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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0737.PDF
w AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD • FOUNDED LQO9 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL * Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, SE.I Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY : BIRMINGHAM, 2 : 8-10 CORPORATION ST. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, ., WBr"lwl"" »'• NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autocar,Coventry. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Coventry 52 10. Telephone: Midland 2971 (5 lines). Telephone: Waterloo 3313 (35 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C.I i 260, DEANSGATE 26B, RENFIELD ST, Telegrams : lliffe, Manchester. Telegrams : Hide, Glasgow. Telephone : Blaekfriars 4412. Telephone: Central 4857. No. 1842. Vol. XLV. Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. April 13th, 1944. cMe Outlook Thursdays, One Shilling. Putting the Jet on the M.A.P. W HEN it was announced, some years ago, that the Ministry of Aircraft Production had taken over Short Brothers, "lock, stock and barrel," we •* expressed grave misgivings concerning the precedent thus established. It seemed to us then, and it seems so to us now, that something a little less drastic might have met the case. We hope, and prefer to believe, that a very different motive was behind the recently announced taking-over by M.A.P. of Power Jets, Ltd., the firm which has been so closely concerned in the pioneering work of developing the Whittle jet-propulsion power plants, an early model of which was installed in the Gloster monoplane designed for it by Mr. George Carter.' Much progress has been made since those early days, both here and in the United States. But more remains to be done before the jet principle can be said to have reached maturity. After all, jet engines should be regarded as being at this time in just about the same stage of development as was the four-cylinder recipro cating engine of the Wright brothers in 1908 or so. If one thinks of that engine, developing something under 30 h.p., and weighing seven or eight pounds per horse power, and compares it with, for example, the Rolls- Royce Merlin, which is now approaching 2,000 h.p. for a specific weight of somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1 lb. per h.p., the jet engine parallel becomes extremely interesting. The assumption is that the Ministry of Aircraft- Pro duction regards the jet rather in this light and has decided that the development of a new prime mover with such vast potentialities should not, if this country is to hold her rightful place in a sphere in which she took the lead, be left to the limited resources of a rela tively small private concern. This in no way reflects adversely on the past history of Powei Jets, Ltd., which, in fact, has been very praiseworthy. It merely means, or so we suppose and hope, that from now onwards the whole nation; via M.A.P., is behind the undertaking. With such resources progress should be rapid and the day of jet-propelled aircraft for peace as well as war brought much nearer. The Satellite Capitals B RITISH and American bomber crews are always instructed to take meticulous care to confine their attentions to military objectives. Nevertheless, it often happens that a raid on legitimate targets in a city has a psychological effect on the will to fight of the Government and people of the country in which the city lies. That effect is often particularly marked in small countries where the capital is by far the most important city. It will be remembered that so soon as the Finns showed definite signs of wavering in their alliance with Germany the Russians promptly made several air raids on Helsinki, and they seem to have had a very stimulating effect in urging the Finnish Government towards the opening of negotiations for peace. Bulgaria always had a warmer feeling for the Russians than she had for the Germans, and as the Red Armies advanced her enthusiasm for the war grew markedly less. The Allies in the Mediterranean seized the moment for making a series of raids on Sofia, and the consternation which they caused has been described as almost ludicrous. Bulgaria is not yet beaten to hei knees, but her fighting moral has been distinctly shaken. Next came the cases of Hungary and Rumania. Both were obviously wavering in their allegiance to Hitler, and the peremptory manner in which he sent German
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