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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0096.PDF
JANUARY O.TH, 1941. AMERICAN COMMENTARY (Continued) must have more delicately constructed feet than ours, since most of their machines have rocking pedals to operate the brakes. In - fact, they must be altogether differently constructed, because, now I come to think of it, the control column always appears to be much too far away for comfort and full control. From the Wellington down to the Spitfire, the control columns of British machines sit comfortably in the lap, so that one feels part of the machine as soon as it has been entered, while in American machines one has to reach uncomfortably for- ward. It's a matter of/djstom, I suppose, but that was the thing I noticed in the first American machine I flew. Speaking of custom again, I cannot stand their A.S.I.s, which read practically nothing from 100 m.p.h. down- wards, or their compasses, which read ten degrees at a time, and which will never keep still. The former, per- haps, are the result of safe aeroplanes which can be brought in at any speed less than the last figure on the dial, and the latter of the development of directional gyros which make the compass unnecessary except for essential checking and initial setting. Some Ancients As I have already inferred, we ha,ydh't yet seen very much more than a lot of superannuated types which were the only ones to be spared in sufficient quantity. After all, America is still officially neutral and we can't expect them to hand over all their latest types straight away, or, for that matter, to be in the state of produc- tion which would enable them to send us these latest types in the quantity required. There has been, in fact, a tendency for people to bark up the wrong tree and for the general public to go in for wishful thinking on ajarge scale. They imagine what they hope will ha^5en to have already happened and that all those beautiful and sometimes fantastic- ally original types are over here in their hundreds. Obviously not, The United Slates production has not yet been put on a war footing, and it is comforting to those who tend to look on our designers' and manufac- turers' efforts with some scorn to realise that our Spit- fires and Hurricanes, not to mention our Wellingtons, Whitieys and Hampdens, designed years ago, are still those years ahead of anything which the U.S. is capable of producing in quantity at this moment. The fighter? are better than anything we have y©?/* seen from America, and the bombers, if not quite as fast, are at least more effectively armed and more practical. America has yet to go to war and to discover exactly what is wanted. Which is not to say that the American contribution has not been immensely useful—but in quite a different way from that imagined by the public. Without their help we should still have been short of suitable types for coastal reconnaissance and advanced training. "A Bit Mean on Landing" The Hudson, which, as the Lockheed Fourteen, obtained a not too handsome reputation for general safety, has proved to be a magnificent long-range all- purpose type with very*^ considerable staying powers. And it has been flown successfully by all manner of people, including myself, who had, at least at the time, no reasons for considering themselves to be ace pilots (or whatever the horrid expression is). As one of the Lockheed people over here described it to me, the Hud- son is incomparable, though "maybe a bit mean on the landing." You just concentrate on a good wheeler if you have any doubts, after choosing the longest pos- sible run. If you can guarantee to pull off a three- pointer the run is about half as long, though, in spite of the letter-box slots, a bad boob on one of these pro- duces the most extraordinary results. Lightly loaded, at least, it is otherwise the most charming aeroplane in which everything has been designed to fit and not just stuck on in a vague kind of way. For advanced training, when we were still short of suitable types, there was and is the Harvard, or North American Trainer. Since it was the first pseudo-mili- tary type I flew, I have a weakness for this machine. If ii is vicious then it teaches good handling in the modern manner; if it is peculiarly complicated for such a relatively poor performance, then it is admirably suited to advanced training. Its designers did not cover it with gadgets to obtain performance but to instil the modern technique into the mind of pupils. It certainly does that, from the "U/C up, reduce boost, reduce' revolutions," to the motoring hold-off. And it has more delightful control characteristics than any other American machine oyer here except perhaps the Douglas Boston—the characteristics of which are more remarkable because it is a large machine. And the Americans have introduced a tricycle in pro- duction form. That is a much more important fact than appears on the surface. The tricycle is an im- portant part of the night-interception story; by no means the whole story, but still important. Let us thank the United States for what they have really done and not for what they may or can do. It should please them well enough. The Spitfire's controls come nicely to band.
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