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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1222.PDF
386 APRIL 25, 1940 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents. The names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. WESTERN AIRWAYS Continuation Essential I SHOULD like to refer to Lord Apsley's letter in your issueof April 11 concerning the closing down of Western Air- ways, through the requisitioning of their aircraft by the Government. As we all know, it is essential that the normal business life of the community be continued during wartime; and may I add at once that one of these essentials is the air service linking Weston-super-Mare with Cardiff ? A map of the West country will show that nowhere in Great Britain does geography play such a vital part as in the area surrounding the Bristol Channel. Man ' thousands of passengers have been carried by the Weston-Cardiff planes during past years, necessitating not only an hourly service, often running in duplicate, but also a regular night service. Further, a great saving in time and expenditure is incurred ; for instance, to travel to Cardiff from Weston by train takes roughly two hours, whereas by flying direct across the Channel the time taken is ten minutes. Again, the fare by plane is cheaper than the third-class rail fare. Surely these facts justify the continuation of this air-service even in wartime. GORDON MANCHESTER. Weston-super-Mare. Some Comments by the Founder T OED APSLEY has invited correspondence on the subject••-* of Western Airways, and, as the founder of this Company and responsible for the conception and initiation of the Weston-Cardiff Service and Weston Airport, my views may be considered equally authoritative as Lord Apsley's. In the first place, Lord Apsley has, in all probability, quitemisunderstood the issues at stake. Has he heard of petrol rationing? My personal and operative experience of the routeenables me to state that the petrol consumption would be equivalent to furnishing no fewer than 2,500 hard-hit businessmotorists with an extra 10 gallons a month, and I leave judgment on the relative merits to the commonsense of yourreaders. I am at present well acquainted with a situation which wouldenable the '' veteran aircraft '' of Western Airways to be utilised on work of vital national importance, and this withoutreflecting, in any way, on the Ministry's conduct of rearmament and the "true facts of the aircraft position." The AirMinistry is, of course, well aware of this situation. Further, information will shortly be made available, which will showthat, quite incidentally, the decision of the Air Ministry is in the best interests of the public. Lord Apsley indicates the result of the Ministry's action onthe Company's 100 employees, " many of whom have been with the firm since 1932." In the interests of accuracy perhapsLord Apsley would prefer to substitute for this remark the statement that, in fact, no employee of the Company in 1932is employed by Western Airways under Mr. W. Straight— employees whose foresight, loyalty, and untiring work resultedin the amazing growth of the Company and its exceptional safety record. Lord Apsley waxes satirical in his concluding paragraph.He has apparently overlooked the evidence furnished to the Weston Licensing Bench, irrefutable and unrefuted, on theoccasion of the opposition to the liquor licence at Weston Airport, the circumstances of which must be fresh in his recollection. NORMAN EDGAR. White Waltham Aerodrome STANDARDISATION The Extrusion Problem '"PHE correspondence in your issue of February 29 struck a -*- timely note of warning with regard to the present intensive expansion of the Royal Air Force. The multiplicity of types of aircraft being constructed, and the lack of uniformity of design in the case of many structural parts and details which in various degrees are adaptable to standardisation, must certainly be retarding the output of military aircraft as well as complicating the problems associated with stores, -repairs and the recovery of scrapmaterials. In the article by Mr. Robert Lickley (February 8, 1940)referred to by Mr. J. F. Cuss, the point was emphasised that standardisation of design as a whole is impossible, particularlyas regards the fuselage, the design of which must be dictated by the military purpose of the aircraft. On the other hand,some measure of standardisation undoubtedly could be intro- duced into such structures as engine mountings, and evenspars, possibly on the lines of basic structures which could be scaled up or down to suit particular needs. Such standardisa-tion would, of course, need to be the subject of a good deal of careful collaboration in order to avoid unnecessary delayin the evolution of promising new designs. One of the most important needs of the aircraft industry atthe present time is increased supplies of light alloy extruded sections and sheets, especially the former, and, although someprogress has been made towards greater use of standard sizes of sheets, the absence of any attempt to produce a set ofstandard designs for extruded sections, beyond a few simple angles, is remarkable. Even the dimension tolerances on lightalloy sections are not uniform. This is a major cause of the extrusion presses in this country being taxed beyond theircapacity at a time when the potential consumption of extruded light alloy sections by the aircraft industry is increasingrapidly. I am sure it will be agreed that the foregoing brief commentsindicate the urgent necessity of - much closer collaboration between the Air Ministry, the constructors and the light alloymanufacturers than has hitherto been the case. Northern Aluminium Co., Ltd., H. F. JAMES. Banbury, Oxfordshire. KEEPING THE SCORE ^ A Suggestion for Comparing "Aces" MAY I put forward a suggestion for showing the number ofenemy aircraft machines brought down by our pilots in this war? In the last war, as most people know, we had no parachutesand so one had no chance of "jumping off" from a machine on fire or out of control, and so if you had been lucky enoughto bring down, say six enemy aircraft, and then your aircraft was damaged beyond a safe landing, you brought down nomore. Now, all is different, thanks to parachutes, and one has asecond and a third chance; in fact as many chances as your parachute and luck holds out. I suggest that a stroke drawn after the number of enemyaircraft brought down, indicates a "jump," e.g., 2/2 indicates two enemy aircraft brought down on his second chance. We will then be able to compare '' Aces'' of this war withthose of 1914-1918 on a more equal basis. H. W. London. FORMATION FLYING Three Distinct Regions THE following points may be of interest in connection withDr. Lanchester's article in Flight of March 28, 1940. When flying in "V" formation with either monoplanes or biplanes, there are three distinct regions in which it is pos- sible to fly the wing machines. The first is outside the influence of the leader's machine and is about two spans between wing tips. The second is between two spans and half a span when the wing aircraft has to be held in to the leader by use of rudder and aileron. , . The third is closer than half a span ; when in this position the wing machines must be held away from the leader; in other words, there is a tendency for the machine to be drawn towards the leaders. It is, however, very well established that close-formation flying leads to the wing machines using more petrol than the leading aircraft. . Although there may be a gain in aerodynamic efficiency, this is more than offset by the coarse use of the throttle necessary to keep close formation. F. H. DIXON. The Fairey Aviation Co., Ltd.
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