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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1977.PDF
OCTOBER 3RD, 1946 FLIGHT 363- ** Commuting " Aircraft West London Club Stages Business Man's "Radiett" at White Waltham ORIGINALLY conceived as a serious effort to interestbusiness bouses in the practical value of aircraftownership, last Saturday's display at White Waltham, opened with suitable words by the Minister ofCivil Aviation, actually turned out to be one of the out- standing air shows of the year. Thanks to the extraordinary burst of autumn summer—reminiscent, curiously enough, of that enjoyed at the very first post-war display in the same place a year ago—busi-ness and aviation guests turned up in force. There was a vast concourse of light aircraft of all types on the field,and an exciting sprinkling of military types to add a true air display flavour to the afternoon. For those who arrivedwith serious interest in the possibilities of aircraft use there was plenty to see, as well as a general air informationcentre organized by the R.Ae.C. The running commentary by Hugh Bergel was informative, not too aggressively con-tinuous, and delivered in an easy me-to-you manner. The military types were hardly suitable for, to use anAmerican expression, "commuting" purposes, though, as Bill Humble remarked, you could, if you wished, buy aHawker Fury in your own colour scheme for twenty thou- sand or so. But this Fury, Beamont's Vampire and Twiss'sFirefly, helped to make the afternon, and there was, in fact, one "commuting" military type present—Bramson'scivil-registered, black-and-cream Spitfire II, which had just been flown over from Marshall's, where it had been pre-pared for its peaceful last flying days. One wonders how many requests for a circuit, from ex-Spitfire pilots, will bereceived by the owner. There is certainly one coming from us. Of the medium civil transports, a Vickers' Viking wasflown, almost continuously, in steep turns on one engine —with one of British-American Air Services' Bristol Way-farers, an Airspeed Consul and a Miles Aerovan. The smaller types were too numerous for individual mention,though the outstanding crazy-flying show by Harald Pen- rose with a 1929 Westland Widgeon must be recorded.The commentator remarked that this helped to show the progress made during the last ten years 01 so, but onewonders, really, whether so much progress has been made. The Widgeon flew, in its own way and with its 1930 stan-dard of comfort, just as well as anything else. To those interested, the outstanding event of the after-noon was the flying appearance of the Chrislea Ace proto- type—which seems certainly to have fully recovered fromits initial directional troubles now that it is fitted with twin fins and rudders. Since the Ace is still experimental,it could not be landed, but flew back to Heston after making a few circuits in good order. One gathers that,in addition to the redesigned empennage, the production Ace is likely to have rather less dihedral. Returning, by way of epilogue, to the original purpose ofthe display—that of interesting the business man—no one needs to have any doubt about the fact that aircraft arebeing used by large numbers of firms. At White Waltham even the initiated must have been surprised by the varietyboth of types and businesses among the aircraft to be seen in the extensive park, yet those present can only have beenan average proportion of the aircraft in use. Very encouraging, indeed, though the situation may be modifiedwhen there is no longer any E.P.T. to spend. Rolls-Royce/Douglas Demonstrated in U.S.A. THE Canadian-built "North Star" (Douglas D.C.4M),which is powered with four Rolls-Royce Merlin " 620 " engines, has recently completed a successful demonstrationflight from Montreal to the Douglas plant at Santa Monica, California. The flight was planned as part of T.C.A.'s provingand familiarization trials for this prototype machine. It also provided an opportunity for Douglas engineers and officialsto inspect the aircraft and engine installation and on demon- stration flights to assess its behaviour and handling charac-teristics. Benny Howard, vice-president of the Douglas Corporation, piloted the machine at Santa Monica and wasvery impressed with its performance. On the outward journey stops were made at Toronto, FortWilliam, Winnipeg, Lethbridge and Vancouver, to give Trans- Canada Air Lines personnel an opportunity of familiarizingthemselves with the machine, as it is the first of a fleet which will shortly come into service on transatlantic aad transoceanicair routes. <. ; The Merlins performed excellently throughout the trip andthe high standard of performance at altitude was particularly impressive On the coast-to-coast return flight from Vancouverto Montreal the " North Star " was fully loaded with fuel (3,000 galls), making an all-up weight of 73,000 lb. This isthe highest all-up weight at which the aircraft has so far been flown. Nevertheless an average speed of 275 m.p.h. was main-tained on the last leg of the trip, which is 2,400 miles and roughly the equivalent of an Atlantic crossing. On the wholeflight most of the flying was done between 9,000 to 11,000 feet, but between Lethbridge and Vancouver the aircraft was takento 16,000 feet to clear the Rocky Mountains, which have a maximum height ot 14,000 feet. At this altitude the Merlinswere delivering over 1,000 horse-power per engine. Mr. C. D. Howe, Canadian Minister of Reconstruction, andMr. H. J. Symington, President of Trans-Canada Air Lines, were passengers for the complete trip, while Sir Roy Dobsonflew in the machine from Montreal to Toronto. DESHABILLE : This new view of the Republic Thunderjet shows how the axial-flow General Electric TG-i8o turbine-jet can " he exposed, permitting, it is claimed, a change of power plant in 50 minutes. 0 a OCT wt
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