Duxford Squadron Display Team Question

My pleasure. I am so pleased that the community here seems to be more vibrant lately than it has been for ages. I stopped coming for ages because I’d make a post and get tumbleweeds. I still have a few of those posts, like the one the Ayro wheels in the RAF that I posted a few days back. I guess no-one knows about them.

Totally agree, Adrian. Dave has started some great threads recently. Thanks Dave!

Fargo Boyle – thanks for posting the pic of G-EBIB. Great to see it in its civil scheme complete with skywriting gear.

As to “freak machines” I’m not sure exactly what aircraft they meant. The term seems to have been used fairly regularly from the 1910s through the ’20s to denote types which were built simply to attempt to win races or break records and were unlikely to ever be produced commercially especially as their airworthiness might be a bit, well, doubtful!! 

However, in the articles I’ve read on the 1922 RAF Pageant, I haven’t seen any reference to any aircraft that would come into that category. I wonder if in this case it simply referred to aeroplanes which participated in the more light-hearted “acts” and sported unusual colour schemes (“jazzified” as the press put it)?

Like the wonderful Avro 504 which did the crazy flying. Pity there’s not a colour photo of this! –

Thank you,  Dave, you are providing some great starters for 5!

I must have seen ‘BIB in the Science Museum…. very little recollection, though,  obviously been a loooooong time since I was there. 

Great discussion everyone. 

Happily, the Science Museum have restored ‘BIB as a Savage Skywriter, complete with extended exhausts for the smoke. Photo via Science Museum’s website.

Thanks, mothminor, every day is a schoolday!

I suspect the Skywriter was Se5a G-EATE of Savage Skywriting which gave the first public demonstration of the art at Hendon on 30th May 1922. Major Savage went on to own more than 30 Se5as among them G-EBIA now at Shuttleworth; G-EBIB now at Science Museum and G-EBIC at RAFM Hendon.

Interesting, I wonder what the “freak machines” were? Or what the skywriters were? I know SE5as were modified,  hopefully see pic, I have a feeling either Shuttleworth or Hendon’s is an ex-skywriter.

A 1922 issue of Flight magazine mentions both crazy flying and the use of coloured smoke –

The demonstration of ” crazy flying,” which proved so popular last year, will again be featured, this time by Flight Lieut. W. H. Longton, D.F.C., A.F.C. It may be mentioned that various freak machines will demonstrate from time to time. A demonstration of ” writing in the sky ” should be another popular item. Here the spectators will be able readily to follow the rapid movements of a machine looping, spinning and rolling by the trail of smoke left by the machine. Following this demonstration, there has been arranged further illustration of the uses of smoke in air warfare, and the machines engaged will produce a novelty in the way of coloured smoke clouds. 

Re the Crazy Flying, it was definitely a display item at Hendon in the 30’s. One of the pilots was a certain Frank Whittle. From Wiki;

He became a popular and gifted instructor, and was selected as one of the entrants in a competition to select a team to perform the “crazy flying” routine in the 1930 Royal Air Force Air Display at RAF Hendon. He destroyed two aircraft in accidents during rehearsals but remained unscathed on both occasions. After the second incident an enraged Flight Lieutenant Harold W. Raeburn said furiously, “Why don’t you take all my bloody aeroplanes, make a heap of them in the middle of the aerodrome and set fire to them – it’s quicker!”

🙂

By: Fargo Boyle – 4th November 2024 at 20:59 

Thank you for the link. Just FYI I couldn’t get it to play at first on Edge, but it works when I disabled my ad blocking extension – maybe th

at is the problem with your Opera?

Thanks Fargo I will give it a go shortly 🙂

I assume that the Tutor was doing some crazy flying,  I’m sure I’ve seen period references to it.

Agreed on the Eastchurch footage, lovely to see!

Oh very nice video, Dave. Scion and Scion Senior! Beautiful! (Others may disagree)

Thanks, turns out I found Firefox on my laptop, but I had to switch my VPN to the UK to watch it. But it played in the end.

What was going on with that Avro Tutor, he was all over the place taking off, and then be nearly took the heads off those boys. Did they used to do the “drunken redneck steals aeroplane” way back then too?

I came across some more coloured footage from an RAF air display in 1937. No coloured smoke but some neat aeroplanes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVMcJ5RZBm0 

Dave, if you have Firefox it should just play if you click on it. 

Thanks Baz, but I am afraid I do not know how to get that video to play. A pity, I was looking forward to seeing it. Thanks for the info on coloured smoke too.

Thank you for the link. Just FYI I couldn’t get it to play at first on Edge, but it works when I disabled my ad blocking extension – maybe that is the problem with your Opera?

Hi Dave

Yes coloured smoke was developed in the early 1920’s

Major JC (Mad Jack) Savage applied for a patent for coloured smoke in circa 1922.

And yes coloured smoke was used by a couple of RAF Sqn teams up to 1937,there is a film clip  on BFI here…

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-empire-day-at-duxford-1937-on…

You should be able to play it on Internet Explorer or similar – it does not seem to like Opera 🙂