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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0714.PDF
234 MARCH 27TH, 1941. with a Liberty engine blown by a Rateau supercharger reached a world's altitude record height of more than 40,000ft., and in 1926 a Napier Lion was turbo-blown and made some promising flights. We are not overlooking the mechanical and metal- lurgical difficulties. The turbine wheel and its casing are operating in a very high temperature, and the rapid temperature difference from point to point in the equip- ment must necessarily bring about tendencies to distor- tion. The high speed at which the turbine has to run imposes further stresses on the blades, and the fact that almost the whole system must be running red-hot nearly all the time probably adds a certain amount of fire risk, although in aircraft of orthodox layout this may be smaller than one would suppose. But the turbo-blower is, theoretically, such an attrac- tive proposition that these difficulties must be overcome. "The Boys in the Back Rooms"L ORD BEAVERBROOK'S week-end broadcast was, one may suppose, not unconnected with the recent criticisms in Parliament of the Ministry of Aircraft Production. He made the most of his opportunity, mentioning that in the last nine months six new air- craft types had been brought into operation : the Beau- fighter, Fulmar, Whirlwind, Stirling, Halifax and Man- chester. In the same period five new engine types been brought from experiment to manufacture. In February there had been- a record in new production of bombers and fighters, and the total number of these types, in reserve and ready for immediate operations, was a record, "surpassing anything in the history of aviation." In this connection it is of interest to recall that in his "Victory Lecture" to the North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and shipbuilders in July, 1919, Lord Weir said: "In 1918, just prior to the armistice, the Royal Air Force possessed over 22,000 effective machine^' Lord Beaverbrook's tribute to the "boys in the bsBs rooms" was well deserved, although Major G. P. Bulman, Capt. W. S, Farren and Air Commodore Hus- kinson are not, perhaps, very aptly so described. And, incidentally, there are many other "boys in back rooms" who are equally deserving of mention. Major Bulman, as head of the engine department at the Minis- try, was, of course, responsible for sanctioning the development work on the Sabre engine, but we always understood that Major Frank Halford had something to do with the design. And what of the designers of the six aircraft mentioned? Surely they might be remem- bered. Mitchell and Camm always are, so why not Frise, Lob^lle, Petter, Lipscomb, Volkert and Chad wick? INVASION PORT : An air photograph of the Bassin de la Marine and Bassin a Flot of Ostend Docks, shoeing the externof the damage caused by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Scarcely a building or warehouse remains usable.
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