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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 0388.PDF
150 FLIGHT. FEBRUARY II, 1937. Private Flying KARACHI December was a busy mouth for the Club and flying time amounted to 237 hours. The major portion of this was spent on training members who wish to qualify for their " B " licences. Two members obtained their " A " licences ab initio during the past month, live members renewed their " A " licences, and one obtained his Second-Class .Navigator's licence. The training of three " B '' licence pilots as pilot instructors was also carried out during the month. The ground engineering staff and the students have been kept very busy, two of the Moths being under complete overhaul for the renewal of the C. of A. The Club was honoured by His Excellency the Governor of Sind, who chartered the Club's Leopard Moth, piloted by Major Jones, for a flight from Hyderabad and back on the occasion of the proclamation of the accession to the throne of H.M. King George VI. Cross-country and charter flights during the mouth were carried out to Bombay, Baroda and Hyderabad. A Bristol Occasion S OMETHING like 250 members and guests attended the Bristol and Wessex Club's annual dance last Thursday, though the rooms at the Berkeley, Bristol, where the party was held, were sufficiently extensive to prevent any sign of overcrowding. Were it not for the fact that the same face rarely appeared twice in the same spot, a visitor might have imagined that the enthusiast who did the counting was watch ing a process similar to that seen on the Shakespearean stage when the army of Brutus is marching by—out at one end and back at the other. After supper came the Western Brothers and one wondered whether anyone had previously noticed that the stouter of the brothers shows, when 011 the stage, a truly remarkable resemblance to a certain well-known figure in aviation—when this figure is also " holding the stage." Anyway, they were as funny as usual and the party itself was very much alive until the arrival of the mythical carriages at 2.30 a.m. Vacuum Flaps IN the article dealing with the Miles Whitney Straight which appeared in last week's issue, readers will recollect men tion of the flap-operating gear. The exact designation of this system is the Theed Vacuum Flap Actuation Gear; the same equipment marketed in France by Aerocessories Simmonds is known as the Simmonds-Theed Control. . AN "ALL-IN-ONE" CDC. The Latest Simmonds-Goudime Course and Double-Drift Calculator A FEW weeks ago I spoke in my weekly comments of the need for some self-contained calculating instrument which, within reason, would perform all the work in volved in laying off and measuring courses, in correct ing for drift, and in estimating an approximate time of arrival at any point on one's track. Since that time I have had a chance of using one of the In this sketch of the " D "-type Simmonds-Goudime calcula tor, the double-drift arm has, for the sake of clarity, been swung over to the right. The proportional calculator, shown separately, is mounted on the .back of the instrument, behind the central disc, which has a hollow spindle to allow track bearings to be measured. latest forms of the Simmonds-Goudime calculator, produced by Simmonds Aerocessories, ut Shell-Mex House, London, W.C.2, and it does appear that this instrument incorporates practically all the features which were then demanded. With the "C" type the pilot can rule lines, measure angles through 360 deg. on any map with marked meridians or squares, read off distances on either 10-mile or 4-mile scales, and work out the usual course and drift problems. In addition, there is a time-distance scale, or proportional calculator, mounted on the underside of the instrument, and the more expensive "D" type has an extension arm with a lined celluloid strip to enable one to solve what are known as double-drift problems, where by the speed and direction of the prevailing wind at cruising altitude may be quickly obtained while in flight. The latter part of the instrument is, of course, only likely to be useful to more serious navigators, but, once mastered, the method is a very easyT one. Although very different in appearance from the normal cir cular C.D.C., the principle behind the Simmonds-Goudime is precisely the same. Instead, however, of making an actual vector " model," the course, track and wind lines are separate, and arc, so to speak, held together by the moving rule with its two scales. For this reason one criticism may be ap plicable. The normal C.D.C. may be used for a number of queer purposes connected with D/R and it is unlikely that the Gou dime can be used in the same manner. As, however, the prin ciple necessarily re mains the same, this instrument probably awaits only the atten tions of some patient expert who will evolve ways and means of solving course correc tion, conversion angle, "running fix," and similar problems. Even if this is not pos sible the fact that it will work double-drift problems is a fair compensation. As a matter of interest, here are given some comparative re sults in straightforward course and Vector Diagram. 279° 120 m.p.h. 42° 118 „ 347° 120 „ 205° 114 „ 148° 91 „ ground-speed problems solved respectively by drawn vec tor diagrams and by the use of the S.-G. calculator. In each case only the first result with the latter, while working quickly, is used, while the drawn results can be taken as being accurate to within 1 deg. and I m.p.h. either way. When worked out in uncomfortable surroundings the ground- speed figures for the calculator would probably be seen only to the nearest 5 m.p.h. The differences are certainly not very serious. Over a 200-mile flight the ground-speed diver gence in the last (and worst) example would give an E.T.A. difference of less than three minutes on the right side; with out course-correction (and supposing that the given wind speed and direction are miraculously correct) the pilot would, in the same example, arrive at a point some six miles to the north-east of his destination. INDICATOR. Simmonds-Go udims 278° 41° 346" 203° 140° 120 m.p.h. 120 ,. 120 ,. 115 93 „
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