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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 0517.PDF
FLIGHT March 14th, 1946 a British Fighters To-day Qraceful Passing of the Airscrew Era: "Jets" Make their Debut The Goblinpcwered D.H. Vampire (above;is pre - eminent among modern jetfighters. !t will be interesting toobserve at what stage the turbine-jet will supersede the tour-strokeengine for night intruders, typifiedby the Mosquito \h) vrHERE was an inglorious period, as sail gave wayto steam, when lanky funnels and paddle boxesruined a vessel's lines and soot besmirched her sails. Interesting as it was with its transitional monstrosities tothe naval architect, this era is one of deep, if secret, regret. Fortunately it shows no signs of recurring inaeronautics. The airscrew-driven fighter, at least, seems destined to die gracefully and to retain its purity of descentuntil the last. True, it has seemed expedient in one or two American designs to mix the gas turbine unit and thereciprocating engine, but these instances are exceptional and do not represent an important phase of development. On these pages some blue-bloods of a passing period—the Mosquito, Firefly, Firebrand, Hornet and Tempest- are portrayed alongside two of their jet-propelled succes-sors—the Vampire and Meteor. To avoid any impression of a family group flanked by aspidistras and displayedin juxtaposition to a candid-camera study at the '' Four Hundred " it must be remarked that the "old brigade" comprises some of the most advanced airscrew-drivenmachines yet constructed, intended for long-continued employment in their own spheres.The two photographs on this page demonstrate particu- larly well how conflicting requirements are met, inone case by a pair of Merlins, and in the other by a single Goblin turbine-jet. The Mosquito shown in s>emi-silhouette is an intruder—a class of aircraft in which endurance, a speed superior to that of standard types ofenemy bombers, and a heavy mixed armament of guns and bombs are shown to be compatible with good night-flyingqualities, visibility and tractability at low levels. It may fall to an intruder to "bounce" an enemy fighter orbomber, to strafe a train, to pepper a dispersal area or to bomb a runway. A counterpart of the intruder, whichoperates by day or night, is the Mosquito fighter/bomber. " Mossies" of this breed scourged the distracted Wehr-macht in the Falaise Gap and on the Somme. On many nights of the war they were the only aircraft operating.
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