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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1012.PDF
APRIL 6, 1939 FLIGHT. 349 HERE and THERE Sailplane Record : Assisting the Navigator : Royal Aero nautical Society News Sailplane Record Attempt T HE new Slingsby Petrel sailplane with which the instructor of the Furness Gliding Club, Mr. Frank Charles, hopes shortly to make an attempt on the long-distance gliding record, has recently been flown by him and appears to have behaved very well indeed. It is fairly conventional, as modern high- efficiency sailplanes go, but Mr. Charles has had a cockpit cover specially designed for him. The two subsequent Petrels which are now in the stocks will have a more conventional cover similar to that used with the Gull. During his first serious flight with the machine, Mr. Charles, after reaching a height of 2,800ft. above sea level, lost only 500ft. in a glide of seven miles from the Furness Club site 10 Goadsbarrow. The pilot did not circle, and the variometer did not show a gain of height at any time during the flight— though presumably the air through which he was passing must have had a slight upward component. Nevertheless, this per formance gives a good idea of the Petrel's capabilities. Faster and Faster Rapid Navigation Tables, by W. Myerscough and W. Hamil ton; 10s. 6d. Pitman and Sons. TWO members of the staff of the London County Council •*- School of Navigation, Poplar, have collaborated to devise and arrange yet another method of shortening the steps required to obtain an astronomical position line. And very skilfully has the problem been tackled. The familiar principle of splitting the spherical triangle into two by dropping a perpendicular from the zenith to the opposite, or co-declination, side is employed. The particular merit lies in the arrangement of the figures on each page of the tables, which are designed to give the maximum informa tion with the minimum of cross-reference or employment of auxiliary tables. Checking against two well-known tables, the arrangement is easier to follow than Gingrich and there is one step less than when using Dreisonstok. A test for accuracy showed that the claim made that '' the maximum difference between the alti tude, as obtained by the tables, and that calculated by Direct Spherics, is \' of arc," is fully justified. A minor criticism is that the explanation of the examples may be held to err on the side of brevity'and'conciseness. A user thoroughly conversant with the theory and practice of THE ROYAL TOUR : Two photographs indicative of the interest and enthusiasm shown by the personnel of the Fairey Aviation Company'sHeaton Chapel Works when the King made a visit of inspection last week. On the left Mr. C. R. Fairey is seen presenting a member of the works staff to His Majesty. astronomical navigation, or with spherical trigonometry, will have no difficulty in fol lowing the explanation ; nowadays, however, there are so many beginners that a fuller explanation, or rearrangement of the steps illustrating the examples, might well be of great assistance to them. Beginners, as well as experienced navigators, may, however, rest assured that Rapid Navigation Tables, with the plotting chart supplied in the pocket, is the best value for money which has yet been seen. A Famous Fighter for Posterity . A BRISTOL Bulldog, partly stripped to show the all-metal internal structure, is a new addition to Science Museum, South Kensington. It is the gift of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and it is exhibited alongsisde a 1916 Fokker. R.Ae.S. News T HE Royal Aeronautical Society lecture fixed for April 20— '' Possible Steel Developments for Aircraft,'' by Dr. T. Swinden—has been unavoidably cancelled. * * * After considering the idea for some time, the rnembers of the staff of the De Havilland Company have now decided to form a local branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society at Hatfield. The president will be Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland, the vice-president Mr. L. C. L. Murray, the chairman Mr. C. C. Walker, and the secretary Mr. H. W. L. Calder. * * * The first annual dinner and dance of the Portsmouth Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society was held at the Savoy Cafe, Southsea, on Friday, March 17. A company of about eighty sat down to dinner, after which Mr. A. Hessell Tiltman, the president of the branch, proposed the toast of the guests. Captain J. Laurence Pritchard, secretary of the Royal Aero nautical Society, replied on behalf of the guests, and congratu lated the branch on its membership and activities. Literary Spice A COMPATRIOT'S touchingly ingenuous description of Yen Hai-wen'sls.st flight (and fight), and of his heroically defiant death in the Japanese lines is among the contents of the first issue of World Digest, published by The Amalgamated Press at 6d. Though by no means the first literary "digest" this new monthly makes a unique survey of current international thought. The Editor-in-chief is Sir Tohn Hammerton.
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