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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1612.PDF
s 130 FLIGHT JULY 30TH, 1942 U-BOAT HUNTING when they bring the U-boat captain and half the conning tower home, because it is just within the bounds of possi- bilfty that the submarine made its base under the charge of its second in command. And certainly strange things happen, as is instanced by the amazing case of our own submarine Thrasher which received two direct hits by bombs, neither of which exploded. At the cinema, submarine sinking seems so simple. A dashing aircraft or destroyer drops a pattern of depth charges in the proximity of the sub. and the next moment one is shown the inside of the vessel, with instru ments all broken and water pouring in through gaping holes in the hull. That is an entirely wrong picture. The pressure hull of a modern German submarine is i-fein. thick and compartmented every six or seven feet of its length. This means that unless the depth charge or bomb is almost in contact with the hull it is doubtful whether a kill has been made. It may be that the damage is sufficient to drive the enemy back to his base, but he lives to fight another day—if sinking merchant ships can be called fighting! An ordinary length patrol over the sea is actually much longer in practice, because three or four hours will elapse while briefing goes on and everything is prepared. When the machine returns to base, if anything has been seen— which is, on the average, about twice a week—there is an interrogation to go through which is as thorough as a Gestapo third degree, with the rubber truncheons left out. Other routine jobs to be done are photographic reconnais sances, convoy protection patrols and meteorological flights on Hudsons. These last entail trips of many hundred miles at more than 20,000ft. The devotion and care shown by ground crews is of a very high standard throughout the Royal Air Force. Bomber Command operates mostly at night—Fighter Com mand operates mostly by day, T>ut Coastal Command puts in 24 hours every day, be the weather fair or foul, and, therefore, the machines receive much harder wear and the maintenance work is doubled. Nearly all flying is over the sea, with very little hope of rescue should a mishap occur far out to sea. Reliability must be as near 100 per cent, as is humanly possible, and the ground crews work very hard to ensure that it is. Correspondence The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents. The names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. ECONOMY IN DESIGN Hurricane Rudder Posts were Modified "DEFERRING to a letter in your last issue concerning the con- J-V struction of the Hurricane rudder, Mr. Muirhead is quite correct in assuming that the bottom extension on the rudder post is the outcome of a modification. This method was adopted to utilise the large number of cut tubes held in store, although the modification at the time also called for a full length tube to be used when existing stocks were consumed. All rudders made since the expiration of the old stocks embody the one piece full length tube. For and on behalf of Hawker Aircraft, Limited. R. H. CHAPLIN. AIRCRAFT CLUB RE-OPENS Bank Holiday Model Exhibition I THINK you would like to know that The Aircraft Club, Harrogate, has reopened and that all old members will be welcome on Friday nights as usual. The model aircraft and the glider constructional sections are now in operation. The S.T.G. glider has been overhauled and a new one is three-quarters built. Every effort is being made to obtain a permit to fly, so that we can"pass on some of our experiences, hardly earned over many years, to a younger generation before it is too late. There is to be an exhibition of model aircraft on the lawn (weather permitting) in front of the club room during Bank Holiday week. An S.T.G. and the Zephyr gliders may also be on view if the weather is favourable. Tho"se who have previously been members of the club are to be allowed to renew their membership for a reduced subscrip tion if they are too far away to take part in activities, and it is hoped they will give us all the support they can. 1 was delighted to see the article on the "stout effort of De Havilland, Canada, in Flight of June 25th. I might almost have written some of that article myself and cannot help wondering whether any of our old members helped in its construction or whether some of our often expressed views reached Canada. Anyhow, good luck to it, and I have no doubt that a firm of De Havilland's standing will soon discover for themselves one or two little points in its design which we found out some years ago in actual practice with the S.T.G. I hope Flight will carry on its effort to nave the gliding ban removed, so that we can teach young people. 1 do not think that either the dearest old lady or youngest Air Ministry damsel could ever mistake our open frame S.T.G. or De Havilland glider for an enemy aircraft, which I under stand is the chief reason for the ban on gliding. E. T. W. ADDYMAN. BOMBER ARMAMENT Weight or Rate of Fire ? T HAVE just come across a copy of Flight of May 14th, con- J- taining a letter by Mr. G. S. Henderson on armament in bombers, and I feel I cannot let the claims put forward by him go unanswered. While I agree that it would be impractic able to fit four cannon in a turret of the existing type, I do not believe that two-cannon turrets should be ruled out by "rate of fire," as Mr. Henderson puts it. It seems that he thinks only in terms of "rate of fire," forgetting the equally important " weight of fire." Now that all fighters are well armour-plated a good burst from a four M.G. turret often does no real damage at all. The effect of cannon fire is vastly different, and even though, one may not get as many hits as with M.G.s, the comparative result more than justifies their use in turrets. " HART." M1 AD ASTRA It Was the Right Wright ! TR. GRIFFITH BREWER, who was so long associated with -LV-L the Wright Bros., is, of course, right in saying that the original Wright machine was' sent to the Science Museum. I had several chats with Mr. Orville Wright in Dayton, Ohio, about this aircraft and the disagreement with the Smithsonian Institution that led to its being sent to England. Mr. Wright took me over his private workshops (just around the corner from the shop in which the first 'plane was con structed), where he was building a replica of the one he sent to England. I recollect that he was a sufferer, as I was at that time, from sciatica, due to a sacro-iliac weakness. I asked to what he attributed it, and he said to the intense vibration set up in his early 'planes. It had become so acute that the only vehicle ('plane, ship, and train included) in which Tie could risk travel ling was a Franklin car of rather ancient vintage equipped with modified aeroplane tyres. That was about 12 years ago. Meanwhile designers have been able to repay the industry's debt of gratitude to the Wrights by producing aircraft in which no doubt even OrvilW Wright can travel without discomfort. * Boulton Paul Aircraft. _ J. C. C. BULLOCK.
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