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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0071.PDF
JANUARY I6TH, 1947 FLIGHT Interest in Ga§ Turbines "Flight" Handbook on Jet Propulsion Published in America and HollandI AST week the fourth edition of Gas Turbines avd Jet Propulsion for Aircraft, by G. Geoffrey Smith, -^ M.B.E., was published in America by Aircraft Books, Inc., of 370, Lexington Avenue, New York, price $5. Second and third editions of this Flight handbook ha*3 already been p'ublished in America and enjoyed large sales, but the new and enlarged fourth edition has been hailed by the Press and the aeronautical world on account of its completeness. Also a translation of the niajor por- tion of the third edition has made a somewhat belated appearance in Holland. The North American edition is precisely the same as the British publication, but with the addition of a preface by General Carl Spaatz, Commanding General, U.S. Army Air Forces, and some introductory remarks by Charles E. Wilson, president of the General Electric Company. The North American edition is dedicated to the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences '' in appreciation of the impor- tant contribution of the Institute to the advancement of aeronautical science." From the preface by General Spaatz we quote the follow- ing extracts: — "This book should do much to stimulate interest in thenew field of jet propulsion. Mr. Geoffrey Smith has pre- sented his material clearly and his book can be read withprofit by the engineer, the pilot and the layman. '' The publication of an American edition of this Britishtreatise is reminiscent of our collaboration for victory during World War II. Present progress of jet propulsion for air-craft in the Army Air Forces is a direct result of the exchange of information and ideas between British and American en-gineers and scientists. Our first jet-propelled aircraft, the XP-59, might never have been built if a joint co-operativeprogram with the British had not been realized. The exchange of research data enabled an American manufacturerto produce the two Whittle-type power units which were used in the first flight of the XP-59." In his introduction to the North American edition Mr. Charles Ti. Wilson says, inter alia:— "Jet propulsion has not only increased tremendously thespeed of modern aircraft; it has vastly accelerated the all- important rate of development in this field, much as thenecessity for wartime radar accelerated development in elec- tronics. As a result we find ourselves to-day, in both ofthese fields, with a great deal of raw, unassimilated progress on our hands which remains to be digested and applied ata more leisurely pace than war permits. Until that digestive process has gone further, it is both difficult and foolhardyto predict achieveriients of to-morrow. Science will not limit the use of the gas turbine to aircraft, but will un-doubtedly make use of it in all types of propulsion and generating equipment . . . The engineers in the aircraft fieldwill learn much from the engineers in the land gas turbine field. A necessary part of this process is technical publica-tion, to which this volume makes a definite and important contribution " Whatever the ultimate reaches of jet propulsion and thegas turbine may be, they will serve to demonstrate once more for all of us that true scientific progress is, first, the productof many men in many lands working together, and second, that it places a grave responsibility on all men to use itproperly and beneficently. The North American edition is to be made the basictechnical textbook for the U.S.A.A.F. technical libraries, and is widely used by U.S. colleges providing aviationcourses. Under the title Het Schroefioozc Vliegtuig. Gas Tur-bines and Jet Propulsion for Aircraft is also available in the Dutch language, R. A. Arnken being responsible forthe translation. In Holland it is published by J. H. Gottmer, of Haarlem. Copies of the fourth British edition were sold out in thiscountry almost immediately after issue, and many orders are in hand. New supplies will be available in the courseof a week or two from Flight offices. "H.K." AT THE CAPE ^ * MR. H. K. JONES left this country for South Africa onJanuary gth and will be away until the end of the summer or early autumn. During his stay in South Africa lettersaddressed to him at The Standard Bank of South Africa, Adderley Street, Cape Town, will be forwarded to him where-ever his travels may take him. MARINERS AND BYRD EXPEDITION •"" SIX Martin PBM-5 Mariner flying boats, as used extensivelyduring the war by the U.S. Navy, have been allocated to the Byrd Antarctic Expedition for aerial reconnaissance andmapping. The Expedition will include two " task forces," each consisting of a seaplane tender, tanker, destroyer, and threeMariners, which will operate from bases about 150 miles from the ice front in the South Polar area. This will offer plenty ofice-free smooth water for taking off and alighting. It is planned that one force should begin operations in the vicinityof James Ellsworth Land and work eastward past the tip of South America. The other force, formed of similar units, will• start south ot New Zealand and work westward along the edge of the Indian Ocean. The Mariners will fly inland from the ice front some 200 to250 miles, photographing and mapping, before returning to their tenders. Each* flight will enable the aircraft to mapanother "slice of the pie " of Antarctica, vast areas of which are totally unexplored, despite the use of aircraft in previousexpeditions. Low-temperature work is no novelty to the Mariners.During the war they were used extensively for patrol and recon- naissance work from Alaska, 'Newfoundland, Greenland andIceland, and only last summer two of these machines accom- panied a weather expedition into northern Canada where theywere flying within 450 miles of the North Pole. The Mariners with the Byrd Expedition are equipped withspecial heating and anti-icing devices, and theii hulls have been braced to carry the heavy load of photographic equipmentdemanded. It is not expected that at any time during the expedition the two forces will meet, but radio contact will bemaintained between them and with the headquarters group. FASHIONABLE : The new clear-vision cockpit enclosure ofthe Bristol Brigand I torpedo fighter (below) should be wel- comed by anti-shipping units to be equipped with thispromising successor to the Beaufighter. The original enclosure is shown above.
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