail. To prove that Mermoz made the first night flight in 1928

from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil which was followed by more long distance night flights. As a fearless pioneer he managed to get through the Andes with a Latecoere 26 monoplane. In 1929 Mermoz had to make a forced landing on the unwelcoming mountainside of the Andes at 13.000 ft altitude. After jumping out of the cockpit he mustered all his muscle power to prevent the aircraft from rolling into a ravine. It took four days for him and his mechanic to fix the plane using whatever materials they could have found but finally they managed to take off downhill from the rock just to loose the engine soon again and to make another - this time much safer - emergency landing on the Chilean plains.

DTH

Dear Sir or Madam, I write to you as the Director of the Flying Heritage Museum at Amboy, Washington, United States. My Manager, Colonel H. Peregrine Brandenburg has appraised me of your organisation although he was a little vague about the correct nomenclature. In any regard, I wish to explore the possibility of closer ties with your organisation to our mutual benefit. I look forward to hearing from you with any expression of interest. I remain, yours in the furtherance of aviation, W. Sutton Esq. Flying Heritage Museum Amboy Washington

In our Letterbox

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Want to watch a movie? Then "The Great Waldo Pepper" is for you! It brings back the era of the barnstormers in the late 1920s and early 1930s where bone breaking stunts and crazy wing walking were the alternatives of a pilot left over from WW1. If you had a Curtiss "Jenny" or a Standard J-1 you were ready to go, you just had to find and attract your spectators and sightseeing passengers, preferably the paying ones. As the official rules of aviation were storming and forming along these pilot activities, there were not much time to earn a living in an open cockpit doing dangerous manoeuvres. Or at least not legally... Robert Redford and Susan Sarandon on the plate!

DTH

George Arthur Farrington-Clarke President, Shobdon Primary School Parents Assoc. “The Hideaway” Ledicot Lane Shobdon, Hereford. The Secretary Golden Age Flying Circus Welshpool Airport Powys, UK 24 August 2014 Dear Sir/Madam, I apologise for the short notice but our school will be holding it’s 100th anniversary fete on Saturday August 30th and due to late withdrawal of one of our bookings, I write to ask if your esteemed flying club could help out by providing some aerial entertainment on that day. If we were able to have an old biplane visit and do a few circuits of our school grounds and possibly some aerobatics it would be a delightful addition to our program. Our fete is being held on the football field at the eastern end of Shobdon airport from 12 noon and we would be delighted to offer the pilot some tea and home made scones with strawberry jam and Devonshire cream at the airport after his or her display. Yours faithfully. GA Farrington-Clarke (Major Ret) M.C. Bar O.B.E.

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Air photographer needed! Golden Age Flying Circus is looking for a pilot with a camera in hand! Various jobs, contracted payment each time. Find D.T. Hughes if you are interested!

Flying the South of England? Be sure to visit Bournemouth, the jewel of the South coast! EGHH - plenty of work for everyone.

In need of an instrument replacement? Did your undercarriage get loose? Pitot-tube problems? Book an appointment now! The labour is not cheap but reliable!

Waiting for your call,

Welshpool Airport Repair Centre


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Club PIREP - The air show in Shobdon I departed EGCW earlier today in the Fairchild PT-19 with Liz, the waitress from the Green Dragon. Weather was fine, cloud 2/5ths at 3,000ft, light winds 6kts from the South-East. A very pleasant flight across to Shobdon arriving over the hangars at 1500ft. Did a couple of circuits to show off the PT-19 then inverted down the runway, Liz dropped her mobile phone somewhere here.

Back for a loop and very smooth it was too, even if I do say so myself! Finally not a bad attempt at a knife edge, note full rudder deflection, at this stage Liz

emptied the contents of her stomach into the handy bag! Some managed to get onto my goggles. At least some of the crowd enjoyed my efforts. After a beautifully judged 3 point touch down it was over to the GA parking area and off for some tea and scones, Liz settled for some soda water and a quick lie down. Finally back to dear old Welshpool and a couple of pints at the Dragon, see you all there later!

Jimmy "Ginger" Lacey

Air Mail Today Issue #1 July 2014 Editor: David Trevor Hughes

Articles by: David Trevor Hughes

Jake Harlow

Jimmy "Ginger" Lacey Hyppolitus Peregrine Brandenburg

Published by: GAFC Media Office

Financed by: Golden Age Flying Circus http://goldenageflyingcircus.weebly.com

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