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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 2256.PDF
NOVEMBER I^TH, 1945 FLIGHT 529 CO&QESPONDENCE' The Editor dots not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents. The names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. v , ECONOMICS OR EXTRAVAGANCE ? Any Portal in a Storm WITH reference to your excellent article in Flight ofOctober 25th in regard to the disposal of surplus Govern-ment equipment, other than by destroying it, a query was raised as to what should be done with old-age flying boats. Surely the answer is to remove the wings and engines, anduse them for living in, in view of their nicely equipped galleys, bunks, electric lighting, etc. They would give the alternativeof being usable either on land, or on inland waterways. C. VINTEN. : RADIO FOR LIGHT AIRCRAFT Successful Experiment in a Tiger Moth I WAS interested in the letter from Mr. Douglas Deans(Flight, September 6th) concerning radio for light aircraft. I enclose drawings showing a small unofficial installation for a five-metre transmitter-receiver fitted to a Tiger Moth. The aerial is of the whip type, coming through a fairlead on the top of the fuselage just above the luggage compartment. This whip aerial is detachable. The transmitter-ieceivei is housed in the luggage compart-ment just behind the rear cockpit and is quickly detachable, as it is only held in place by four shock-absorber cables withhook and eye attachment. The lead for the cockpit microphone and for the earphones can be of sufficient length to extend foruse in either front or rear cockpit. In the air, this little set gave excellent results up to a dis-tance of 12 miles both for transmission and reception with the aircraft at 1,000ft. above the level of the airfield with whichcommunication was being established. P,. H. ;v- • •-'.':~-:-"' "A TWIN TRAINERS '. -;- - " ""',•""-. "Wheelers" Preferable With an Oxford A FTER some 2,000 hrs. flying on twin and single-engined air- ** craft in Canada I was a pupil at an A.F.U. in this country during the early months of this year. In Canada it had been a common practice to correct a swing on landing in a twin- engined aircraft by using the inside engine, but at A.F.U. it was definitely not recommended, and the method mentioned by "Indicator" (Flight, October 18th) was insisted upon. Three-point landings were taught, but very few pilots carried them out, for the following reasons. I have yet to see a three- poiiit landing carried out in an Oxford without seeing the pilot give a vigorous tug on the control column to ensure a perfect three-point attitude. It would appear that during the levelling- out prior to touching down, the Oxford can be brought to an almost three-point attitude with smooth handling of the con- trols, and at this point either a tail-down wheeler can be done or else a vigorous pull at the point of stall to ensure a three- point landing. The insistence of the three-point landing under all conditions is as hard" to explain as the insistence in some quarters of full •flap on landing in any wind conditions. "Indicator" seems to regret that wheelers are taught, judging by his observa- •tions. That the three-point landing under all conditions is archaic is borne out by the increasing popularity of tricycle undercarriages on modern military and civil aircraft. It isonly necessary when landing on rough ground and when carry- ing out a precautionary landing.The Oxford, if wheeled on and the tuil kept up in the air until the last moment, will not develop any. swing when the tailcomes down that cannot be corrected by rudder alone unless the swing is assisted by a cross-wind. If the Oxford is three-pointed the swing is much more noticeable, depending on the aircraft. The above observations are based on at least 15 hours• on circuits and landings carried out, at the end of the course when there were no postings available, with a view of settlingin my own mind what were the landing characteristics of the Oxford about which there has been so much discussion. Theresult was that in an Oxford a wheel landing is definitely preferable especially for those pilots who believe that the con-trols of an aircraft should be handled smoothly so as not to inconvenience the passengers, "ULYSSES." T ' CAMPAIGN AWARDS • / ' Recognition for Flying InstructorsW /O. WAKEFORD appears to be badly misinformed uponthe position of awards to flying instructors. We resent his suggestion (Flight, November 1st) that most of us areawarded the A.F.C. or A.F.M.; in point of fact, there are on this unit three A.F.C.s held by senior officers, and no A.F.M.s.The remainder of us with two or three years' instructional experience hold nothing but the Defence Medal. We do not desire to shoot any line, but what we do desireis some recognition of the modest part we played in the Battle for Training. . FLYING INSTRUCTOR. CONFLICTING FIGURES Top Speed of the Fairey Firefly IV "DECENTLY, the doyen of air correspondents drew atten--Lv tion to the fact that conflicting figures of an aircraft's performance are issued by different interests. It is not un-known for the manufacturer to state one figure, for M.A.P. to issue another, and for Service technical handbooks to useyet other figures. Some such confusion appears to have arisen concerning theFirefly IV, which was cited in the official booklet of the flying display at Farnborough on October 30th as having a top speedof "300 knots." How this figure, which is inaccurate, is arrived at is not known in this company. The present topspeed of the Firefly IV is 386 m.p.h. at 14,000 ft.—the figure which was given by the Admiralty in the official release to thePress at the Heston display, October 2nd, 1945. B. J. HURREN, Sales Development Manager, The Fairey Aviation Co., Ltd. NATIONALISED AIRWAYS Dangers of No Competition IT is with grave concern that I read of this proposed Act tonationalise air transport companies. With no competition on inland air services, are we going tohave to sit on seats as uncomfortable as those in utility buses ? There will be nothing to stop it except that the only com-petition will be the far slower rail. What will happen to fares ? What of the officials? Will they adopt the customary attitudeof food office clerks, or will they be polite and helpful ? With the railways not able to invest a halfpenny in airlines,it is possible that railway connections with aircraft arriving at airports several miles from the big cities will leave much to bedesired. The Government won't run their schedules to suit the railways and vice versa. The airlines of the U.S.A. show the great advantages ofprivate enterprise, and unless we are very careful we shall find that instead of using our own services to foreign countries weshall use theirs. Still, on that side we shall have competition, but it does not alter the fact that on the inland routes we shallhave' none. If they must, let them nationalise overseas routes, wherecompetition will be there, but not inland routes where it will not. I will end by saying that I hope the day the Act is passedwill not turn out to be the blackest in the history of British civil aviation. Let it be remembered that during the war wehad the most efficient air service over Europe. Let us hope it will be the same in peace. T. F. FEVERHEERD.
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