Flying in the gale.
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During the height of the stormy weather of last month, one of the new Desoutter air taxis belonging to National Flying Services had an opportunity of displaying its ability to get through really rough weather. When the country was swept by a 50 mile-an-hour gale, with low clouds and frequent storms of rain, it was flown by Flight Lieut. A. J. Styran from the London Air Park, Hanworth, to Manchester and Liverpool, returning on the following day to London. The object of the journey was to demonstrate the Desoutter to certain prospective purchasers in the north, and no more convincing demonstration could have been given of the all-round qualities of the machine than that it actually arrived under such conditions, the two occupants being very pleased with their experience and perfectly dry.
Both the pilot and the passenger, Mr. W. D. T. Gairdner, were immensely impressed by the steadiness of the machine in a violently bumpy wind, and the comfort of flying through torrents of rain in an enclosed cabin.
The wind and wet would have been distinctly unpleasant in the conventional type of light aeroplane !
On the homeward journey, when flying against the weather, the high cruising speed of the machine was particularly valuable. An air speed of about 95 miles an hour was maintained throughout the flight.