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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0262.PDF
FLIGHT. JANUARY 27, 1938. HERE and THERE Reviving the "Landing Stick"? RECENTLY Flight had occasion to recall the experimentswith a "landing stick " at Farnborough. It now appears likely that the idea will be revived in improved form, and when certain patent questions have been settled we hope to give particulars of the new device. It is designed to flatten out the aircraft: automatically at any desired predetermined height above the ground or sea. Return to the Fold M R. H. RICHARDSON, after an absence of several years,has again joined up with his old firm, Armstrong Siddeley Motors, Ltd. For a period he was on the technical staff of Wolseley Aero Engines and afterwards joined the Austin com- pany in connection with the shadow scheme. Mr. Richardson has now taken over the post of development engineer at the Siddeley works. Bristol Mercury Handbook 'T'HE handbook of the Bristol Mercury air-cooled, radial en- JL gine has been published as a fellow to the Pegasus hand- book. It contains complete details of the Mercury VII, VIII and IX engines, together with instructions of installation, run- ning, maintenance, overhaul and testing. The circulation of the handbook, compiled by the Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd., of Filton, Bristol, is limited to those who have dealings with Mercury engines. A Heinkel Change THAT a firm starts as a private company, and later, whenit has grown to some size, becomes a limited company, is not unusuaJ . The reverse procedure is less common, but it does happen, at least in Germany. On January 10, Dr.. Ernst Heinkel took over, lock, stock and barrel, Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke G.m.b.H., of See- stadt Rostock. The only external change in the title of the company will be the disappearance of the letters G.m.b.H., which correspond to Ltd. Associated with Dr. Heinkel re- main the following directors : Franz Klebe, Hermann Ritter von Pfistermeister, Karl Hayn, Dr.-Ing. Heinrich Hertel (Tech- nical) and Dr.-Ing. Dietrich Riihl. Dr. Heinkel is one of the oldest German aircraft designers and constructors, and his products have won approval and ,admiration all over the world. Ten Thousand Pilots a Year? SUPPORTING his contention that it was possible to trainfifty thousand pilots in five years, Mr. \V. R. Chown, the President of the Northern Aviation School and managing director of F. Hills and Sons, claims that the Volunteer Re- serve scheme is inadequate and that the clubs are not being utilised to their best advantage. Last week Mr. Chown ex- plained his ideas to a group of interested persons and was fairly severely cross-questioned. His scheme is designed to make the best use of present club facilities, and he suggested that ^25 should be paid by the Air Ministry every year for each pilot (the " A " licence being the sign of efficiency) to put in a matter of fifty hours. There would, of course, be no subsidy limit. The cost to the Govern- ment would be approximately £250,000 every vear. Even on the most mass-prosk^ced" basis we doubt whether it would be possible for a club to make ends meet on these figures, but Mr. Chown is evidently thinking in terms of the cost of training on very light and inexpensive machines such as are used at his own school. However, Mr. Chown suggests that under his scheme an instructor's retainer might be reduced to about £2 a week and that the bonus on the extra flying would make up for this loss and result in a saving for the club. All we can say to that is we are sorry for the instructors, who will have to work very much harder to earn their present salaries. At the moment the fact that the very hard-working clays are few and far between probably saves instructors from disruption. In any case, it is doubtful whether the English climate would permit an increase of flying to the extent visualised by Mr. Chown. He has approached leading Manchester firms who have, it appears, agreed to permit employees of good health and intelli- gence to take a matter of one or two working hours off every week, these hours to be utilised in flying training. In this connection there is one considerable difficulty. Most employees have their life insurance arrangements and these are automatic- ally nullified where flying is concerned. Mr. Chown suggested that special arrangements would have to be made. The entire scheme is intended to provide bomber-pilots only. These, apparently, have only to fly straight there and back, and no knowledge of tactics, gunnery and so forth is considered necessary. Even if a sufficiently courageous crew could be found to fly with every one of Mr. Chown's thousands of pilots, it is doubtful if fifty or a hundred hours' flying in light aero- planes can be considered as sufficient training for taking really large machines into the air, let alone getting them through over very long distances in all kinds of weather. Courses of train- ing in instrument flying and in the handling of modern machines, with all their gadgetry in the form of v.p. airscrews, retractable undercarriages and flaps, would at least be neces- sary before these youngsters could even hope to start for a place 200 miles distant. Mr. Chown quite sensibly suggested film instruction in instrument flying and such subjects. However, when allowance has been made for all the defects in detail considerations, the idea, in general, has something to recommend it if only as a method of encouraging a really large number of people into the air and, consequently, over what we might call the "first hurdle" in training for military service. Last Week's Special Number of "Flight" • /"CONSIDERABLE space is devoted in this issue to the sub- V—' ject of airport organisation and operation, as discussed at the Airports Conference. For the benefit of any readers who may have missed last week's issue of Flight, it may be said that it was a greatly en- larged special number published at the time of the Conference and dealing with the subject of Airports and the Equipment on very comprehensive lines. Contents included a specially illustrated review of the latest airports, with ground plans; an explanation of modem air traffic control methods, with a map of the administration system; the future of aircraft radio; tendencies in airport de- sign; and a review of current aerodrome equipment. Copies of this special issue can be obtained at yd. (postage included) from the publisher, Dorset House, Stamford Street, London, S.E.i. South Atlantic Formation Flight THE three Savoia-Marchetti S.79 bombers which set outfrom Guidonia, near Rome, at 6.30 a.m. last Monday on a three-stage flight to Brazil landed at Dakar (Senegal) at 5.10 p.m. the same day, having flown 2,800 miles non-stop at an average speed of over 260 rh.p.h. and a height of between 13,000ft. and 16,oooft. Lt. Bruno Mussolini, second son of the Duce, was piloting one of the three machines, each of which had a crew of five. The other two chief pilots were Lt.-Col. Biseo and Capt. Moscatelli. The three-engined Savoias are similar to those which won the Damascus race; at least one is a machine which actually formed a unit of that team. The engines are Pegasus, built in Italy under licence. To-night's R.Ae.S. Discussion THIS evening an important R.Ae.S. discussion will takeplace on '' High Wing Loading and the Three-wheeled Undercarriage ' It is a continuation of the papers by Mr. H. F. Vessey, A.F.R.Ae.S., on "The Take-Off Problem in Modern Aircraft Design," and Sqn. Ldr. H. P. Fraser, A.F.C., A.F.R.Ae.S., on "High Wing Loading and some of its Problems from the Pilot's Point of View," and has been arranged at the request of many who wish the present situation to be thoroughly discussed. The discussion will begin at 6.30 p.m. and a large number of speakers have promised to take part. The meeting will be held in the Lecture Theatre of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate, S.W.i. Non-Members will be admitted by ticket obtainable only through a member. Airco's Address TO remove any misconception which a recent note may havecaused, it should be made clear that Capt. Rex Stocken and Airco, Ltd., aeronautical agents, are now at Eagle House, 109, Jermyn Street, London, S.W.i. (Whitehall 8863.)
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