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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1371.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editorial Director G GEOFFREY SMITH. M.B.E. Editor - -CM. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C. (WING CDR., Art Editor • - JOHN YOXALL FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEKLY IN THE WORLD •• FOUNDED too9 Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E 1 Telegrams : Flightprel, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (SO lines.) COVENTRY: 10, CORPORATION BIRMINGHAM, 2: MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C.Z : 8-10, ST. *' N G E D WAR D HOUSE, 260, DEANSGATE. 26B. RENFIELD ST. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham! Telegrams; Iliffe, Manchester. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Coventry 5210. Telephone : Midland 7191 (7 lines). Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. Telephone : Central 4857 SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home and Abroad : Year. £3 I 0. Registered at the C.P.O. as a Newspaper 6 months, £1 10 & No. 2017. Vol. LH. August 21st, 1947 "The Outlook Thursdays, One Shilling. The First Step T T THEN a British South American Airways Lan- y y caster landed at London Airport on Tuesday of last week, the event marked the conclusion of the proving trials undertaken, under the auspices of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, jointly by B.S.A.A. and Flight Refuelling, Ltd. From the technical point of view the trials were completely successful. Twenty-one times since the tests started on May 28th, the " tanker " and the '' receiver'' have made contact in the neigh- bourhood of the Azores while the latter was on its way to or from Bermuda. As eleven return trips were made, the number twenty-one needs a word of explanation. On one of the flights (the tenth) the "receiver" developed engine trouble and landed in the Azores, but that was a con- tingency for which allowance had been made in the plans, and reflects in no way adversely on the system of refuelling in the air, nor on the methods of intercep- tion. The scheme was so worked out that in the event of interception being impossible for any reason, the "receiver" aircraft should be able to reach a landing grtsund without being refuelled. Sir Alan Cobham and those associated with him may be pleased with the initial success achieved. It has taken a very long time to persuade the authorities to give refuelling in flight a thorough test over a lengthy period, and a man of less tenacity might well have given up long ago. Fortunately, Sir Alan persisted, and the first step has now been taken on the road to official approval. The next stage will begin when, in the autumn, Flight Refuelling, Ltd., and B.O.A.C. inaugurate a similar series of proving flights over the North Atlantic, be- tween London and Canada. The London-Bermuda tests may be said merely to have proved that flight refuelling is practical in good weather. It was but common sense to make the first trials under the best possible condi- tions. They gave the crews of "receiver" and "tanker" valuable experience in interception and the transfer of fuel. The autumn operations will un- doubtedly test the system to the utmost, and not until they have been completed will it be possible to form a final judgment on its merits. Two alternatives are possible for the North Atlantic trials. The "receiver" may be refuelled near Ireland and Newfoundland, or the northern route via Iceland may be chosen. In either case weather conditions are likely to be far more trying than those which prevailed on the South Atlantic route to Bermuda. Strong gales are to be expected, which may limit the choice of route on the western run Clouds and log may make the transfer of fuel more risky, although isolated tests have indicated the feasibility of performing this operation in bad visibility. Interception is not iikely to be much in- terfered with ; radar aids have been proved adequate for bringing the two aircraft into visual range, but the har- poon still has to be fired into the bight of the trailing line. In clear weather this presents no great difficulty, even at night, when lights can be used for positioning the two aircraft. But in really thick weather there might be occasions when the attempt had to be abandoned. The next series of flights will be watched with even greater interest than was the first. In the meantime it is satisfactory to know that an excellent beginning has been made. The Speed RecordT HERE was a good deal of disappointment in many quarters when it was announced, during the last week in June, that no British attempt is to be made this year on regaining from the United States the world's speed record which, subject to homologation, now stands at 623.8 m.p.h. This attitude on the part of the Ministry of Supply will doubtless strengthen the American view, expressed so
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