FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0553.PDF
MARCH 22ND, 1945 FLIGHT 315 Even the lazily swish-tailed approach, with the trees and houses quietly slipping by, can be too casual through con- stant habit, and the pleasant, floaty, viceless toy suddenly becomes a lethal mass of metal. The question is: How are we to inculcate a suitable respect for dear Uncle Isaac (and his thirty-two feet per second per second) without giving everybody at the very start an anti-airship inhibition? Flying is not essentially more dangerous than anything else in the way of fast transport. The dangers of plain gravity are counterbalanced by the roominess of the air. It may even be considered a good thing that the uncom- fortable possibilities are not immediately obvious to the trainee—and only academically obvious to the veteran. In all walks of life one would take to one's bed in a concrete shelter if absolute safety was the only criterion of happi- ness—and one would dis there of rheumatic fever. All that is needed is a habit of thought slightly unlike the conventional one in the matter of relative courage, and essentially matter-of-fact where possible flying risks are being considered. With it there must be a solid, inlaid conviction that any unnecessary show of dexterity at low level, whether for one's own or anybody else's benefit, is a breach of good taste and a mere exhibitionist piece of line-shooting. Such a conviction should not be difficult to maintain ; flying, in any case, has by now lost any of ils original and superficial glamour. It has become inm-K a scientifically interesting development, and even the lay- man is now more impressed by the solution of supersonic problems, in practice and in the laboratory, than by any dazzlingly accurate demonstration of skill aifground level or by the stupendous achievement of Wi»g Commander Prune in "pressing on" to his base, by rule-of-thuuib D.R., when any sane person would have turned back. The public will never hear of Prune's achievements—only of his failures. Aviation cannot yet afford adverse publicity. It may be nearly forty years since the first hcavier-than-air machine left the ground, but it is still on probation. " INDICATOR." AIRCRAFT CARRY THEIR OWN RUNWAY OF the many strange cargoes of war freight carried to theContinent by aircraft of R.A.F. Transport Command, a rec?nt consignment to Belgium must rank as one of thestrangest, for the aircraft were carrying their own landing strip. Three months ago, the Transport Support Group of the Com-mand set up a staging post between Brussels and the 21st Army Group Front. As the site needed a runway, tens of thousandsof perforated steel planks—the standard " P.S.P." designed for emergency landing strips—were flown from Britain to an air-field 90 miles from the site, where good landing facilities existed, and thence conveyed by road. With these, a runway 1,000 yd. long and 50 yd. wide, waslaid down, so that operations could begin. To complete the runway, the Dakotas are now flying-in the additional P.S.P.s needed direct to the runway they are intended to augment.The standard P.S.P.s measure approximately 10ft. by ift. 41a., and weigh 62 lb.; a Dakota can carry easily a load of 80. At the Belgian staging post in question, an adequate all-weather landing ground is of vital importance, for it has become one of the busiest airports in Europe. Since January1st, when the first Close-Support Group aircraft touched down, scores of heavily laden Dakotas have been landing thereevery day—often close on 100 in :i day—delivering a wide variety of high-priority war material for the Armies in the field. Already some 40,000 Service personnel have passed throughthe staging post, inward or outward, and the daily freight arriving from the U.K. has frequently approached, and some-times exceeded, the million pound mark. [Picture on />. ^04.) FRANCES 11 is the Pacific code-name of this recently introduced Navy torpedo-bomber which is powered by two Homare 11 double-row, 18-cyl. air-cooled radial engines produced by both Nakajima and Mitsubishi. The aircraft is assembledat the Yokosuka Navy Air. Arsenal and its Japanese name is Ginka, meaning Milky Way. Notable for its clean lines, it carries a torpedo completely enclosed,and although often used as a bomber, was probably designed chiefly for torpedo attacks against shipping. Main armament is a 20 mm. cannon in the nose andanother in the rear cockpit. Dive brakes are fitted and drop tanks may be carried.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
