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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0679.PDF
MAY IST, T947 FLIGHT ft- TUJ 507 That this photograph was taken from an Oxford is indicative of the control qualities of ths Theseus-Lincoln flying on turbine power alone. Formation was held for considerable periods. Airborne in the Theseus Lincoln Flight Impressions of Bristol Airscrew-Turbine: New Technical Facts M R. "DICK" NORTHYVAY, who has been sharing flying was something 1 had never belore experienced withthe flipht-testin? of the Theqeus-T.inrnln u/i+li any type of engine. Eve-u when I opened up the Theseus'throttles there was still no noise, no vibration. The onlythe flight-testing f Theseus-Lincol withBristol's chief test pilot, Mr. A. J. Pegg, feathered the airscrews of the inboard Merlins and, speaking in a indication of increase in power was the feeling < conversational tone, as he was thus enabled to do. asked the spneatinn ,j • u;,.i, • ;., <\... 1 1.'"• conversationa tone, , ;.'.• us what we thought. Now, the cockpit of a Lincoln bomber, in line with the airscrews, and lacking any form of sound-proofing, is rela- tively noisy in flight under any circumstances; but one was aware only of the rush of the airstream over the fuselage, the subdued note of the slow-revving D.H. airscrews of - the two Theseus, and the absence of vibration, so that it was possible to make a quick and favourable reply to Mr. Northway's question. Looking over his shoulder one could see Mr. Arthur Woodburn, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply, smiling approval from the bomb-aimer's position. At this time, it must be recorded, the Theseus were delivering considerably less than their |1maximnm continuous output (the compressors were turning at only 7,000 r.p.m., though the airspeed was 200 m.p.h. at 2,000ft), but one was fully convinced that passengers in the Handley Page Hermes V, the first British airliner for which the airscrew-turbine Theseus has been specified, will have a very quiet ride indeed, under any conditions. After we had landed, Mr. Pegg, who made the first flight in the Theseus-Lincoln on February 17th (since when it has completed 16 hours), again solicited our impressions. We could not quarrel, we replied, with his own pronouncement, which reads as follows : — "Before I took the Lincoln up I was to a certain extent prepared, of course, for some- thing of this sort (absence of noise and vibra- tion). But when I first feathered the Merlins and flew on the Theseus units alone I had the surprise of my life. This luxuriously smooth, noiseless and—so it seemed—entirely effortless Ilirusthe sensation of ' kick ' in the hack. "It is a sensation which has to \>r experienced to <ie understood and it is a powerful argument -more effective than a whole mass of technical reasons, graphs and per- formance da'a—in support of the theory tliat turbine units will in time replace piston power plants for most purposes." The occasion of the demonstration in which h'liffhl was enabled to participate was the- visit of Mr. Woodbuni lo Filton last Wednesday week to see something of the lates! Theseus developments. In the inn in these are alreadv Mr. Arthur Woodburn, after his flight in the Theseus-Lincoln, gives Mr. F. M. Owner his impressions. Mr. Northway waits in his perch for more passengers.
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