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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0031.PDF
JANUARY 6TH, 1944 using ever larger numbers of Fortresses and Liberators, with escorts of Lightnings and Thunderbolts. The American policy has always been to bomb by day, and under General Eaker this policy has been carried out with admirable accuracy. The Allied Air Com mander - in - Chief under General Eisenhower is to be Air Chief Marshal Sir Traf ford Leigh-Mallory. Com paratively young, Sir Traf ford has had a brilliant career. In the Battle of Britain he commanded No. j 1 Group of Fighter Com mand, which was chiefly responsible for the defence of the London area and the Home Counties. When Sir Hugh (now Lord) Dowding relinquished his appointment as A.O.C.-in-C., Fighter Command, he was succeeded by Sir Trafford. Under him the Command has passed from defence to the unexpected role of offence. The fighter sweeps across occupied France and the Low Countries have been carried out almost daily. Sir Trafford has proved himself a dashing and also a highly skilful handler of air squadrons and Groups, and lately he has had under his command the newly formed Tactical Air Force. The Army can count on good air support from Sir Trafford when the Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory. 15 day of invasion dawns. He has been commandant of the School of Army Co-operation, which taught tactical recon naissance and spotting for the guns. Incidentally/ he was at the same Cambridge College, Magdalene, as Sir Arthur Tedder. Magdalene seems to make a speciality of turning out good air commanders. The U.S. Army Eighth Air Force will not disappear with General Spaatz's appointment. In place of Lieut. Gen. Eaker it will receive as its commander an inspiring leader in Maj. Gen. James Doolittle. In 1925 British air sports men almost hated the name of Doolittle, because he won the Schneider Contest despite the efforts of the Gloster and Supermarine companies, and the piloting skill of Broad, Biard and Hinkler. Then nobody suspected that in the Supermarine 4 monoplane which fluttered and crashed they were looking at the ancestor of the Spitfire. Since then General Doolittle's raid on Tokyo has aroused universal admiration, and under him the N.W. African Strategic Air Force has performed brilliantly in Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, and adjacent parts. Lately that Strategic Air Force was split into two, and the latest formation was the Fifteenth Air Force. Lieut. Gen. Nathan Twining has been chosen to command it. He has lately been commanding the U.S. Army Air Force in the Solomons, where the air has certainly been the arm on which General Mac Arthur has placed most reliance. Early this year General Twining spent six days on a raft in the Pacific before he was rescued. He has accordingly had recent and highly successful fighting experience^tfhd will doubtless help to finish off the work againstjfctfunder- belly of the Axis in a style worthy of hjs^fredecessors. Post-war "Transition" Airei M ILITARY aircraft will not flood the aircraft market when the war is over, Edward C. Wells, chief engineer of the Boeing Aircraft Co., told the Society of Auto motive Engineers in Chicago recently. The airlines will not be able to afford the high cost of operations of these aircraft when compared with the kinds of aircraft which will be available to airlines shortly after the war is over, Wells said. In charge of design development for the past several years on the Boeing Flying Fortress, the recently announced Boeing B-29 Super-Fortress, and other Boeing aircraft, Mr. Wells ^described a fu^wre "ship" which he designated as "Airplane A," capable of carrying 100 passengers across great distances at fares which, according to his charts, will compare favour ably with those for present railway coach or bus accommoda tions. Even if the Government were to give its military transports, cargo carriers, and military combat aircraft to the airlines, and subsidise the conversion of these machines to make them equal to present airline equipment, the operators would not be able to use them as economically as they might the new type air craft which will be available after a transition period of one or two years. However, conversion of some military craft will be necessary, Mr. Wells pointed out, to enable airlines to con tinue operations and to expand normally until the new types are completed. This "Airplane A," as Mr. Wells chose to call it, would be so designed that airlines might readily convert it into a cargo carrier, which would make possible air cargo rates about one- third of the present rate for this service. This is between the present parcel post rates, which vary from 10 cents per ton-mile on the longer distances to 34 cents per ton-mile for hauls from 150 to 300 miles. Express rates are also in this same price category. Cost Limitations Referring to well-documented figures, technical information and chara to demonstrate his points, Mr. Wells went into con siderable technical details on present airline operations cost, and the limitations of present types of aircraft for commercial uses. Because of regulations governing take-off and landing loads, a two-engined aircraft will compare favourably, on the economy basis, with a four-engined type at ranges up to 400 miles. Beyond this point, however, as range is increased, the pay load of the twin-engined aircraft is reduced by an equiva lent weight in fuel. Speaking as the chief engineer of the firm which developed 1 such four-engined aircraft as the Flying Fortress, the Strato- liner and the Boeing 314 Clipper, Wells pointed out that a four- engined aircraft has greater reserve power available for take off, and can consequently^^ffy more fuel. Take-^flHoad, he said, is governed by thej)(moun>»6f weight withywhich an air craft can climb shouJ^one engine fail durjag th»>~ta.ke-off. With a two-engined^urcraft, half the power Js lost^wlfile on a four-enafiied aire^ut only a fourth of the power ig ldst*^ This gives )me fouj^ngined type a distinct ad^ntage. AUTO-SYNC. : George W. Brady, chief engineer of the Curtiss-Wright airscrew division, demonstrates how a small alternator (indicated by his right hand) on an aircraft engine controls the newly developed Curtiss Automatic Engine Speed Synchroniser. This device enables the pilot of a four-engined aircraft automatically to synchronise his engines by simply turning a small knob, and does away with the old method of adjusting four separate throttle levers one by one.
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