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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0166.PDF
I2O FLIGHT .JANUARY 30TH, 1947 American Newsletter Outstanding Flights in 1946 : Timing Troubles at Record Attempt : Comparative British Efforts By 'KIBITZER" AS if to show aviation everywhere what it had to live /\ up to in the New Year/the^U.S. Army Air Forces JL A. released, early in January, a. list described as "its ten outstanding achievements in combat aviation for 1946." (In the U.S. the word combat denotes military aviation as opposed to civil.) If this included one or two rather unexpected feats, it also omitted several perform- ances which seemed good enough to have earned a place, such as the Lockheed P-80 coast-to-coast record, which was noteworthy for the endurance achieved, and the fine flights of the long-range Boeing B-29 Dreamboat. The latter, however, were probably omitted because of the Navy's capture of the long-distance record with their Lockheed Neptune. The list was as follows, and is quoted in extenso from the New York Times: — 1. The new American speed record of 611 miles an hour set by the XP-84, a jet fighter. 2. Development of the Republic XF-12, a four-engined •flying photographic laboratory. 3. The flight, on May 17, of the A.A.F.'s first jet-pro- pelled bomber, the Douglas XjB-43. 4. Development of the "Flying Ram," a flying wingtype plane built by Northrop. 5. Development of the Consolidated-Vultee B-13, or fly-ing jeep. 6. The first flight of the XB-35 Northrop flying wingsuper-bomber. ' 7. First test flight of the Consolidated-Vultee B-36 super-bomber. 8. Development of the General Electric and Allison J-35jet engine. 9. Development of the world's largest reciprocatingjengine. It has 5,000 horsepower at take-off, which is equivalent to the power of a railway locomotive.10. The first flight of the Bell XS-i, a rocket-propelled plane designed by the A.A.F. to fly 1,700 miles anhour. (Item number 8 of the above list appears to contain an error of omission. The J-35 engine is the same as the Westinghouse TG-180 so presumably it should be separated from the word "Allison" by the word "and.") Most of these items have, at one time or another, been the subject of discussion in this letter, but their inclusion in the category of '' outstanding achievements'' justifies further comment. It now seems to be an established fact that the Republic XP-84 came very near to getting the speed record. It apparently made the requisite number of runs over the course at a speed which should have cap- tured the record as it then stood, only to be deprived of possible success because the timing cameras had failed to function. When these were put right, further runs failed because of engine troubles, and the attempts had to be abandoned. The development of the XF-12 by the same manufac- turer, although by no means confined to 1947, is also worthy of inclusion. This is generally regarded as an out- standing design, but is better known under its civilian name of the Republic " Rainbow." The original specifica- tion for the photographic prototype, however, was placed by the Air Force in 1944 or thereabouts. As far as the Douglas XB-43 is concerned, nothing much more has been heard of this machine since its first flights —nor of its stable mate, the XB-42. This latter aircraft, built as a test machine for certain of the XB-43 aerodynamic innovations (and because the hoped-for jet units were not then sufficiently developed) was really the most interesting of the two. Unfortunately it seems, when it crashed, to have descended into that aeronautical limbo where so many in- teresting and brilliant designs finish up, merely because they never get into production. (An interesting place that limbo, and one which would soon disillusion a designer who thought he was full of new ideas !) As to number 4 on the list it must be confessed that the Northrop " Flying Ram " is somewhat of a mystery. Dur- ing the war this company had a prone-position, rocket--, powered, swept-back-wing, single-seater research aircraft, - so presumably the "Flying Ram" is a ram-jet develop- ment of this, but whatever it is, very little has been said about it. When talking of Northrop, however, it is the XB-35 that the writer considers to be the outstanding aerodynamic development of 1946. Perhaps time will show it to be outstanding not only of 1946, but of many years. Great credit must be paid to the Army for backing, and to Northrops for building, this machine. The inclusion of item number 5 is also rather a mystery, but for another reason. From what little is known about the Consolidated Vultee L 13, and it may well have features of which one is ignorant, it doesn't seem to measure up to the company it keeps. It cannot represent any great advance in performance or speed range over similar Liason types, and if it is included because of structural -merit, or ease of repair and maintenance, it seems doubtful if it can surpass the Martin-Baker designs in this respect. Any- way, it brings a homely touch to the list and gives the Consolidated Vultee Corporation two candidates for annual honours! This company's second mention, the B-36, certainly deserves inclusion. It represents not only the heaviest aircraft in the world yet to fly, but a degree of planning which was both far-sighted and imaginative. Even if there are those who say that modern warfare has rendered this machine somewhat out of date (and there is no proof that it is), it is still a very fine effort indeed, and worthy of its place. • • • Turning from aircraft to aircraft engines, a recent news- letter pointed out that the U.S.A.A.F. had, quite under- standably, been rather upset by suggestions that they were two years behind Great Britain in the development of the jet engine. The inclusion, therefore, of the General Electric and Allison jet engines in this list probably represents a natural desire to restore the prestige of the American manu- facturers and of American development of this type of power unit in the mind of the public. The fact that such designs originated outside the States is, unfortunately, not as widely known here as it should be, but it might be argued with some reason that due acknowledgement of this fact has already been made by the presentation of the 1946 Guggenheim Medal to Air Commodore Frank Whittle. C j the other hand, the TG-180 (or J-35) built by Westing- house is an axial-flow engine of small diameter, and has been developed over here right from the start and is proving a reliable and very compact unit. As far as the Lycoming 5,000 h.p. reciprocating engine is concerned, it is difficult to work up much excitement over its production. It does undoubtedly represent a great deal of research, design, and development work, but its prac- tical application to the modern aircraft seems problemati- cal. The power-driven flights of the XS-i have already been touched on in these columns. In view of the very wise decision to attempt only limited speeds at first, however, its inclusion reminds one of the remark of an Arab chieftain who, when seeing an aircraft for the first time and being
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