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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1025.PDF
APRIL 22, 1937. FLIGHT. 3*3 The Outlooks A Ri Flood-grounded r O those concerned with military aviation there is food for thought, and some cause for uneasiness, in the extent to which service aerodromes have been rendered unusable by excessive flooding during the past winter. Nor is the trouble confined to service aerodromes. Cases have occurred of the condition of aircraft construc tors' aerodromes holding up the test-flying of new types. At the present time such difficulties are merely irritating. They interfere with programmes, but do not seriously affect ultimate results. In times of emergency, however, the story might be very different, and it is somewhat disquiet ing to reflect that had it so happenend that we were at war instead of otherwise (one refrains from using the word peace) the flooding of aerodromes might have £ad quite serious consequences. If an appreciable percentage of aerodromes is unfit for use in time of war, the rest will obviously have to be used all the more. That means a concentration at those which are usable, and the enemy will not be slow to discover this and to concentrate on them as targets. A few may be rendered useless by bomb craters placed along the line of longest take-off, -and it is possible to envisage circum stances which could render all but a small percentage of aerodromes unusable. Adequate drainage and specially prepared runways would stop the flooding nuisance, but not the risk of immo bilisation through the bombing of aerodromes. In fact, runways would tend to increase that risk. What is the answer? In view of the targets presented by any large number of aircraft concentrated at any one aerodrome, the ultimate solution may possibly 1 3 found in a scattering of aircraft rather than a concentration of them, using some means of mechanically assisted take-ofl to get the machines out of fairly small fields. , Aries T~\EADERS of John Buchan's Greemnantle series of war l\ stories will remember how his South African pilot sacrificed himself in order to prevent a German aero plane from reporting vital news of a British movement by ramming the enemy machine. Various authentic cases occurred in air fights of British and German pilots charging each other head on and colliding, but presumably most of them hoped that the other would give way first. The scientific ram as a means of destroying enemy aircraft has often been considered but has never been adopted as official tactics. An article in the spring issue of The Royal Air Force Quarterly suggests that, with properly designed aircraft, ramming might become a regular and most effective way of destroying raiding bombers, while the parachute would give the British pilot a very excellent chance of escaping unharmed. The ramming machine would usually be lost, but that would be a small price to pay for the destruction of a bomber and the severe blow which such tactics would deal to the morale of all prospective raiders. Of course, they would have parachutes, too, but those who descended safely would all be made prisoners of war. The cost of the sacrificed rammer would seem indeed small when one reflects that the bomber might have blasted the Bank of England had it not .been itself destroyed. The tactics suggested are that the rammer should dive on the tail of the bomber, come up underneath and fly its airscrew into the empennage of the bomber. The rammer pilot would then work a lever which would let him drop, complete with chair and oxygen apparatus, through the bottom of his fuselage. His seat would be near the tail, and he would be protected by a cone of armour in front of the fuel tank. He would carry no guns whatever. It all sounds delightfully simple. Stage Management r HE York and Leeming Club, for their International Rally on June 4, 5 and 6, intend to avoid the con ventional aircraft demonstrations of the kind which became rather monotonous last season. It is a commendable innovation. One admires the tech nique of most of the demonstrating pilots, but one cannot help wearying of the spectacle of the same people doin^ the same things in the same aeroplanes. To this the aircraft constructor or agent may reply : '' Yes, of course, because you Flight people go to all the meetings." Our answer is: " So do most of the people sufficiently in terested in flying to want to buy your aeroplane." Having seen it performing at one or two previous demonstrations, and probably at various aerodromes at the week-ends between, they know as much as they want to know. So far as the public enclosure is concerned, it is an air circus maxim to '' have something in the sky all the time." Nevertheless, does not the one-and-threepenny patron get as tired as we do of seeing the 32 h.p. X , the 35 h.p. Y and the 40 h.p. Z going through their more or less identical repertoires? The ideal programme would have a strictly limited number of demonstrations by aircraft of widely assorted size, appearance and flying characteristics, and they would be put on in an order that brought out the contrasts. The one difficulty would be that of giving everybody a fair show during the season. The Grid O NCE more a serious flying accident has drawn attention to the danger to aircraft which overhead high-tension electric cables constitute. It is, of course, perfectly true that the amount of flying done at the present time is not such as to warrant the very great expense which would be involved in placing these cables underground, an ex pense for which, in the end, the consumer would have to pay; but it is, more than ever, necessary to look ahead. Just as the present conditions on the roads might have been avoided if the development of road traffic could have been foreseen, so future generations may blame the present for failing to realise a development which will seem to them perfectly obvious. In this connection it should be remembered that the danger of the electric grid is not confined to civil flying. When the R.A.F. expansion gets into full swing, the amount of flying done will be doubled and trebled, and it is not to be expected that the R.A.F. will escape fatali ties arising from the grid danger when flying in bad visi bility, as the Service must perforce do if its peace-time training is to be of any value. One argument advanced by the electrical protagonists is, we believe, that pylons and cables are no higher than factory chimneys, church steeples, tall trees and other obstructions of which flying people have to beware. The theory does not seem particularly convincing, for power pylons, and more especially their cables, are gossamer- like by comparison, especially in bad visibility. DIARY OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS—PAGE 386
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