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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 2079.PDF
NOVEMBER 27TH, I947 FLIGHT 609 Flight' Pilots a Jet 275Or 3.OOO 2.5 OO 2.000 1 1.5OO 1O0O 5OO engine pulling hard or idling. Even the in- creasing wind howl, customary in a dive, was absent at all but the higher speeds. Instru- ments alone told of 500 feet lost or gained, or speed increased or decreased by 50 m.p.h. After being airborne for only fifteen minutes my position was west of Dunstable, but because Hatfield was still under black cloud and rain I elected to take two or three, minutes off to fly back over the field to indi- cate that I was not lost. V.H.F. was fitted, but the crystals were missing. Macluneter in Use At i2,ooqft I put the Vampire into a shal- ^>w dive and watched the speed build up rapidly to about 425 m.p.h. indicated. For the first time I sensed that there was a real power unit behind me. No noise or vibration were apparent but rather the suggestion of passing through the first door on the way to a distant electric power house. I had no ex- perience of calculating true air speeds on a diving Vampire, so transferred my ^attention to the Machmeter at this point and saw it rise to 0.55, then 0.6, and 'on arrivaF over Hatfield at 1,200ft, about 0.65. Maintaining speed I completed an exhilarating vertical turn round the field, and in quick time was making a thrilling rocket-like full-throttle zoom over Harpenden on my way back to- wards the open patch of sky. Swallowing hard and frequently on the way up in order to make my ears "ping" I did not bother with cabin pressure. The cockpit temperature was comfortably warm, although I was clad only in a linen flying suit over ordinary clothing. It was at this point that I began to appreciate to the full the speed of the Vampire and incidentally to feel the physical strain of flying it. At one time I found myself a few thousand feet above a lower layer of cloud and decided to fly down through a small gap in it to confirm my position. Not only did my speed build up alarmingly, although the engine was throttled back, but I almost over- shot the hole, and finally thought better of the idea and pulled out along the cloud tops, "redding" myself out in the process, and climbing several thousand feet while slowing down. I made another pass at the hole and got through it, but learned from this brief experience that speeds build up very quickly in the dive when the airframe is clean and airscrew drag absent. It also confirmed the fact that jet aircraft must have room to manoeuvre. On regaining altitude I tried some aerobatics. The first TAKE OFF ANDCOMBAT R.P.M. MAXIMUM RPM TAKE OFF IO2OO CLIMBING 9.7OO — CRUISING 8.7OO 7O 8O 9O R.P. M.X100 2O 30 4OALT X 1,000 FT (Left). Performance and consumption curves for the Series II Goblin at sea level and zero forward speed. (Right). Curves indicating thrust variation with change of altitude and engine speed for the Goblin II at 30D m.p.h.—average cruising speed of the Vampire. Thrust h.p.— Thrust x 0.8 at this speed. two loops were failures, for not. only did I start too slowly(330 m.p.h.), thinking to take up less space, but I spared myself g by not pulling up quickly enough at first and wasalso over-anxious to pull her over on top. The result was that my speed dropped off, and I flicked smartly outfrom the inverted position. Perhaps I have a two-boom complex, as 1 used to do the same thing on a Lightning.The Vampire gives warning of a stall with slight buffeting and recovers quickly and comfortably. Although I did notattempt one, the spin recovery is, I am told, quite normal. A third loop, starting at 400 m.p.h. and carefully flownround—something which calls for patience rather than skill —came off quite nicely. Rolls, and rolls off the top, pre-sented no difficulty and were most stimulating and morale- improving. The rate of roll was not as great as I hadexpected, but a slow roll was in any case a more pleasing manoeuvre. I omitted to try an upward roll but did tryusing dive brakes under various circumstances, such as on the pull-out from a loop. The retarding effect does notfeel very great, but the effect as shown by the A.S.I, is consioferable.Not being in training for such flying, I felt the strainof the g experienced in turns and pull-outs, and it was this,to a greater extent than I had expected, that, for me,limited the manoeuvrability of the Vampire. Looking roundon turns made my head loll over and my neck ache. Mystomach walls also registered the strain. I in>agihc a divermust have similar sensations in his legs when, on land, he Ready for delivery to the R.A.F., this new D.H. Vampire III fighter is the actual aircraft fea- tured in this narrative. In the background are two of its illus- trious fan driven predecessors, the Mosquito and Hornet.
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