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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1975.PDF
NOVEMBER 13TH, 1947 FLIGHT 545 launching, the XS-i has a wing area ot 130 sq ft, is jilt long and has a span of 28ft. The wing loading when first launched, and with full fuel tanks, was expected to be 100 lb/sq ft; the all-up weight 13,034 lb, with a landing weight of 4,818 lb. A landing speed of no m.p.h. was expected, but increases in the rocket-unit weight unfortu- nately caused these figures to be exceeded. All-rocket propulsion was decided upon, as there was little likelihood of there being any jet engine available with sufficient thrust to give the speeds required. The motor assembly, built by Reaction Motors Inc., consists of four 1,500-lb rockets individually or collectively controllable by the pilot. The idea of dropping the XS-i from the converted bomb bay of a B-29 has already been mentioned in these letters, but it is interesting to note that hardly any snags devel- oped during the tests, which is a point that lends emphasis to the practicality of large bombers carrying their own pro- ^tive fighters. Some fourteen or fifteen test drops and purely " glide nights " were made before any rocket power application was attempted, and when launched from 27,000ft these glides took some twelve minutes or so to complete. So far as pressurization of the XS-i was con- cerned, this was done from the mother aircraft, after the pilot had entered the cockpit (which he could do from the mother ship while in flight), when he could close and seal his own cockpit with an internal pressure of 3 lb above atmosphere, the subsequent pressure loss being so small that the cockpit would remain pressurized until the flight was completed. Data on actual flying characteristics are still being with- held, but on the first flight a Mach number of 0.79 was reached. Rumour has it that, on subsequent tests, various aerodynamic troubles developed which have prevented this machine from reaching its design speeds, for it is known that quite severe aileron " buzz " was encountered, and that considerable modifications may have been intro- duced to cure this and other troubles. One's own guess is that sonic speeds may not be attempted with this air- craft at all, as the Bell Company themselves would prob- ably decry any attempt to label this project as super.;- sonic. It was, in fact, most unfortunate that the e'arly- publicity blurbs, and the usual irresponsibility of some sections of the Press, gave the impression that here was the first supersonic machine. It is much more likely that the Bell XS-2, a swept-back wing type, was already slated as the natural successor to the XS-i, and that the manu- facturers themselves always realized that the whole scheme would have to be taken in logical steps, with the XS-i as the first stepping-stone. The fact, however, that the original conception of theXS-i occurred in December, 1944, does make this project a most interesting one, if only historically. .-•-,. -•.-.-it-i.;-:-: - .• [•."."':'- •:.-'•> INCREDIBLE BUT TRUE ^NYTHING can happen in the United States. And it does! And lest anyone should think that the fol- lowing saga is a Hollywood fairytale or a Texas *all-story, I can only say that there is an official Civil Aeronautics Board report on the whole affair. In any case, nobody could possibly think it up, and there are, moreover, some fifty-three people who will probably never forget it, although they would probably like to! It goes like this: An early morning DC-4 flight of one of the most reput- able and reliable of all the domestic airlines here was on its way to the West Coast with forty-eight passengers and a crew of five. Flying at some 8,000ft over the Western desert (it was not stated whether this height was indicated or above the ground), it suddenly started to climb, and continued to do so at an ever-increasing angle. It then dropped its nose violently, dived, bunted, was presum- ably completely inverted, was rolled out to the left at a height of under 1,000ft—and was flown back with its terrified occupants to the nearest airport and landed! Automatic pilot trouble, you think? Not a bit of it; apparently just a misplaced desire for knowledge. There were on board three pilots, the normal scheduled captain,, his second pilot, and another captain who was on a familiarization flight, and who was at the time in the first pilot's seat flying the machine, with the regular cap- tain sitting behind him on the " jump-seat." Perhaps with the thought of a recent crash on nis mind, but without saying anything to either of the pilots who were at the controls, this captain engaged the gust, or control, lock, presumably in order to see what would happen! Quite naturally this froze the controls solid and in such a posi- tion that the machine began an ever-increasing climb. To counteract this, and ignorant of the fact that the controls were locked, the pilot who was flying began to wind the trim tab forward. Naturally, nothing happened (and, in fact, this would make matters worse, because to fly an aircraft with locked elevators by means of the trim tabs—and it has been done—the wheel must be wound in reverse way to that normally applied). So the pilot wound a bit more, at which time the regular captain, still with1 out saying what he had done in the first place, took the gust lock off; the trim tabs naturally took complete con- trol, and the aircraft dived and bunted! The only mem- ber of the cockpit crew who was strapped in was the second pilot, who kept in his seat, the other two being catapulted into the roof of the cockpit, where they hit three of the four feathering buttons and feathered three engines. The second pilot kept not only his seat, but his head, regained control of the aircraft, rolled it out to the left at a terrify- ingly low height, and got everything working again— even the engines—in time to prevent a certainly fatal crash. a feat of not only considerable strength but magnificent pilotage. Not having met anyone who was either party to or vic- tim of this saga, I cannot give a description of what went on in either the cockpit or the cabin, but anjrone who has any imagination at all should be able to think up enough detail to keep themselves awake at night for a week! (P.S.—The pilot who applied the control lock is no longer with the company!) - BOOK REVIEW The. Other Battle. B. Donovan M. Ward. Issued by the Bir- mingham Small Arms Company, Small Heath, Birmingham. THIS is the story—well told and beautifully illustrated—of a firm and its products. The firm is the Birmingham Small Arnt?*Gompany, Limited, and its products, at least those which will prove of special interest to our readers, are guns for aircraft. Armourers and pilots will need to be told little of thequalities of B.S.A.-built Browning guns, but they may be interested in the following anecdote.On the adoption of the Browning gun by the Air Ministry the B.S.A. Company found that it was not being invited totender for the manufacture of this weapon. Sir Geoffrey Burton visited the Air Ministry to discover the reason. Havingexplained the purpose of his call, he was told " You are in the cycle and motor cycle business. You are not machine gunmanufacturers." Mildly Sir Geoffrey pointed out that his was the oldest armaments company in the country and that inthe Great War it had manufactured even' single Lewis gun used by the Navy, Army and R.A.F. This interview didlead the Air Ministry to reconsider the matter and the com- pany was asked in June, 1935, to quote for the productionof 1,050 guns at the rate of 50 a week. To shorten the story it may be said that a round-table con-ference was necessitated on the question of interchangeability of parts and, during this, Mr. Leek, of B.S.A., stated that,since, in his opinion, a production rate of 2,000 guns a week would eventually be required, it was regrettable that outputshould not be planned from the start on those lines. The account goes on: "The statement was received with laughing incredulity."Perhaps," said the chairman, "Mr. Leek will tell us for what possible purpose 2,000 guns a week could be needed."" From what I have just seen on the Continent of the prepara- tions for war there (Mr. Leek had just returned from Leipzig)we shall need them to defend ourselves against Germany." Again there was laughter. "The R.A.F. will not need 2,000guns a week for the next 20 years," was the chairman's answer. In 1942 the Air Ministry was to demand 5,000 gunsa week from B.S.A.
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