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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1132.PDF
FLIGHT JULY ICTH, 1947 American Newsletter . . . . __. Sciences will help to clear the air and assist us to see theother fellow's point of view a bit more clearly. Person- ally, I would like to see such an exchange- visit an annualaffair, and a more frequent interchange of some of the younger members of the design staffs would do-no harm.There is an awful lot of development in both countries, a fact which seems to be appreciated more in the lowerechelons than in the seats of the mighty. Three major air crashes to DC 4 aircraft all within thespace of some ten days, but each for a different reason, has focused official attention here on to certain aspects ofairline operation and safety precautions which up to the moment have been neglected. Because the hearings onthese accidents are still open, and no official conclusions have been published, it would be premature to attempt toguess the reasons for them. But one at least seems to have been structural failure, another the failure of themachine to take off, and the third was due to the machine flying into high ground during a let-down through over-cast. This latter may have some rather startling reper- cussions in the way of safety regulations governing thesafe heights at which machines can cross mountain ridges, particularly when winds of some force are blowing overthem. If some of the figures on errors in indicated alti- tude now being discussed are correct, a lot of previouslymysterious accidents of this nature may well be accounted for. One of the most unfortunate results of the La Guardiacrash was an immediate rush of irresponsible statements attempting to allocate blame and published in the dailyPress. They came both from people who should have known better and from some of the political " Me-Too's " of avia-tion who saw a quick way to get some publicity. In any case these statements not only confused the real issuesbut were probably accepted by the public as authoritative —to the detriment of air transportation. But some of therecommendations for greater safety that were suggested by competent authorities—and they will probably be aug-mented by others when the results of the enquiries are published—are worth considering; they included the fol-lowing : — . 1. Stricter control of let-downs through the overcast during approaches.2 More better positioned, and more clearly marked escape hatches in the cabins; and greater ease of opening fromboth inside and outside. 3 Provision of fire axes in the cabin.4. Installation of crash-proof tanks. 5. Backward-facing seats.6. Installation of radar altimeters- 7. Immediate consideration of the use of reversible-pitch airscrews.8. Simplification of the emergency releases for the raising of the undercarriage when on the ground. This latter recommendation is interesting, as it appears that the pulling-up of the undercarriage 011 the ground as an emergency-stop measure has not so far been accepted by the airlines here as part of their " drill.". So far as the Air Corps is concerned this is, I believe, a standard prac- tice, and is by far the most effective way of preventing what might be a fatal accident in the event of overshoot- ing, brake failure, engine failure when taking off, or even (and this has been done) when taking off with the controls locked. There is a tendency to look on such a practice as dan- gerous, and maybe a little education is needed, for even the collapse of one leg of a Constellation is a pretty harm- less affair, as one of the European lines found out when they apparently hit a floodlight or similar obstruction on landing at La Guardia the other day. The gentle subsi- dence of the wing, followed by some loud scraping noises and a slow and majestic swinging to a lopsided stop was one of the most regal and dignified accidents I have ever seen! I tremble to think what it did to the main-spar, however. AIR-WHALING (Concluded from page d) the ship's wireless room and the whale boats made theavailability of an independent transmitter for aircraft work essential. In looking forward to the future, one cannot helpspeculating on how aerial developments may follow now that the ice has been broken by the Balaena flight. Thehelicopter, when it has attained a useful range and load- carrying capacity and does not require too much main-tenance, will certainly find a place in the whaling fleet. Elimination of crane and catapult will be a great savingand only a small flight deck will be necessary. Really long-range reconnaissance could only be carried out eitherby aircraft flying from an aircraft carrier (which could also be a supply ship for the factory) or by shore-basedmachines. The latter might eventually fly from the meteorological stations which before long are likely to bedotted round the fringe of Antarctica. It might well be feasible to combine the objects of whale and weather long-range reconnaissance. Looking still farther ahead, it is by no means impossiblethat some day aircraft will kill the whale as wei as find it. The shooting of a rocket projectile from an aircraftfollows a technique which has already been well developed, and the only further experience needed would be in findingmethods of inflating the whale so as to give it buoyancy, and of marking it so that it couid be found by the tugwhich would have to take it back to the factory. At present the means of marking consists of a flag bearing thenumber of the whale-boat which shot it, and the Com- pany's initials. Needless to say, if the weather closes downand there is fog and snow, the difficulty of finding the flagged whale is considerable. Modern methods, employ-ing either radio sonde or radar responder beacons, could surely be employed and thus guarantee that the tug couldfind the whale independent of the visibility. FRED SIGRIST IS BACK TTIS numerous friends in the aircraft industry will be glad-*--*- to learn that Mr. F. Sigrist is now back in England after a stay of nearly ten years at Nassau, where he was compelledto go for reasons of health. His return home was celebrated last week by a party at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, arrangedby the Hawker-Siddeley company, and it was obvious that his health has improved greatly after his sojourn in sunny climes.Fred Sigrist became associated with Mr. Sopwith in the early days of flying, and he played a very important part in building* up first the Sopwith firm and later, as a director, its successor the Hawker company to the great organization it is to-day. BRITISH ENTRANTS IN U.S. SOARING CONTEST '"PWO British Olympia sailplanes have been entered in the•*- U.S. 14th National Soaring Contests which started at Wichita Falls, Texas, on July 4th. One entered by LordKemsley is being flown by Charles Wingfield, and the other,•• entered by H. C. Buckingham, is piloted by Chet Becker.A French team with four gliders is also competing, and Mr, John Robinson, winner of the last three contests, will beflying a Ross-Steven. ALLISON TURBO-JETS COME further facts about the new record of the Lockheedv-> Shooting Star P-8OR will interest readers. As Flight ex-clusively announced, water/methanol was used for the first time artificially to cool the air as it entered the compressor.(See June 26th, 1947, pp. 596-7.) We now learn that the Allison 400 turbo-jet used for the record is an advance modelof a new series scheduled to go into production later this year. It was developed as the J33 Super Jet by G.E.C. and pro-duced by the Allison Division of General Motors for the U.S.A.A.F. Allisons announced gas turbine production in1944' Modifications include a greater compressor capacity and a new nozzle diaphragm. The thrust is quoted at 4,2001b,weight 1,8201b, diameter 48 in and length IOI£ in. The turbineof the P-8OR can be removed and replaced in twenty minutes.Incidentally, prolonged tests of water/methanol in piston and turbine engines have been carried out in this country.
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