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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 2366.PDF
NOVEMBER 29TH, 1945 FLIGHT 591 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor does 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. CAMPAIGN AWARDS More Ungenerous Treatment IN many issues of Flight I have read letters regarding recog-nition of instructors. Although two wrongs don't make a right 1 am tempted to quote my own case. Putting' iu three years' flying pre-war in Class F Reserve and the Y.TC. I was mobilised when war started and flew continu- ously for the six war years without break, putting in 2,600 hours. A variety of jobs ranged from fighter flying on an air- craft carrier in JOJO 1o Liberator captain from 1943 to 1945, and included three vcars as flying instructor to Fleet Air Arm and R.A.F. pilots on single, twin and 4-engine aircraft. Operations were clone in the Far East, and our squadron lost seven out of a normal quota of 16 crews, yet the work was considered unworthy of any recognition—a squadron record, I think. On demobilisation my log books with nine years' flying were taken from me under cabled threat of stoppage of pay or re- call. My log books cannot now be traced officially and 1 get no awards whatsoever, not even the Defence Medal. Moreover, more important tovme, I am unable as things .stand to renew my B licence or get a navigation licence. EX F/'LT. [Our correspondent's case would probably interest the K.A.I-".' Association or the British Legion.—ED.] PASSENGERS' VIEWS High-wing Types Favoured AS a regular reader of Flight and a*person who does a certainamount of travel by air, may I write a word or two regarding one aspect of aircraft design which is brought forcibly to the attention of the air traveller? The aspect is passengers' visibility from the aircraft. I have just been reading the descriptions of the Vickers Viking and the D.H. JJ>ove AH seems very nice, but no men- tion is made of the fact that from most of the windows the only view is that of a dazzlingly shiny vista of wing. This criticism applies, of course, to all low-wing machines. It is no use saying the passengers do not want to see down- ward. As proof that they do, one has only to watch the scramble for the back seats on "the average Hudson or Dakota when passengers board them lor the second or third day of a long route, bv which time thev have realised that it is only from the seats right behind the wings that any downward view is obtainable. I have expericnefd this on trips between Cape Town and here, and on other African routes. In the York, the flying boats, and the old Flamingo it is a joy to sit beneath the wings, with an unobstructed downward \iew, and the sky glare cut off, especially in the tropics. 1 There can be no doubt that from the passenger's point of iew the high wing will be the more popular, and it is a point Jt the manufacturers and operators might watch. On routes 'th a choice of the two types I know which will be the more popular, especially with passengers :-ot on their first flight. The Airspeed Ambassador is on the right lines, and I venture to prophesy that it will be a more popular machine than the modern American low-wing aircraft. J. M. SLEIGH, B.Sc, M.I.C.E. NATIONALISED AIRWAYS Operation Costs Should be Lower WAS somewhat surprised to see T. F. Feverheerd's letter in Flight, November 15th. To me, his policy seems to be to pitch his modest effort against that of the State—to obstruct the State. And to fight the State nowadays is to fight oneself; you, Mr. Feverheerd, are the State; so ami. This is England. The seats of utility buses were designed, as their name implies, for wartime utility. There is no reason why we should not travel in comfort in National Airways' aircraft; it depends on the Government's attitude to their passengers. What of the fares? he asks. What of them? They ought t°"go down; they certainly cannot go up. And the officials, I most profoundly hope, will be polite and helpful. They will not be ordinary civil servants. They will, I suppose, bemore like railway clerks than food office clerks. Does it make any difference to them that they belong to a publicly ownedairline instead of a private one? They will not be .normal if it does. And the railways, too. Will it not be to their own benefit 11 they run goods train services to and from busy airports? The same, of course, applies to the road services. Nationalisation does offer advantages, although our corre- spondent friend does not seem to realise this. Under the new system, owing to the larger organisation, there will be less wastage. This, in turn, makes for lower running costs, lower fares and increased efficiency. Theie woukl be no need for this, that and the other Pilots' Guild for Old Crocks, surely. The Government is now blessed with the power to give British civil aviation a flying start. It all depends on its attitude to the industry, which under a workers' government should be favourable, and on. the co-operation of everyone, including Mr. Fevcrheerd. This is no time for mournful attitudes to what cannol be prevented; it is a time for us al! to work together to improve and go on improving. Surely in a democratic country like our own the air-minded public can get things done, and" get their wishes fulfilled. It has been done before; it can be done again—in England, now. D. HAYNES. TWIN TRAINERS " Indicator's " View is Supported YOUR correspondent " Ulysses " (Flight, November 15th)makes several misstatements which should be corrected: — 1. In Canada it was not " common practice " to correct a .swingon landing in a twin-engined aircraft bv using the inside engine. Perhaps "Ulysses" has not yet read and applied the informa-tion contained at top of page 89 in the Instructors' Handbook of Advanced Flying Training fIn other words, "Indicator" was dead right. 2. If, as your correspondent suggests, three-point landings weretaught but not practised, then the reasons are.more likely to be as follows : — (a) an extremely amateurish demonstration of the three-pointer was given; (fc) pilots probably did give a " vigorous tug " on the stick,thereby ruinin;- any chance of a decent lanliing; (r) there was oags of runway, so the instructors just got lazy The. writer is entirely familiar with the high wind conditions experienced in Canada and is alive to the fact that extensive use has been made of runways which were often out of wind. In spite of this the contention is that a pilot who cannot three-point the "Oxford" is deficient in his knowledge of the particular handling qualities of the aircraft concerned. This leads on to the question of stalling characteristics. How a pilot can be entirely familiar with the feel of the aircraft during the stall (under various conditions) and still not be able to carry out a three-point landing on that particular type of trainer, is beyond comprehension. Or did " Ulysses " bother about such unimportant things as stalling or flying the aircraft to its limit? 3. There has never been any insistence upon three-point landingsunder all conditions—anv self-respecting instructor will confirm this, and again, if ' Ulysses " can spare the time, .\Pi7vsBrefers. 4. It has been explained to pupils for years now that flaps shouldbe used intelligently—as required by circumstances, weather conditions, etc. No hard and fast rule exists. 5. In view of " Ulysses' " limited flying experience 1 am willingat any time, any place, to fly with him (in spite of the fact that my better judgment tells me I shouldn't) and show himhow to land the "Oxford" oil three points with one hand, no tugging, no pulling, no rush, m bother, no fee—and at thesame time I'll throw in a lesson on cross-wind landings just to straighten out any little points of doubt. 6. If his memory can go back a couple of years or so, perhaps"Ulysses" will remember his instructor telling him why we teach three-pointers in the early stages. If trained on singlesor cannot remember, refer to AI'ivvB again! Before writing again " Ulysses " would do -veil io put in a couple of months on his Service publications; perhaps then lie would know a few of the answers. " AYEONF."
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