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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 1230.PDF
FLIGHT MAY 13TH, 1943 TURBINES AND THE FLYING WING building up during adverse atmospheric conditions. Variants of this scheme might with advantage form a subject of investigation. For example, as one of the drawings indicates, the four (or more) turbine units could be of the jet propulsion type without airscrews, or two of them might drive pusher type propellers. A further modification would be to use a '' mixed'' system on a four-unit or six-unit design. That is, the inboard pair might be orthodox two- or four-stroke recipro- cating engines and the outboard units turbine-jet pro- pulsion plants. The advantages suggested by such an arrangement are that reciprocating engines with counter- rotating airscrews would enable a quicker take-off and rate of climb, and aid manoeuvrability of the aircraft on the ground. At the higher altitudes, as the efficiency of the reciprocating engines tended to fall away, the jet pro- pulsion units would compensate for the loss, and could also possibly be used as the sole means of propulsion for economical cruising. Under certain conditions of high- altitude flight, particularly when operating over long ranges, it might be an advantage if the reciprocating engines could be stopped to conserve fuel, propeller blades fully feathered, and the aircraft carry on solely by jet reaction. Scope for Designers The idea of associating conventional petrol reciprocating engines driving airscrews with the combustion gas turbine and compressor plant producing a propulsive jet was referred to by the writer in Flight of November 26th, 1942, in a note emphasising the urgent need for a Government policy on post-war commercial air transport. Some time prior to that date, and following a talk with a non-technical artist, a futurist drawing was produced of a mammoth long-range air. liner embodying every travel comfort for world-wide transport. The drawing showed eight recipro- cating engines driving counter-rotating airscrews, the power units being submerged in the wings, and independent or subsidiary means of jet propulsion by means of a gas turbine-compressor combination located in the tail of the fuselage. Thus, in the likely event of the flying wing being com- bined with the highly promising turbine motive unit, many alternative methods of employing them individually or collectively offer considerable scope for the ingenuity of designer and project engineer. It is obvious that should a part of the power plant be in the form of reciprocating engines or turbines with airscrews, the latter may be of the tractor or pusher type. All things considered, if the small-scale flying wing has attained the stage of progress that its protagonists aver, the way is open for the development of large transport aircraft on these lines. The smooth-running gas turbine enclosed within the wing is a most attractive power unit for such a design by reason of its convenient contour and other considerations. Jet propulsion is probably the most suitable for high-speed, high-altitude flight, and in the case of commercial transport it has already been stressed that the possibility is opened up for the use of cheap fuels. Should aircraft structures and power units follow the trend of development suggested, in ten years' time present- day aircraft will appear as old-fashioned and out of date as a ten-year-old biplane does to-day. Book Reviews 6oj (City of Edinburgh) Fighter Squadron. By A. ScottKennedy- Pillans and Wilson, Edinburgh, is. 6d. net. IT was in the days of the late Squadron Leader Murray-Philipson that Flight first became personally acquainted with the City of Edinburgh Squadron, and a series of visits toTurnhouse have left very- pleasant memories of warm hos- pitality and pf admiration for a tremendously keen lot of mendoing work of national importance with great gusto and extreme efficiency, without any desire of reward or profit. They gavethe impression that if ever another war broke out they would take their place worthily beside the regular squadrons. It was therefore with a most gratifying feeling of havingsaid "I told you so "that Flight learnt that the German raid on the Fleet in the Forth on October 16th, 1939, had been metand foiled by the Spitfires of the two Auxiliary squadrons of Edinburgh and Glasgow. In the fourth year of the war this book has been written asa partial history of the doings of the squadron, and the profits of its sale are to go to the squadron benevolent fund. Thestory cannot be told in full, but what is available has been well written and the little volume is well illustrated. After the first engagement over the Forth, the squadroncame south to take part in the Battle of Britain. In the course of it, No. 603 shot up the Italian contingent. Later itwent to Malta and shared in the glorious defence of that island. By that time it had become merged in the R.A.F. pool, andwas no longer a distinctively Auxiliary squadron, bound up closely with the City of Edinburgh. In fact, when it flew offthe deck of the U.S. Wasp and landed at Malta there were only two Scots among the pilots. It had previously had topart with its ground staff, much to the regret of all. During the Battle of Britain the squadron, still recognisablythe Edinburgh squadron, reached its century of enemy aircraft shot down. Its score is now much higher.We cannot forbear quoting from a tribute paid by Air Commodore C. A. Bouchier, the CO. of Hornchurch station.When the squadron first landed there, "the CO," he wrote. ' on getting out of his Spitfire, had his little ' side hat'perched on the back of his he"ad; he meandered towards me with bent shoulders, hands in pocket,' followed by, whatseemed to me then to be, the motleyest collection of uiimilitary young men I had seen for a very long time , . . Good heavens!(I suddenly remembered) its an Auxiliary squadron. . . . That explains it, but what have I done to deserve it? ... As Iwrite memories come crowding in upon me, and from their store I give you this of 603. They were, I think, the greatestsquadron of them all." Combat Report. By Hector Bolitho. B. T. Batsford Ltd Ss. 6d. TT is undoubtedly a good thing for future ages that the storyJ- of one fighter pilot should have been written by an accom- plished biographer. While a war is in progress it occupies thechief part of the attention of everybody, belligerent or neutral. Once the guns have been silenced, most people set themselvesto forget all about it. Has not the war of 19^-18 already become a subject which bores? Has it not even sunk into justa bit of "1066 and All That " ? Yet, fortunately, there are always some people who take aninterest in history and in the gallant deeds of the past. In future ages such students will certainly wonder what sort ofmen were the fighter pilots of Britain who did such wondrous works. Mr. Bolitho has set out to tell them. He has chosenthe career of a young man whom he just calls "John," whom he first met on a steamer Coming back from Australia. John had tried his hand at helping on a sheep farm in WestAustralia and found the conditions of life there beyond him. He believed that he had been a failure, and he confided to Mr.Bolitho that he had "an awful inferiority complex," and he felt quite hopeless about himself. However, he got a com-mission in the Air Force, and there he found himself. The war came, and he proved to be a fine fighter pilot in the famousNo. 43 Squadron. In due course he won the Distinguished Flying Cross and later on a bar to it. But what was moresignificant than his personal prowess, he was given command of a squadron at Aldergrove, in Ulster, which had got " brownedoff" through being out of things for a long time. He worked it up into a first-class state of efficiency, and in doing so provedhimself a fine leader of men. By that time he had acquired a definite superiority complex. Mr. Bolitho believes that the Royal Air Force has somemystical influence on those of its members who are really worthy of it, and that it brings out the best in them. Probably thistheory' has not been expressed in so manv words before, but its truth cannot be denied. There are other British institutionswhich have a similar effect on their members, but Mr. Bolitho seems to think that the R.A.F. is outstanding in this respect. This is a book to which future ages will be able to turn forinformation on the psychology of one outstanding type ot Briton iu the war which began in 1939.
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