FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1479.PDF
AUGUST IST, 1946 FLIGHT ttr simple fuel starvation. But, in all, we collectively flewseveral hundred hours on scores of Bothas without running into any more serious trouble than a failure of the under-carriage, perhaps, to stay up after retraction, or a mildly runaway airscrew. In many ways the Bristol Beaufort can be reasonablyconsidered as the natural successor of the Blenheim— though it was designed to quite a different specificationand became, in fact, merely a contemporary of the later Blenheim series'. Though it was not, from the pilot's pointof view, by any means as faultless as the Blenheim could be after correct training had taught one to deal with its•|fl^nnerisms, the Beaufort did tremendously good work with Coastal Command until the torpedo-carrying Beau-iighter arrived on the scene. But, in spite of the differences, a very large proportion of its pilots moved more or lessstraight from the cockpit of the Blenheim to that of the Beaufort, and the majority of people tend to look uponthe latter very much as a somewhat more difficult "ex- tension " of the former. Even if no information had beenprovided it would have been impossible to mistake the typically Bristol layout, and even the flying characteris-tics were, to some extent, similar. The Beaufort could, 4. • i 14 One of the war's little publicised essential workers, theBeaufort, though designed to a very different specification could be considered as a development of the Blenheim. in fact, be described as a rather more heavily loaded andless easy version of the Blenheim. Unless and until trouble was experienced, the Beauforthandled comfortably, and except for a more pronounced tendency to swing on take-off, no averagely competent twin-engined pilot found much difficulty. It had, however, a marked disinclination to behave properly if engine failurewas experienced, and at least one set of published handling notes remarked, under the heading "Safety Speed," thatthe Beaufort had "none at full power." Which was fairly true, and unless very swift action wastaken with the other throttle, a failure while using maxi mum boost during take-off could be extremely uncomfort-'able for all concerned. The situation was made no better in one's imagination by the fact that it was customary touse 15 to 25 degrees of flap on take-off, and we had all been brought up carefully in the speed-at-all-costs-on-take-off school. Of course, if one was to be entirely realistic ii'lMlch matters, the fact that there was no possibility ofreaching any sort of safety speed while using full power meant that a more rapid increase of initial height wasprobably just as important as any carefully drilled effort to obtain as much speed as possible as quickly as possible. None of which is meant to suggest that the Beau fort would not fly quite happily on one engine at lowerpowers, although somewhat firm handling was required in the early stages of failure. At least at one point in thelife of the Beaufort we were all ordered to avoid certain revolution figures with the Taurus engines, and this avoidance became somewhat difficult when, as usual, the exact range concerned was forgotten as soon as the aircraftbecame airborne. Al! members of the crew fit anv) were then asked in turn whether they could possibly remember these mysterious figures, since there was no very obviousvibration. For a variety of reasons our first twin-engined fighter—the first, that is, to be specifically designed and made for such offensive purposes—-saw comparatively little activeservice. There was, I believe, only one squadron of Whirl- winds, and the type was used first for defensive purposes inScotland, and later for low-level attacks along the French coast. Not the least important reason for the discon-tinuance of its production was the iact that the engine manufacturers were very much too busy on the productionof the various Merlin marks to proceed with that of the somewhat smaller Peregrine used in the Whirlwind. Thisinteresting engine has been more than once described as a "steam-cooled Kestrel" development, and had the sameinternal dimensions. Radiator/Lift Flaps The Whirlwind, for those not actively and continuouslyconcerned in its conduction, is remembered largely for the peculiarities of the hydraulic system. Perhaps one isparticularizing too much in using the word "hydraulic," since the peculiarities were concerned largely with the wayin which these hydraulics were applied. For instance, part of the -Fowler-type lift flaps also performed part of thefunction of radiator flaps, and in order to maintain a reasonably low coolant temperature, it was necessary toclimb with these flaps partly extended. The cooling system in general would hardly have survived the later runwayand taxi-track development at the bigger airfields, since, sooner or later, if there happened to be any serious delaybefore take-off, two delightful fountains of steam appeared, and it was necessary then to turn into the wind and switchoff. Two other hydraulic points of interest were, first, the fact that the main fuel cocks were hydraulicallyoperated, and, secondly, that the actual positions of the flaps were set by the relative movement of the controllever. The flaps followed the movement of the lever. From the flying point of view the Whirlwind was magnificent, and the one and only peculiarity was its tendency to develop tail shudder in any really tight turns. Presumably, there was some breakaway of the air flow around the engine nacelles and the centre section, so that, in spiteof the high position of the tailplane, this, in certain con- ditions, was flying in turbulent air. Unless it was allowedto take charge on take-off or after landing, the Whirlwind could be treated as a single-engined type. And very modernit was—with leading-edge radiator entries, four-cannon nose armament and " almost-bubble " canopy. The Whirlwind just missed its way and was superseded before it could be developed further. AIR LEAGUE'S POLICY ""PHE objects and policy or the Air League of the BritishJ- Empire were enlarged upon at some length at the annual general meeting last month. The vital importance of thecultivation of sound and well-informed public opinion was stressed by the Earl of Harewood, who has been re-electedpresident. He said tnat we weie just beginning to see the pattern of British air effort in the post-war era, and that thetrends in both military and civil flying made it obvious that everything depended upon public opinionNot only wa? it necessary tc encourage intelligent support for a sound air policy, but it was also necessary to obtainunity of thought between the citizens of our own and other countries. The Air League has recently sponsored a missionto Canada, and one is now on a tour in Australia Lord Hare- wood also spoke of the service which the Air League had donein organizing the Air Defence Cadet Corps in 1938. Lord Strabolgi spoke of the vital importance of the Hyingclubs and suggested that the Government should be urged to offer more support to them Mr. J. Arthur Rank, who is the honorary treasurer, sug-gested that unless the people in this country were prepared to take an intelligent interest in aviation affairs, they wouldbe given only what the Government found it convenient to give them. The League had spent £1,200 less in 1945 than in1944, but there had been a fall in income. Nevertheless the League coold be considered to be in as good a position as ever.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
