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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1148.PDF
586 FLIGHT JUNE 13TH, 1945 orthodox controls and has reached that happy stage where the control actions have become instinctive. He has probably by now forgotten the clammy hands and nervous exhaustion which attend the initial efforts of all beginners. In February of last year we published a paper by Mr. F. E. Weick, an American designer who has evolved the Ercoupe two-control aircraft. That machine went through a fairly searching test at American flying schools, and in the main it appears to have proved that its inability to use its rudders as yaw correctors or inducers of sideslips was not a serious drawback. The crux of the matter appears to be in the two- control idea. The skilled pilot wants his rudder control to be available for slipping-off drift just before the touch- down. The tricycle undercarriage should be capable of looking after any reasonable amount of drift, and the problem seems to resolve itself into a question of whether or not the number of mishaps caused by the absence, in the two-control system, of an independent rudder con- trol is likely to be greater than those resulting from mishandling the present three-control system. We should rather doubt it, and the results are not likely to be so serious. The Price of Victory THE White Paper on the strength and casualties ofthe Armed Forces, auxiliary services, and civiliancasualties during the war, issued last week, dis- closes the grievous losses suffered by the United Kingdom during the war. Out of a total of 5,896,000 in the Armed Forces, we lost 264,443 killed. The death roll in the women's auxiliary services, the Home Guard, the Mer- chant Navy and the Fishing Fleet brought this figure up to 296,521. In addition, more than 60,000 civilians were killed, bringing the total up to 357,116. CONTENTS The Outlook Prestwick Airport ... Here and There - Gyrodynetics .... Victory Fly-past - Turret Fighter - - - Easier Flying ... Not So Simple - - - Supermarine Seafang Meteor Climatic Trials -' Civil Aviation - ... Recent Aerodynamic Developments Correspondence - Service Aviation - - - - 585 587 59J 592 593 594 595 597 a 599 . 6D0 603 608 609 Total casualties amounted to 950,794, of which the Navy suffered 73,642, the Army 569,501, and the R.A.F. 112,296. These figures, when related to the strengths of the three Services, show how dearly the Royal Air Force payed for its magnificent work, first in establish- ing supremacy in the air during the Battle of Britain, and afterwards in bringing Germany to impotence by bombing and in many other ways. Even the figures do not convey the whole picture, for Royal Air Force personnel were the cream of our youth, and their training period was much longer than that for the other two Services. There is some consolation for their loss in the fact that the total number killed in this war was about one-third of the corresponding figure for the 1914-18 war, and for that we have, in a very large measure, the Royal Air Force to thank. It paid the price, and paid it gladly, but we should not be worthy of the men of the R.A.F. if we ever forgot what we owe to them. CO-OPERATION IN VICTORY : During the Victory celebrations two Short Sunderland V reconnaissance flying boats ofNo. 230 Squadron w re opsn to pub'ic inspection at Greenwich. They are seen above soon after arrival. The Sundedand V has four Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp engines and heavier armament, but is otherwise similar to the Pegasus-engined Mk. III.Riding near the Naval College in company with Bellona and Diadem, two of our latest cruisers, they symbolize Coastal Command's wartime co-operation with the Royal Navy. No. 230 Squadron left its base at Pembroke Dock fcr the East in1938 and did not return until April this year. After equipping with Sunderlands the squadron was engaged during the war on anti-submarine patrols at Singapore, Ceylon, in East African and in Mediterranean waters. It also took part in the evacuationfrom Crete and did supply and ambulance duties for General Winjjates expedition.
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