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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1969.PDF
NOVEMBER 13TH, 1947 54T First Deck Trials of Vickers- Supermarine Naval Jet Fighter • WHEN Flight described the Vickers-SupermarineAttacker jet fighter (Rolls-Royce Nene), in theissue of May 15th, 1947, reference was made to a Naval version with deck-landing equipment. We are now able to record that initial deck-landing trials have been successfully completed by one of these aircraft aboard H.M.S. Illustrious. Three pilots took part—Mr. M. J. Lithgow (assistant Supermarine test pilot); Lt. Cdr. E. M. Brown, O.B.E., D.F.C., A.F.C. (Royal Aircraft Estab- lishment, Farnborough); and Lt. S. Orr, D.S.C., of the Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment, Boscombe Down. The trials occupied two days— October 15th and 28th—and twelve landings were made. If only because the Naval Attacker was the first jet^ aircraft with tail-wheel undercarriage to land on a sk the tests were of particular interest and value. Mr. gow landed-on first, and subsequently a number ings were made by each of the Service pil ijjDeeds over the deck of around 40 knots. It may be recalled that the hook on theJS&val Att is of the normal type, situated aft of the tail wheel, and that the main undercarriage em- bodies legs devel- oped originally for the Seafang. These legs are of a special long-stroke '' pre- retraction" type and are character- The first landing-on. Behind the double tail- wheel the arrester hook is visible. Mr Jeffrey Quill, stnior Super- marine test piht, acts as batsman for his colleague, Mr. Lithgow, during prelim- inary trials on the dummy deck at Chilbolton. lzed by a very high energy absorption and low reboundratio. Another ^ggpect in which the Naval version differs from the firstpStotype Attacker is in having "lift con-trol" in tbffcjdsqi of spoilers operated by the pilot. These were incorporated to overcome the disadvantage pre-Incountered on jet aircraft arising from the fact Hth no airscrew, and consequent lack of slipstreamct, it was not possible adequately to control the rate sink at low speeds. With the spoilers, the pilotapproaches at a fixed throttle setting and controls the approach by means of the spoilers, extending them fullyon being given the "cut" signal by the batsman. Some of the most satisfactory features of the recent trials werethe apparently wide range of safe approach speeds, the effectiveness of the spoilers in controlling the rate of sink V1OI]
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