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Bristol Hot Air Balloon Fiesta by Lily Edwards

How many of you enjoyed visiting the Bristol Balloon fiesta this year? How many of you actually know the history of this great event that happens every year in our very own city? I didn’t go this year but I wanted to find out a little bit more about the facts around the fiesta – maybe you will find our something you didn’t know! In 1960 a man called Don Cameron came to Bristol to work as an engineer making aeroplanes. But in his spare time he went to a gliding club and one day they decided to make their own hot air balloon from an article in a magazine in America. It was very hard but they managed to make the first modern hot air balloon in Europe called ‘Bristol Belle’ and the members of the gliding club all learnt to fly it. The first flight was on 9th July 1967. After this, in 1970, Don Cameron decided to leave his job and set up his own company making balloons – called Cameron’s Balloons Ltd. He had lots of adventures – including trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 1978 and his friends decided to persuade him to give talks about his travels. These talks eventually led to the idea of a festival or fiesta to celebrate ballooning, and the next year in 1979, in early September the first Bristol Balloon Festival began. It took place in Ashton Court (where it still takes place today), and 27 balloons took off that first year. 37 years on from that, there have been 117 flights from Ashton Court and each year over 100 balloons attend the Fiesta with 500,000 visitors over four days. There is a night glow where the balloons light up to music and each morning there is a ‘mass ascent’ which is where all the balloons take off at the same time…..AMAZING! If you haven’t already gone to see this FANTASTIC sight, now you know the facts behind it, GO! (I will DEFINITELY go next year) .

Acknowledging: www.bristolballoonfiesta.co.uk

First A Greeting from the Big Boss… Hello readers of Totally Tockington, the paper written BY students FOR students! This year, I’ve been given the important position of Editor-In-Chief, which used to be the position of my great friend, Tom. So, I hope to fill the big shoes that he left (metaphorically of course!). In this paper, teams A & B have joined together to create one, amazingly, spectacular, fantastical, edition of the newspaper we all know and love…TOTALLY TOCKINGTON! The TT team would like to welcome all the new members and we hope you enjoy their articles. Inside your super edition, we’ve jam-packed so many articles it’s unbelievable. This week we’ve got off to a flying start by writing about…flight! We've got some flightastic articles to read so we hope you really enjoy them. Now UP, UP, AND AWAY!!!!!!

Alex Jacobi Editor-In-Chief

Editorial

Hello and welcome back to the first issue of Totally Tockington this year- the paper written BY students FOR students! As you all know, Tom Edwards, our previous Editor-in-Chief sadly left us, but Alex Jacobi has kindly taken his place! Also I am now Editor of team A, with Angus Duncan as my Sub-editor, and Tabitha Huby is Editor of Team B, with Ellie Parker as her Sub-editor. William Sheppard is our papers distributor. For this paper, as it is the first paper of the term, we have both teams A and B in it, and what a paper it is! Why not start with James and Gemma’s sibling article on flying animals, and then take a look at Toby’s article on Concorde and perhaps you might want to finish by reading Harry Huby’s article on plane records?

All this and more in Totally Tockington! Georgina Loring Editor Team A

Edition 84 Teams A&B September 28th

2015 founded by Ben Owen 2011 All drawings by Ellie Parker

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Allens’ Amazing Animals By James & Gemma Allen

Flying squirrels

Flying squirrels normally glide up to 9 metres but once one glided

an amazing 88 metres. The flying squirrel can fly because of its

thin skin stretched between wrist and ankle which acts like a

parachute.

They live up to 4 to 5 years in the wild but in captivity they can

live 10 to 15 years!! Their predators are owls, wild cats, bobcats

and HAWKS!!! Out of all the gliding animals they are ranked No1

for distance in flight.

Flying fish

Flying fish have long fins in the shape of wings, so that they can jump out of the water and glide across the surface. In Japan in May 2008 a flying fish was seen to spend 45 seconds in the air! They can travel up to 70km/h and up to 6 metres above the sea. Flying fish live in all of the oceans and especially in warm seas. I would love to see one.

Sources: Toptenz.net, Wikipedia, Google.

Aeroplane Crash at Car-fest

by Carmen Rey-Jones

Most of you have probably heard of Car-fest with Chris Evans. Sadly, this summer one of the planes crashed. In this article I will tell you what type of plane it was and how it crashed… What type of plane was it? The plane that crashed was part of the Gnat display team and the pilot was an ex Red Arrows pilot.. How did it crash? The plane was part of a display team at Oulton Park on Saturday, August 1st. The pilot deliberately steered the plane way away from the crowds to ensure their safety. Sadly the pilot died. His name was Kevin Whyman. He was 35, married and with a young daughter. Also he was close friends with Chris Evans who runs the show. Spectators and plane experts think that he didn’t execute his loop the loop right. He tried to eject but it didn’t happen quickly enough.

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Hoverboards by Jonathan Baguley

A hoverboard is like a skateboard without wheels. It hovers because there is a special material inside the hoverboard called a superconductor. But you need the superconductors to be below the temperature of -198 degrees Centigrade for them to work. The only way to do this is by using liquid nitrogen. They put it in a container with the superconductors to keep them frozen. It cannot hover over any surface though. There has to be a magnetic track for it to go along.

The reason it hovers is because the superconductors make a magnetic force that pulls them towards the magnetic track. But the force also pushes them away from the track. This means the hoverboard hovers above the track, stays in the same position and does not go off the side. Japan is using this technology to develop trains of the future that can go over 600 km/h – that is twice as fast as most trains today!

Seaplanes by Otis Walker

A seaplane can take off and land on water. Seaplanes that can take off and land at airports are called amphibian aircraft. Amphibians are animals that live in both sea and land, so that is the reason the aircraft is called this. A seaplane has big floats instead of wheels so they can float like a boat. They land on still bits of water like rivers or lakes but not the sea because it’s too wavy and the seaplane will capsize. They can land in places that have no runways like in a remote mountain area with a big lake. Seaplanes can dock up at a harbour like a boat. Seaplane air ambulance means that people can be rescued if they are stranded in water so you can get to them and rescue them quickly. I think these vehicles are very useful and a good fun thing to do but I would never do it myself because it would be freaky to land on water.

UFOs by William Bate

Did you know UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Objects in space. But we still do not know if Aliens or UFOs are real or exist. I they exist, UFOs are faster than any of our man made aircrafts in the world. Flying saucers would be much bigger than any of our aircrafts in the world. On the 14th October 1912 Winston Churchill reported a UFO sighting in Kent, England. In 1883 the first ever photograph of a UFO was taken by Jose Bonilla in Mexico. Since the 1940s there has been lots of UFO sightings. Recently NASA captured a strange white light dancing across the horizon of Mars. Do you believe there is life in space? Do you believe in UFOs?The websites I used to research are Kidskonnect and Kinooze.

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Vultures by Jai Patel

Vultures are birds that are carnivores and can live up to 20 to 30 years. They are scavengers, which means that they find and eat dead animals. Sometimes they also kill animals to eat. They have amazing eyesight and can see a dead animal from 4 miles away from the sky. They are important birds because they recycle dead animals and clean up the mess! When they eat an animal, they eat absolutely everything except the bones. Vultures have a wing span of up to 72 inches, which is 6 feet !!! They are found on every continent in the world except Antarctica and Australia. There are two types of Vultures, Old World and New World Vultures, and there are 30 species in the world. Here is a list of 5 types of vultures and some scary pictures:

1) Black vulture 2) Turkey vulture 3) King vulture 4) Hooded vulture 5) Egyptian vulture

Flying Animal Fantasies by Elizabeth Allan–Jones

My job was to see what flying animals people would like to own. Jeanne Veron

“What would your ideal pet be?’’ “A flying dog’’ “What tricks would it do?’’ “Front flips and back flips’’ “What would it be called?’’ “Hermione’’ ‘’How old would she be?’’ “1 week’’ “What would she look like?’’ “She would have a white fluffy coat, shiny white and multi-coloured wings” “What would her favourite toy be?” “Blue blow up starfish toy”

Angel Burrows

“What would your ideal pet be?” “Giant flying pig.” “What tricks could it do ?” “It could fly on bikes, skateboards and scooters.” “What would it be called ?” “Kevin.” “How old would he be? “3 weeks old.” “What would he look like?” “He would have a red body, white wings and massive blue hoofs” “What would his favourite toy be?” “A fake apple hanging from a tree” “What would his favourite food be?” “Chocolate”

Why not make up your own Fantasy Flying

Animal ? Answer the questions on a piece of

paper and hand your entries in to Ms Case

or any of the Editorial team. We would love

to see pictures too of fantasy

flying.creatures.

All entries on A4 paper before Friday. You

might be lucky enough to win a yummy

prize!

Make sure you name your entry!

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Concorde

by Toby Gaulton

Concorde is a turbo-jet powered supersonic airliner which is no longer being flown. Its top speed was 1354 mph and seated 92-128 passengers. First flown in 1969, it was flown for tests to make sure it was safe for 7 years. It came into service in 1976 and flew until 2003. It is one of only two supersonic transporters to go into public service. The other was Tupolev Tu-144. There were 20 Concorde built - 6 were prototypes and 14 were public transporters. 7 were given to British Airways and 7 to Air France. Air France flight 4590 crashed into a hotel 2.4 kilometres away from Charles De Gaulle airport. It crashed because a small piece of metal had been left on the runway. Everyone on the plane was killed and 4 people on the ground were killed. Concorde’s fastest Atlantic crossing was 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds, and was flown by Captain Leslie Scott. Normally Concorde flew to New York, Washington DC or Barbados. It flew these routes in less than half the time of other airliners. The most iconic photograph was when it flew over Clifton Suspension Bridge for the last time ever. Enough of the sad story! I have been to see Concorde 2 (one of the prototypes) and it is amazing! I went to The Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovil. You can go inside and see what Concorde was like. I hope you have enjoyed my article on Concorde and hopefully you can go and see it.

My Favourite Jet Plane by Henry Packham

I love jet planes. I love the way they speed through the air. I love the noise they make. I love their different shapes. I love the Harrier Jump Jet because it can do a vertical take off. I also like the F14 Tomcat because it has got wings that can move in and out depending on how fast it needs to fly. Best of all I like the Ice cream Jet. I’ve drawn a picture of it showing how it can fire sprinkles and drop ice cream bombs. I’m not sure it would win any wars, but I would love to own one! Why don’t you imagine what your favourite jet plane would be and then have fun drawing it.

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by William Sheppard

Since this Totally Tockington newspaper is about flight, I decided to do this subject which has always been on my bucket list. Skydiving! This idea really fell from the sky. Skydiving is when you pay money to be taken up high in a helicopter or plane round about 12,000 ft or 50,000 ft and then they kit you up ready to jump out of the helicopter or plane with someone on your back if you are a beginner - like this…

To successfully have the most breath-taking experience of your life, first you need a good instructor, a parachute, a plane/helicopter and most of all a clear sky. If you take this up when you’re older and become rich and famous for skydiving, you might have a chance of being sponsored by Red Bull. That would mean you are one of the best at this sport in the world. Acknowledgments Google images

MORE SKYDIVING By Logan Fitzpatrick

Skydiving is an action sport where you jump out of an aircraft and gravity will bring you back to earth. You then release your parachute which will slow you down. Before you release your parachute, it is called free-falling, where you can reach a speed of around 130mph, depending on body weight and clothing. A skydiver’s freefall lasts from 45 -85 seconds. This speed is reached by a fall called ‘belly to earth’ position. Divers who fall in the head first position with their body behind, can reach speeds of more than 330 mph but this speed comes from skydivers in speed skydiving competitions. A jump can range from 7,500 to 15,000 feet above ground level. Skydivers open their parachutes around 2,500 feet from the ground. A pilot chute is released by pulling a cord which releases the main chute out from a bag in which the parachute is encased. The skydiver slows down to about 10mph before the skydiver reaches the ground. All skydivers carry a backup parachute just in case the parachute doesn’t open in time. In 1797 Andre-Jacques Garnerin was the first man to skydive by using a canvas canopy and a small basket connected beneath a hot air-balloon. He was the inventor of the frameless parachute. The first world parachuting championships were held in Yugoslavia in 1951.

FOOD IN SPACE by Ben Jacobi

Eating in space can be quite tricky for astronauts. This is because there’s no gravity! If you were to drop a piece of food it would just float around never hitting the floor. Scientists had to design special packaging to help astronauts eat food in space. The first space foods were very soft and were put into tubes similar to toothpaste tubes. The astronauts would suck the food straight from the tube. Nowadays, the food is better quality and more nutritious, as they use freeze-dried food so it doesn’t need to be in a fridge and it last a very long time. All the astronauts need to do is squeeze hot water into the food packages and then eat the food after it absorbs the water. TASTY!! Special trays were designed with Velcro on the bottom so the astronauts could fasten them to their laps, so they can have a meal while sitting down.

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Fast Birds by Harry Huby

In my article this week I shall be writing about the fastest birds. I hope you enjoy it. To start with, the fastest wing beat of a bird is the Ruby Throated Hummingbird, with 200 flaps a second. The fastest bird diving is a Peregrine Falcon which goes a whopping 300km/h or 186mph meaning it is the fastest animal on the planet. Fun fact: these Peregrine Falcons live in the cities such a New York hunting pigeons as their daily diet. If you want to know more about them, read Harry Mather’s article… Did you know that the Gentoo Penguin can swim up to 40km/h making it the fastest swimming bird? These are found in South Georgia or the Falkland Islands. The fastest bird flying at level height is the record breaking Grey Headed Albatross with a top speed of 127km/h or 79mph and sustained this speed for 8 hours while returning to its nest. Source: Guinness Book of Worlds Records, Google

Fastest Bird of Prey By Harry Mather

The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird of prey and can reach over 200 kilometres per hour. The peregrine falcon is able to fly as fast as it does because, unlike other birds of prey, it doesn’t just fold its wings and fall; it pushes its body towards the ground. This motion is called a stoop or power dive. The falcon has adapted to such speed because of its light body and hollow bones. The main prey of the peregrine falcon is the pigeon but it will also eat small mammals, reptiles and even insects. It catches its prey in flight, unlike other birds that catch their food on the ground. The peregrine falcon lives all over the world and nests in places such as cliff edges and in cities, on top of high rise buildings. Peregrine falcons seem to be growing in number at this time, but there was a time when their numbers were decreasing. The reason for the fall in numbers was that farmers were using poisonous pesticides on the crops. Luckily for the peregrine, most pesticides have been banned. Peregrine falcons are one of my favourite birds because they are very fast and are excellent hunters.

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The Flying Pig by Hannah Williams

Once upon a time, there was a pig. And that pig was no ordinary pig because she was a dinosaur-pig. Her name was Prilly. She was very intelligent and knew it was dangerous out of her area because she knew about pig-eating dinosaurs for she had read a book about them. One day all her food was gone, so went to find some. What was unusual about this dinosaur pig was that she had wings, so she flew. When she came to a lovely green, bright and ripe tree, Prilly picked a few pieces of fruit and put them in her basket. Suddenly she heard a grunt and a stomp. Prilly knew it was a dinosaur, so she flew up-up-up and more up, so it could not get her. She noticed it was a raptor and it scrambled away at the sight of something which frightened it. She turned around to see a T-Rex! She knew T-Rexes ate meat and could go up to very fast speeds. They had very big legs and tiny hands- so tiny they could not put glasses on despite the fact they could not see very well. Nevertheless, they were deadly. She thought about fleeing and flying away as fast as she could,but then she used her brain and thought about the book. She knew that they could not see well and so she stopped moving. The T-Rex thought she had gone, so ran back the way it had come. Prilly flew down before she met any more dinosaurs. She returned to the tree and picked some more fruit. She wanted to get away quickly because she knew that the T-Rex nest was probably close by, so she hurried home. But on her way back she saw another dino! Thankfully it was her friend, a Triceratops called Bruce. Bruce was a herbivore and ate leaves but that didn’t mean they were not short-tempered. Prilly didn’t want to waste any more time, so she said, “I will arrange a play date for us”, and she flew home. Prilly was tired, so she went to bed. Beware readers and teachers – if you meet a big dinosaur, watch out! Keep in mind that you’ve all seen a pig but not a flying one and no dinosaurs, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist! So watch out!

Real Pet Interviews by Elizabeth Allan-Jones

Alys Wakeling “What is your pet?’’ “A rabbit’’ “What is its name?’’ ”Gary’’ “How old is he?’’ “2 years old ‘’ “Why did you get a rabbit?’’ “Because they’re fluffy and cute’’ “What is his favourite food?’’ “Rabbit nuggets ‘’ ‘‘What is his favourite toy?’’ “A wooden table’’ Elodie Preston ‘’What pet do you have?’’ ‘’A cat’’ ‘’What is it called?’’ ‘’Bella’’ ‘’Where did you get her?’’ ‘’We adopted her from my Aunt’’ ‘’Does she like indoors or outdoors more?’’ ‘’She likes indoors more’’ ‘’ What is her favourite toy?’’ ‘’ A squeaky mouse toy that moves’’ ‘’What is her favourite food?’’ ‘’Salmon’’ ‘’What does she look like?’’ ‘’ She has a black back with a white tummy’’

The Battle of Britain

by Ryan Hann

The 15th September 2015 was Battle of Britain Day and this year marks the 75th anniversary of the large scale battle of the sky which took place during the height of World War Two. This battle took place over London and the English Channel between the UK and Germany. The German Commanders believed that it would be during the attacks of the 15th September 1940 that the UK RAF could be defeated. The UK was successful in defeating the German forces during this battle.

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FLIGHT QUIZ by Angus Duncan

If you know the answers to any of these questions, fill in the table and hand it to Angus. You might win a yummy treat! Your name …………………………………………………………………..

Fill in the Gaps by Ryan Hann

If you know the answers to any of these questions on aeroplanes, fill in the gaps and hand your completed quiz to Ryan. You might win a yummy treat! Your name …………………………………………………………………..

1. C_in_ _k (the first part of this word is a part of the face)

2. Co_c_ _d_ (this retired plane is a record breaker)

3. T_ _p_oo_ (a weather phenomenon)

4. M_er_ _n (a classical wizard)

5. L_n_ (a brand of men's toiletries and an animal)

6. H_rc_ _es (the Roman name for the son of Zeus)

7. L_ nc_ _ter (it is a plane as well as the name of a place in England)

8. V_lc_n (a fictional species in “Star Trek”)

1. What type of plane has no engine?

2. How many wings does a tri-plane have?

3. Name one of a British fighter planes during the

battle of Britain?

4. What is the RAF display team called?

5. Name the supersonic passenger plane built in

Bristol?

6. True or False - some planes can land on water?

7. Which passenger plane holds the most people?

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ANOTHER FABULOUS CARTOON BY :

ISABELLE PRESTON

DID YOU KNOW!

RAF means Royal Air

Force.