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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0161.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editor/a/ Director G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Editor - -CM. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C. (W/NG CDR., RA.F.V.R.) Art Editor - - JOHN YOXALL FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE W6RLD .• FOUNDED 1909 Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices : DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Flightprei, Sediit, London. COVENTRY : Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (60 lines.) 8-10, CORPORATION ST. BIRMINGHAM, 2:KING EDWARD HOUSE, NEW STREET.Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone : Coventry 5210. Telephone : Midland 7191 (7 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : 260, DEANSGATE. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412. GLASGOW, C2: 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow Telephone : Central 4857 No. 2041. Vol. Llll SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Home »nd Abroad : Year, £3 I 0. Registered at the G.P.O. os o Newspoper February 5th, 1948 6 months, £1 10 6. Thursdays, One Shilling • ... v . v *r Outlook "The Helicopter Has Arrived" v '"T^HERE is a tendency, especially among fixed-wing I aircraft people, still to regard the helicopter as a toy. This is in marked contrast to the impres- sion formed by those members of the public who are interested but not very well informed ; "they are in- clined to think that the day of everyman's aircraft u upon us. In America, particularly, where injudicious publicity resulted in "over-selling" the public on heli- copters, it became necessary to put the damper on ill- founded enthusiasm. For the reluctance of fixed-wing aircraft people to accept the helicopter, two things are in the main to blame : the complicated nature of helicopter theory, and the fact that certain aspects of it are not yet fully under- d. For the man who has been immersed for years 5 the problems of fixed-wing aircraft, it requires a real mental effort to take the first steps in getting accustomed to the "new look," and to grasp the significance of it. Mr. N. E. Rowe did a service to the helicopter move- ment when, at last Thursday's lecture to the Royal Aeronautical Society, the first part of which we record in this issue, he put himself on record as a believer in the fact that the helicopter has " arrived." Mr. Rowe, as a former Director-General of Technical Development, and now as Controller of Research and Long-Term Development in B.E.A.C., is not likely to err on the side of optimism. Many aircraft firms found, during his term as D-G.T.D., that they had, if he will forgive the term, a hard Rowe to hoe in getting him to share their enthusiasm. At the lecture he based his view that the helicopter has "arrived " on the fact that it has now become necessary to carry out such flight experimentsai »d tests as those dealt with by the lecturer, Mr. W. Stewart. As we have previously remarked, the history of flying has always shown theory lagging behind practice. Many of the early experimenters built their flying machinesor > a foundation of very sketchy theory, and they often failed, only to try again. • Not until relatively recently has theory become fully established, and now we have almost to begin all over again in connection with flight near or at sonic speed. In the same way, the helicopter has now been flying as a practical aircraft for some years, and theory has not yet quite caught up with practice. The helicopter position to-day may be likened to that of fixed-wing aircraft after the first world war. Many helicopters, of many configura- tions and in spite of certain imperfections, are flying not only experimentally but doing real work in various direc- tions. The lecture by Major Siltanen to the Helicopter Association, a summary of which is also published this week, gave a very good survey of the different directions which helicopter development is taking in America. In this country, also, we are by no means standing still. The Bristol 171, as disclosed by Mr. Hafner at the Stewart lecture, has- been worked up to a transla- tional speed of 120 m.p.h. indicated, which corresponds to a Mach Number of about 0.75 for the blade tips. The Fairey Gyrodyne, of quite different configuration, is making steady progress in its development flying; and the Cierva Air Horse, a large three-rotor machine, is ex- pected to make its first flights this summer. Future DevelopmentT HAT the helicopter is perfect would not be claimed by its staunchest advocates, but it can fairly be said to have reached a stage where the future can be seen as a step-by-step development. Mr. Stewart, in his lecture to the R.Ae.S., stressed (sc.ie thought over-stressed) its lack of stability, somewhat pilot-fatiguing in daylight but much more so in blind- flying conditions. Mr. Raoul Hafner has a very apt comparison in the bicycle, fundamentally the most unstable of road vehicles. To learn riding it is tricky, but once the knack has been acquired, the action of balancing be- comes instinctive and requires neither conscious con- centration nor physical effort. Hafner likens the heli-
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