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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1464.PDF
JULY 26TH, 1945 FLIGHT 101 DANGERS IN TURNING It may be seen from this formula' that the tightness of a turn depends on the horizontal component of the lift, on the wing-loading (9)\S and on the weight of air per unit volume (y) at the level of turn. By setting out both formulaethe critic may realise the degree of his misstatement on the subject. A passage of one criticism conveys the impression thatthe writer understands the term '' high-speed stall'' rather peculiarly. Stalling may occur at any speed contained inthe speed range of a particular aircraft, from the lowest possible to the highest speed in a vertical dive (at theterminal velocity). All that is needed to produce a stall is to increase the angle of incidence beyond its criticalvalue. If such a change is made abruptly, the inertia of the aircraft preserves the speed possessed by it before-. hand, at least for a short time, and thus stalling may fbe produced at any speed. Though there is no generallyaccepted classification of stalling speed, it seems reasonable to call stalling speeds below cruising rpeed—low stallingspeeds, and those above cruising speed—high stalling speeds.Lastly, the sharpest criticism of Mr. R. H. Henderson (May 10th, 1945), headed " The.pinnacle of misstatement,"concerns the sentence: " . . . Warning the pilot of the approach to stalling by the sloppiness of the stick." Thecritic refers here again to the high-speed stall, which is unnecessarily narrowing, and was not considered in thearticle. Apart from that it seems that Mr. R. H. H. under- stands the word "sloppiness" differently from my mean-ing, i.e., the meaning as ascribed to it by all dictionaries and also suggested by one of my English flying friends. Imean by "sloppiness of the stick"—a marked decline in its steejang ability, i.e., a state when a small movementof "tjee stick does not produce the corresponding sharp response of the aircraft. This does not mean that "sloppi-ness of the stick'' is equivalent to absence of any force on the stick. Webster's New International Dictionary andOxford Concise Dictionary describe '' sloppy " as " care- less, messy, ill fitting, unsystematic, not thorough." Allphenomena warning a pilot about the approach of a stall may be called '' laziness of response " or " decline of con-trollability." My English friend informed me, however, that the popular English term for it is " sloppiness of thestick,'" and therefore I used this term in my article. Disregarding various ill-aimed outbursts, they do showthe intense interest of the critics ip the subject. The whole discussion indicates that there^exists an urgent necessityfor deepening theoretical instruction on this subject, and this is something which could well be adopted. The End of the Line Last Airspeed Oxford Trainer Delivered to the R.A.F, THE first Airspeed Oxford advanced trainer appearedin 1937 and went into service "with the R.A.F. inJanuary, 1935. On July 14th, 1945, the last machine was delivered to the R.A.F. at a little ceremonyat Portsmouth, it being the 4,411th built by Airspeeds. In all, more than 8,000 of these machines have been built,firms such as the de Havilland Aircraft Company, the Per- cival Aircraft Company, and the Standard Motor Com-pany having been in quantity production with this machine at various times and for. various periods. When it first came out, the Oxford Mark I was laid outfor training in navigation, photography, bomb-aiming, air gunnery and radio, in addition to pilot training. TheMark II, introduced at a later date, had certain of the equipment of the Mark I removed, and was largely usedfor intermediate training in the piloting of twin-engined aircraft. The Mark V was produced in 1942, and differedfrom the Mark I mainly in that it was powered by two Pratt and Whitney Wasp Junior engines instead of theSiddeley Cheetahs of the original machine. The Oxford has been used in very large numbers in theService Flying Training Schools in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Southern Rhodesia,South Africa and the Middle East. It is also used as a communications aircraft, and a few have been convertedinto ambulances. Gradually the .Oxford will disappear from the scene, butit can look back on an honourable career, and who knows but that one day Mr. Hagg and his team may spring onthe world a successor to the Oxford—when they can spare the time from their labours on the A.S.57 commercialmachine on which they are now engaged. EARLY AND LATE : The 4,411th Airspeed Oxford—the last to be made—about to be demonstrated before the Airspeed employees alongside the 7th Oxford, which was delivered to Training Command in January, 1938.
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