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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0636.PDF
328 FLIGHT MARCH 30TH, 1944 and things of that sort. The "shimmy" being trans mitted to the control column is still something more than a mild nuisance. And, worst of all, the skill required of the pilot to make a vertical ascent or descent on a gusty day is more than considerable. Almost as important is the question of helicopter power plants. It was natural that hitherto helicopter designers should make use of existing engines. The Franklin engine is a six-cylinder opposed air- cooled type. When "stood on end" it remains sym metrical. That would not be the case with either a straight six or with any type of in-line vee engine. The radial therefore appears to be the logical solution, In view of the fact that the engine of a helicopter will be in the fuselage, and will thus be "buried," it might well be that the radial liquid-cooled type of engine might be worth reviving. We use the word advisedly, for although it may be news to our younger readers, there was a water-cooled radial in the early days of flying, the Salmson Canton Unne, built under licence in this country by the Dudbridge Iron Works. Perhaps our engine designers may care to think the matter over. "The Most Fearful Form of Warfare" M R. CHURCHILL in his public pronouncements seems always verging on the point of represent ing the Anglo-American bomber offensive as a punishment which the Germans have brought upon themselves by their blitz on Britain in 1940, and their bombings of Warsaw, Rotterdam and Belgrade; yet he never goes so far as to say so. His words last Sunday were: '' We have endured without swerving and failing the utmost fury which Hitler could cast upon us from the air, and now the tables arc turned, and those who sought to destroy their enemies by the most fearful form of warfare are themselves reeling and writhing under the prodigious blows of British and American air power.'' It 'would certainly be beyond human forbearance to refrain from recalling Hitler's threat that "we will raze their cities to the ground," and notto feel some sense of WIMPEY'S BIG BROTHER : The Vickers Warwick transport which is a scaled-up version of the well-tried Wellington. Having no gun turrets to spoil its lines, the Warwick retains all the elegance of the designer's original conception. Some details appear on pages 332 and 333. CONTENTS The Outlook - War in the Air Vickers-Armstrong Warwick Here and There Topics of the Day Wrens of the Air Branch - Flying Boats - Aircraft in Flying Attitudes The Cameron Rotor Plane - Behind the Lines Levered Suspension - Book Reviews Correspondence Service Aviation - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 340, - - - - - - 327 329 332 334 336 338 a and b 34i 342 344 ' 345 34° 347 349 justice that the boot is now on the other leg. Circum stances, of which Hitler himself was the chief item, have made it possible for the Prime Minister to speak as he does with a clear conscience. Hitler, in fact, played into Mr. Churchill's hands. _. r Many years ago the policy of establishing a striking force of bombers was accepted in this country; and it may be added that this was the only country which conceived the idea of using bombers as an important attacking force. It was certain that in another war we should have continental allies, and as our Army was tiny it was felt that a striking force of bombers would be the best contribution we could make to their land campaign. It is not certain that we then contemplated an attack on enemy production, though the history of the Independent Air Force in 1918 suggested that we would do so. If the Germans had never done what they did, and we had done what we are doing, bombing would still be the most fearful form of warfare, but no hint of just punishment could have entered into our descriptions oi it. But this great difference between German and Allied use of bombers must never be forgotten. We are attack ing production as a stark necessity of w?ar, while Hitler can never claim that his use of bombers had that excuse.
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