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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0467.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editorial Director G. GEOFFREY SMITH, MB.E, Editor - -CM. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C. WING CDR., R.A.F.V.R.) Art Editor • - JOHN YOXALL FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY JW THE WORLD •• FOUNDED 1909 Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Flightpres, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (50 lines.) COVENTRY: BIRMINGHAM,!: MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW,. C2: 8-10, CORPORATION ST. £' N G^ E D WAR DR HOAJSE, 260. DEANSGATE. 26B. RENFIELD ST. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham! Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telegrams : Hiffe. Glasgow. Telephone: Coventry 5210. Telephone: Midland 7191 (7 lines). Telephone: Biaekfriars 4412. Telephone: Central 4IS7 No. 1997. Vol. U. SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad : Year, £3 I 0. Registered at Che C.P.O. as a Newspaper April 3rd, 1947 6 months, £1 10 6. Thursdays, One Shilling. "We Outlook Atlantic Aircraft \ LTHOUGH the question asked by Lord Balfour of £^ Inchrye in the House of Lords about the reported proposal to purchase a further batch of Con- stellations from Lockheeds did not draw from the Minister of Civil Aviation anything more definite by way of official reply than confirmation that the matter is being considered, it is well known in aviation circles that rep- resentatives of Lockheeds and of the Bristol Aeroplane Company have been examining the possibility of fitting Centaurus engines in the Constellation. One can see Lockheed's point of view: the cancella- tion of the order by American operating companies left them with a number of Constellations on hand. From the British angle the fitting of Centaurus engines would further improve what is already a very good aircraft type and make it better than anything else flying the Atlantic, thus enabling B.O.A.C. to compete on better than equal terms with other operators. The crux of the whole matter is, of course, dollars. At the rate at which the American loan is being used up —on tobacco and films rather than on re-equipping our industries—the Government obviously has to think very hard before sanctioning further dollar purchases of any sort. The use of Centaurus-engined Constellations on the Atlantic route should prove fairly economical, but the operational saving could not go very far towards reducing B.O.A.C.'s losses. Unless, therefore, the Con- stellations can be bought for a very reasonable price, it would appear to be impracticable to adopt this scheme which, but for the dollar difficulty, is very attractive. It is rather remarkable that, in the panic about suit- able aircraft, no one in authority has raised his voice, in public at any rate, to remind those concerned that in addition to the second Shetland flying-boat, which is now well advanced, there are at the Short works at Rochester sufficient "bits and pieces" for another half- <iozen or so. The Shetland, a combined effort of Shorts and Saunders-Roe, is one of the best boats ever produced. The untimely destruction by fire on her moorings at Felixstowe of the first Shetland prevented extensive operational trials being made, but sufficient tests had taken place before the mishap to show that the machine handled very well both on the water and in the air. Having been designed initially for military work, the hull is not, perhaps, quite ideal for passenger work, but at that it is better than many a landplane fuselage in its roominess and general comfort possibilities. With a still-air range of 3,000 miles the pay load is ten tons at a cruising speed of 185 m.p.h. The speed is not spectacu- lar, but the boat is so comfortable that passengers will arrive quite fresh at the end of a slightly longer flight time. There is no question that a large percentage of travellers prefer the flying-boat. The trouble is that the operators will not use this type of aircraft, or in other words will not give the traveller what he wants. We do think the possibility of using the already existing com- ponents for completing the limited number of Shetlands deserves the most careful examination. In addition to being very useful on the Atlantic route, these boats would serve to give operational experience in prepara- tion for the eve% larger Saro boat now being built, which will not be ready until 1950 or so. Helicopter LimitationsT HERE are times when those who were connected with or interested in flying in its early days sigh regretfully at the recollection of the relative sim- plicity of the flying machines of that period, compared with present-day complexity (perplexity might almost be a better word). In fixed-wing aircraft the problems which face the designer of high-speed machines are complicated and full of unknown factors. But helicopter design is even more
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