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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 2109.PDF
\ FLI CLOSTER METEOR (Continued) Grooming a challenger. All the work of preparing the Meteors for the record was done between the latter part of June (when the idea was first suggested) and last week-end, an achievement of which all concerned may be proud. allows of expansion. In front of each engine is a Rotol ' accessory gear box driven by an extension shaft. The port engine drives the electric generator, the starboard the hydraulic pump, and both drive vacuum pumps. The hydraulic pump operates the undercarriage and flaps; the wheel brakes are air-operated. The electrical generator supplies power at 24 volts, 1,500 watts, and charges two 12-volt accumulators. A tricycle undercarriage is fitted, the'nose wheel as well as the main wheels being of the Dowty levered suspension type. The main wheels retract inwards and the nose wheel learwards. Wheels and tyres are Dunlops. The nose wheel is, of course, castering. but is not steerable. The tricycle undercarriage gives certain advantages on a jet-propelled aircraft. For ground manoeuvring, lor instance, as there is no slipstream on the tail sur- faces such as that which obtains in airscrew- propelled types, one of the main landing wheels can be locked by its brake and the throttle of the power unit on the opposite side opened. T he castering nose wheel then permits the air- craft to be swung around with the locked wheel as the centre of the turning circle. The Men Behind the Scenes When an achievement such as that represented by pro- ducing a challenger for world's speed records is attempted a large number of people play a part, many of whom the public never hears of. It is quite impossible to mention by name all of them, but we feel that in placing on record the chiefs of the various departments concerned we are, through them, paying a tribute to those too numerous to mention. We have already stated that the idea of grooming the WING AREA 374 sq. ft. Meteor for record honours originated with Mr. F. McKenna, director and general manager of the Gloster Company. Mr. Carter, chief designer, bore the responsibility for the design work, Mr. R. V. Atkinson, director and works manager, that of production. They were, of course, aided by technical staffs, and in particular we should mention Messrs. Walker, James and Johnstone. On the flying side the testing has been done by Mr. Greenwood and Sqn. Ldr. Stanbury. The Rolls-Royce team under Mr. E. W. Hives included Mr. A. G. Elliott, director and chief engineer, Dr. S. G. Hooker, assistant chief engi- neer, and Mr. J. P. Herri development engineer. For the purpose of the record attempt a special flight was formed, rather similar to the high-speed flight of the Schneider Trophy days. CO. of this flight is Grp. Capt. H. J. Wilson, A.F.C. and two Bars. Under him are Sqn. Ldr. Watts, engineer officer; Wing Cdr. McGregor (administra- tion), Fit. Lt. Everson in charge of the marker balloons, and Fit. Lt. Clark, who has flown Service Meteors over the course for testing-the timing equipment. Finally, a tribute should be paid to Air Marshal Sir Ralph Sorley, who was Controller of Research and Development when the scheme started, and to his successor, Air Marshal Sir William Coryton, who has seen it through the later stages. The former took the decision to give the firms instructions to go ahead with the work, thus making the scheme possible of realisation, and the latter has helped in every way possible to facilitate the final preparations. Altogether this record attempt is a splendid example of team work by the two construction firms and by the Air Ministry and Ministry of Aircraft Production. Enthusiasm and co-operation have achieved amazing results in a very short time.
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