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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1213.PDF
policy. After six months' service he left them in August, 1929, to join National Flying Services, who were then starting up at various airfields all over the country. For N.F.S. he was posted with one Moth and a ground engineer to run the Nottingham Flying Club at Tollerton. While he was still at Tollerton, Rolls-Royce asked Shep. whether he was prepared to do any experi- mental flying they might need done. In October, 1931, he made his first flight for them on a Kestrel-engined Fairey IIIF. This arrangement carried on until 1934, when, with the expansion programme in the offing, Rolls-Royce de- cided to run their own flying establishment, appoint- ing Capt. Shepherd as their Chief Test Pilot. This post he has now held continuously for the past twelve NIGHT BOMBER: AnF.E.2b of the type flown by Capt. Shepherd in the1914-18 war. Two 112 1b G.P. bombs were carried onthe undercarriage. AFTER FLYING IN : The Gloster Grebe after it had turned over lengthwise three times.The offending Brisfit (see text) stands serene and unconcerned in the background. years. Fit. Lt. J. H. Haworth is his second-in-com- mand, and there is a team of six test pilots. During these twelve years engine test-flying conditions have altered considerably. The change-over from bi- planes to high-speed mono- planes affected power-plant design. Performance has made such rapid strides that most of the instrument read- ings now have to be re- corded automatically by camera. Diving speeds, en- gine revs, radiator installa- tions, all required their quota of development fly- ing, and now th^ jet era adds a host of new prob- lems. In the very early jet days the main trouble was creep (or lengthening) of the turbine blades. Engine life was in the neighbour- NE W GEN : A typical " kneepad'' set of figures for a Meteor test. No aircraftcharacteristics appear on the sheet. hood of 10 hours, and the clearance between the blades and the casing was tested each morning with a feeler gauge. Another major jet trouble was that of surging on a climb, due to richness. Although Shepherd did all the prototype flights on the Rolls-Royce Buzzard, Merlin, air-cooled X and Vul- ture (liquid X) engines, he did not make the first flights on the jets. The late Jerry Sayer, of GLosters, handled the E.28, and the Americans insisted on making the pre- liminary flight tests of the first Nene installed in a P.80. He was, however, one of the first pilots to flight- test the early Whittle jet engine installed in the tail of a Wimpey. To listen to Capt. Shepherd, one would imagine engine test-flying to be an uneventful existence. He does, how- ever, agree that he has now become somewhat of an expert at glide-landings, and that the very early Merlins were a trifle expensive in conrods. But with a firm of Rolls-Royce standing, major troubles are few and far between, and much of the development flying deals with what is known as "motor bike" troubles. In other words, to get an engine with all its bits and pieces and controls to work as well in the flexible structure of an aircraft as it did on a solid and rigid test-bed. Trouble, however, can come from most unexpected quarters. On one occasion, when testing a new exhaust stub design (it was the kidney-shaped pepper-pot type), fuel collected in the stubs while Shep. was doing some inverted flying. As he turned the right way up, the whole lot exploded and set fire to the machine. Shepherd's clothes, including his collar, caught fire and so did his parachute, but he managed to beat out the flames as he landed the Hart with the fuselage still alight. His closest shave, however, occurred way back in bis Grebe days, and a Rolls-Royce engine was the indirect cause of the trouble. On that occasion he was in a flight of five Grebes of '' Blueland'' in the air exercises of 1925. A "Redland" Bristol fighter (250 h.p. Rolls- Royce Falcon) was seen to force-land. The leader took the whole flight of Grebes down to investigate, but failed to allow for some rising ground. Shepherd, who was out- side man, flew straight into the deck, turned over end- ways three times—and then stepped out. He distinctly remembers the two separate cracks as each of the wooden airscrew blades broke. With the advent of jets he feels that engines are, to a large extent, losing their individuality, but this is com- pensated for by the sweetness and quietness of the jets. If, however, the turbine-airscrew combination comes into its own, noise and vibration are likely to reappear. Capt. Shepherd divides his love of aircraft, and counts the Sopwith Camel, the Hawker Fury and the Gloster Meteor as his special favourites. His log books show 77 different types of aircraft and 7,280 hours flown. He is now busy starting a gliding school for the A.T.C. —he won't have any engine trouble there. J. Y.
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