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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0017.PDF
JANTVRY IST, 1948 FLIG HT "Ack-Ack" at War General Pile's Despatch : Defence Against V Weapons GENERAL SIR FREDERICK PILE, who commandedAnti-Aircraft Command from July 28th, 1939, until April15th, 1945, tells, in his despatch dealing with the A.A. defence of the United Kingdom during that period of unsuccess-ful efforts to obtain permission to shoot at V-2 rockets. The despatch, published as a supplement to the London Gazette,says of these missiles with which South Eastern England was bombarded in the autumn of 1944 and early 1945, "I feltconvinced that this was the beginning of one of the .great problems of the future. On December 12th, 1944, I proposedthat I should be allowed to try shooting at the rockets with a view to destroying them in the air. The idea of shootingat a shell was admittedly revolutionary, but there seemed to me to be no reason why it should not be anything more than aiher development of the present unseen firing methods. My EgSsal was rejected as it was not considered that it had a retical background of success sufficient to justify the dangertie civil population beneath the barrage." When plotting fs became greatly improved, he applied again lor per-feion to fire; " If I had aimed at one of every two rockets Slescending and hit, as I estimated, one in thirty, the chances%ere within the limits I had been set, although as three in thirty Already burst in the air, it would be some time before results-could be proved. On March 28th, 1945, I gave orders to the guns to be ready to fire, but on March 27th the last rocketbad fellen. On March 30th the Chiefs of Staff agaia refused pettnissitfn for the guns to fire at rockets. «•" The advance in the science of anti-aircraft defence since:ihe beginning of the war has been prodigious," comments typ General, "but I believe we are still only touching theffinge of future possibilities. Air defence is of such paramount importance that we must spare no effort and no expense tomaintain our scientific lead." Of measures to counter flying bomb attacks, General Pilesays: "More was learned about the potentialities of anti-air- craft work in eighty days than had been learned in the previousthirty years." To fight the flying bombs guns were massed along the south-east coast as far north as Great Yarmouth,and it was decided to build winter quarters for the batteries— including mixed batteries whose A.T.S. members refused to leavefor more comfortable camps. This ^2,000,000 project involved building sixty miles of road, 3,500 huts, laying 150,000 tons ofrubble and hardcore as foundation, and was equivalent to building a town the size of Windsor. The building tradeestimated it would take six months to complete, but 1,800 men in construction batteries, with 7,500 unskilled helpers fromother units, did it in two and a half months. Initial deploy- ment of gun defences against V-is was completed in a week,instead of the eighteen days originally estimated to be necessary. At the outbreak of war Geneial Pile had only 695 guns,many of them obsolescent, against an approved total of 2,232. Light guns numbered 253 out of an approved total of 1,200.There were 2,700 searchlights instead of 4,128. By May, 1941, guns totalled 1,691 and 940, and searchlights some 4,000.In June, 1940, at the beginning of the flying bomb attacks there were 2,635 heavy guns, 4,589 light guns. Rocket pro-jectors, introduced in the meantime, numbered 6,372 at the end of 1943, and radar had come in as a new and telling factor.General Pile describes the 106,690 Territorials who manned our entire A.A. defences in 1939 as "the cream of the man-hood of the country." SUPER BOXCARS AN order, approximating twenty-two million dollars, hasL«een placed by the United States Army Air Force, for thirty-seven Fairchild C-119 Packets, or "Flying Boxcars,"developed from the C-82. Two 28-cylinder four-row Pratt and Whitney Wasp Major engines, each delivering 3,250 h.p. for. ;4ake-ofl, are installed, permitting a maximum take-off weight ;bf 74,000 1b. The C-119 will carry 42 paratroopers in addition•tp 20 " paracans " of supplies, which are suspended from an automatic overhead monorail. Superficially, the C-119 differsfrom its predecessor in the configuration of the nose section, which has been redesigned to allow a better field of view forthe pilot during formation flying. Windows have been added t&-provide outward visibility during the delivery of paratroopsSand parachuted supplies. ARCTIC SHOOTING STARS SQUADRON of Lockheed P-80B Shooting Star jet fightershas lately arrived at Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska, for "tfirst mass tactical operation of jet aircraft under ArcticJitions. Extensive modifications have been made so that machines can be operated in temperatures as low as —65degrees Fahr. The turbo-jet units have been adapted for .starting with petrol, before being switched to kerosene forjiormal running. New greases are being tried, hydraulic units have special packing, and auxiliary electric blowers are in-stalled to assist in defrosting windscreens and canopies. Syii thetic rubber, which becomes brittle in extreme cold, is beingreplaced throughout b ' natural rubber, particularly in the sealing of the pressurized cockpit. Present plans call for a six months' stay in the Arctic, whichperiod, according to the U.S. Army Air Force, "will provide an excellent study of the cold-weather behaviour of single-compressor jet engines." The Lockheed P-80B is essentially similar to earlier modelsof the Shooting Star but has improved armament and is stated to be more resistant to battle damage. An order for over 130P-8oBs is now being executed by Lockheed at Bur-bank, Cali- fornia, to supplement the P-8oAs already in service. PERCIVAL PROJECTS AND PROGENCY A FEW months ago the chief designer of Percival Aircraft,Ltd., Mr. Bage, was asked if the Percival P.50 Prince was, in fact the company's 50th design.. He believed it was, andin answer had prepared a list of all Percival aircraft since the P.i of 1932. This first machine was the Gull Four Mk I three-seat, low-wing monoplane with Cirrus Hermes IV engine. The P.2 was the first Mew Gull built in 1933 as a racing monoplanewith Javelin iA engine. The P.3 was the first Gull "Six" cabin three-seater built in 1934. The P.4, 5, 8 and 9 of 1935only reached the design stage and were respectively an 8/10- seater, low-wing twin, a single-engine, light pusher, a single-seat, low-wing monoplane, and an 8-seat, twin-engine fore- runner of the Q.6. The first Gipsy Six Mew Gull II racing monoplane of thesame year was the P.6, and the P.7 was an open-cockpit Guli variant. P. 10 to 15 and P.20 were various versions of the VegaGull, including a light bomber project for the Chinese. P. 16 was the Q.4 and P.17 and 18 Q.6s. P.19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26and 27 were designs varying from a four-engine, high-wing monoplane (19) and a two-seat tandem elementary trainer (21),to a high-speed target aircraft (22) and a twin-engined am- phibian (27). An airframe for testing large engines (26) wasalso included. Various early marks of Proctor take up P.28, 29, 30, 31, 34,and later Proctor variants of 1944 and onwards are the 43 (Peewit), 44 (Mk V), 45, 46, 47 (Mk VI). The P.4r and 42were twin-engined projects designed to meet Brabazon Spec. 5A, the 48 is the Merganser land, float or skiplane, and the49, of 1947, a Mk II Merganser for survey work. The Prince is thus the P.50.
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