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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0901.PDF
MAY IOTH, 1945 HERE AND THERE had been the spearheads of the navaloffensive. He also mentioned that during thepast four years the top speed of fleet fighters had gone up by approximatelyioo m.p.h., ranges had nearly doubled, ind armament had more than tripled its;ffectiveness. Gas Turbine Future AIR COMDRE. FRANK WHITTLE,speaking to A.T.C. squadrons at Leicester last week, told them that thegas turbine would, within ten or fifteen years, replace the reciprocating pistonengine in aircraft, except for light types. He did not think there would be a suc-cessful design of gas-turbine engine of under 500 h.p., so they were not likely tosee this form of power-unit in motor cars. Working Overtime rpHE fifty air-liners operated by United J- Air Lines are now putting in anaverage flying time of I3hr. zomin. a day in comparison with the 8hr. 45mm. aday flown before the war, it was re- cently reported by the company. Collectively they are covering 100,000miles daily on U.S. air routes. Cheaper US. InsuranceA NUMBER of leading insurance com-panies in America have recently reduced their rates for aviation insur-ance, and some new groups have entered this field of business. The downwardtrend in the cost of aviation insurance was started last November when Con-necticut General Life Insurance Co. made attractive cuts in their rates. Parachute PetT O mitigate the loneliness of a smallunit of the U.S. Signal Corps at an isolated output in the wilds of Burma,the crew of a C-47 recently dropped them a dog by parachute, using improvisedharness and a small 'chute of the type used for dropping food containers. Thedog landed safely and the grateful re- cipients radioed their thanks to base. AttritionS INCE the Japanese entered the war,their Naval Air Corps has lost ap- proximately 25,000 men. The presentstrength is some 200,000, which is about tne quarter of the Jap Navy's totalestablishment and includes non-flying personnel. Additionally there is their Naval Avia-tion Reserve composed of selected students from universities, colleges andhigh-schools. These learn to fly during their summer vacations, and after gradu-ation are ordered to the Kasumiguara naval air station for advanced training. Tailless Contest CONTEST for tailless models, to beheld by the Society of Model Aero- nautical Engineers, is being sponsored by' Sir Frederick Handley Page. It will be open to gliders and power-driven modelsusing any kind of motive power, and cash prizes totalling £100 are to be won.The first six in each of the eliminating contests in five areas will be eligible tocompete in a final contest which it is hoped to hold in September, Closing A KAISERDROME : This plan for a Pacific air terminal in San Francisco Bayhas been put forward by the Henry J. Kaiser Co. Estimate says that 44,000,000 cu. yd. of fill would be needed to make the 1,100-acre island airport with itsfour 5,700ft. runways, at a cost of $14,000,000. date for entries in the area contests isAugust 5. Rules and other information can be obtained from Mr. F. E. Wilson,34, Babington Road, Hendon, London, N.W.4. Coals from Newcastle A MERICA has for so long been the*1 almost traditional home of '' gas '' that it comes as a surprise to learn thatshe is now actually importing benzole from Australia for the production ofaviation spirit. The benzole is a by-product of thecoke ovens at Newcastle and at the Port Kembla steel works, and when Australianneeds h^ve been met 12,000 tons are to be sent to the U.S. this year—enough toproduce some 18,000 gallons of aviation fuel. Tapering Off A 15 per cent, cut in overall aircraftproduction in the U.S. has been announced as probable by theU.S.A.A.F. at Washington. But it will not be a sudden cut; it will taper off overa period of several months. The reduction in output will not applyto the super-bombers and heavy trans- ports, nor to jet fighters and one or twoother types, some of which will actually be stepped up still more in productionrate. The idea, in fact, is to permit a more intensified concentration on thetypes necessary to defeat Japan as soon as possible. Changing Over PRODUCTION of Liberator bombers atthe Ford plant at Willow Run will cease before August, according to arecent statement in Detroit quoted by Reuter. Studies are being made to seeif the plant can be adapted for the pro- duction of other types of aircraft. Production of Flying Fortresses at theLockheed and Douglas factories in Cali- fornia has also been halved, but that ofthe Lockheed P-80—tbe jet-propelled fighter, Shooting Star — is to beaccelerated. The reason for these changes is said tobe the report from Europe that '' the Luftwaffe has been whipped." R.Ae.S. at Glasgow THE recently formed Glasgow branch-of the R.Ae.S. is holding a debate in the Royal Technical College, Glasgow,on Wednesday, May 16th, at 7.30 p.m., entitled " Flying Within the Reach of theMan-in-the-Street.'' The debate will be opened by thebranch president, Major F. A. Bumpus, B.Sc, F.R.Ae.S., managing director ofBlackburn Aircraft, Dumbarton, and Grp: Capt. D. F. Mclntyre, A.F.C.,managing director of Prestwick Airport. A.S.P. Lectures AFTER the annual general meeting ofthe Association for Scientific Photo- graphy on Thursday, May 24th, Mr.S. R. Thome, A.R.P.S., will give a lec- ture on '' Photography Applied to Re-search in the Steel Industry." The meet- ing will be at Caxton Hall, Westminster,at 7 p.m., and the lecture is timed for 7.30 p.m. Then on Saturday, June 30th, a2.30 p.m. meeting at the same hall will be addressed by Mr. Harold White,F.I.B.P., F.R.P.S., on "Make the Photograph Tell a Story." Fame ! THE following ancedote is vouched foras true by Col. J. C. Fitzmaurice. The scene is the bar of a famous WestEnd centre of aeronautical interest; the characters (a) Rotol Test Pilot, gloomilysipping his half-can and wondering who all the other people are, and (b) one ofthese complete Strangers. The Stranger approaches Rotol TestPilot and says : '' Have we not met some- where before ? " "Yes, I'm sure we have, somewhereor other," replied the R.T.P. out of sheer politeness. "What are you doing now? " askedthe Stranger by way of stimulating con- versation. "Oh, I'm still with Rotol." '' Rotol ? Rotol ? who on earth arethey?" said the Stranger. "Oh, I know ! Aren't they .the people whomake a special type of mouth-wash ? "
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