Paul

The 18,000 feet from manufacturer is good enough for me for Cirrus III – It does not disprove something..

I am trying to pierce together three bits of separate info to confirm if it is the same story which it probably does

1) On 1st October or 10th October 1932 (dates unsure but I believe 1st October) Lt. Peter J. Skead baled out of a Avro Avian over Pretoria, South Africa “when his Avian got into an inverted spin in cloud strata (whatever that means but maybe Cloud layers) and would not answer the controls”

2) I believe this may have been C/N 175 Avro 594 Avian IIIA ZS-ABB Regd [9.29] to SA Air Force Aircraft Club, Roberts Heights, Pretoria. The official register has Canc 27.06.47 but as a lot of aircraft were Canx on this date I think it was a Clean Up exercise”

3) I have found reference to the following from a book in 1942

Here is a description of a jump from 17,300 feet made in 1932 by a South African aero engineer, the height was then probably as great as any from which a descent had been made. “I fell several hundred feet and then pulled the rip-cord, the parachute opening with a violent jerk. I began to swing violently, with my body at an angle of 45 degrees, with the parachute falling at a great rate. (At that height the lower density of the air would result in the parachute falling considerably faster than the normal 16-24 feet per second.) I expected it to tear at any moment. The motion was like a sea-saw, and I was being swung in all directions. Looking down it seemed as though one could get the whole world into an egg-cup. I was so sick I did not care whether the parachute crashed to earth, but at 8000 feet I had a steady period for about 1000 feet and then went through clouds that blinded me.”

Not definitive proof but not total exclusion either but would explain “Cloud Layers”

BTW this is the only emergency bale out from a South African machine in 1932 , the first was in 1931 and the next in 1935

Thanks for that

Very helpful

Paul

DaveW on RAFCommands has identified the pilot of K7941 for this incident as F/O Gerald Alfred Wellesley ‘Sam’ Saunders #37482 (later DFC)

Sabrejet

Thanks

Maybe allow me to identify the aircraft- and would make sense as all the Knn96 Gauntlets “did not fit”
Paul

All thanks and sorry for confusion I have had permission to post images on here and will do when using a PC and not using my mobile the aircraft is definately a Gladiator and the image will show a building which could easily be a barn. The serial is painted on the door of the aircraft and is k7941. It is probable that the series of photos (3) were taken at same time. I will also ask for confirmation of another’s aircraft type of which only upper fairing and top wing visible methinks a Guantlet but would require more positive Id. I will endeavour to post images tomorrow Paul

Opps k