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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 2599.PDF
SEPTEMBER 12, 1940 217 HERE and THERE More Lodestars ADDING to its order of 16 LockheedLodestars which it placed last Feb- ruary, South African Airways haveordered another 13 of these twin- engined transports. All 29 will bepowered with Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasps and Hamilton Standard Hydro-matic airscrews. Also on order are two of the new four-engined LockheedExcaliburs. Flying Grandfather CAPTAIN ERLON H. PARKER, whohas flown more than one and a hall million miles, and is now operations superintendent at La Guardia Field for Eastern Air Lines, is believed to be the only grandfather with a schedule air transport licence. He has four gi \nd- children. He started flying during the first World War and was with a naval aviation unit at Dunkerque on submarine patrol. In 1930 he piloted the inaugural flight for Eastern Air Transport, the pre- decessor for Eastern Air Lines. Aeronca No. 1 for Museum ELEVEN years after it was con-structed, Aeronca No. i has "come home." Back to the Ohio factory of theAeronautical Corporation of America has come this veteran, the factory's first pro-duct, now to go to the firm's museum in honourable retirement. Built in 1929,it was powered with an Aeronca 107 en- gine of 30 h.p. and still had the sameone when it returned. Eleven years of •flying is an achievement for any aero-plane, but for an " ultra-light" it is magnificent, and the Aeronca company—and all the pilots and ground engineers who handled the aeroplane during itslife—deserve hearty congratulations. U.S. Factories Expand EACH month brings new figures forthe personnel employed by the U.S. aircraft factories and they show that thebig expansion is on the way. Of course, it is too early yet to expect to see theconsiderable increase in output of air- craft, but the greatly increased personnelwill soon be evident from the accelerated flow which will emerge from the factorydoors. Since publishing the article "Expand-ing U.S. Production " on page 103 of the issue of August 8, the factories of theWest Coast have taken on a total of 6,000 extra hands during June. TheDouglas Company now employs approxi- mately 18,000 (it was 15,700 in April)and has a backlog of orders of $140,000,000 (§97,000,000 in April).Lockheed has increased from 6,400 to Q,6OO in personnel and its backlog from $55,000,000 to $169,000,000. NorthAmerican, the General Motors subsidiary, has gone up in numbers from 5,025 to6,ooo and its backlog from $5r,ooo,ooo to $85,000,000. Consolidated now employs 6,650 andhas 5?7i,ooo,ooo backlog, while Boeing has a staff of 7,600 and an approximatebacking of $50,000,000. Vultes personnel FOR GENERAL SERVICE : Three De Havilland Flamingos and a D.H. Hertford- shire lined up on the tarmac. Most of the pilots were well known in a?rline and private flying circles in peace time. numbers 3,300 with a backlog of nearly$15,000,000. Such expansion figures are impressive and it would not be surpris-ing if the U.S. industry were manufac- turing at the rate of 1,000 aeroplanes permonth of all types by the end of this year. High-speed Wind Tunnel A HIGH-SPEED tunnel with a throatdiameter of*2O feet and stated to be capable of reaching a wind speed of 400 m.p.h. is being constructed for the U.S. Army Air Corps at Wright Field, Ohio. It is primarily intended for applied research on new nacelles, cow- lings, airscrews, fuselages and other com- ponents, but will also be able to take model aeroplanes up to a span of about 15 feet. It is not intended for funda- mental research work. The' tunnel is arranged for closed or open throat testing and has a six-com- ponent balance overhead for model tests and a floor-type balance for full-scale tests on nacelles, airscrews and similar work. Drive will be by 40,000 h.p. electric motor weighing 249,0001b. through two 40ft. wind tunnel fans in tandem. The control room is air-con- ditioned and soundproofed and the model attitude may be changed by re- mote control without stopping the air stream. Parachutists '"THE Air Ministry points out'that in•*• the course of the present intensive air battles over this country our ownfighter pilots have on several occasions landed by parachute, after baling out ofdamaged aircraft; and no doubt cases of this kind will occur again. While there is continuing necessity forvigilance on the part of the public in general in regard to parachute landings,it is emphasised that only in the event of parachutists adopting a threateningattitude or attempting to commit hostile acts should force be used. Not only isthere a chance of the isolated parachutist being a British fighter pilot, but he maywell be one of our Polish, Czech, French or Belgian allies, who is unable to-speak English at all. Once again, therefore,the public are asked to exercise great care and discretion. If a parachutist is identified as anenemy or if his identity cannot be estab- lished at once, e.g., by production of hisR.A.F. Identity Card, he should be made prisoner and handed over to the policeor military authorities. Records of Air-raid Damage TT has come to the notice of the AirJ- Ministry that various organisations, chiefly insurance and public utility com-panies and architectural engineering societies, are compiling and collating in-formation about the damage caused by air raids on this country. It is pointedout that by so doing, perhaps unwit- tingly, these organisations are contra-vening a defence regulation. These records, in wrong hands, could be ofconsiderable value to the enemy. Any person or organisation wishing tocompile information of this sort should first consult the appropriate Air MinistryBranch (A.I.is.). Why ? THE first landing by aeroplane onHenrietta Island was recently car- ried out by the Soviet pilot F. Yere-menko, accompanied by his mechanic, G. Sokolov, during a reconnaissanceflight over the Laptev and East Siberian Seas. The island, part of the De LongArchipelago, is a "small lone rock lost in a vast ocean of drifting ice. The sur-face of it is covered by a dome of ice 1J-2 miles across. The landing was made during astrong side-wind between two cliffs on the dome, about 500ft. above sea level.The absence of open approaches, and the presence of pieces of rock everywheremade manoeuvring difficult. The pilot and his mechanic spent over twelvehours on the island hunting for an open stretch, but without success, and finallywere compelled to risk the take-off on a steep incline between two tall brokencliffs. The plane returned safely to its base at the Arctic station on CapeChelvuskin.
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