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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1015.PDF
FLIGHT, SEPTEMBER 18. 1931 THE REID-SIGRIST TURN INDICATOR FEW problems are more pressing in modern times thanthat of flying by instruments, or, as it is sometimestermed, " blind flying." It is inevitable that atsome time or another a pilot, be he flying a R.A.F. service machine or a passenger-carrying civil aircraft, willrun into unexpected cloud or fog. Under such conditions even the most experienced pilot will be hard put to it tokeep his machine flying steadily on the desired course. Deprived of a horizon, or any datum line or point bywhich to judge the attitude of his machine, the pilot may succeed, by a highly-developed sense of balance and care-ful watching of his compass and airspeed indicator, etc., in keeping his machinestraight, but the strain of so doing is very great indeed,and, if conditions get really bad, and continue for a longperiod, it is almost inevitable that the machine will ulti-mately get into undesired, and probably unsuspected, atti-tudes. Realising the importance ofdeveloping the art of flying by instruments, the Chief of theAir Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir John Salmond, ablyassisted by past and present Air Members for Supply andResearch, and Directors of Training, has pursued a vigor-ous policy of encouragement of instrument flying, and theresult has been that Great Britain now stands highamong the nations of the world in this, as in so manyother branches of aviation development.At the Central Flying School at Wittering, instru-ment flying has been brought to a high state of perfection, THE REID-SIGRIST TURN INDICATOR: The dialand figures are large in order to enable the pilot to watch the needles without fatigue. (FLIGHT Photo.) and some weeks ago FLIGHT published an exclusive photo-graph of Flying Officer W. E. P. Johnson taking off on an Avro 504 with the hood pulled over the cockpit. Air Service Training, Ltd., at the newly-establishedschool at Hamble, Southampton, make a feature of in- struction in flying by instruments, so that during the nextyear or two this art should become part of the general equipment of almost every pilot who lays claim to beingfully qualified. Both at Wittering and at Hamble, use is made of the latest type of Reid-Sigrist turn indicator, produced byReid & Sigrist, Ltd., Canbury Park Road, Kingston-on- Thames. This instrument, developed after years of re-search work, has now been in use, in 25 test examples, over a period of 2\ years in various types of aircraft, andcan thus be assumed to have left the experimental stage well behind and to be in all respects a well-tested andreliable piece of equipment. This happy state has not been reached without hardwork. Squadron Leader G. H. Reid has been experiment- ing for many years on instruments of this general class,and the present-day Reid-Sigrist turn indicator is the out- come of innumerable tests,alterations, modifications, and more tests and more modifica-tions. Nothing fundamental has been changed, but the de-tails have been improved, re- designed, and re-tested, untilnow the company can give a very full guarantee not only ofreliability and faultless func- tioning, but also of long lifeunder hard service conditions. The Reid-Sigrist turn indi-cator comprises two instru- ments in one : The actual turnindicator and another instru- ment which the makers terma sideslip indicator. The whole instrument is made upof three standardised and interchangeable units, readilydismantled for inspection, cleaning, etc. The dial of the instrumentis so arranged that the needle of the sideslip indicator is atthe top and the turn indicator needle at the bottom. It isclaimed that this is a natural arrangement, since a pilot in-stinctively thinks of his lateral control in terms of the position of his hand on the controlcolumn, and of the rudder control, according to the posi- tion of the foot-operated rudder bar, the latter placed lowin the bottom of the cockpit and the former high, at about waist level.The dial of the instrument is large, with large and clear figures on both scales, so that reading the instrument im-poses a minimum of strain and fatigue. At the same time, the part of the instrument which projects behind theinstrument board is small, so economising space where THE REID-SIGRIST TURN INDICATOR: The highly-geared damping cylinder of the turn indicator is seen in tne centre mounted on its spider. On the left is the air pump unit complete, and on the right it is seen dismantled. (FLIGHT Photo.) 953
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