OVER 10 MILES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 214, 10 August 1937, Page 2

OVER 10 MILES.

FROM THE EARTH. HEIGHT RECORD FOR BRITAIN. Flying in a wind of a speed of about 100 miles an hour, Flight-Lieutenant M. J. Adam, late in June, made a new world’s height record for aeroplanes by climbing to 53,937 ft. He was using the special liigTi-flying aeroplane fitted with the Bristol Pegasus engine and the two-speed supercharger which made the last British height record of 49,944 ft in September. In the interval between the two flights an T+ nlian pilot reached a height of That has not yet been homologated as a record by the International Aeronautical Federation. THE “CEILING.”

Flight-Lieutenant Adam wore tlie same sort of pressure suit as that in which Squadron-Leader R. F. D. Swain made tlie previous record, modified slightly to prevent the frosting which Squadron-Leader Swain suffered between the two sheets of transparent material forming the visor of the hel* met., It gave every satisfaction. The changes in the aeroplane . were also slight. Smaller wheels had been fitted to diminish the drag, and the brakes had been removed to save weight.

The especial merit of this flight lay in the fact that it was made Tn a high north-westerly gale in ■ conditions of cloud which left- the. pilot without landmarks to check liis position in relation to the land. For more than half the two and a-qUarter hours he was in the air Flight-Lieutenant Adam could not see the ground. He had to rely on his weather report and his own ability to estimate the strength and direction of the winds at great height to avoid being blown far out to sea. At the height of 35 000 ft the second supercharger had to be brought into service. Another half an hour of blind climbing took the pilot to about 50,000 feet, and yet another half an hour elapsed before the machine reached what appeared to he its ceiling. The altimeter at that time showed more than 55.000 ft, and the outside temperature was minus 48.9 degrees C. Ti;o subsequent corrected height was worked out .by official observers of the Royal Aero Club from barographs carried iu the wing and from the -records of temperatures and barometric pressures. The time that elapsed between taking off and arriving at the peak of the climb was 1 hour 35 minutes. His main task completed, the nilot now set about getting down as quickly as possible to a region in which he might discover his position.

Through a gap in the lower layer of cloud he saw a river which must have been the Isis near Oxford. By this time he was down to 15,000 ft, and a few minutes later he found the reservoirs near Staines. The rest was easy, and he landed at Farnborough.