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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0208.PDF
I46 FLIGHT Air Transport During the War A.O.C.-in-C Transport Command Discusses Problems and Lessons DEALING particularly with thetwenty-one months ending Sep-tember, 1946, Air Marshal theHon. Sir Ralph Cochrane, K.B.E., C.B., A.F.C., lectured before the Royal Aero-nautical Society on January 30th, on the development of air transport during thewar. In this period the transport ser- vices of the R.A.F. completed more pas-senger miles than had British civil avia- tion in the pieceding twenty-one years;rapid development gave rise to many problems and afforded unique opportun-ities for testing new ideas and equip- ment. The Ait Marshal illustrated graphic-ally the growth of services and men- tioned that some half million troopsand 200,000 tons of equipment were carried. Crews responsible were awardedmore than a hundred decorations, includ- ing one V.C. Mention was made of suchmen as A. Cdre. Fletcher, A. Cdre. Brackley and A. Cdre. Whitney-Straight,who gave valuable opinions, to the close contact with B.O.A.C. and to the soundfoundations laid by Sir Frederick Bow- hill. Discussing safety Air Marshal Coch-rane referred to the regular training, especially in emergency situations (e.g..engine-cut on take-off), and outlined the categorization test to which all aircrewmembers were subjected with the object Some half a million troops and 200,000 tons of equipment were carried. of ensuring that they were employedwithin the limitations of their skill, knowledge and experience, Only thosewho achieve the higher categories are now allowed to carry passengers, anduntil they have reached the necessary standard are limited to freight services. During 1945, no fewer than 3,000 pilots—or three times the total of pre-war "B" licences—were absorbed into thetransport organization. While some were transferred from other Commands,the majority came direct from the train- ing organization with a total flying ex-perience—dual plus solo—in the region of only 300 hours. Any attempt to in-rrease the time spent in basic training would have been at the expense of thetransport "job," on which depended, among other things, the safety of the14th Army in Burma. In the circum- stances, Ait Marshal Cochrane consideredthat a fair balance was struck, but the results achieved were only possiblethrough a scientific study of the prob- lem. That the method of presenting infor-mation to the pilot could be simplified was obvious, but the tendency was to ask for more information, so that thetide was still running towards further complication. A more important sideto the problem was the simplification of the whole art of flying and navigation,especially in bad weather. Of all weather hazards that of flying intoground was probably the most serious. By 1945 GEE chains had been in-stalled to cover Western Europe, includ- ing France and the Western Mediterran-ean. They have proved invaluable and a very real contribution to safety. Therewere, however, many parts of the world where navigation aids had not reached During 1945, no fewer than 3,000 pilots were'absorbed into the transport organization. the same high standard. To meet theneeds of these areas a radar warning device had been developed and was nowready for trial. With this, and the other aids available, the risk of accidentscaused by faulty navigation should be much reduced. Concerning take-off and landinghazards, the Air Marshal said that although the main R.A.F. airfields wereequipped with radar beacons giving direct distance measurement as well asbearing, this in itself was not enough and the crew needed a map which wouldshow unmistakably the minimum height to which it was safe to come downduring the last few miles of the approach. For this purpose specialmaps had been designed by the Naviga- tion Staff of Transport Command,tinted in bands representing 500 feet clearances above the airfield level so thatsafety heights could be seen at a glance. Regarding the risk of collision withother aircraft it was pointed out that on many occasions during the war trafficdensities were a hundred or more times the maximum allowed by civil regula-tions, but that collisions were rare. Nevertheless there was a risk, and trialswere now under way with a radar de- tecting device. For some time to come. vxI-7 FEBRUARY 6TH7 1947 TRANSPORT Com- mand, soys Air Marshal Cochrane, has now shrunk to a shadow of its former self. This has the compensa- tion that more time can be devoted to a study of the problems he out- lined in his recent Sir Ralph Cochrane. lecture which is summarized herewith. On many occasions traffic densities were a hundred or more times the maximum allowed by civil regulations but collisions were rare. however, aircraft must rely mainly uponrouteing instructions and good traffic control.Greater than the risk of collision with other aircraft was the danger of becom-ing involved in a dangerously turbulent cumulo-nimbus cloud. During theperiod under review six aircraft were lost in this way though none were lostdue to collision. Transport Command aircraft were now timed to pass by daythrough areas where really bad condi- tions were likely to be found. Theseareas were fairly well defined, e.g., India and Burma during the monsoon. Dur-ing the 1946 monsoon the Telecommuni- cations Research Establishment tried outin South-East Asia a warning device on which dangerous clouds were clearly re-presented on a cathode-ray tube in a form which would enable the pilot toavoid flying into them. Reference was made to a " rather nasty looking cumu-lus " which gave no response and which, on being flown through, was foundinnocuous. The equipment was now undergoingfurther tests at the Transport Command development unit, to ascertain whetherit could help in the negotiation of an active cold front and whether bad icingconditions could be detected. Repre- sentatives of the Ministry of Civil Avia-tion and the Airways Corporations had been invited to attend the trials which,like so much else of value to aviation, derived from the scientific resources andmagnificent team work of T.R.E. Few accidents were directly ascribedto fatigue, yet its effects were probably Six aircraft were lost by flying into cumulo-nimbus cloud though none was lost due to collision ! present in many accidents labelled"error ot judgment." The Air Marshal referred to the work of Professor Bart-lett and to a Transport Command medi- cal officer who was a qualified pilot andwho, by flying various routes himself, and living with squadrons and at stag-ing posts, concluded that on long- distance flights the chief causes offatigue were to be found on the ground and not in the air. A final point concerning safety wasthat unless close watch was kept on every aspect of flying and administra-tion, practices would creep in which would carry with them potential causesof future accidents. Concerning regularity, the first essen-tial for which was a system of communi- cations, the Air Marshal said that atthe peak of Transport Command acti-
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