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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0013.PDF
and * AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY ZV THE WORLD .• FOUNDED IQO9 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices! DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). 8-10, CORPORATION ST., COVENTRY. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM. 1 Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone : Midland 2 9 7 1 (5 lines). 260, DEANSGATE, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams: tliffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST., GLASGOW, C.2. Telegrams : lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Home and Abroad : Year, £3 10. 6 months, £1 10 6. Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. 3 months, 15s. 3d. No 1723. Vol. XL1. JANUARY 1st, 1942. Thursdays, One Shilling. The Outlook. On Aircraft Controls T WO articles which appear in this issue are of par ticular interest to aircratt designers: the one because it deals with the layout of the controls in the cockpit, and the other on account of the novelty of a new push-pull-cum-rotary system of control lines which should make for simplification, ease of mainten ance, saving of space, and possibly for standardisation. Many have been the discussions on the subject of standardisation of cockpit layouts, and a certain amount of uniformity has been achieved, but by no means as much as some could have wished Our contributoi this week, who fe a test pilot of long and very varied experi ence, comes to the conclusion that standardisation is impossible, and is not worth the extra trouble and com plication involved. "Sparrow" makes two interesting suggestions: that the paJot's cockpit should be divided into three zones, and that each control should always be allocated to a certain zone, although its actual posi tion in that zone could be varied ; and that control levers or handles of any given control should always be of the same shape, length and colour. Arising out of the latter suggestion follows the very logical one that indi cator dials should match in colour the control handle to which they relate. " It does not matter a scrap," our contributor states in emphasising his plea, "how the lever works the flap, whether it be through bits of string, masses of bell cranks, or miles of pipes." The second article to which we have referred deals with the avoidance of precisely these " bits of string and masses of bell cranks." The pilot is not greatly in terested ("Sparrow" writes from the pilot's point of view, oi course) in that aspect, but fee designer deH- uitely is.. If the type of flying control proves satisfac tory in extended service, there does appear to be a chance of standardisation. The aircraft manufacturer would probably have in stock the' three tube sizes specified in any case, and all he would have to do, therefore, would be to buy the bearings, gear boxes, square-section rods, connectors and adjusters, etc., and assemble them, very much as a yoangster assembles a set of standardised Meccano parts. A simple process indeed. However, the matter may not prove quite so simple, and it will be chiefly the pilot (in spite of " Sparrow's " disclaimer) who will have to deckle after a thorough test. The rotary movement of this type of control must be arranged to match-up with the linear movement in the matter of harmonisation of controls. If difficulty should arise the appeal of the system would suffer. Practical experience alone can provide the answer, but the Saunders system is in any case a welcome contribution to a problem which merits more careful study. The R.A.F. in Libya ALL has gone well on the Libyan air front in recent weeks. It is for the Army authorities to discuss why the battle round Sidi Rezegh took so long. The Prime Minister admitted that things had not gone as fast as had been expected. In other quarters disap pointment has been expressed because, as we had air superiority, we did not finish the matter off at once The public has been told many times that the British or their Allies lost battles because the enemy held the air superiority, and, naturally, people came to expect that
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