Flying with the Larks by Timothy C. Brown

Author:Timothy C. Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780752492353
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2011-12-28T16:00:00+00:00

The Clift compass was fitted to military Boxkites. (Flight)

One year after Dickson and the Boxkites had performed so admirably at Lark Hill, the 1911 round of manoeuvres was planned to take place in training areas in Cambridgeshire. The Air Battalion was tasked to support them, which would involve the furthest group deployment they had yet attempted. The Air Company planned to base themselves at two locations, Snarehill Farm, near Thetford, and Hardwicke Farm, near Cambridge. When news came through that the manoeuvres had been cancelled, Major Bannerman decided the Air Company should continue with its plans, as it would provide good training. Capt. Fulton’s log gives us an insight into the problems the newly formed unit faced during the deployment. One of their number in particular, Lieut Reynolds, was to survive a most remarkable adventure; the retelling of which would undoubtedly enlighten many a subsequent evening at the officers’ mess, and no doubt the bars in Amesbury.

Reynolds departed Lark Hill on Wednesday 16 August. He got as far as Oxford without incident. He intended to remain there for a few days, for reasons unknown, and departed on Saturday for Cambridge, with a planned short stop at Launton near Bicester. The possibility of thunderstorms seemed remote, but as he was approaching Bletchley he noted the air had become steadily bumpier. When a large black cumulonimbus cloud loomed up on his starboard bow, Reynolds decided it prudent he should land. Flying at a height of around 1,700ft he switched off his engine and pointed Boxkite No. F7 towards the ground, but a sudden, violent gust caught the tail, and the elevator, which was fixed on booms in front of the aircraft, swung down beyond the perpendicular. As Reynolds was not strapped in he was thrown from his seat and had no clear recollection of the following few seconds. He later suggested, ’I suppose I caught hold of the uprights at my side … for the next thing I realised was that I was lying in a heap on what was normally the under-surface of the top plane [wing]. The machine was in fact upside-down.’2 As the aircraft flipped and swung from side-to-side, falling like a leaf, Reynolds struggled to his feet and held tightly onto the struts between the two wings. At one point, the swinging stopped and the aeroplane fell sideways. Reynolds could do nothing now, as unlike balloon crews, aeroplane pilots did not carry parachutes. He hung on, and as his luggage fell to earth, tightened his grip expecting that any moment he might follow. As the ground got rapidly closer the swinging motion started again. Somehow he retained the presence of mind to realise his survival depended on the aeroplane hitting the ground mid-swing, when it would be moving comparatively slowly.

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