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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 2384.PDF
376 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER 30TH, 1943 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. TOPICS OF THE DAY Misconceptions and Mathematics WITH reference to the article Mom Misconceptions by" Indicator," in the August 19th issue of Flight, may I add a little theoretical proof on the question of an aircraftturning in flight. Below I have attempted to show why an aircraft requires inore speed during a turn than in straighthorizontal flight. The following, of course, being under ideal conditions of flight:— C; ----- Lift coefficient. *S = Wing Area. l.:=T.ift. W =; Weight of aircraft.C.F. = Centrifugal force due to turning. 8 = Correct angle of bank.p = Atmospheric density. Let V and Afj be the speed required in straight horizontalflight and the speed in a turn respectively. From diagram W =. L cos 9 Also = C W = C (1) (2) 'i2 cos 6 (in turn) (in straight horizontal flight)equating (i) and (2) C, JpSV,2 cos 8 = C JpSV= (3) Now we assume the angle of incidence to remain *' "• same,therefore C. also remains the same. \'Y cos 6 = V* Vs then V.2 = — cos and V, = —= ". .. (4) VcosHence from the above we can see the reason, that, when in a turn, an aircraft with an angle of bank 0, requires an increaseV in speed from V to , V cosd Now if the angle of incidence becomes the stalling angle, thespeeds obviously become the stalling speeds, hence equation (4) becomes ' v _ Ys where " S " denotes stalling speeds.Therefore when an aircraft is leaving the airfield and the engine cuts out, one must never attempt to turn or bank, orone may receive a worse fate than if one glided straight on. APPRENTICE. ["Indicator" was writing of wind effects on turns.—ED.] GENERAL ARNOLD'S VIEWS When Operations Really Start I WAS very interested to read your comments on the state-ments recently made by Gen. Harold H. Arnold, and- should like to put forward a number of points which haveoccurred to me. First, are we to take it that he has no use for heavy bomberslike the Lancaster, Halifax or Stirling, or for fighters like the Spitfire or Typhoon? Surely these aircraft are among thebest in their respective classes. As regards the Fortress, in view of its small bomb load itappears to me that it is not a heavy bomber, but is really in the medium class. Again, although a number of daylightraids have been staged on Germany, the majority of Fortress raids have been 011 Italv and occupied Europe, where Germanopposition has not 'icon stiiT and fighter escort has been possible in most cist's. It is hard to believe that the losses in the raids on Germany have been quite as low as 5 per cent. When operations really start against Germany, the Fortresswill have to keep up almost daily raids over long distances when every inch of the way will be hotly contested by fightersand anti-aircraft guns. In my submission the losses already incurred in daylight raids on Germany show that the per-centage Josses will then be much above 5 per cent. Granted the Fortress is heavily armed and armoured, but it is slow andnot very manoeuvrable, so that fighter escort appears necessary. The question then arises—are either the P.38 or P.47 suit-able? Do they possess speed, range and manoeuvrability at one and the same time? From what I have read and seenthey do not. In rny opinion the Mosquito II would appear to possessthe best qualities for the work, although it hasn't the manoeuvrability of a single-engined fighter. One thing iscertain: it is no use starting a daylight blitz on Germany if wTe are going to find the losses so heavy that we have to cj^SSroff, and, again, it seems useless to carry out raids at inttJrvaj; of a week or fortnight as at present; they must be contiffluousto achieve their object. ^ This brings me to another point; the Fortress is verydependent on clear weather, and as this cannot be expected over Europe during the autumn and winter we cannot expecta really continuous attack if it alone is to be used. Surely the Mosquito II has proved its value for daylight raiding;it has speed, range and manoeuvrability, and these points are wasted on night work It seems that a daylight blitz 011Germany must depend on the Fortress (and its successors) with fighter escort, and the Mosquito II. A. N. P. WILLIS. TECHNICAL TRAINING College of Aeronautical Engineering MR. D. G. FRANCIS in his recent letter to Flight mentions'' the lack of training facilities'' when referring to the case of his son. I have, of course, followed with much interest Mr. Geoffrey Smith's recent letters to the Press and resulting correspondence, but I feel that I ought, with Mr. Smith's permission, to dispel the idea that there is an entire lack of training facilities for aeronautical engineering in this country. The College of Aeronautical Engineering, of which Lord Wakefield was the president until his death in 1941, and which has many men eminent in the aeronautical world on its advisory council, has for the past 12 years trained over students who are now holding responsible and l posts in the various branches of aeronautics, or are technical officers in the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air There may have been some difficulty owing to Mr. Francis' son harving reached military age about the time he left school, but had his son been able to enter a college such as this, be would in all probability have been able to complete his train- ing and have entered the Fleet Air Arm as a technical officer where, if the experience of ex-students is any guide, he would have obtained excellent further experience which would have stood him in good stead on re-entering civil life. Without pretending to have an exact knowledge of the cir- cumstances governing the engineering cadets, one may reason- ably suppose that for the present the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force are able to fulfil their requirements from men who have had some experience of the aircraft industry or from qualified students of colleges of this kind, i.e., from men who already have specialist training which the Government engineering cadet cannot hope to acquire for some time. Cir- cumstances, however, change quickly in war, and the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force may need these cadets, hence presumably the presence of Naval and Royal Air Force officers^ on the selection board. However, my main object in writing this letter is to assure those interested that there are already existing training facilities which at the end of the war will be able to correlate the general engineering training and experience of young men in a similar position to Mr. Francis' son with the specialised training needed for the desired personnel in the expanding aircraft industry. C. H. ROBERTS, A.I.A.E. (Principal).
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