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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1978.PDF
OCTOBER 4TH, 1945 FLIGHT 379 CORRESPONDENCE GAS TURBINE DEVELOPMENT A Farther Tribute to Mr. Stern I AM most glad to see in Flight, September 13th, Sir RoyFedden's tribute to the careful study made, 25 years ago,into the practicability of internal combustion turbines by Mr. W. J. Stern, then working at the Air Ministry Laboratory inthe Imperial College of Science. As at that date I was superintendent of the Laboratory, Ican testify to the amount of work that task involved, which was carried out with exemplary efficiency and skill. Sir Roythinks that Mr. Stein's report, published, he says, by the A.R.C. in 1920, should be far better known. I agree, butit is fair to the Air Ministry to add that, if published reports are overlooked, that Department of State cannot be blamedfor any lack of complete thoroughness in their search by those interested in this subject. H. E. WIMPERIS. r GLOSTER METEOR IN ACTION No Smoking To-day H . M. ABSOLON, in Flight of September 27th, states thatMeteors always smoke. I suggest that he has not seen Meteors recently. Early in the year observers onour post used to look more for the smoke than the aircraft I when locating a Meteor: on one occasion an observer wasI' startled into reporting a Meteor as a totally different aircraft |, "on fire." He quickly corrected his error, but this indicatesthe amount of smoke then present. At the moment of writing I am sitting in front of a window:every few minutes a Meteor flies past. I have seen a dozen "plots" in half an hour, but not the slightest suggestion ofany smoke—-and my eyesight is pretty good ! The Vampire at Hyde Park was so smokeless that manypeople mistook it for a type with piston engines. FREDERICK H. COATES. THE TUNE HAS CHANGED "Raw Deal" to A.T.C. Officers AS a further enlightenment on your leading article in Flightdated September 6th there are one or two items which, I think, should be made known as to the "raw deal" given to.Officers of the A.T.C. Perhaps it is not generally known by the great B.P. thatmost of these officers have worked hard, unceasingly almost, putting in three to four evenings and most of Sundays everyweek giving instruction to the cadets, and helping them in every possible way with their studies; also they have lookedafter their general wellare, organised and controlled their sports, to fit them for the tasks they would be called upon toperform. This has been going on since February 1st, 1941, and after4! years of hard work, voluntarily done, the Air Ministry tell these officers that they are not entitled even to the DefenceMedal, neither can they, on re"signing, be allowed to keep their honorary rank.These—shall I call them privileges?—have already been granted to Home Guard officers, who, in my opinion, havedone no more to help the country in its need than the A.T.C. officers; in fact, having regard to a large proportion of the"material" on which they had to work, it would appear that the A.T.C. officers have had a very uphill job. Is it surprising that the majority of them were glad to beable to resign their commissions after V.E. day and leave the organisation which they had built up, with few or no regrets.The Air Ministry did not even bother to write them a letter of thanks, in many cases, for the services rendered, but they,the officers, have a certain satisfaction in the knowledge that a real job of important work (vide A.M. statement in the earlydays), has been done. Some officers are still carrying on the good work, but thereis not the same enthusiasm or spirit at present, oiving to the A.M.'5 attitude, and I venture to state there will be manyfurther resignations in the near future unless something is done to encourage further sacrifices by the aforesaid officers and in-structors. May I say many thanks for publishing the article ln question? "ONE OF MANY," •— CIVIL AIRFIELD SAFETY Helicopter Fire Tenders Suggested T READ with particular interest, the very sound proposals, putJ- forward by "Klaxon" in your issue dated July 19th for dealing witli fires and crashes at or near airfields which, whilefar less frequent than in the early days, nevertheless occur from time to time and result in very serious casualty lists. Might I suggest that authorities concerned with airfieldorganisation should seriously consider the possibility of using helicopter-propelled craft fitted out as fire and crash tenders.Such craft, one or several of them according to the importance of airfields and traffic, could be fully equipped and manned andkept flying low near the edge of airdromes, teady to rush to the scene far more quickly than any motor vehicle. In thecase of fire these " heli-tenders," by means of generous foam tanks and adequate flooding apparatus, could dowse thestricken aircraft before the fire had taken a full hold—thereby reducing the number of casualties. The danger of fire havingbeen so reduced, first-aid crews carried on the craft could be lowered to render immediate assistance. It must often have happened that crashes have occurredsome little distance away from the airdrome proper in spots where roads were either non-existent or so circuitous as torender it impossible for ambulances and fire tenders to operate in time. That is where helicopter craft would be invaluable; in fact,given efficient crews working in shifts throughout operational hours on constant watch, it is possible that many impendingcatastrophes may be foreseen and, through prompt action, be reduced to mere incidents. "ALL FOR AIR SAFETY." DOES THE PRIVATE OWNER WANT THEM ? " Indicator " Takes a Contributor to Task A LTHOUGH Mr. Brodie, in his article of September 13, has•^"i- generally clarified the pre-war and possible post-war posi- tion from his own point of view, I could hardly agree less witrhhis recommendations of suitable types for "flow production." Furthermore, he has omitted or misplaced one or two^veryworthy pre-war types which might well reappear. Surely the most important and saleable class ofyrfl is thecabin two-three-seater, with ample room for legs a^n luggage, with a reasonable power-regewreTand wrnctfjjd^jrfgy to handle.This class, typified ir^pfe-war days by y>^)<lurr!N;ch and the iade Hornet Moth,tunate and certa affair wjnc\4i^fckl n°tanythiijg /fiiucTf less. alternfirst want Somethingbefore, to Hornet-MessengerIn the single-seater ing performance,needed. We "do" itirelychoosi powered !> niitted. ead.Vhe unfor-a, possiblyXcramped expensive fciar-seater^'bT(^|.when powered with ifc>r<T Ihat/^iioth therm, would he ssfleable—the ing by themselves ami whoas possible, and the second, as pie. But the Leopard-Monarch-till, -1 feel, form the backbone. 3 something with a reasonably sporP""^asy enough for early circuit flying, is ,-ant anv powered packing-cases at cut prices; if a man can afford to fly he can afford something good^otherwise, it will obviously be cheaper for him to hire an aircraft. An aircraft not mentioned in his chart, the Chilton,was, in my opinion, the most practical and pleasant in this class; the original Tipsy single-seater, though fun, was just ashade too temperamental for casual ownership. Mr. Brodie's " big " class seems to be too big and/has enteredthe charter and feeder-line class. No owner w^mts to carry eight passengers, though one or two might like the spaceavailable for other purposes. The type known in" America as a "commuting ship," with cocktail bar, resident typist, andgentleman's gentleman in attendance, is really a professional's aircraft and does not'eoncern us at the moment. Of course, I am biased, since I have flown all but half-a-dozenof the types mentioned in the table of pre-war types. Of the others, I would have considered purchasing very few indeed.The statistics of actual sales are proof enough of average tastes and requirements—and these are not likely to alter greatly. "INDICATOR."
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