Comper CLA 7 Swift G-AARX .......0194

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Current List..Intro page....Price List

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Prototype Swift in 2 tone Blue / Silver.

3 Cards, includes decals, etched metal, moulded wheels Comprehensive history of Nicholas Comper and the Swift.

When introduced in 1930, the Swift, at £400, was advertised as the smallest light aeroplane in the world. With its well-mannered flying characteristics, low price and easy maintenance, Comper had his sights on the sporting market; adverts and articles drawing the attention of potential owners to a locker provided behind the cockpit "sufficiently large to accommodate a set of golf clubs". Swift owners could tow their aeroplanes behind their family car from their suburban garages to the nearest flying field, spread its wings and fly off for a round of golf. Golf courses, presumably, were thought sufficiently large and open to land aeroplanes on. Comper like many of his contemporaries had a vision of aeroplanes achieving the utility of the motor car, but few seem to have been alarmed at the prospect of the danger of overcrowded skies.The Swift was a diminutive and elegant single seater shoulder-wing sporting monoplane of mainly wooden construction. Exceptionally clean aerodynamics, aided by a very clever internal shock-absorption arrangement for the undercarriage, gave the prototype an outstanding performance, achieving a maximum speed of a little over 100 m.p.h., with cruising speed of 85 m.p.h., and an initial climb rate of over 500 ft/min on only 35 h.p. from an ABC "Scorpion" engine. Like all good aeroplanes, the Swift was capable of substantial development and improvement over its lifespan, the final versions eventually attaining over 165 mph with a 140 mph. cruise and a 1,400 ft/min climb, fitted with a 140 h.p. Gipsy Major engine.(see G-ABWW) These were quite astonishing performance figures for such a low powered machine and were almost equal to those of contemporary fighter 'planes.

41 Swifts were built between 1931 and 1933, all but three of these at Hooton Park.

The prototype Swift, registration G-AARX, resplendent in two-tone blue and silver Comper house-colours, first flew on the sixteenth of April 1930, and made its public debut Brooklands a month later.