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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0239.PDF
FEBRUARY 13TH, 1947 FLIGHT 163 American Newsletter Airport Overcrowding in Bad 'Weather : Q.C.A. to the Rescue : Douglas Supersonic Design for Navy By " KIBITZER THE first two weeks of January, 1947, gave theUnited States as a whole, and air transport inparticular, its worst weather for some twelve months. Snow, fog, low cloud and icing conditionscovered the country, with the result that there were a , number of accidents and forced landings by commercialv aircraft. Luckily, and due to a high measure of piloting skill, not all of these were fatal. But although the weatherwas the basic trouble, a secondary cause was that, under such weather conditions, airports could not handle theincoming aircraft, some of which had been flying for several hours and were running short of fuel and irrevoc-ably committed to a landing somewhere soon. Those that had the endurance remained stacked up over their destina-tion or went off to alternate airports miles away. All of last summer the prophets had been saying that,with the bigger and faster and much increased traffic now operating over the American domestic routes, thesetroubles would occur. But little was done about it. Now, with deaths and insurance claims as arguments, the payingpublic may demand that the authorities borrow G.C.A. units from the Services, install them at the major airports,and train the crews. The Army is said to have some 130 Mark II sets in storage which could be made available. Quietly, and without fuss, both the Army and the Navyhaw been using G.C.A. on their domestic operations—and saving lives, time and expense by so doing. But the air-Une pilots, even when they have been caught out by weather, do not seem to have tried to use such facilities,despite the fact that they are installed at a few of the larger military airfields throughout the country. It ispossible that the crews did not know that they were avail- able, but it seems that the average contmercial pilot dis-trusts aids which are operated almost entirely from the ground, and which are outside his control, preferring torely on his cockpit instruments and his radio. Such think- ing, however natural, is dangerous, and the only way toovercome it is to show pilots what a G.C.A. unit can really do, and give them adequate training in its use. There are plenty of examples of the efficiency of thismethod to be found over here to-day. The Army has brought its Air Transport Command machines into air-ports on the east coast with ceilings of 200 to 400ft and quarter-mile to almost zero visibility, while the Navyat Patuxent has an equally good record with its Naval Air Transport Service. At the time of the fatal crashes atShanghai on Christmas Eve the Navy is said to have talked-down two of their own transports, and a commercialmachine as well, under weather conditions identical with those that caused the other accidents. The fact that^•CA. units can be had (if the authorities will instal them aud the pilots use them) should lead to an early adoptionof this method of control. Unfortunately they will be too late for the bad weather due between now and the end ofApril, but there will be time to train the crews before the winter of 1947-1948. . , DOUGLAS DETAILS : of the industry here knew that Douglas were work-ing on a private-owner aircraft, and it was generally believed that this would be a small twin-engine executivetype. Details now released indicate that this is a smaller machine than was expected, and will be called the Cloud-ster. Tests are going on as this is being written and photo- graphs (Flight, January 16, 1947) show a most interest-ing tricycle undercarriage design, with a single airscrew behind the tail, driven by two two-fifty h.p. Continentalengines which can be engaged or disengaged at will. These are installed behind the cabin, enclosed in the body of theaircraft, with air scoops for cooling on each side of the fuselage. Moreover, the ease of entry and excellent visi-bility for both pilot and passenger will give this machine a wide appeal. Span is 39ft gin, and seating is for fivepeople, plus 2,500 lb of baggage. The climb on two engines is 1,500ft per minute, with a service ceiling onone engine of 11,800ft, or 22,000ft on two. If the range of 950 miles at 200 miles per hour is fulfilled, and the priceis right, it should sell. The figure mentioned is about $30,000. Details have also been released of one of the DouglasSupersonic designs, the D.558. This is powered by a T.C. 180 axial-flow jet engine designed to give 4,000 lbstatic thrust. The first prototype will have wings of low aspect ratio, set rather far back on the fuselage, the frontportion of which, containing the pilot, is entirely jettison- able in case of emergency. This machine, designed forload factors of 18, is a U.S. Navy project. FEEDER-LINE TYPES '"FHE news that Boeing had abandoned the development•*• of their 417 feeder line transport was sandwiched in between two contradictory announcements by Lockheedabout the Saturn. The first that they had not entirely shelved it after all, the second that they had! This " nowyou see it, now you don't," policy over these much-dis- cussed feeder line types is a little mysterious, as neitherconstructor would abandon, or resume, work on new machines unless he had good and sufficient cause. Nobodyseems to know whether the reasons for the final decisions were financial, aerodynamic, or mechanical, but Boeingannounced that they were not going ahead because they did not think there was a big enough market, and Lock-heed said first that they were considering the renewal of the Saturn production because they could get Wrightengines which were satisfactory for this particular machine, and subsequently that they could not get the engines afterall and that, anyway, they did not wish to spend that much money on a machine which might not have a goodenough market. Presumably, therefore, both machines are now aban-doned, so that apart from the Beechcraft D.i8s. there is nothing in production here to fill this very importantgap. At some time in the future the new four-engined, twin-airscrew Beechcraft 34, said to have Lycomingengines in pairs in each wing, will make an appearance, but it is still some way off. This machine is to be P 20-seater, cruising at 220 m.p.h., but until it arrives teeder- line transport aircraft are more or less non-existent here,unless the Northrop freighter, the Pioneer, is included. This lack is rather surprising, for there must be business—particularly intra-State business—for machines of this class, to say nothing of the vitally important foreignmarkets which are undoubtedly ready for such a type. If nobody here is going after them, however, it will be abreak for de Havillands, Cunliffe-Owen, Percivals, and other English manufacturers who are producing suchmachines. AFTER-SALES SERVICE "VTOW that the rush of new light aircraft is over and there-^ is no longer the emphasis on production that there was, attention is turning more and more to the servicewhich the manufacturer must give to his client. The stiff competition of this coming summer will high-light this, andas a start the Continental Motor Corporation have announced a re-manufactured engine plan. Under this it
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