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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1837.PDF
October 2$rd, 1947 473 produced the C.301S single-seater trainer and the more advanced C.310P. Both types have a strut-braced wing. The Aire factory is further engaged on the overhaul and maintenance of Ansons, Masters, Martinets and Dominies, supplied under the Hartmann agreement. Amenities in- clude an aero club supported mainly by members of the firm, a canteen and shower baths. Returning to Mont de Marsan by road, we emplaned for Biarritz, where the picturesque clubhouse caught our eye before we drove to our quarters in the luxurious Hotel du Lac, at Hossegor, north of the town. September 28th. This morning was spent in consolidating notes and in resting. We greatly regretted our inability to visit the Aero Club des Ailes Basques, at Biarritz, and the Aero Club de Bayonne. Our pleasure was tragically terminated during the afternoon on receiving news that our second navigator had been killed in a flying accident. September zgth. With the Dakota's complement reduced by three (two members of the crew, including our hostess, having re- mained to attend the navigator's funeral), we set out across country for Toulouse. Chi arrival here we saw aircraft cf the French Air Force's transport training unit and, in a hangar, the prototype of an efficient-looking new Breguet long-range reconnaissance bomber for the French « Navy, with four Hispano-Suiza liquid-cooled engines and a capacious bomb bay. The real object of our visit to Toulouse, however, was to inspect the O.N.E.R.A. establishments. Un- happily, delays had greatly cur- tailed the time available, and we were deeply indebted to M. Bielakoff, the director, and M. Del- lus, for their clear and concise account of the important work in progress. The main O.N.E.R.A. building at Toulouse was originally intended as the National Veterinary School. It was explained to us that during the occupation technical investigation was consistently reduced and was concerned mainly with the study of new laboratory apparatus. When the war ended, however, activity was greatly widened and acceler- ated, particularly in view of the fact that the Paris area lacked modern test installations. The first test rig we saw was for undercarriage assemblies, the air- craft wheel being pressed, with a force of up to 6 tons, on a rotating drum. This drum can be surfaced with various materials, and it is possible for the wheel assembly to be yawed on to it. Alongside was a newly dug pit for a similar rig, to be capable of applying 100-ton loads. Towering majestically in a nearby building was the fuselage nose of the S.E.2010 transatlantic air liner, rigged for pressurization and static loading tests. By way of variety, the next item was a far-from-static device, known at O.N.E.R.A. as the Toboggan. From a starting point 40ft high, trolleys, bearing massive wedges, come charging down inclined rails, to impinge on under- carriage wheels at the bottom of the slope. Hurrying on, we passed tyre-testing and brake-testing rigs (the latter capable of simulating a landing speed of over 90 m.p.h.) vibration tests ot radiators, tanks and the like, and an imposing new static test room, for complete fuselages and wings. Here loads will be applied by elec- trically operated screw jacks. ,./-• Having traversed rows of small test machines we now came upon a large low-speed wind tunnel, designed during the war but completed since the Liberation. In its 13.9- foot working section, aircraft models can be tested at wind speeds of up to 135 ft/second. There is also a smaller tunnel, modelled on the " Grande SoufHerie," fed by three fans and capable of similar speeds, and a small one for tests on fuselage, bomb and R.P. models at 650 ft/sec. As darkness fell, we drove about two kilometres to the site of important new O.N.E.R.A. installations, and, having seen something of the scale and scope of the work being undertaken, felt the deepest admiration 'for the courage and initiative of our French friends. The largest item is a straight-through tunnel intended specifically for power plant tests. Measuring 560ft overall, and about 26ft in diameter, it will operate at a wind speed of nearly 400ft per sec, power being supplied by motors aggregating 13,500 h.p. There is also to be a closed-circuit sonic tunnel 980ft per sec), with a diameter of over gjft, and powered by motors of 15,000 h.p. Another ambitious pro- ject, on which work is well under way, 'is a 'tank for hydrodynamic tests on models of flying boat hulls. Over 1,300 yards long, it is i8$ft wide and nearly 10ft deep, and will handle models up to 30ft in length. In the sketch above the CM. 100 is seen as a passenger carrier and below as a freighter. The engines are Yee-twelve Renault* of 580 h.p. each. September $ath After a comfortable night at Toulouse we flew east to Marseilles. Descending towards the busy airfield at Mari- gnane, on the shores of the Etang de Berre, we could feel the first gusts of the Mistral buffeting down the Rhdne Valley. Our hosts were the Marignane division of the Societe Nationale de Construction Aeronautique du Sud- East (S.N.C.A.S.E., or "Essencaz"). Now engaged on an ambitious programme embracing large landplanes and flying boats, the Marignane works employ a large proportion of a total of 7,500 workers, the remainder of whom are centred in the Paris, Toulouse and Cannes areas. A feature of the factory is a taxi track connecting the huge main assembly hangar, which spans
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