FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1335.PDF
JUNE 29TH, 1944 FLIGHT 693 THE AIR TORPEDO two spherical wire-wound bottles carried in the fuselage. Thus the quantity of fuel delivered is to some extent dependent upon the pressure in the air-storage bottles, and this consideration probably gives a clue to the widely vary ing reports of the speed of the craft. In the early stages of its flight it unquestionably travels at 300-350 m.p.h., whilst towards the end of its flight a speed of 200-250 m.p.h. appears to be more usual. It is not clear as yet whether the compressed air is used merely to transfer the fuel under pressure, or whether it is at the same time mixed with the fuel to atomise it upon injection. According to reports, the operation is as follows: Due to the forward speed of the craft, air is rammed into the propulsion duct and into this somewhat compressed air the fuel is injected and ignited. Whether injection is con tinuous and ignition periodic, whether the igniter is a con tinuous glow plug and injection periodic, or whether both 4jf ;tion and ignition are periodic, is not clear. In a rela- !'*vely confined space there is an explosion giving a sharp rise in pressure which closes the flap valve at the intake, and the combustion products are violently ejected from the rearwardly directed propulsion nozzle. As the internal pressure in the propulsion unit falls, the flap valve will be opened by the surrounding air stream and a new charge of air will be rammed in the unit and the operation re peated. Thus arises the characteristic pulsating note which. on first acquaintance, sounded strange for a jet-propulsiou plant. * The absence of a compressor, intermittent instead of continuous operation, the use of an automatic flap valve and the method of fuel injection are factors which indi vidually and collectively would seem to indicate a rela- tively low efficiency. However, this is doubtless a minor consideration as the range is restricted and the working life is extremely short, say, half an hour. To save weight, material and production time, both in manufacture and assembly would be much more important in an alleged military weapon of this character than the attainment uf thermal efficiency. As the functioning of automatic valves is so lacking in precision (they were discarded on motor cars nearly 40 years ago) it would stem that long research and experiment has been necessary to secure anything approaching consistent and reliable operation. The duration of flight is determined by a time switch which, possibly, trips the automatic pilot and puts the craft into a steep dive. Of course, insufficient pressure in the air bottles or complete consumption of the fuel, whether deliberately arranged or resulting from gunfire, will.also terminate the flight. The varying descriptions of the final behaviour of the craft—power dive, powerless glide, sharp cut-off, faltering or gradual fade-out of the propulsion unit—would be accounted for by these considerations. Behind the Lines Appointed GEN. PAUL MONIOT has been ap pointed Secretary-General for the French Air Defence, a new post just created by the Vichy Government. Tin Foil A GERMAN air expert, quoted by the German Overseas News Agency, to night stated: "The tinfoil strips which the British until recently dropped in great quantities on Germany during their night attacks no longer interfere with German detector apparatus which is now so sensitive that it is impervious to inter ference. German detection now is based on the scientific principle that rays i emanating from the earth are reflected back when meeting an aircraft and can -""be caught and registered. '' In collaboration with the Air Ministry, new and improved devices have been worked out on this principle, which also allow distinction between enemy and friendly aircraft." Preparing FROM Norway it is reported that over 300 acres of forest have been felled to make room for the big airfield which the Germans are building at Haslemoen, Flisa, about 20 miles from the Swedish frontier. The work was started in January, and large areas have been evacuated and the forests cut down. Schools and churches have been requi sitioned and farms devastated. The whole district has been practically destroyed. Norwegians in the labour service have been conscripted for this work, in the teeth of the Hague Convention, which •-i prohibits the employment of the people lot an occupied country for the military purposes of an Occupying Power. The airfield is situated only about 50 Service and Industrial News from the Inside of Axis and Enemy- occupied Countries miles from the big German airfield at Gardermoen which the Germans have substantially enlarged. Spotlights DURING these weeks there has been no question of preventing all the breakthroughs of a greatly superior enemy in the East, but of strengthening ourselves for the decisive struggle in the West.—(A provincial daily.) Do not ask the eternal question "Why? " It will not alter anything, for it is no magic wand before which war retreats. Those who turn awav from the war . . . those who do not consciously identify themselves with the war and who from weakness and fatigue do not wholeheartedly pledge themselves to it . . . help to prolong war, for somewhere their work is being missed,, somewhere their lack of eagerness is holding things up.—(from a German article.) A Dutchman arrested for listening to the B.B.C. was brought before a Nazi judge. "What is your explanation? " asked the judge. "Your honour," said the prisoner, "the Fuehrer said he would be in England by October, 1940. I have been listening-in ever since, for I would not want to miss the Fuehrer." If (l-rom a provincial German newspaper) L ET us "not be blind to the fact that there are petty minds among us who display doubts and adhere to so- called objectivity even on the most trifling occasions. "According to these people many things are said and written which will not be half so bad in reality; they think therefore that it would not be advisable to expect only evil from our enemies, since, after all, they are also human beings." Deploring this lapse into liberalism, the article says that Germany's past experience "is enough to preclude all discussions on the question of how things would turn out if . . ." * * • The Civil Aviation Directorate (Hotel Radio, Vichy) is headed by General d'Harcourt. The post of a Deputy Director of Civil Aviation has been abolished and its former holder, Vivent, , now heads another service to be men tioned later. The Civil Aviation Direc torate is divided into four Departments: Airways and Flying Personnel (Exploita tion des Lignes Adriennes et Personnel Navigant), under Bastide; Personnel Accounts,- Gliding and Scale-model Con struction (Comptabilit6 du Personnel, Vol a Voile et Modfeles Reduits), under Bandouin; finally, Flying Equipment and Airport Operations (Materiel Ae>o- nautique and Exploitation des Aero dromes), both under Pacaud. Subject : Hermann A BERLIN rumour says that a group of Luftwaffe generals have asked Hitler to relieve Goering of his post as Commander-in-Chief of the German air force as he was not capable of directing air operations '' under these difficult war conditions."
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
