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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1948.PDF
308 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER 17TH, 1042 NO MORE BALLYHOO piece-work basis, and are interested only in getting air craft out. The business of "getting aircraft out" can be carried too far, and hundreds of man-hours can be wasted in tear ing aircraft apart again before they are fit for service. —Since the tesfr pilot is the final arbiter in all things—th<- test pilot and his flight engineers where applicable—I am not at all sure that these worthies, like the A.I.D., should not be employed and paid, either as serving officers in the Air Force or otherwise, by the Air Ministry. The best judgment in the world can be warped by the harryings of one's employers and even by the thought of the monthly pay cheque. Not, of course, to the point of passing bad material—that would be to the detriment of all—but to the extent of hurrying and taking things rather for granted. The Final Arbiter -Fortunately, the average test pilot is allowed to live in a world of his own and is listened to by directors and managers rather as if he is by way of being a superman; his prestige is such that if his job doesn't become too routine he can get away with anything. And that is what is wanted—the capacity and the power and the freedom to speak his mind without fear. The test pilot may some times be considered to lie the spoilt darling of the factory, but he is the final arbiter in all things, and he, above all, must be free. With the sort of job he has got he won't __jaften be either slack or bored. Let us be quite sure that the pilots, the inspectors, and the design staff retain their absolute independence ; the rest of the outfit probably works best on a piece-work basis. And that independence includes, in the case of the test pilot, a sort of moral independence as well. He must not be chivvied into the air on bad flying days by people who know no better. It mav seem clever and even be encouraging to the workers to see their aircraft being flown around in heavy rain or a fog, but it is quite impossible to do the job properly in such conditions. Nobody doubts that the beastly thing will fly—nobody has doubted thai since 1909, or thereabouts. The test pilot's job is to see that it flies properly and that all the instruments and incidentals work. If his "test" consists of a series of steep turns at a hundred feet around the inside of the airfield, then he knows as much about the aircraft as the works and bricks chap who is digging a hole and watching his evolutions with a jaundiced eye. Maybe, to save face, to show willing, and to encourage everybody, one such circuit may be made, - but it should be firmly said that the aircraft must be flown again, and no other attempts made until the weather clears up—whatever the non-flying general manager niav tactlessly say at the luncheon table. He will probably make some remark about installing a blind-approach trans mitter at his airfield, or about the weather being perfect for a test of the instruments ; well, the test pilot, with years of practice in the business of dealing with the '' what. - have - we - fixed - all - the - blind - flying - instruments- in - the - thing - for if - you - can't - fly - blind? " kind of person, will know what to say and will pour himself out another sherry. There was once a Big Chief who nearlv had apoplexy because his test pilots refnsed to fly a proto type four-engined bomber out of the very emergency peacetime field next door to the works and thus save him the expense and bother of shipping the thing piecemeal to a real airfield. The gap between the flying and non-flying person grows. The cleverest engineer is still unable to follow the simplest practical explanations unless he has flown himself ; even a few hours solo in a Tiger would make all the difference. There's nothing difficult or extraordinary or supernatural about the flying business; anybody can leaprT But the non-flying person is just cut off, that's aUf and is liable to say the most stupid things. And anfthev obstinate and cross about it! / INDICATOR. CANADIAN AVIATION NEWS Glider Test Flight : New Catalina Plant : Dive-bomber Contract First* need THE hist Canadian-made glider has come through its flight tests successfully, officials of the de Havilland Aircraft Co. recently announced at Toronto. The glider reached an altitude of 5,800ft. in the course of a two-hour flight which included a forced spin, from which it recovered with ease, and various types of dives. It was towed into the air by a Tiger Moth ami released at 1,380 feet. This glider, designed by Mr. Czerwinski, a Polish member of the: de I lavilland engineering staff, was described and illustrated in Flight on J-une 25th last. # * * T IUv first Canadian-built Catalina PBY5 amphibian aircraft was launched on July 28 at Vancouver. The Catalinas are being built in a huge new plant in the construction of which only timber was used for the trusses, columns a%4. e tenor finish, thus effecting a saving of s' wartime purposes. The plant employs 2,5 on PBY construction. At the launching, Ralph P. Bell, director-^feneral or^aircraft production for Canada, told workers at theABoeing Co , of Canada, plant to '' build planes fast or pull riakshaws for the~~ Japs." He referred to another Canadian companv in eastern Canada which is also making the Catalinas. He Said it was a new organisation starting from scratch long after the inauguration of the West Coast organisation, but the eastern employees had promised him they would overtake and beat their West Coast friends. Mr Bell predicted maximum production would be reached by 19.44. # » * T O enable the new Curtiss dive bombers being built for the United States Navy to be test flown at Fort William, Ont., the runways of the airport there are to be lengthened by>-" some 4,000 feet in each of two directions, according to an announcement of - the Canadian Department of Munitions and Supply. The Canadian Car and Foundrv Co. has a $60,000,000 contract for 1,000 of these dive bombers. "production on this order until . to be produced early in 1943. will cost some $895,000, and the the Canadian government for The plant will be busy at late in 1944- The first planei Construction for the runways airport has been taken ov« the duration. The dive bomber is afc^to be built for America at the Fair- child Aircraft, Ltd., plait at Longueuil, Que., near Montreal^ it was announced in fch#United States recently. A new plaiS^ » being buihj %p4i)8..*ass production of the dive bombers. twoJfig aircraft plants, National Steel Car Co., e Havilland of Canada, Ltd., have set up a rcraft empl/yment bureau where applicants for either plant are intervie/ed by experts. The two companies share the cost of operations. " Noorduyn Avi^ion, Ltd., Montreal, has set up new produc tion records. Figures released show that in June, 1942, th© company's plant produced in excess of total production for the first six months of 1941. Production for the first half of 1942 exceeded that for the same period in 1941 by 275 per cent. The company makes North American Harvard advanced trainers and the Noorduyn Norseman transport plane used for training Canadian and American air force radio operators. * * * THE first Cornell type primary intermediate trainer ever to be assembled in Canada was tested recently at Fort Erie, Ont., at the field of the Fleet Aircraft Co. It is a converted!, Fairchild-Fleet trainer in which 400 changes have been made in the original type PT-19, as originally built for the United States Army by Fairchild. The machine was finished a month ahead of schedule and is the first of several hundred to be delivered to the "R.A.F. and R.C.A.F. training camps in Canada. The Canadian company beat three American plants engaged in production of the same model.
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