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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0014.PDF
FLIGHT JANUARY 2ND, 1947 THE OLD YEAR mate positioning. During September B.O.A.C. ordered sixBoeing Stratocruisers for delivery in due course. Two events of interest to the amateur pilot occurredduring October. After pressure from a number of quarters the Ministry of Civil Aviation reduced the standard landingcharges for small aircraft at their own airfields, and the Duke of Sutherland offered a prize to the British GlidingAssociation for a suitable sailplane design. The organization which had been at work on the co-ordi-nation of airline and aircraft standards since 1919— I.C.A.N.—was finally liquidated during November, its place being taken now by P.I.C.A.O. Following theappointment of a new Minister of Civil Aviation, two new organizations were set up—a Board to advise and recom-mend in matters of airline safety, and a Committee to study the whole question of private flying. At the same time, aScottish Advisory Council was formed to advise B.E.A. on the operation of services to and in Scotland. The an-nouncement was made that Ground-Controlled Approach radar would be installed at Heathrow, and that F.I.D.O.would be put into experimental use at Blackhushe, an .R.A.F. Station temporarily taken over by the Ministry asa diversionary airfield. At the turn of the year the Ministry was, with the Services and the operators,endeavouring to devise a new and more clearly-defined air traffic control plan. AIRCRAFT OF THE YEAR /"OUTSTANDING among the year's crop of military types^^ was the Supermarine E. 10/44 fighter, powered with a Rolls-Royce Nene turbine jet of 5,000 lb static thrust.Flown in dashing style at the S.B.A.C. Show by Mr. Jeffrey Quill, this machine demonstrated in a particularlyforceful manner the improvement in performance offered by the turbine jet. The wing and undercarriage were thoseof the piston-engined Spiteful, but adoption of the new power plant gave an increase in speed of well over 100m.p.h. and a corresponding gain in rate of climb. The " E. 10 " was further notable for the precision of*its con-struction, but the lack of a tricycle undercarriage was a legacy — not altogether a desirable one — from theSpiteful. Later in the year the Nene was also installed in twode Havilland Vampire prototypes, giving an amazing in- crease in rate of climb without detracting from range at30,000ft — a representative operational height. The primary development concerning the Gloster Meteor IV,which raised the world's speed record to 616 m.p.h., was a reduction in wing span from 43ft to 37ft 2m, thus loweringthe aspect ratio from 4.95 to only 3.9. This apparently drastic curtailment affected performance only slightly (thetop speed was 5 m.p.h. lower), but rate of roll decidedly benefited, as proved at Radlett by Mr. Philip Stanbury.It became known during the year that the Meteor IV will carry two 1,000-lb bombs as an alternative load to rocketprojectiles. Although as this is written, the prototype has not flown,the unique Saunders-Roe SR/Ai was being prepared for trials at the end of the year and some preliminary particu-lars became available. Measuring 46ft in span, the SR/Ai has two Metropolitan=Vickers F2/4 jet units mounted side-by-side in the hull, the intake being in the bows of the hull. The cabin is pressurized and the arma-ment, as on previous R.A.F. fighters, is four 20 mm guns. It is proposed that the Saro auto-matic mooring scheme evolved by Mr. Arthur Gouge shall be used for this remarkable marinefightei. No )et fighters of Hawker design were an-nounced, but this great company brought the airscrew-driven fighter to a new pitch of per-formance in the Sabre-engined Fury I credited with a speed of 483 m.p.h. at 18,500ft—some-thing like 150 m.p.h. faster than the Battle of Britain Hurricane, Except for engine andequipment the Fury I was similar to the Sea Fury X (Centaurus) which towards the end ofthe year was beginning to come off the produc- tion line for Naval Aviation (a new title con-ferred during the year on the Naval Air Arm). Despite the magnificent performance of theFury, Spiteful and Seafang, the speed "re- cord '' for airscrew-driven fighters still restsin the U.S.A., where a specially prepared ; P-47J Thunderbolt exceeded 500 m.p.h. in"Jevel flight. Speeds higher than 600 m.p.h. \*ave been recorded in dives, and a Spitfire re-tains the British ' 'record " with 620 m.p.h. The Spitfire-Seafire and Spiteful-Seafang series offighters continued to distinguish themselves lg the year and it is greatly to the credit of the Super ' company that the Seafire 47, a Griffon-powered Nt hter withan ancestry readily traceable back to the ial Spitfire, should have been developed for a speed of • ^ 450 m.p.h.and for a greatly extended range. De Havilland Hornets established themselves in R.A.F. squadrons and remainedunchallenged as the fastest standard piston-engined fighters in the world. It was something of a disappointment that, althoughthe U.S.A. announced several prototypes of jet-propelled bombers, no British aircraft in this class was forthcomingduring 1946. The Avro Lincoln continued to succeed and supplement in R.A.F. bomber units those incomparablewarhorses the Lancaster and Halifax, but no new bomber was designated as a Mosquito replacement. The Mosquito34, 35 and 36 stood unchallenged as twin-engined photo- graphic reconnaissance, bomber and night-fighter aircraft.Naval units received Sea Mosquito 33s. Military Transports For Transport Command Handley-Page Hastings andAirspeed Ayrshire high-speed military transports were ordered. The Hastings is the Service counterpart of theHermes, but because of the particular requirements in Transport Command, which generally handles more concen-trated loads than civil airlines, will not necessarily be de- veloped along the same lines as the Hastings, i.e., withlengthened fuselage and tricycle undercarriage. Coastal Command took delivery of Short Seafords. The Fairey Spearfish torpedo dive-bomber machine andthe Short Sturgeon were bofh in limited production for Naval Aviation, the Sturgeon\jis a high-speed target tower. Mr. Jeffrey Quill offers a greeting from the cockpit of the Supermarine E.10/44 jet fighter.
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