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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1447.PDF
MAY 16, 1940 r£ rj( HERE and THERE Controller of Light Alloys THE Air Ministry announces that, in order to strengthen thearrangements for the control of the light alloy materialsrequired for the manufacture of aircraft, the Rt. Hon. Sir Samuel Hoare, the Secretary of State for Air, has appointedBrigadier-General H. A. Jones to be Controller of Light Alloys. Concurrently with this appointment, powers are being takenby the Secretary of State under the Defence Regulations to control the fabrication and distribution of light alloys and totake such other steps as may be necessary to make the con- trol effective. Brigadier-General Jones will take up his duties, which willbe whole time, at an early date. He will have the assistance of an Advisory Committee which will include Mr. H. W. Clarke,Mr. W. C. Devereux, Mr. F. S. Mitman and Mr. P. Pritchard. who have up to the present acted as voluntary part-time con-trollers of light alloys. The headquarters of the new control will be located in the Midlands. Brigadier-General Jones served with distinction on the staffsof Field Marshal Lord Haig and Sir William Robertson during the Great War and occupied the post of Deputy Quartermaster-General (Home Forces). After the war he joined the Imperial Tobacco Company and is now a director. He has thus had con-siderable experience of the problems of large-scale organisation. He served last year as chairman of a committee appointed bythe Secretary of State to review the system of Royal Air Force administration. Canadian News Items THE Royal Canadian Air Force for the first time went onthis year's Atlantic ice patrol, and carried observers from the ice patrol boats of the Department of Transport. Due to a "radio blackout" for shipping on the Atlantic coast the ice control could not be made by boat in the usual manner. Aircraft began patrolling the coast on March 15, making daily flights and reporting on reaching shore to the special ice information office established at Halifax, from where radio reports were sent out to shipping. The "radio blackout" is in force to keep positions of ships from the enemy. Official civil aviation figures released by the Department of Transport, Ottawa, for the calendar year 1939, show that there were 795 private pilot licences in force at December 31, 166 commercial, 191 limited commercial, 147 transport pilot, 722 air engineer licences, and 7 airport traffic control officers were licensed. Canada had at the end of the year 76 licensed private aircraft, 412 commercial aircraft and 116 licensed airports. The 22 light aeroplane clubs, operated under part Govern- ment subsidy, had a 1939 membership of 2,884, nac* 102 aircraft in use, gave instruction to 796 membeis, flew the record total of 31,210 hours, and received Government grants for 190 private pilots and 42 commercial pilots trained. -::;s•-.•;-.-:-.• World's Largest Bomber CINCE publishing the particulars of the giant Douglas ^ bomber, the B19, which appeared on p. 391 of the April 25 issue, additional information shows that the power of the aeroplane, which was reported as 6,000 h.p., considerably ex- ceeds this figure. The four engines are now stated to be 18 cylinder Wright Duplex Cyclones, which engine has lately been approved with a rating of 1,700 h.p. at 2,300 r.p.m. it 6,500ft. pressure altitude. Its rating for take-off purposes is believed to be near 2,000 h.p., which gives a take-off power loading of 19.6 1b /h.p. The Duplex Cyclones are mounted by the new "dynamic suspension " attached to the cylinder heads, which was de- scribed on page 2S6d of Flight of March 28. The size of the nacelle dwarfs this big engine and it appears likely that more powerful engines will be installed when these are available. A large aperture in the bottom of the nacelle may be both for the discharge of cooling air and a means of entry for maintenance purposes on the ground. Interlocking Directorates THE Civil Aeronautics Authority has given a decision onthe case of LaMotte T. Cohu, who held three directorates on the boards of Transcontinental and Western Air, Northrop Aircraft, and an aviation finance group known as Air In- vestors, Inc. Under the Civil Aeronautics Act, this is subject to scrutiny as " the public interest may be adversely affected by the holding of such interlocking positions," in this case, in an airline, an aircraft manufacturing company and an in- vestment firm. The Authority, however, allowed the interlock between T.W.A. and Northrop because the latter was not at 449. POLAND IN THE AIR AGAIN. Large numbers of the Polish Air Force are now being trained in this country andwill form self-contained units. Here the Polish standard is being hoisted with the ensign of the R.A.F. present making any air transport craft. The other relation- ship, between T.W.A. and Air Investors, was disapproved on the grounds that it " allowed the. existence of a mechanism which might permit disclosure of confidential information to the manageis of the investment firm . . . which mav result in benefit to the investment firm and in detriment to' the air carrier." It is interlocking relationships such as these—not prevented by legislation in this country—which were pointed out to be exceedingly dangerous to the future of air transport by " Me Anguish " in his article, " Exit Civil Aviation? " in our issues of March 21 and April 4. - •; - Penang Flying Club IN contrast to the state of suspended animation in which theUnited Kingdom flying clubs find themselves due to the war, the Penang Club is flying actively. Thirteen hundred hours were logged for 1939 using five aircraft, and the club claims the remarkable record of no engine failures, not only in 1939 but since its inauguration. Its present equipment con- sists of six Gipsy Majors. The financial side, usually a difficulty with clubs, is not so happy as expenditure exceeds income for the year by §4,857, amounting to 54 per cent, of expenditure, although a grant of $21,200 was received from the Government. The average charge for flying works out at just over $7, about 16s. per hour. Total membership is 200, of whom 100 are flying members. The cost per flying hour is $30, which is ^3 7s. 6d., with the Straits dollar at 2s. 3d. But it is noted that deprecia- tion on five machines for the year is only charged up at S100, a quite inadequate figure. Analysing the total cost, the items are: petrol and oil, 16.9 per cent.; instructional staff, 16.9 ; ground maintenance staff, 36.2; maintenance material and spares, 8.2; depreciation of aircraft, 0.2; insurance, 1.5; club- house and administration, 17.6; miscellaneous, 2.5 per cent. Science Museum Exhibition •T^HE exhibition of engines and model aircraft at the Science J- Museum, South Kensington, has been augmented by the loan of a Hawker Hurricane fighter from the Air Ministry. The aeroplane is one which has been in active service with the Fighter Command
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