Austin TimesAugust/Sept2004Volume 2Issue 3

A NEWSLETTER FOR ENTHUSIASTS OF AUSTIN PRE-1955

IN THIS ISSUE

Deep Sea HeroesWe tell theremarkable tale ofthe airbornelifeboat.

Austin worldAdventures of ourcars from aroundthe world

COMING SOON

We find and inter-view the man whorode with Pape andlived.

We’ll be inGermany to sere-nade Dixi, the forerunner of BMW.

An assessment ofthe biggest of allpre-war Austins -and the leastknown.

Austin Times -you can dependon it.

Pape-shape but not so Longbridgefashion BY BENT HORSINGTON

It is small, wide-eyed, children who aresaid to flatten their noses hungrily againstsweet shop windows. If I had flattened

mine against the showroom glass ofHowells’s Garage in The Hayes, Cardiff, itwould have diminished my ravenous view-ing of Richard Pape’s pale blue, batteredand spattered, Cape to Cape, A90Westminster.

Most of the pictures which accompany thisfeature and the concluding episode in thenext issue have never been publishedbefore and were provided by Johan Brun.

The story of howPape drove from theNorth Cape, 600miles above theArctic Cicle, acrossthe Sahara, to CapeTown, is Austin’s lostepic. Why, is as mys-terious as the giants

and trolls that hauntedPape’s progressthrough Norway’sTrondelag or the

blue-veiled Touregswho terrorised thedesert.

Richard Pape wasborn in Roundhay,Yorkshire in 1916.He left his job as anartist in the publicitydepartment of theYorkshire Postnewspaper andjoined the RAF atthe outbreak of theSecond World War.

Sled ride fromhell. The A90is draggedthe last fewmetres to theNordkapp bycrawler tractoras RichardPape steadiesit’s progress.

Navigating Stirlings for 15Squadron out of Wyton inCambridgeshire he was shotdown in 1941 while returningfrom a bombing raid onBerlin. Three desperate yearsin prisoner of war camps fol-lowed, during which he wastortured by the Gestapo.

His health broken he wasrepatriated in 1944 and afterthe war, still sick, foot-looseand virtually penniless hedrifted into Johannesburg andwhile installed at the YMCAwrote his million-copy autobi-ography Boldness Be MyFriend.

SELUBRIOUS

To say the book made his for-tune would be overly roman-tic, but by the late spring of1955, Pape was an estab-lished author, living inLondon’s elegant Mayfair andpreparing for lunch with apublisher at the selubriousRAF Pathfinder’s Club.

It was the meeting whichspawned the Cape to Caperun by Austin car.

The representative of theNorwegian imprintSteensballes suggested theadventure and it soonbecame an obsession withPape; a challenge to hisintegrity, his Britishness andalmost his manhood. It was tobring forth the best in humannature; and perhaps theworst.

Phrases like ‘you must startnot later than July; before thefiords and lakes are icebound,before the snow blankets themountains, hills and dales,and the Northern Lights flamein the dark sky, had flowedfrom the Norwegian’s Lips as

the wine flowed in.There had been talk of

British-engined bombersbeing the best in the world;of the Viking and Elizabethanspirit being alive and well.

FIRST EVER

And to the background of for-mer Service chums, chortlingat nearby tables, the spectreof a German car tackling therun and boosting thatnation’s motor industry wasraised.

Pape was soon committedto the first ever run by carfrom ‘cape cold to cape hot’;to include non-stop dashesfrom the Arctic to Oslo, Osloto Paris and Paris toGibraltar and a new speedrecord from Algiers to CapeTown.

SHOWROOMS

He inteded to use a HumberHawk, and wrote a personalcheque for it in Rootes’showrooms in London’sPiccadilly.The choicebetween Humber and Austinwas made, apparently quiteliterally, on the toss of a coinand despite the advice thatthe A90 Westminster was the

better car from a knowledge-able confidante. However, theevening of the purchase and,as Pape himself would haveit, ‘hops and malt’ in the com-pany of his Austin-advocatingfriend, he cancelled the pay-ment on the Hawk.

Green Austin RLD 164 camenew from Car Mart in DaviesStreet, Mayfair, and was mod-ified at their workshops inHendon and by Pape himselfin his brother-in-law’s domes-tic garage at Watford.

REFINEMENTS

This involved fitting extra fueltanks, heavy duty springs,armour plated sump and rearaxle guards, three-eighthsinch guage chrome steelcrash bars front and rear andan enormous roof rack. Not tomention a fold down bed inthe rear compartment, refine-ments such as an illuminatedcompass and a platform forour hero’s Remington type-writer, and metal screens forthe windows which, he point-ed out, would protect againstwild animals and keepnatives out.

This was to be no ‘goodwill’tour, as later transpired, withtwo co-drivers incapacitated,

Parts had to be transferred fromthe wrecked A90 to the fresh car

a third in prison and a deaddonkey, dog, two cats andalmost a little girl in a reddress, littered along the roadside.

And perhaps that is onesmall clue as to why Papedidn’t simply go to Longbridgeand ask for a works support-ed car. This would seem tohave been such an obviousexpedient. Alan Hess, incharge of press relations, wasan inveterate publicist, a manwho boasted he made newshappen, and someone whohad courageously cam-paigned Austins in some ofthe very regions Pape wascontemplating traversing.

Furthermore the companyhad a corps of exceptionallytalented drivers some ofwhom also knew the climesand would have been thor-oughly familiar with theLongbridge product. Yet, I canfind no reference to Papehaving gone down this logicalroad. Perhaps he did, andwas rebuffed. And it is some-what pointed that while in hiswritings his praise for thevehicle is fulsome, it is usuallyreferred to as either just ‘aBritish car’ or, unenigmatical-ly, the A90.

We do know Pape

approached Longbridge dur-ing the shake-down periodafter RLD 164 developed afeint ‘clicking’ in the engine.Acrimonious outbursts at CarMart failed to resolve the situ-ation and Austin export man-ager Jim Bramley seems tohave been coerced into hav-ing the car sent to the works. As related by Pape, he then

bombarded chairman LeonardLord with some 30 telegramsin the space of a few hoursdemanding the car be fixedand returned to London for apress call.

The messages were reput-edly so memorable that aselection were framed andhung in the Longbridgeboardroom, but one should besceptical on that score.

BONDING

Suffice to say, theWestminster was repaired,returned, christened Pape’sProgress by the film actressPeggy Cummins and set outfor Oslo on July 10, 1955.

Pape’s problems with theA90 were as nothing com-pared to those with his co-drivers.

Initial pairing had been witha Norwegian photographerand film maker called GunnarMelle, who was almost as fix-ated about the expedition asPape and having been intro-duced to the Englishman, toldhim: ‘If I can’t drive with you,Pape, I’ll drive against you;and beat you.’After some further Pape-

style bonding and team man-agement, which involved drawing on a lighted cigarettethen placing it on the back ofthe unflinching Norwegian’soutstretched hand until the

flesh seared, they set offtogether.

But the partnership only last-ed as far as Oslo on the out-ward trek to the Nordkapp. Asquabble about sponsorshipand Melle’s commitment toGerman recording equipmentleft Pape facing a long solodrive with the bonus of a raceagainst his erstwhile compan-ion who had secured aRenault for a rival run.

Co-driver number two mate-rialized as young, handsome,Willy Krögenes, anotherNorwegian, about to get mar-ried and who innocently cameto Pape’s hotel room onbehalf of the Wakefield OilCompany to offer supplies ofCastrol.

Matters squared withKrögenes boss and hisfiancée, they left Oslo secret-ly, hoping to give Melle’sRenault the slip. Ratherincongruously a break wastaken in Trondheim afterPape saw copies of the trans-lation of his latest book in astationer’s window and wasforced to conduct animpromptu book-signing. As they eventually sped

away his comment was darklyprophetic: ‘now for a burstinto hell and out again.’

Later Pape didactually gosouth!

With WillyKrögenes

If the mountain gods issuewarnings to unwary travellers,Pape certainly had his sharethis trip. On the run toTrondheim he had put thespeeding Austin’s left handwheels into soft earth at theside of the track and only justmanaged to snatch back con-trol. Further north, besideLake Snasa, he did the samething again but had to betowed out of the ditch by abus using six plastic clotheslines which, for some reason,formed part of the A90’stool kit.

TYRE BURST

Unscathed, the car was run-ning perfectly and the drivecontinued without a break. Attimes Krögenes was so tiredhe could only be roused forhis session by Pape pullinghis tousled hair. Retributioncame about 80 kilometresnorth of Narvik. At 70 mph, ona flint and dirt track with Papedriving, a tyre burst and thecar somersaulted across aravine to land right way up ona pile of rocks.

It is beyond question thesturdy monocoque of the A90helped save their lives. Papehad been bruised in the ribs

by the steering wheel;Krögenes faired less well withan abrasion on his head andbad cuts to his wrists; the car,even worse. It was wrecked.

Miraculously, a squad ofNorwegian airforcemen wereclose by with a lorry and weresoon at the scene. ‘Get meanother car quickly,’ demand-ed Pape as their saviourswinched the shattered Austinback onto the track,‘ anydamned car of any make, Imust continue to Nordkapp.Krögenes observed, rathermore realistically: ‘I’ll get mar-ried yet.’

Pape had never shown anyparticular affinity to Austinother than it was British, butby now he must have beenconvinced the A90 was thecar for the job. From theremote village of Sjovegan hemanaged to get through toLongbridge to demand anoth-er Westminster while theheavily bandaged Krögenesworked with the local garageto strip all special equipmentfrom RLD 164.

It must have been at timeslike this that Bramley, Hess et al were desperately relievedto be in Birmingham not Oslo.

It fell to the Austin agent inthat city to find another A90

and the features editor of theinfluential newspaper,Dagbladet, to find a replace-ment co-driver. This time theWestminster was not new, buta pale blue example with7000 miles on the clock.

ASSIGNMENT

The new partner was journal-ist Johan Brun who had been‘volunteered’ while on his wayback from an assignment inSweden.

Brun squared with his wifehe was going straight to theNordkapp, then across thelength of Europe, through theSahara off-season, and stilllfurther south to Cape Town.Pape, the A90 and short-termcompanion, Knut Eidem, alsoon Dagbladet, headed northfor a second time. Brun wasto join-up after formalitiessuch as obtaining visas -something, incidentally, anoth-er member of the team hadfailed to complete beforeleaving London!

SOFT EARTH

On the first leg to Trondheim,still shaken and bruised by hisaccident, Pape was keepingspeed down to 60 mphthrough a settlement.Suddenly a little girl in a reddress darted into the A90’spath. If Krögenes had beenthere he would have had astrange sense of déjâ vous.As the car swung to the leftand into the soft earth besidea fiord, the driver struggledwith steering and brakes forsplit seconds before snatch-ing back onto the track. This time everyone escapedand the Austin, its engine

This shot illustrates perfectly theconditions faced by car and crew.

screaming in the low gears,the wheels spinning on thelast boulder strewn, rutted, 25kilometres, made it to withineight of Nordkapp. No ordi-nary wheeled vehicle wouldhave been able to cover thatfinal short leg. The Austin wastaken to within a metre ofEurope’s northern wall - theedge of the 500 metre cliffswhich descend verticallyinto the Arctic Ocean - on asled hauled by crawler trac-tor, photographed, thendragged back.

By the light of the mid-night sun, at 00.00 hourson July 28, Richard Papebegan his 22,000 kilometreblind south.

It was a foolhardy drive byany standards. To establishthe records he and hiscompanion would need tomotor, turn-and-turn-about,at high speed and virtuallynon-stop. To fight eye-bulging fatigue and short-ening tempers. Yet, devoidof information as towhether Gunnar Melle andthe Renault were even onthe road, there was no evi-dence to make any of it par-ticularly necessary.

There are many heroes inthe story; Kröegenes, ofcourse, and less pivotal char-acters like the Norwegian air-men who hauled RLD out ofthe ravine, the bus driverwho had struggled to tow itout of a ditch and, of course,the workmen who grappledwith the panting tractor andsplintering sled to get anotherA90 to and from the lip of theNordkapp. And there areheroes and heroines still toappear.

But as worthy as any is thesix cylinder Austin itself. It had

already been driven at dan-gerously high speed oversome of the most atrociousapologies for roads in theworld. Far worse lay ahead.But now as an interim, heavilyoverladen, it was to face hourafter hour of continuous run-ning at, by the standards ofthe day, extremely high aver-age speeds ( about 50 miles

in the hour was the norm)with top speed burstsapproaching 100 mph.

Heading south the compan-ions stopped in Sjovegan toattach the equipment strippedfrom RLD then dashed on toOslo where Pape had one ofhis many squirmishes with theFrench ambassadorial staffover papers and permits forNorth Africa.

From there it was out ofNorway through Sweden andby way of Göteborg andHalsingborg into Denmark.Pape was able to adorn him-self for the photographerswith ‘Roberta’ the sword stick,

his Mauser pistol andAmerican quick-fire highvelocity rifle.

The last two had beenacquired in Oslo, outward-bound, after death threatsfrom Russian communistsoffended by his latest book.Roberta was an old friend.

Next encounter was with friendly Germans in Flensburg

who pointed out the meritsof the Volkswagen and

Mercedes and were thennearly run down for their

trouble amidst a torrent ofmutual profanity. Oh how

they would have sighedwith relief in Longbridge

that no one from the workswas directly involved.

Only a few hundred kilome-tres further on, though, the

enigma of Pape’s character was revealed. The advetur-

ers detoured into Holland to visit the widow of

the Hengelo farmer whohad saved the lives of Papeand his engineer when they had crashed their bomber -

the pilot had been killed.

Bernard Besselink, alongwith the local schoolmaster,had been shot by theGestapo for their trouble toleave not only a young wifebut three baby girls.

Pape attached to thememorial a plaque inscribed,in Dutch, with the Biblicalquotation - ‘Greater love hathno man...’ .

Not only was it an act ofsensitivity and compassionbut the whole episode musthave drawn deeply upon hisemotional courage.

It was more than just thefatigue of driving hour after

On top of theworld - wellalmost

hour that was effecting Brunby the time they reachedParis - 32 hours Scandinaviato Holland, five fromAmsterdam across Belgium tothe French border, Paris bymidnight - 150 kilometres intwo hours. An incan-descent poker of apain was stabbing athis back and boring itsway to his navel.

WIVES

Rendezvousing withtwo Norwegian diplo-mats and their wives ameal was snatched inLes Halles, just off therue de Rivoli, beforethe two men hit theroad again at 4.30 am.

Pape had wound up the A90to 100 mph on the ‘rulerstraight’ road to Bordeaux. Itwas the little grey donkey’sunlucky day.Wandering across the road acrash bar intended for an

I’D JUST GOT back fromHughes the dentist over thatmolar that’d been giving megyp to find young Tosh look-ing as though it was him whohad a pain in the face.

Seems, while I’d been outthe chauffeur to Miss Lewiswho lives in the big house onthe back road out of town hadbeen in, giving him a rightroyal ear bashing about theirEighteen.

Seems also he’d had a simi-lar ear bashing off the oldlady because when he’d hadto reverse the Norfolk up the

elephant almost finished agruesome job. Roberta the sword-stick completed it.Pape drove on whistling the‘Donkey Serenade’.

drive the day before he gother, the car that is, shudder-ing and juddering like a partyjelly and she told him if thatwas going to happen she mayas well have saved 200 oddquid, bought a Seven, andlearnt to drive herself.Anyhows, there was the

Eighteen standing in the yardlooking a bit sad.

Now it has to be said thosebig Austins could be a bit live-ly when reversing or startingon hills and eventually would‘knock out’ the back universaljoint.

SPEC AT A GLANCEAustin A90 Westminster

Engine: six cylinder 2639 cc(79.4 x 88.9 mm) ohvsingle Zenith 42VIS carb.85 bhp at 4000 rpm

Clutch: HydraulicGearbox: Four speed

column change. Optional overdrive

Brakes: Girling hydraulic toall four wheels with twin leading shoe at the front

Suspension: Ifs by coil spring and wishbone.Semi-elliptic leaf springs to rear.

Richard Pape was a manof diverse moods. Gentleone moment, outrageousthe next

THE STORY of theremarkable journeyof Richard Pape andhis British car willbe concluded in thenext issue of AustinTimes with moreexclusive photo-graphs from thecamera of JohanBrun.

WE NEED YOUR NEWSAND VIEWS

Contact Austin Timeson 00 33 (0)1 43 67 81 56

orMartyn.Nutland@wanadoo.fr

10 av de la Porte deMénilmontant75020 PARIS

ASK ARNOLD

I have heard that some wentback to the Works for rectifi-cation early in their lives andwhen that happened theylooked at the withdrawallevers for shimmy.

But in our case that wouldn’tdo at all. Old Mordicai thechauffeur would be backstraight after dinner.

I got Tosh to lift that shortstubby bonnet and we beganby taking a long hard look atthe engine mountings. Ifthese have deterioratedbecause of oil contaminationor age it can cause the sort ofproblem that faced us.

Jumped down

But everything under the bon-net was as clean as a newpin and the rubber mountswere as new too.

So we got the ParksDepartment’s Fergey fromover the short pit a bitsharpish and ran the Norfolk in.

I jumped down and took alook at the two at the gearboxend. Same thing.

While I was in the vicinity Igot Tosh to fetch me a pry-bar

and gave the universal joint atthe front of the transmissionshaft, and the output flangeon the rear of the gearbox, areally good going over.

Nothing was slack orundone and there was nowear but I could tell some-thing wasn’t right.

So Tosh came down and wemoved astern.

Same routine at the afterend and although there wasno wear in the universal jointand the four bolts were prop-erly fitted we could see some-thing was loose.

It took just a few minutes forthe two of us to uncouple theshaft and reveal all. The nutholding the pinion flange hadbeen fitted by some furry fairywithout its lock washer andwas not much more than fin-ger tight. We put everythingback together properly withnew washers all round andjust had time to take off ouroveralls and head up theRichmond Road.

That’s where the drivingtesters put their victimsthrough a hill start and wasjust what we needed.

I wouldn’t say you could havebalanced a glass of mild onthe bonnet as the Norfolkpulled away or went back butit was certainly good enoughnot to wake Miss Lewis froma snooze and for Mordicai tokeep his job.Back in the workshop Tosh

asked me if there was any-thing else we could havechecked. Truth be told, we’dbeen very lucky.

The next thing to be donewould have been to get thatheavy gearbox out and stripthe clutch so we could exam-ine the linings for contamination.

Experiment

That could have come fromdust, oil, or even water if thecar had been exposed toflood water.

I would also have wanted totake a look at the condition ofthe thrust bearing and thepressure plate springs. And Imight even have put the fly-wheel in the old Colchesterand given it the once over fortruth with the ‘clock’.

Another possibility is to try adifferent grade of friction lin-ing, but you can be toing andfroing with that kind of experi-ment for a month of Sundays.

Austin Times nor the contributors tothis column, accept any responsibili -ty whatsoever for the advice con -tained therein. It’s adoption, and theconsequences thereof are entirelythe responsibility of the readerand/or any third parties working on

his or here behalf.

There is no suggestion, implied orotherwise, that the car(s) used toillustrate this series suffer from the

fault(s) described.Difficult to reverse? And not only because you can’t see a blind thing out theback. But was transmission judder a problem?

Shortly afterwards four para-chutes sprouted, almost invisi-bly against the sleet streakedsky. Attached was an airbornelifeboat. It would be theirrefuge for the next four days;and ultimately their salvation,as Huckin and Graham, still insound physical condition,were eventually picked up byrescue launch and landed atSt Mary’s in the Scillies.

In providing many of theengines for the airbornelifeboats Austin’s input wasamong the company’s signifi-cant contributions to the wareffort.

The idea of the boats wasoriginally that of a Royal Navylieutenant named Robb. Hisidea of a rigid boat with sailsand oars which could bedropped to ditched air crew

was put to seafarer extraordi -naire, Uffa Fox.

Fox had been born on theIsle of Wight in 1898 andserved an apprenticeship withboatbuilder S E Saunders.

SPECTACULAR

Coincidentally, this wouldhave been at a time whenthey would have beeninvolved with the spectacularAustin-modified race boat,Maple Leaf IV.

By the time he was 21 Foxhad established his ownmarine business in Cowes

and his designs for dinghiesthat planed over the surfaceof the water became the mostpopular in the world. Otherboating breakthroughs fol-lowed, often backed by per-sonal demonstration, but itwas in World War II he pro-duced what he considered hismost fulfilling concept of all.

Faced with LieutenantRobb’s challenge, Uffa Foxremembered transporting oneof his celebrated International14 racing dinghies to, inciden-tally, the Scilly Isles slungbeneath an aeroplane. Henow built a lifeboat based onthe same method of construc-tion as the International 14but with dimensions to enableit to fit beneath the fuselageof an American LockheedHudson aircraft.

But with a descent rate ofabout 25 feet per second onits parachute it broke up oncontact with the water and arevised design was formulat-ed. The Mark 1 airbornelifeboat was 23 feet 2 inchesin overall length and 22 footlong at the waterline with abeam of 5 foot 6 inches.Construction was on the

Rescuecame fromaboveAlthough the Mosquito fighter bomber of

Coastal Command which engaged aJunkers 88 over the Bay of Biscay on

January 7, 1944, downed the German, the Britishaircraft was so damaged in the fight it too had tobe ditched some 200 miles south of the ScillyIsles.

The idea of the boats was originally that of a Royal Navylieutenant named Robb. His idea of a rigid boat with sailsand oars which could be dropped to ditched air crew wasput to seafarer extraordinaire, Uffa Fox

In appalling weather conditions crew members, FlyingOfficer Huckin and Flight Sargeant Bob Graham managedto get their inflatable dinghy away. But the prospects werenot good. After 15 hours on the seething ocean they wereonly 20 miles closer to shore.

Then above the scream of the scything wind they heardthe friendlier tones of an air sea rescue Warwick bombercircling high above their position.

byMARTYNNUTLAND

double skin mahogany princi-ple with the one eighth inchinterior planking laid diagonal-ly with the three-sixteenthexternal members fitted foreto aft over quarter by threeeighths elm timbers. Coppernails were used as fastenersand freeboard was 2 foot 6inches with a draught of nine.The vessel weighed around10 hundredweights.

PARACHUTES

Austin were not initiallyinvolved and the Mark l andMark la, intended for use withthe Vickers Warwick, werepowered by two Brittania‘Middy’, twin cylinder, twostroke engines giving a capa-bility of about six knots.

The first rescue involving thecraft came in 1943 when aHalifax bomber went down inthe Humber estuary. The crewwere able to board a lifeboatdropped to them on threeparachutes and then navigatetowards the coast to meetrescue launches.

The Air/Sea Search andRescue Service (ASR) cele-brated their 60th anniversaryin 2002 and consider theirmost important single opera-tional development the intro-duction of the airbornelifeboat.

Although the Service wereactive at the Dieppe landingsof 1942, and saved severalaircrew with heavy losses tothemselves, the demands ontheir gallantry increased con-siderably when they werecalled on to cover Americanoperations.

US crews were ill-equippedand untrained for ditching inthe sea, and as the daytimebombing offensive againstGermany gathered momen-tum this was increasingly aneventuality. Thus the airbornelifeboat was much to the forewhen the ASR saved nofewer than 118 of the 121 air-men who crashed into the seaover two days in September1943.

Increasing demand and larg-er aircraft called for largerlifeboats and it was with theadvent of the Mark ll, also forthe Warwick, and the lla, forthe Avro Lancaster and the

Liberator, that Longbridgecame on the scene.

The second series boatswere longer (30 foot), wider atsix foot with a draught of 11inches on a freeboard of 2foot 10 ins and weighedthreequarters of a ton.Construction was similar tothe Mark l but with a third‘skin’ of treated calico placedbetween the two layers of thehull. The boats could now res-cue 12 people.Austin’s selection as

machinery provider probablystemmed from their produc-tion of large numbers ofengines for conventionallifeboats on merchant ships.

CARBURATION

These units were usually the8 hp 900 cc (56.77 x 88.9mm)four cylinder side valve Thetisand they chose this model todevelop for the Mark II air-borne lifeboat.

The Thetis had begun life in1939 as a road vehicle enginefor the 8 hp car and van.

It now underwent a typicalmarinisation with changes tothe cooling and exhaust sys-tems, ignition and carburation.Altogether 3,500 were builtduring the War, 150 of whichwere set aside for the Mark llairborne lifeboat and theremainder either for the mer-chant ship lifeboats or

Admiralty dories.

The airborne lifeboatcalled for moreengine modificationsthan on standardmarine units.

There was a dan-ger a normal

The ClassicBoat Museumat Newport Isleof Wight’srestorationproject of a 23foot airbornelifeboat afloaton the localriver Medina

Sectioned view of theAustin engine

propeller shaft would be bentor displaced by the shock ofbeing dropped from an aero-plane. To overcome this aflexible joint composed of twofabric discs attached to theends of a tubular steel bridgepiece was used. One sidebolted to the engine flywheel,the other to the end of the 1 1/8 inch diameter propellershaft. There was also a sim-ple thrust block formed by twotaper roller bearings arrangedto take a reaction from eitherfore or aft.

A neat touch from Uffa Foxhimself was to provide a tun-nel in the hull for the shaftand propeller.

AUSTIN SEVEN

This not only provided protec-tion for anyone in the waterbut directed the entire thrustefficiently aft without dispers-ing it in side waves.

Missing from the engine wasthe long chain of the standardunit, enclosed in its cast ironcase, which normally linkedthe crankshaft to a startinghandle connexion abovecylinder head level. Instead,these engines had a fixedhandle, rather in the mannerof the Austin Seven car,where the shaft was carried inan extension to the timinggear case and engaged withits dog by pushing against aspring.

The importance of easystarting is obvious, but it wasalways a contentious issue.When the Austin engine forthe airborne lifeboat wasdescribed inYachting Monthlyfor September 1945 the jour-nalist seems under theimpression that the drive wasfixed and is at pains to

explain ‘that not only must theengine be turned by hand tostart, but also the shaft andpropeller’ and that ‘in practicethe added load is hardlynoticeable’.

LENGTHY LEVER

However, Stephen BrewsterDaniels in Rescue from theSkies (HMSO) tells us theAustin was fitted with a‘reduction gearbox of theusual marine type, having twooperating positions, the leverforward for going ahead andtowards aft for going astern,both from a central neutral(my italics) position’.

In any event, the handle,which even though it had alengthy lever and was raisedby the height of a substantialsump containing over 50 percent more oil (12 pints asopposed to barely eight) thanthat on the standard lifeboatengine, seems to have beendifficult to get at. There werealso supplementary problemswe will explore later.

Thetis engines usually carrytheir magnetos in a cradle onthe front starboard side of thecrankcase and drive by shortshaft from a gearcase chain .

INSTRUMENT

It seems only some airbornelifeboat units had thisarrangement, possiblyengines in the series 300-960, which used a Lucas GJ4/5 magneto. From then on aGJ 4 instrument with animpulse starter was fitted toaid starting with the awkwardhandle. If this is the type illus-trated by Yachting Monthly, itsdrive was now by the samemethod as for a coil ignition

distributor. That is, from aninternal shaft crossing thecrankcase diagonally to reacha camshaft gear.

Consequently, the magnetowas at 90 degrees to theengine pointing upwards at anangle.

It was fully screened, aswere its high tension leadsand the sparking plugs to pre-vent interference with wirelesstransmission and reception.

Engine speed was governedat the magneto to preventracing if the propeller liftedout of the water momentarilyin very heavy seas.

An AC Sphinx T Type

mechanical fuel pump was fit-ted and the familiar Zenith24V updraught carburetterused. However, a long tube,closed by a cap when theengine was not in use, wasemployed to deliver air fromabove the rear of the cylinderhead to the air intake protect-ed by a flame trap.

The whole engine sat onrubber mountings and itstorque reactions were accom-modated by a stainless steelflexible exhaust pipe. Thecombined discharge of gasand cooling water was some-what simpler than normal.

A gear type pump drew

The importanceof easystarting is obvious, but it was always acontentious issue

water from the sea and deliv-ered it to the cylinder blockand head, whereupon it wasdischarged into the exhaustmanifold’s water jacket beforecombining with the combustiongases in a separate mixingchamber and being plumbedback into the sea.The water inlet on the star-

board side of the block whichfigured in the complex routeingfor the standard Thetis wasconveniently blanked by adrain tap.

Because of the risk of thewhole engine being immersedwhen the lifeboat was droppedit was covered by a watertightneoprene hood securedbetween two wooden bulk-heads.Each of these had aninstrument panel screwed to it.

That at the forward end car-ried the strangler control, amatching priming knob and thepetrol tap. The primer workedvery simply by a cableattached to the standard prim-ing lever on the pump. Thethrottle lever was mounted onthe after panel along with anoil pressure guage and a but-ton to earth the magneto whenthe engine needed to bestopped.

The method of enclosing theengine presented problemsboth of ventilation and accessand the neoprene hood wassubsequently divided so the

upper portion could either beremoved or dispensed withaltogether.

The final version of the air-borne lifeboat proper was theMark lll. Apart from being bigger(32 foot long with a beam of 7foot 1 inch) and heavier, thisversion was constructed of lightalloy.

LOGIC SUGGESTS

Of more interest to the Austinenthusiast though, it ‘ditched’the Thetis engine and revertedto a two stroke, this time thetwin cylinder T5AM/X fromVincent/HRD.

That said, and as we haveseen, there does seem to be alittle confusion generally aboutAustin engines fitted to airbornelifeboats. Some authoritiesstate the Mark ll used a 10 hpunit which would have been the1125 cc Austin Triton. Logicsuggests this might have suitedthe Mark lll but, as will berevealed, this was never inprospect.Another interesting point for

speculation is, just how suit-able was the Austin - Thetis orTriton?

The director of developmentsAir Sea Rescue included thesedesign parameters in the origi-nal specification for the air-borne lifeboat: ‘light enough tobe carried by the aeroplanes

of the day; have engineswhich could be easily startedby hand by men without expe-rience of marine power units,probably not at the peak of fit-ness after the ordeal of ditch-ing and spending consider-able time in a dinghy or MaeWest.’

Now anyone who has everworked on Austin Eight or Tenhorsepower engines willacknowledge they are mon-strously heavy for their pur-pose and it is quite clear thelittle Britannia ‘Middy’ of theMark l and then the biggerVincent (264 lbs dry), wouldhave had a more favourablepower to weight potential.

To get at the truth we needto refer to reports from theMarine Aircraft ExperimentalEstablishment (MAEE) atFelixstowe published in 1946.They assessed both theAustin and Vincent and, how-ever unpalatable it might beto Longbridge devotees theirfindings are not verycomplimentary.Yet to put them in context we

need to appreciate the propul-sion problems which appliedto the airborne lifeboat gen-erally. These have never beenbetter expressed than byStephen Brewster Daniels:

Port side ofengineviewedfromastern

To get at thetruth we needto refer to reportsfrom the MAEEat Felixstowepublishedin 1946

‘At sea you’re on a hostileelement even in fine weather;there’s no hard shoulder topull onto for a quick repair orto await help in relativelypeaceful conditions; insteadthere’s a constant battleagainst winds, tides, wavesand salt air, and there areimmeasurably greater obsta -cles than gradients, road con -ditions and traffic hazards.

The sea does not let up andthere’s a high degree ofincompatibility where sea airand water are concerned withsmall boat engines. So whenchoosing an engine reliabilityhas to have priority over theconflicting demands of weight,space, fuel consumption,ease of starting, accessibility,centre of gravity etcetera.Plus one other for the first twoMarks - availability in awartime situation of materialsand production capacity.’

Uffa Fox’s initial choice ofpower unit was the MarstonSeagull, a simple outboard,driving its propeller via a longvertical shaft. Others thoughseem to have crticised the‘Seagull’ deflecting Foxtowards a 1933 developmentby the British Motor BoatManufacturing Company ofthe Brittania ‘Middy’.

At £35, complete with

reversing and steering gear, ithad been sought after for pre-war tenders and dinghies andby those early years of the Warwas certainly hard to come by.

Normally the engine boltedvertically to the deck and droveits little 7.5 inch propellerthrough a short shaft fittedfrom outside the hull.

POWER OUTPUT

Capacity of the two cylinder,two stroke, over-square enginewas only 165 cc (50.5 x41mm) and power output fourbhp at 3000 revs.

The magneto was containedwithin the flywheel and carbu-ration was by an Amal instru-ment fed with its 16:1 petrol oilsustenance from a saddle tankpartially encircling the flywheel.

The unit was liquid cooled,and collected sea water in ascoop at the stern, feeding it tothe water jackets before dis-charge back to the ocean.It was certainly simple, but oneMiddy had insufficient powerfor even the Mark 1 lifeboat.

PERILOUSLY

But an inboard with a big‘screw’ wasn’t the answer as itwould have brought a conven-tionally positioned propellerand its shaft perilously close toearth. The transom and keelcould not have withstood thestress without strengtheningand the Hudson aircraft whichwere to carry the Mark ls hadlittle ground clearance at therear or when the landing geartelescoped on touchdown.

Uffa Fox’s solution was to fittwin Middy’s amidships and on either side of the keel with theirpropellers also located at thispoint. Clearly none of this

would have been possiblewitth the Marston Seagull, andit removed a host of otherproblems into the bargain - avulnerable propeller and shaftsusceptible to damage eitheron the aircraft or when drop-ping into the sea; excessiveweight aft and the need forstrengthening at the stern.

But the Middy was not anideal shipmate. A fit yachts-man in the Solent on a sunnySaturday might get one started at the third or fourth pull ona cord which was woundaround a flywheel flange.

For debilitated aircrew in astormed drenched North Sea itwas another matter.

ROUGH WATER

Re-starting a hot engine wasalso difficult. And the oil mixedwith the petrol tended to gumthe carburetter jets on engineswhich, perforce, only hadoccasional use.

Furthermore those small pro-pellers so far forward wereprone to flail in air space cre-ated by the boat’s movement,particularly in rough water.

With the bigger and heavierMark ll there was no alterna-tive to the inboard/big pro-peller option. The details ofthe eight horsepower Austinwere described earlier and it issad the MAEE saw fit toassess this strong reliableengine as ‘not very satisfacto-ry for the airborne lifeboats’.

They complain of defectiveand corroded parts after only95 hours running with the oilvery sludgy and water dis-cernible. Of coolant passagesin both head and blockrestricted by scale, sufficient,in some cases to reduce thecommunicating holes, notably

A fit yachtsmanin the Solent ona sunny Saturdaymight get onestarted at the third orfourth pull

around number one cylinderand at the top of numbers twoand three.

Corrosion was found on thevalve stems so the componentwas difficult to remove; valvesprings broken, or short by aneighth of an inch under load;and timing sprocket teeth cor-roded and the chain rollersburnished by dry running.

PASSAGEWAYS

Starting handle bearings partlyseized were noted, with thethrow-out spring rusty due tolack of oil from inadequatepassageways and the handle’soverly small grip liable toseizure; very heavy soft car-bon deposits in the engine asmight be expected on an over-cooled unit; breakdown of theinsulation on the sparking plugscreening sleeves with thegauze vents on the magnetoblocked by paint. A wide spectrum of criticism

is covered here from poormaterials to faulty design andwork.

DEFENCE

In Longbridge’s defence itshould be said immediatelythat it is highly unlikely anyoneat ‘the Austin’ had any person-al experience of the conditionsunder which their wartimemarine engines were likely toserve and, at the end of theday, these were basicallyroad vehicle motors designedin the mode of Austin’s corebusiness.

In addition the companywould have had little controlover the quality of the materi-als supplied to it and therewould have been enormouspressure to get equipment out

and onto the battleground.Over-cooling and lubrication

problems seem to be the prin-cipal areas for complaint yet itshould be recognised thatmost vehicle engines of the30s suffered from this charac-teristic and manufacturers didnot enjoy our knowledge ofthermo-dynamics.

At best cooling marineengines relying on ‘total loss’systems was haphazard. Didnot Austin’s instruction manualadvise ‘the cylinder headshould be just too hot totouch’? And in the context of the air-

borne lifeboat we are dealingwith traumatized men.

OVER-COOLED

Many would never have seena marine engine in their lives,let alone be capable of regu-lating water flow for optimumrunning temperature. Andover-cooled engines keepgoing whereas overheatingones don’t for long.

The MAEE blames water inthe sump, and presumablycorrosion generally, onAustin’s provision of a conec-tion between carburetterintake and tappet gallery.

This was intended to suckfumes away from the occu-pants but allowed damp saltyair into the engineas well. The short-coming was com-pounded becausemoisture couldalso enter throughthe vehicle type oilfiller cap andbecause the origi-nal crankcasebreather in the tap-pet gallery coverwas left unsealed.

Whether it would ave beenjustifiable to devote designtime to such details under thepressure of wartime produc-tion is questionable.In any case the issue is not

that simple. Austin would havewanted to ventilate thecrankcase for safety reasons.

DRAUGHT TUBE

With a totally enclosed enginethe draught tube protrudinginto the air stream they usedon road vehicles to carry awayblow-by gases was not possible. The vapours emerg-ing from it would simply fill theboat!

Lubrication was also a com-plication and it was notuncommon for sump oil toacquire the viscosity of trea-cle, and sometimes freezeduring flight.

PEAK REVS

It would not have assumed itsnormal characteristics by startup and it is easy to imagine adesperate airman running hislifeboat’s engine at peak revsin these circumstances where-upon almost anything might-break including a valve spring.

Whatever vindication of theAustin engine we might offer,the powers that were had no

Exhaustpipe grom-met andholes toattachengine tothe boat

Special sealingdevice

Water pipe andcrank handlegrommet

Holes for controlsfrom instrumentboard

THE RUBBER ENGINE CASE

truck with it for the airbornelifeboat after Mark ll and evenimposed the ignominy of con-sidering the Vincent/HRD as areplacement. But was it thatmuch better?

Destined for the Mark lll, itsrole was perceived as beingprimarily in the Pacific where amaximum range of 1000 milesmight be required with theusual attributes of easy start-ing, convenience of weight andsize, plus climatic toleranceand the possibility of subm-ersability.

The T5AM/X was based on adesign by Philip Vincent ofmotorcycle fame but speciallyreworked for the lifeboat by P EIrving.

To our eyes it would seemextremely complicated. A hori-zontally opposed two stroke of497 cc (56 x 50.8mm), it hadtwin power cylinders with aninduction cylinder betweenthem in which partial compres-sion took place. There weretwo crankshafts linked bychains and with throws for theconventional pistons and thetwo double acting ‘pumping’ orinduction pistons. Compressionratio was 7:1.

Carburation was by a marineAmal (Type 30HVL) and igni-tion from a BTH KD2-SS4 mag-neto with an impulse device toaid manual starting before aRotax motor was subsequentlyfitted. All electrics were shield-ed against causing radio inter-ference and the magneto itselfalso enclosed in a watertightmetal case. The chain linkingthe crankshafts operated acounter shaft to a reductionand reversing gearbox whichdrove the propeller through amulti-plate wet clutch. Thematerial used for the mainengine components was

corrosion resistant anodizedmagnesium aluminium withstainless or cadmium platedsteel used for any otherexposed parts.

Ingeniously the engine was‘flown’ without coolant to saveweight and obviate freezing.The time it took the gear typepump to fill the jackets onstarting aided warm up.

Power output from thissophisticated engine was 13.5bhp at 3080 revs. This wouldhave been far below its poten-tial but the propeller could notaccept more than 15 bhp

before cavitation so the tuningprovided for maximum econo-my at 11 bhp with littleincrease in consumption rightup to a critical 14hp.

The Vincent/HRD clearly hadanswers for many of the criti-cisms levelled against theAustin. It was tested by MAEEin November 1946 whorequired the replacement ofthe Amal carburetter by aZenith (sic). They alsodescribed the lever starting - avariation on motorcycle kick-start practice - as ‘triclky’ withthe fairly damning observationthat in the hands of the inex-perienced a ‘kick-back’ couldresult in a broken wrist! The

complicated expedient of theelectric starter was recom-mended. The Amal fuel pumpwas condemned as inade-quate and the engine as awhole described as very noisyand to blow fumes into theboat.

In many ways these criti-cisms were much more signifi-cant than those of the Austin,but for whatever reason, theVincent/HRD was fine tunedwhereas the Longbridge prod-uct’s maladies appear to haveremained untreated.

Development of the Vincent -mainly as regards electrics,including a sump heater - wasstill underway as late as 1953and Mark llls with this powerunit eventually went into serv-ice with the South African AirForce.

As with many blindingly obvi-ous concepts the airbornelifeboats were not as simpleas they might at first seem.The general shape had toallow the vessel to ‘fly’ throughthe air suspended from a sin-gle bomb hook.

The equipment had to bearranged so the bow woulddrop at release and provide a‘wedge’ shape in which the airwould force the craft awayfrom the aeroplane.

As the boat descended apilot parachute opened, andwhen all was well clear of theaircraft, it activated the main‘chutes for a descent at about26 feet per second.

The parachute harness gavethe bow a downward inclina-tion of some 30 degrees so itcould knife into the sea andsettle the boat gently. An ele-ment of rocket science cameinto the picture as a seaanchor was fired ahead of thevessel to hold it bow to wind

For whatever reason the Vincent/HRD wasfine tuned but the Longbridgeproduct’smaladiesremained untreated

once in the water. A secondexplosion blew off the para-chute connections on contactand yet a third series of rock-ets fired life lines to assist vic-tims haul themselves to theboat.

During the descent carbondioxide bottles inflated turtledecks to enclose a portion ofthe hull and provide bothbuoyancy chambers and smallcabins.

At a more prosaic level the-lifeboats were excellentlyequipped. At the base of thehull in wooden compartmentslabelled with white paint weresails and oars, petrol for asmuch as 500 miles, charts, a

AUSTINS HAVE really beenout and about the last fewmonths tackling hillclimbsand road runs and visitingother spectacles.We go first to St Cloud in the

near suburbs of Paris for thefirst Festival HistoriqueAutomobile. As well as beingan excuse for a jolly goodmotoring bash the threeday jamboree commemo-rated a1946 grand prixwhich celebrated theopening of a tunnel onthe nearby autoroute del’ouest and the recom-mencement of motorsport in France after TheOccupation.

Although cars from our

period were thin on the grass-there was a bijoux turn out ofthat model synonymous inFrance with Austin - the Mini.

A WEEK OR so later the timehad zoomed around again forthe non-competitive hillclimb atChanteloup-les-Vignes just a little bit further from Paris than

St Cloud. Acclaimed asthe oldest event of itskind in the world, the

foray by Austin Sevensthat had been planned

failed to materialize butthere was abundant

compensation in a visitby cars not that much

further way in the alpha-bet - the Bentley. (see

over page).

compass and the course tothe nearest safe port, enoughfood for a month includingself-heating soups and beef,clothes, a comprehensivemedical kit, fishing tackle andeven some cigarettes.

Naturally there was a wire-less transmitter and receiverwith a kite to elevate the aerialand the all-important instruc-tion book on how to sail!

Flying Officer Huckin of thedrama off the Scilly Isles hadcause to comment: ‘Whoeverdesigned these lifeboats did agrand job. Neither of us hadany experience of sailing, butit was almost child’s play,

everything labelled, youcouldn’t do wrong.’

Altogether about 540 of thewooden lifeboats were built byUffa Fox’s own company andmanufacturers such as Woodnuts, Saunders-Roe,Ranelagh and Herbert Woods.Some were shipped to NorthAmerica, Australia, NewZealand and as far afield asIndia for use in those arenas.Other sizes of craft from 16foot right up to 50 were envis-aged but never built. The onlyversion which materialisedwas an 18 footer for the FleetAir Arm and fitted to FaireyBarracuda aircraft.

If you want to see an airborne lifeboat a Mark l one is undergoing extensive restoration bythe Classic Boat Museum at Newport, Isle of Wight, with the intention of creating a fullyseaworthy example.

The author gratefully acknowledges generous assistance in the preparation of this article from J Collis of the Classic Boat Museum and Amanda Martin, curator at the Isles of Scilly Museums

Association, Church Street, St Mary’s.

Round About with AÏDA MAURICE

Donaz family ‘Ulster’ wassole Austinat St CloudandChanteloup

MEANWHILE our Belgianfriends and many othersbesides have been on themove for the Brittany Tourwhich begins in three equallycharming villages and takesthree days to wend its way toRennes.

For some reason Rosengartsalways seem to be a bit shybut this year turned out insome strength. Even the raresix cylinder model, which iseffectively an extended AustinSeven unit, put in anappearance.

Also present and correctwere the Nippy of Luc Wynen,a PD tourer from France and aBritish Ruby.

Adopted friendof the Austin,Bill Ballard didn’t go buttrue to traditionwent to the Pakenham Picnic,south of Melbourne, hencethe Seven spotted andsnapped for ‘Times’.

JUST ROOM TO remind youof that great Swiss event,the Classic British CarMeeting at Morges on theshores of Lake Geneva.

Now in it’s 13th year theprevious gathering attracted10,000 visitors and 1200British vehicles from manyparts of Europe.

Thanks to generous sup-port from the business com-munity and Morges town it’sall free and one very goodreason to lend your supportis that organizer Keith Wynnis an Austin devotee with asuperb Ascot.Date for the diary is

SATURDAY OCTOBER 2with more information onthe web atwww.british-cars.ch

Left Rosengart line up inBrittany and below theopen road seen from LucWynen’s Nippy

AND ON THE other side of the world, but way back in March,which is summer in Australia, of course, The British andEuropean Motor Show took place at Dandenong. It turned upthe fare below.

AUSTIN TIMES REPRODUCTION POLICY

All the articles appearing inAustin Times are the copyright ofthe author and may not be repro-duced in whole or part withoutprior consent. However, the mate-rial can be made available free toclub magazines on request and tocommercial publications by nego-tiation. All enquires to Friends ofthe Austin 10 av de la Porte deMénilmontant, 75020 Paris, e-mailMartyn.Nutland@wanadoo.fr Tel00 33 (0)1 43 67 81 56

Charming lightcommercial - anA40 ‘ute’ atDandenong andinset PeterBooth’s‘Chummy’ atPakenham

Still in the southern hemi-sphere Ron and Jenny Dayfrom New Zealand took their‘new’ Eight (above left) on a

club run based on Hawkes Bay and met another.