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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1033.PDF
MAY 23RD, 1946 FLIGHT 531 CORRESPONDENCE craft type has done its fair share. If anybody must compare 1 he efforts of various types, perhaps the best way would be to pick the most used. C. FRANCKSLN. u PROVOCATIVE PUBLICITY And a Technical Query /I AY I be allowed to share the liberty of thought as ex-pressed by your Correspondence columns in order to air a very real grievance and to make an enquiry ? 1 was almost annoyed by a recent advertisement which was t^ptfjLheaded "Take your seats for Johannesburg." That is the one thing we can't do: you can do everything else, pay /167, get at least five documents completed and place your- self at the disposal of B.O.A.C to leave at 12 hours' notice. 15ut that is all, for you are then (presumably) on their "short list" and wait for months unless you have a priority. I could make many caustic remarks on this state of affairs, but will just say that "it ain't fair" and should cease immediately. Now, I would be grateful if some enlightened soul could tell us the probable reason why the port outer props on the North- rop XB-35 are contra-3 bladers, and 4 bladers on the other three engines 1 confirmed by rear-view photo, Time, May 6th, p. 36). "PERMITED TO LEAVE U.K." LONG-DISTANCE RECORDS A Far-East Liberator Performance I I-IAVI'C just received some rather aged copies of Flight fromhome, and noticed in the Correspondence columns one or two letters about long-distance records. I used to be the Intelligence Officer of a Special Duty Squadron out here, and someiof the figures which our Liberator flight knocked up may be of interest to you, although I am afraid that they may be rather old news by now. Operating from Ceylon t<. Malaya, our Liberator flight of only $en aircraft managed to mount 44 sorties per month just prior to the end of the wai, the average length of each sortie being 3,200 air miles. The longest sortie was one of 3,820 air miles, which was flown in 2.jhr 2omin with an operational load of about i,5oolb (four containers in the bomb bay and some packages in the back which were pushed down a slide through the rear escape hatch). Incidentally, this particular aircraft returned to base with enough fuel left to have readied the 4,000-mile mark quite easily. A.U.W. at take-off varied around the 62,ooolb mark. although one of our Liberators scraped off from our Bengal base at 73,ooolb from a 2,000yd runway ! As far as I know, these are records for the South-East Asia theatre, but it would be interesting to know whether anybody can beat them. B. GIBSON (Fit. Lt.). Rawalpindi, India Command. PRESSURE CABINS Problem of Crew Visibility MMENT has often been passed on the difficulties of pro-viding pressurised aircraft with adequate crew visibility. and 1 believe that even on such carefully cona-ivi-d aircralt asthe Tudor and Constellation screen design is a poor compro- mise. If adequate visibility is only required for take-off andlanding, why is a special pilot's seat not installed in the very nose of the aircraft—outside the pressure cabin—for theseoperations? At low altitude there is no pressure differential and so no problem other than a small door in the cabin wall.Ft;r normal flight oue small bug-eye could suffice for the duty pilot. lixtra weight would be small, or perhaps counterbalanced by-structure weight savings, and when it would be required thtrt- would be adequate all-round vision. FUSlLIliK. [Such an arrangement would be far more difficult to instalthan "Fusilier" realizes. Control linkage would be particu- larly complicated.—ED.] MAN'S INGRATITUDE "Pull Up the Ladder; I'm All Right!" P the Battle of Britain until VE-Day, there was nothing -*- too good for. any young man wearing the hououred uni- form ot the R.A.F. Civilians vied with each other to give him a good time when he was on leave, stage and screen stars rushed to entertain him, kissed him in their stage-door can- teens, and " God-blessed " him on their radio programmes so fervently that one could imagine the crocodile tears coursing down the grease-paint To every civilian he was one of " our dear boys." Last Sunday I saw one, wearing an aircrew brevet, who had just missed a bus on a route where they only run about every 2omin outside week-day rush-hours. A large saloon car rolled gently past and he "thumbed" it hopefully. The fat, prosperous-looking driver and his fat, fur-coated companion saw the young airman right enough, but the big car rolled steadily on with its luxurious rear seat empty. I caught the eye of a young mother wheeling her infant in his pram. She snorted contemptuously. "The war's over now and they feel safe again, so I suppose he can walk ! " she said • MAN-IN-THE-STREET. REWARD FOR SERVICE Pretty Speeches, Then Disillusion IT was with great pleasure I read the letter in Flight,April 18th, from " Wing Co.. Rtd." I can endorse every word. Another aspect of the unfairness to ex-apps applies tothe younger ones recently passed out from HaltQn. At the Jubilee celeb'rations and at each passing-out parade, manypretty speeches have been made about the "Halton Tradi- tion," and the youngsters are ready to serve in the R.A.F.with the highest ideals and faith. These boys are, wit bout question, the cream of British youth.They have to be before being accepted as an entrant to Halton. But disillusion has come in a very short time. Promotion haspassed them by in favour of part-time A.T.C. personnel and other war entrants, who cannot possibly have the same quali-fications. It is a fact that many officers and N.C.O.s (war entrants) are "carried" by the ex-app. It seems to be thepolicy to promote conscripted men for propaganda purposes. However, this treatment is having a boomerang effect becausethese same disappointed ex-apps are being successful in dis- couraging the entry of many young aspirants to Halton andCranwell. The answer, again, is to be found in "Pygmalion." P. B. CftlctiTON " Yes that's Van Winkle, our oldest member, bit of a diehard. FORTHCOMING EVENTS May 24th.—Cambridge U.A.S. 21st Anniversary dinner, University Arms Hotel. May 30th.—R.Ae.S. The 34th Wilbur Wright Lecture, by Mr. E. L. Relf (I.C.E, Gt.. George St.). June 1st.—R.Ae.S. Reading and Dist. Branch : Aero nautical Garden Party. Woodley. June 15th. Old Cranwellian Assoc. reunion, R.A.F. College June 15th—No. 150 Sqn. R.A.F. reunion dinner. Dorchester Hotel, 6.30 p.m. June 22nd.—Air Pageant, Southampton Airport. June 30th.—Northern Heights M.F.C. Gala day, Langley Airfield, Nr. Slough.
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