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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 0163.PDF
RY 24TH, I946 FLIGHT SPITFIRE SCORE extraordinarj' silence as the ivory-handled throttle vibrated quietly back. It is difficult now to remember that these early Spitfires, after the fixed-pitch period, had a two- pitch airscrew operated by a plunger-type dashboard con- trol. Another little difficulty which occurred with many of the early Spitfires concerned the way in which the under- carriage selector would occasionally jam irrevocably in the half-way position while selecting '' down.'' For one reason or another the " up-lock " pins had become immovable, and it was necessary to take the weight off the retracted legs if any further lowering progress was to be made. Since-, of course, the only way of doing this was to invert the air- craft, Spitfires might occasionally be seen on their backs during the circuit. An alternative method of freeing the selector was to push the nose down violently, while, at the same time, giving the lever a sharp tug. In many ways, the most pleasing of all the Spitfires was a version of Mark V, with clipped wings and cropped blower. I am not sure whether, previous to general modi- fication, the V was the first to have metal rather than fabric ailerons, but certainly these were extraordinarily light—and more so than any earlier or later marks, with the possible exception of the series of VIIIs. With the Spit- fire V one also had the pleasure of obtaining an unprece- dented 18 lb. of boost. Gross-wind Landing < Although the Spitfire always appeared to be " under- legged " and should, by all the rules, have been difficult to handle while landing with such a comparatively narrow undercarriage, the entire situation was more than saved by the ^act that control was so good right down to the stall. When landing across wind, therefore, the necessary degree of corrective drift could be applied and held to the last possible moment, and there was no real excuse for any ground looping. Experience at one small airfield where, even in the later stages of the war, there was only a single runway (and this nearly always out of wind) showed that the Spitfire would take almost anything in the way of a cross-wind unless carelessly put down with the drift unchecked. In fact, the entire performance soon became quite instinctive, and it was impossible to explain exactly the action which was being taken during the final hold-off seconds. Only after the landing was it necessary to take a smart handful of brake lever to prevent the air- craft swinging into wind. Intermediate and not very well-known marks were the pressurised VI and VII. In one version the cockpit lid "WORM'S EYE VIEW" SINCE there are all types of humanity in the Services, a playdealing with some phase of Service life gives the author a free hand in type selection and plenty of scope for variety.This is particularly useful in the case of comedy, and R. F. Delderfield's play now running at the Whitehall Theatre, Lon-Mon, demonstrates the point in most entertaining fashion. Its title of "Worm's Eye View" is probably capable ofmore than one interpretation, but this light-hearted story of the. adventures (and misadventures) of five R.A.F. "otherranks" billeted on a north-country seaside landlady of the grimmer species is both well constructed and well presented.The various characters are recogni'sably life-like, the situations highly amusing and the dialogue brisk. . . The pace is a bit leisurely in the first scene (there arc twoscenes in the first and third acts and three in the second) but with the arrival of aircraftman Porter things really begin tohappen. Ronald Shiner (who also produces) gives a delightful studv of this Cockney recruit who brings with him the atmo-sphere—and some of the actual stock—of his stall in Petticoat Lane. His is the outstanding performance in an outstandingcomedy part, but every member of the cast of eleven merits commendation did space permit.Most of the fun springs from the benevolent aid given by Pop (Jack Hobbs); the middle-aged L/AC, in furthering the was, so to speak, "built" over the pilot before running up, and there were four inside clamping levers to bo reached and locked. The most back-breaking contortions were required in a very confined space while these locks were pushed home with claustrophobically palsied hands. There- after it was not possible to open the hood without actually jettisoning the whole outfit. Other variants had a sliding canopy, but, for some curious aerodynamic reason, these, when opened, caused a tail burble; and in order to avoid the shudderings one was inclined, even with this type, to arrive with the hood shut. Both these aircraft were strangely unlike the others. The whine of the cabin blower, and the way in which a deep silence descended, cutting one off from the outside world, as the cabin sealing was applied ; the pointed wing tips; and the mechanical stiffness of the ailerons as the cables passed through airtight conduits—all these made up the strangeness. Eights and Nines I believe that the majority of the VIIIs were shipped to the Far East, but, in any case, production was necessarily on a smaller scale than that of the IX—though the former was in many ways a more advanced version, coming as it did from the "home " factory. It had a retractable tail- wheel and was, I believe, the first to be fitted with the higher aspect ratio rudder and interconnected throttle and airscrew control. There were two major varieties, one with a Merlin 66 and the other with a Merlin 70 for low and high level operations—or, perhaps one should say, for '' high and higher '' operations respectively. Each VIII on test from the factory was taken to full- throttle height in " M" gear and to automatic blower- change height before being brought down again for level- speed and diving tests, which were carried out in all kinds of strange conditions; on one occasion I was still in cloud at 20,000ft. We had a trick by which, in overcast circum- stances and without radio aid, we could always guarantee to return to a point within a few miles of the airfield. Climbing up into wind at the correct speed of 170 m.p.h. and at rated boost, we would turn down wind for the speed check, and round again for the dive, the end of which should, in theory, have brought us back again over the airfield. Of course, there were often delays of different kinds during the test and, after breaking cloud, perhaps over a totally unknown landscape, it was quite an exercise in rule-of-thumb navigation to find one's way back home. Often we were, quite near, but didn't know it. Maps, though useful as a means of giving confidence, were not really of great value since, in order to find one's way from A to B, it is necessary, first of all, to know where A hap- pens to be—and that was something which we didn't always know. (To be concluded) romance between the young corporal (John Varley) and theextremely naive daughter of the house (charmingly played by Diana Dawson). This reaches a riotous climax—and providesa terrific curtain—in the second act, when the landlady's son. a thoroughly ropey type of corporation official, played witliconvincing venom by Christopher Banks, gets what is coming to him. Those who feel that a good laugh might help them to forgetthe peace for an afternoon will find this play just the thing ACCENTUATING THE EXPERIMENTAL EMPLOYING some 2,000,000 persons at its wartime peak,the American aircraft industry, by a series of "cut- backs" beginning in 1944, had only aliout 150,000 employeeson its payrolls at the end of 1945. This, "however, is generally believed to be "the bottom of the curve," although the figureis not expected to increase greatly during 1946; the best estimates are that it will not exceed 200,000. These figures are contained in some notes issued by the•Aircraft Industries Association of America, Inc., but the most striking statement of all is that "nearly half" of theindustry's 200,000 personnel "will be highly skilled engineers engaged on experimental work." The importance of the experimental work was emphasisedin a joint statement by Donald W. Douglas, then chairman, and Eugene E. Wilson, new chairman of the A.I.A.
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