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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 0295.PDF
FEBRUARY 14TH, 1946 FLIGHT 159 WORLD'S FASTEST FICHTER behind the pilot. A gun camera is mounted in the fuse- lage nose fairing, and the control for it is incorporated in the gun button and may be used without the guns being fired. Other equipment to be included is a combined cabin pressurisation and heating system, a gun-heating system, de-icing and de-misting of the windscreen, and an oxygen system. Some Meteors are now being fitted with full photographic equipment and are being " tropicalised." The tricycle undercarriage is of the Dowty levered-sus- * pension type. .The main wheels retract inwards and the r.osewheel backwards. All are Dunlop. The nosewheel, when retracted, lies between the parallel-motion rudder pedals. In addition to the normal electrical indicators, there is a mechanical down-lock indicator for the nose- wheel, just forward of the windscreen. GLOSTER METEOR IV FIGHTER Two Rolls-Royce Derwent V Jet Units Static Thrust at Sea Level 3,500 Ib. Length o.a. Wing span VVing area Tare wt Light wt. Maximum wt Mean wt. Wing loading at max. •(I ft. 43ft. 374 sq. ft. 9,880 Ib. 11,260 Ib. 13,900 Ib. 12,580 Ib. 37.21b. iq. ft. Take-off over 50ft. (max. wt.) Landing over 50ft. (light wt.) Take-off speed (max. wt.) ... Landing speed (light wt.) Climb to 30.000ft Service ceiling (max. wt.) Service ceiling (mean wt.) ... Economical cruise at 30,000ft. Range with 275 galls. Range with 330 galls. Range with 455 galls. All ranges are at an operational height of 30,000ft., and allowance has been made for the fuel used in reaching that heigh:. 720 yards 740 yards 115 m.p.h. 95 m.p.h. 5 mins. 50,000ft. 52,000ft. 350 m.p.h. 500 miles 585 miles 820 miles Mapping the United Kingdom Civil Use of P.R, Organisation r By MAJOR F. A. de V. ROBERTSON, V.D. IN a recent issue (December 13th) we published a briefarticle on the work of the Photographic ReconnaissanceL'nits. They have done simply great work in the war, and it would be a thousand pities if such an organisation were to be disbanded without making some contribution to the peace which we try to believe that we have accom- plished. As a matter of fact, the Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom was in considerable need of help. Its maps, excel- lent at the time they were produced, are now considerably out of date. Towns, or urban areas as they are called, are always expanding as a result of ndtnial building opera- tions. Much was heard in the years before the second world war of ribbon development along the new arterial roads. The Ordnance Survey could not be expected to keep pace with all of this. Then came the German bombs, and the damage they did has to be made good. No authority could be expected to draw up sound plans for reconstruction without accurate charts of the extent of the devastation, especially as in certain cases (notably London) it was proposed to re-plan the layout of the area. Slums have been regarded as a national disgrace for a long time past, and where the enemy bombers have obliterated slum areas the intention is to erect buildings on the sites of demolition which shall not be a blot on our civilisation, but shall make for a healthier and happier life for the working classes. Then other amenities, from which all classes will benefit, have to be considered, such for ex- ample as providing a better view of St. Paul's Cathedral, the provision of green belts and open spaces (sometimes called the lungs of the cities), and so on. Speed Survey Mapping the whole country in <5etail is an enormous task, d when urgency is needed the country cannot afford to wait for the old-time methods of men with chains and plane-tables. Those methods served well in the past, but in the present emergency they are too slow. The obvious thing was to call in the help of the air, and the P.R. organisation is ready at hand. It has the experience and it has the equipment. The Ministry of Town and Country Planning decided to enlist its aid, at least for England. For Scotland, where there has not been much devastation through enemy action (though parts of Glasgow and Aber- deen have suffered) the problems and needs are somewhat different. They are concerned with expansion rather than reconstruction. There the Ministry of Health took charge. A central organisation has been formed at the Air Ministry to direct the general policy of this new photo- graphic survey The actual work is divided between P.R. and Bomber Command. The whole of the United King- dom is being photographed on a scale of 1/10,000. To achieve this, a line has been drawn across Great Britain, following the parallel of latitude of 50 deg. N. This runs just north of Hull and Leeds. South of this line Bomber Command takes the photographs, and north of it P.R. does the work. The Ordnance Survey are producing mosaic maps from these photographs, prepared to a scale of 25 inches to a mile for rural areas and 50 inches to the mile for urban areas. These maps will ultimately be on sale to the public. Photographs of bombed areas are being produced on a scale of 1/5,000. These will mostly be for the use of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, but the Ord- nance Survey may also make use of them. It is reckoned that London will call for some 200 sorties, and Manchester about the same. If the weather were uniformly favour- able Glasgow might be completed in about 130 sorties. Scottish Highlands In Scotland, as was stated above, the problem is rather different. Theie the Ministry of Health wants to plan for development, housing, etc. The glens concerned in the hydro-electric schemes are also being photographed. Lovers of the exquisite district of Atholl see with gloom the lines drawn on the department's maps round the glens of Tummel and Garry. For the rest, the unproductive mountain areas are being left alone, except for the 1 /10,000 mosaics which will cover the whole United Kingdom. The parts where de- velopment is to take place are mostly in the Lowlands, and in the flat stretches of Lowlands ; for there are many hilly districts south of the Highland line. Two stretches of country between Edinburgh and Glasgow are marked for special attention, one following the direct rail and road line from Forth to Clyde, and the other running to the south of the Pentlands and other high ground. The advantage of these maps*to local governments will be immense. Some have already shown wisdom and fore- thought. Glasgow, for instance, though still cursed with too many slummy areas, has for years past put gnat energy into what are locally called "schemes," which means little townships composed of big blocks of flats. Edinburgh, on the other hand, has shown a tendency to sprawl, as it 'no directing hand were guiding it. Apart from their utility to Government departments, maps have for many people, motorists and others, a charm of their own. Even the most unemotional could scarcely escape a thrill on seeing thtir own house and garden on a spacious map which devotes 50 inches to a mile.
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