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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 2234.PDF
NOVEMBER 8TH, 1945 FLIGHT CORRESPONDENCE but, in my opinion, the full advantages of refuelling will not be realised until a new aircraft is specifically designed from the start to take advantage of it. Finally, Mr. Hornsby refers to my personal history, and I must remove the possibility of a misunderstanding which might arise from his statement. It is true that at one time I was a member of the design staff of Messrs. Sauiiders-Eoe, Ltd., whilst Capt. Nicolson and the late Mr. John Lord were directors, but if they were at that time investigating the possi- bilities of refuelling in flight, I had no knowledge of it. My technical interest in the subject was first aroused by Larrard's pioneer study published in the Journal of the Royal Aero- nautical Society in 1931 (Vol. XXXV, p. 1137). I did not join Sir Alan Cobham until 1938, and resigned my position as chief engineer last year. I have now no connection with Flight Refuelling, Ltd., and am engaged on entirely different work. - MARCUS LANGLEY. CABIN HEATING Independent System Not Justified I AM surprised to note, from reports in Flight, that in certainaircraft an independent oil-burning system is used for cabin heating. The total heat lost in the cooling and exhaust systems of a multi-engined aircraft is enormous—equivalent to thousands of kilowatts if expressed in electrical terms and sufficient to heat and light a village if all were recoverable. What justification is there for carrying supplies of fuel in commercial aircraft for supplying heaters when a small fraction of the lost heat would suffice ? Light and efficient heaters have been used, in which air is blown through heat exchangers on the exhaust system, and, apart from the fact that in one's experience the only alterna- tives in the aircraft are blisteringly hot or icy cold blasts of air, occasionally mixed with exhaust gas, the principle appears to have been proved. G. W. G. [Our correspondent would appear to have answered his.pwn question.—ED.] \ JIRSERVERS' ASSOCIATION TO AFFILIATE TO AIR LEAGtlE tfcnes of the Associati anufact thei?istics MEETING at White Waltham airfield on October 28th,the Observers' Association, which was formed during the war of members of the Royal Observer Corps, decided to affiliate to the Air League of the British Empire. Mr. E. Colston Shepherd, Secretary-General of the Air League, explained that the League could provide the Observers^ Association with, among other things, the services of office staff and enable it to continue on a peacetime basis. turers would be sent on request to and films made available. Mr. Colston Shepherd said that the League intended, the co-operation of British aircraft* short films showing the flight charact aircraft as soon as they had passed He added that, whether Empire Air not, the Air League would org. parts of Britain, and the O.A. could give valuaJ in connection with these efforts. It was also suggested to the meeting that the1 Association could assist in the promotion of the cause of. British aviation on a local basis by taking a particular interest in matters such as the siting of airdromes in town planning. In his introductory remarks Mr. Colston Shepherd said that in his recent conversations with British aircraft manufacturers he had formed a rather gloomy picture of the immediate pros- pects of British civil aviation so far as the quantity production bservers' of new types was concerned. There was a great need for propaganda on behalf of British aviation to be mobilised. After some discussion at the annual general meeting of I the Observers' Association which was held in the afternoon, delegates passed a resolution agreeing in principle to affilia- tion with the Air League. It was emphasised that the separate identity of the Association would be preserved. Welcoming the Association to White Waltham, Commodore .T?-, "-efly described the work of A.T.A. during the hat, thanks to the Royal Observer Corps, at the our " Ack-Ack" defences were rather "quick on 5e trigger,'' not one aircraft which was being piloted by the ' A.T.A. was fired at. The R.O.C. had throughout the war also been of great assistance in locating "lost" A.T.A. aircraft. Sir Frederick Handley Page spoke of the value of technical training for boys who were entering the aircraft industry and described the scheme of apprenticeship which his own firm has instituted* ;1 It is hoped that with the aid of the funds which members of the Observers' Association subscribed dur- ing the war scholarships in aeronautical engineering will be granted to children of members who show sufficient keenness and promise. A programme of flying hadj^en arranged for the White Waltham occasion, but it^tfSs restricted by ten-tenths low cloud to a display by a Fairey Firefly I, a Pairey Barracuda^a Miles Aerovan and a Miles M.28 at low altitudes. " German Long-range Rocket Development (Concluded from page 509) ground along its optimum glide path.: In the other cases, the A4 rocket with wings has been taken up by means of a booster rocket, on the lines of the Ger- man Aio project. In this way the rocket reaches a height of 80,000 leet before being released at a speed of 3,000 m.p.h. From this point the rocket with full fuel continues the flight, and in the first boosted case it has been assumed 2OO that the venturi is re-designed, and pro- vides a thrust corresponding to level flight at 1,640 m.p.h., at 80,000 feet. In the other, the re-designed venturi pro- vides a thrust which enables the rocket to continue the climb. The results of these calculations are set out in Fig. 4. The effect that the addition of wings has on range is striking. The range of 180 miles of the normal rocket has now Fig. 4. Trajectories of single- and two-stage winged rockets. been raised to 350 miles. More striking is the effect of the booster on general 7 •• .„ performance. Ranges of 1,500 to 3,000^ x* miles now appear to be possible and the _ *j <" . advantage of continuing the climb at the end of the booster stage is very marked, ij. With a rocket boosted in this way it "* would be possible to travel from London-^. to New York in well under the hour. The first two cases of the rocket with wings present no problem that is outside the experience already gained by the Germans on the A4 rocket; the third case, however, does raise many new problems. It contemplates flight at over 8,000 m.p.h., and this means a stagna- tion temperature of nearly 7,000 deg. K. Over a large part of the flight the rocket would be moving on a free trajectory, since the wings cannot provide sufficient lifting force to control the motion. Over this part of the trajectory the pilot would be subject to zero g, and it would not be until the rocket returned to about 28 miles above the earth's surface that the pilot could begin to assume control. The booster contemplated in connec- tion with these schemes would be very large. It would certainly weigh about 100 tons, and the Germans, in planning their schemes, had hoped that the booster, after being jettisoned, would be recoverable.
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