Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Single-seat light sport aircraft

Power Plant:

One 56 kw (75 hp) Pobjoy R seven-cylinder air-cooled radial engine; or

One 90 kw (120 hp) de Havilland Gipsy III four-cylinder in-line air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

Designed by Flight Lieutenant Nicholas Comper, the founder of the Comper Aircraft Company Ltd, the CLA-7 Swift was a tiny but very efficient single-seat light sport aircraft of wooden construction, fabric covered (except for the plywood rear decking) powered by a 26 kw (35 hp) ABC Scorpion two-cylinder (1100 cc) horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine. The prototype was demonstrated to the public for the first time on 17 May 1930, having folding wings.

The design proved popular and a further seven were built in 1930, all fitted with a 37 kw (50 hp) Salmson AD9 radial engine. The last of these production aircraft was delivered to New Zealand.

However, at about this time Mr D R Pobjoy commenced production of a geared radial engine in a factory next to the Comper facility at Hooton in Cheshire, and Comper elected to fit the Pobjoy P engine in the seventh Swift (G-AAZF). The type then became known in racing circles in the United Kingdom, and a number were sold as far afield as Argentina and South Africa.

The Swift became notable for long-distance flights. One G-ABRE (c/n S31/8) was flown to Australia. Built specially for C A Butler, founder of Butler Air Transport, and cleared for a maximum take-off-weight of 526 kg (1,160 lb), it was flown to Darwin, NT in 9 days, 2 hours and 21 minutes, leaving Lympne in Kent on 31 October 1931 and reaching Darwin, on 9 November 1931. It then completed a 36,954 km (22,967 miles) eight-week tour of Australia before being shipped back to the United Kingdom. It was sold and an attempt was made on the Capetown in South Africa record by Victor Smith, leaving on 15 December 1932 but crashing at St Malo. It was rebuilt and in July 1934 Victor Smith attempted to fly from Capetown to London, UK but after a forced landing on the African West Coast the aircraft was abandoned and the registration lapsed.

Forty-two Swifts were built, with three being registered in Australia and one in New Zealand. VH-UZB (c/n S.31/6 – ex G-ABPY), built in 1931, was first registered on 25 March 1939 to (then) Flt Lt A R Tindal who was based at RAAF Point Cook, VIC. However, Flt Lt Tindal (after whom RAAF Tindal, NT was named) was killed during a Japanese air raid on Darwin airfield on 19 February 1942. The aircraft had a couple of more owners but crashed at Lakes Entrance, VIC, on 17 December 1950.

VH-UVC (c/n S.32/10 – ex G-ACAG) was built in 1932 and fitted with a Pobjoy radial engine. First registered on 9 October 1934 it had a number of accidents and eventually crashed at Moorabbin, VIC on 14 December 1959. It was retired and placed in storage in 1968. In 1998 it was obtained by Sydney, NSW vintage aircraft enthusiast Roy Fox who also owned a BA Eagle, de Havilland DH.83 Fox Moth, a Short Scion, a Dragon Rapide, etc, and in 2014 it was shipped to New Zealand and rebuilt to airworthiness by JEM Aviation at Omaka, Blenheim.

Because of the interest in racing in the 1930s a couple of Swifts were fitted with Gipsy Major in-line engines, increasing the power from 56 kw (75 hp) to 97 kw (130 hp). The first of these, G-ABWH, won the Folkestone Trophy Race at Lympne on 25 August 1932 at 227 km/h (141 mph). It was then raced in the United States in the 1934 Cleveland Races as N27K. It was imported to Australia and first registered in July 1939 as VH-ACG (c/n GS.32/2) to Light Aircraft Pty Ltd of Sydney.

It had a series of owners thereafter and crashed on the fairway of the Great Lakes Golf Course in Sydney on 18 December 1950. It was eventually rebuilt in Adelaide in 1963 and was flown in the 1964 Ansett Air Race from Brisbane to Adelaide, SA. Subsequently it was placed in storage but in the 1990s it was rebuilt to airworthy condition in Western Australia and during 1998 was offered for sale. In late 2005 it was also obtained by Roy Fox and has been based in Sydney.

ZK-ACG (c/n S.30/8) was the last of the Swifts to be built in 1930 with a Salmson radial engine. Named “Kitten” it operated for some years, and late in its life was fitted with the dorsal fin from a BA Swallow. It eventually crashed at Te Wera on 10 April 1939.

Two other Swifts have a connection with this region. G-AAZD (c/n S.30/5) became SU-AAJ in 1933, returning to the United Kingdom in August 1935. Flown by F B Chapman, an Australian serving in the RAF, it left Lympne on 11 August 1935 to fly to Australia, the pilot wishing to visit family in Charleville, QLD. However, a forced landing was made on 15 August at Sasaram in India and the aircraft was shipped back to the United Kingdom and sold.

G-ABTC (c/n S.32/1) was built in 1931 at Hooton Park, Cheshire by Comper Aircraft Ltd and, flown by Peter Channon, left the United Kingdom on 28 January 1981 to fly to Australia to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Arthur Butler’s flight to Australia in a Swift. Due to bad weather and other problems, the aircraft force landed in Bahrein. It was then shipped back to the United Kingdom and has survived in Cornwall.

In later times a company, Aviation Metalcraft, has produced a metalwork kit comprising some 480 individual metal parts, these parts produced from the original 1930s Comper Aircraft factory drawings. This company became involved with the Swift in 1991, at that time being commissioned to produce metalwork for the second replica to be produced since the closure of the original Company’s production line in August 1934. Orders have been placed for kits of metal parts and further replicas of the Swift have been under construction.

A replica was completed in the United Kingdom and, based at Brighton, flew as G-LCGL, being operated by the Real Aeroplane Company of Brighton, North Yorkshire. A further reproduction was built as G-ECTF at Hinton-in-the-Hedges in Northamptonshire. This aircraft was fitted with a restored Pobjoy Cataract engine, flying for the first time on 2 October 2015.

A number have survived, including G-ABTC stored in Cornwall; G-ABUS believed to be stored in France; LV-FBA and the remains of LV-YEA (LV-FCE , ex R-232, G-AAZE) in Argentina; G-ACGL at the RAF Museum at Cosford in Suffolk; G-ACTF at the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden in Bedfordshire; and EC-HAM in Madrid, Spain (ex G-ABUU) painted as EC-AAT.