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Aviation History
1935
1935 -2- 0142.PDF
128 FLIGHT. AUGUST i, 1935. "SHARK" and "TIGER" DEVOUR the HOURS r A Remarkable Endurance Test - r— ••?." AT the request of the Air Ministry the Blackburn Aeroplaneand Motor Co., Ltd., recently carried out intensive flight trials of an Armstrong Siddeley '' Tiger VI '' engine installedin a Blackb'.'rn "Shark" Torpedo Spotter Reconnaissance aeroplane. The standard "Shark" is fitted with a "TigerIV engine, and the trials of the "Tiger VI" were required t 1 test tl.<- efficiency of the new engine and its installation.Normally, trials of this description are made at a Service Station under ordinary Service routine, but in this case thework was entrusted to the aircraft manufacturers with the object of ascertaining how quickly it could be done undertheir organisation. Flying started at the Blackburn aerodrome at Brough onMonday, July 8, at 3 45 a.m., and the hundred hours period was complete! on Tuesday, July 16, at 8.15 a.m. On Friday,July 12, flying was interrupted for the day for the more ex- tensive maintenance and inspection required after fifty hours'flying. Originally, the aim of the Blackburn Company was to complete the hundred hours in seven days flying time, andtliis was very nearly achieved, only ij hours hours remaining to be done on the eighth day. But for bad weather in the early morning of the sixth day the hundred hours couldeasily have been completed within the seven days. As a rule, flying started at approximately 4 a.m. eachday and ended at approximately 10 p.m. Every advantage was therefore taken of daylight, and no night flying was done.Flights were generally of 3J hours' duration, and the time on the ground between flights for fuelling and minor adjustmentsaveraged 35 minutes, the shortest time being 15 minutes. Routine maintenance and inspection was done during the night,between 10 p.m and 4 a.m. Four pilots shared the flying time between them. Fit.Lt. A. M. Blake, Blackburn's chief test pilot, made the pre- liminary and special tests, and the remainder of the flying wasdone by Fit. Lt. G. M. Morris, who was temporarily engaged for this purpose, and Fit. Lt. H. Bailey and C. A. Ball, in-structors of the R.A.F. Reserve Training School operated by North Sea Aerial and General Transport, Ltd. The last twoflew in the evenings after their normal working hours. Both engine and airframe, it is stated, performed entirelysatisfactorily during these trials, which were done on Anglo- American fuel to Spec. DTD.230 and Ragosine oil. j- A.E. and M. at Home LAST Saturday the Aircraft Exchange and Mart were AtHome at Akleiiham aerodrome. Nearly fifty visiting pilots arrived by air and over two thousand people watchedthe flying. Pilots at Church ServiceM R. VV. LINDSAY EVERARD, M.I3., held his annual in-vitation gathering of pilots at his own aerodrome at Ratclifle, near Leicester, last Sunday. A large numliet of visitors arrived by air, and after lunchattended a special church service. ;^x A Jubilee Tour ONE of the most ambitious demonstration tours ever under-taken by a civil aeroplane is about to begin at Hanworth. The machine in question is a "Jubilee" model S.T.25 (two Pobjoy " Niagara II" engines). ' Piloted by Mr. K. G. SethSmith, who will be accompanied by Mr. S, J. Noel-Brown, secretary of General Aircraft, Ltd., the machine will visit inturn, and give demonstrations at, Shoreham, Portsmouth, Ramble, Ryde, Shanklin, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Newquay,Barnstaple, Cardiff, Liverpool, Blackpool, Isle of Man, Belfast, Campbelltown, Renfiew, Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh,Newcastle, Hull, Skegness, Norwich, Ramsgate, Eastbourne, Redhill, and Brooklands. Prophetic In publishing a photograph of Mrs. Pakenham in Flightlast week it was stated that she is in charge of the sales department of the Martin-Baker Aircraft Co., Ltd. It hasbeen pointed out to us that this is incorrect, but actually Mrs. Pakenham is joining that firm shortly, although not inthe sales department. AIR EXERCISES CONCLUDED continued from were instructed to fly with their navigation lights on overCertain parts <>£ the area of operations, but although these lights may be visible at certain angles from 2-3 miles away,they do not afford nearly so good a guide to the defending lighters in the air as a searchlight beam. Concentration ofbeams on an enemy bomber is clearly visible for many miles and affords a sure indication to the pilot of the fighter of thedirection in which to proceed to carry out his attack. A part of the searchlight equipment • a sound locator,which gives very accurately the position of an aircraft which may be heard a!though not seen. "The attacking bombers had their navigation lightsswitched off when passing over areas where the Observer Corps were manning their posts. Bombers flying at heightsof over 10,t)oo feet could not be seen from the ground. Observer Corf>s Praised " In locating enemy bombers by auditory means the Ob-servers' method of plotting the tracks of the bombers by sound proved very effective, not only in indicating the pres-ence of the bomber, but also by giving his direction of move- ment from point to point with sufficient accuracy to enablethe officer commanding the fighters to take action. The accuracy of the Observer Corps' information and itsrapid communication to the Northland control has been of very great value. The highest praise is due to the membersof the Observer Corps who volunteer their services and who arc for the most pan working men who cannot forgo theirdaily 0ccup.1tion. In spite of this they have participated in ;ill the night phases. Some groups were working until4 o'clock in the morning, although on account of raids being held up or cancelled because of fog, they were not kept asfullv occupied as could be desired. As a result they were closed down earlier than was expected. " The prevalence of poor vertical visibility and the great page heights at which both day and night raids were carried outmade it obvious thai an Obstrver Corps working both by day and night will be needed. This year the Exercise has beenthe most realistic one in which the Observer Corps has parti- cipated, and has shown up the difficulties which may be ex-pected in carrying out defence against more silent aircraft, flying at even greater altitudes." Morning Phase to Conclusion at 1800 hours. Thursday,July 25.—The day started with slight mist over most of the Eastern area, which gave way to haze as the sun rose higher.Eleven raids were scheduled to start at an early hour, but two were abandoned. Of the remaining nine four were notintercepted, although the others were intercepted ten times. In the afternoon twenty-three raids took place, each consist-ing of a small formation. Most of these flew at about 10,000 feet, but met with strong resistance, one raid being attackedfive times at 12,000 feet. At about 5 o'clock the Directing Staff issued a signal tothe effect that hostilities would cease at 6 o'clock. The A.O.C.-in-C., Air Defence of Great Britain, emphasisesthat throughout this Air Exercise the effect of anti-aircraft gunfire has been ignored because it cannot be represented inpeace manoeuvres. The fact that several enemy formations apparently pene-trated the defences without being intercepted by fighter air- craft does not necessarily indicate a faulty defence organisa-tion ; not only would the anti-aircraft guns in their fixed posi- tions have taken their toll, both on the way in and out, butthe shell-bursts would in themselves have provided valuable assistance to the defending aircraft in indicating the where-abouts of the enemy. Artificial limitations such as these make it quite impossibleto draw general conclusions from these Exercises as to the adequacy of the defence organisation, but it can be said thattheir training value has been of immense importance.
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