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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 0651.PDF
APRIL 4™, 1946 FLIGHT 41 BRITAIN'S TEST PILOTS (CONT.) took one to Farnborough to replace a crash. He had found the trouble in the petrol system, and the outcome of a talk on this with Roderic Hill (now Air Marshal Sir Roderic) resul ted in an invitation to join Farn- borough. That was in 1919. His test flying at the R.A.F. dealt exclusively with engines, and the period between 1919 and 1925 proved to be a fascinating one ; as he puts it, '' ironing out the bugs of the air- cooled radial engine." The team with whom he worked took the radial out into the world. f|^. While art Farnborough he did a cer- tain amount of testing for Blackburns, and, among other types, flew the Cubaroo, Blackburn, Beagle and Airedale. In view of the development "to-day in helicopters, it is interesting to remember that 20 years ago, at Farnborough, he flew the Brennan helicopter, which had all the basic elements of the successful modern types. It was flown while partially moored in the old balloon shed. About 1924 there came into existence the R.A.E. Aero Club, of which Oliver Simmonds (now Sir Oliver of Aero- cessories) was the secretary, Mr. Child the designer, and Bulman the chairman and competition pilot. A monoplane— the Hurricane—with triangular-section fuselage, was built by the members and fitted with a hori- zontally opposed engine, first a 600 c.c. Douglas motor cycle engine and later a 30 h.p. Bristol Cherub. This con- traption nearly wrote "George" off. Vibration from the twin-cylinder engine was prone to shut the petrol off because the cock employed w,as one of the very ordinary " slide with a hole in it " models common to motor bicycles. This cock was under the dash and was critical of its set- ting. Imagine, then, the juggling required when the engine and airscrew stopped dead at 800ft. over Redhill while flying from Farnborough to Lympne for the competitions. He had to dive nearly vertically to get sufficient airspeed to force the engine over compression—no small task with a two-cylinder engine—and at the same time search under the dashboard for the petrol cock. The engine picked up with no height to spare. Display Flying Pilots who could fly as exquisitely as Bulman were very much in demand for the Royal Air Displays, which were then held on the last Saturday in June each year. Since he was already doing odd jobs for Hawkers, and was the service pilot deputed to fly the Hawker Woodcock in 1924, it was natural that he and the Hawker people became well acquainted, with the result that in 1925 he resigned his commission and joined the company. The Horsley was b'eing flown at the time, and Bulman took over the Mark I from Fred Raynham who was one of the very old stagers. Raynham was, I think, the only man who ever had a joy stick break off in his hand and have to land the machine (a Handley Page monoplane) by the small socket at the base, letting go every second or so to look over the side to see where he was going. "George" did all the test- flying on the Horsley II, including preparing it for the long-distance record, which it held for a few hours in 1927 by flying from Cranwell to Jask in the Persian Gulf. It was beaten the next;day by Lindbergh flying from New York to Paris. If any pilot to-day thinks he is flying an overloaded aircraft let him remember that when the Horsley was filled with fuel ready for the record, it burst its tyres just standing on the tarmac! Starting with the Heron and Hornbill, Bulman was res- ponsible for test-flying all the Hawker prototypes right up to and including the Hurricane. The Fury (biplane) and Hart days were the days he loved. He worked like a Tiojan turning good designs into super-good flying air- craft. This good test-flying, allied to his technical know- \> 333 The other Hurricane. This was flown in the Lympne light-plane trials of 1923 ledge and charm of manner, undoubtedly played a big part in bringing the Hawker concern to the pre-eminence which it now enjoys. ' Having got Philip Lucas to take on development flying of types later than the Hurricane, Bulman went to the U.S. in May, 1941, as Chief of the Test Branch of the British Air Commission. He had a team of 10 or 11 pilots with him, and they flew all the types of aircraft on order for'the British Government, making out flight-test reports on the Boscombe Down pattern. At first this was a civilian job, but after America came into the war he wore uniform and was promoted to Group Captain. Compressibility Recognised It was whilst he was in America that Bulman realised that the peculiar happenings which test pilots were report- ing were just what the scientists had foretold would happen when speeds in the region of that of sound were approached. Much experimental work was carried out on the Lockheed Lightning, and Bulman devised a method of flying whereby the effects could be intensified or diminished safely and at will. His notes to test pilots on the subject show a clear- cut appreciation of the problem, and he probably has more practical knowledge on the subject than anyone else. According to Bulman, his test pilot's life was almost devoid of incident—certainly he was always careful to study everything on the ground before taking off—but he has had one or two close shaves. For instance, when he was flying the Leopard-engined Horsley to Denmark, he had a con-rod break over Heligoland. Landing in Germany was forbidden. So, finding that the engine would run at full throttle (imagine the vibration and racket) he flew to Groningen in Holland and landed there. The inside of that engine was a marvel to behold! And here is a story told for the first time. I have had it filed away in a drawer for years. At a Household Brigade Club meeting at Hatfield "George" put up a remarkable show. To the spectators it appeared as if he climbed vertically to 3,500ft, stopped his airscrew and then, flicking into a vertical dive, regained his engine as he pulled out at no feet. What really happened was that he acci- dentally gave the HWt a little negative g at the top of the climb and this emptied the Kestrel's carburettor. From the wealth of his experience he remembered that an air- screw will start in a pull-out at 3 or 4g even when it refuses to do so in a straight dive. After twenty years' service with the Hawker Company, he gave up the directorship which he had held since 1936, and is now taking a well-earned rest before coming back into the industry. But before leaving '' George '' to sit back for a while, let me quote one more case of how an en- thusiastic man can get done a job which has far-reaching results. In 1938 all the Hurricanes had fixed-pitch air- screws, and no official sanction could be got for anything else. Bulman scrounged a Hurricane off contract and got de Havillands to collaborate by putting in a two-speed air- screw. He then borrowed a c.s. governor from the Hamil- ton Standard Corporation in America. The improvement in performance was so impressive that the result was a panic of refitting of airscrews, and the effect on the out- come of the Battle of Britain can be imagined. J. Y.
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