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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0186.PDF
162 FLIGHT FEBRUARY 5TH, 1948 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents. The names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. ON GETTING LOST It Can Happen to the Best of Pilots IN Flight of December 25th, 1947, there was a letter from Mr.Keith-Jopp under the heading "Women Pilots." Hereferred to a certain day in January, 1941, when seventeen R.A.F. pilots set off and only six succeeded in reaching theirdestination. I remember a day in 1943 when Mr. Keith-Jopp lost himself, in a Fairchild of all tilings, between WhiteWaltham and Heston. So I do not think he is in a position to talk about people losing themselves. I was not one ofthe seventeen R.A.E. pilots. H. MASON. Sand gate, Folkestone. FLYING BOATS Push-pull Jet Engines? A LTHOUGH I agree with your correspondent Robert Russell**• (Flight, January 8th) that flying boats deserve more attention than they have had in the past, I could not helpnoticing a contradiction of which he is guilty. lie writes : '' Taxying in a modern flying boat can be justtoo simple. Reversible airscrews are the answer." But in an earlier paragraph we read : " Airscrews will soon be things ofthe past, the jet engine has seen to that." Perhaps Mr. Russell has invented a jet engine that can suckas hard as it can blow! „...,,.. T. W. EVANS. Woodley, Reading. : : R.A.F. AIRCREW RECRUITING A Complaint from a " Too Old at 25 " ON opening Flight for January 22nd I was very displeasedto find a whole page used for announcing that the R.A.F. is recruiting pilots again. Less than a week ago I was, incompany with a hundred or so other pilots, told that there was no hope whatsoever of doing any more flying in the next twoyears, and that I could remuster to a Clerk G.D., or Police- man, or be discharged. Some of us would willingly havesigned on for five, or even twenty-two years' service, but were apparentlyetoo old! You ask our ages? Anything from 22to 25, no more. For thus disrupting our lives and plans, the generous com-pensation will be that proportion of the bounty for the time we have already served, i.e., one-third of ^150, or that forwhich we are due in any case. What sort of organization is it that wastes thousands of1 pounds to train a man, discardshim, thus breaking a written contract, yet continues to train further chaps for the same job. Perhaps some generous type would define the procedure forsueing the R.A.F. for breach of contract, and someone even more generous provide the wherewithal to do it. Feltham, Middx. R. LEWCOCK. TUDOR MAINTENANCE Ex-R.A.F. Personnel Already Employed MAY I draw your attention to the letter from '' Ex-CorporalFitter" in your issue of January 22nd and endeavour to help him with some facts. Captain A. C. Campbell-Orde is Director of Technical Deve-lopment in B.O.A.C. and is not responsible for either operations or maintenance. The Tudor will be put into service on B.O.A.C. routes assoon as it has been shown to meet the original performance specification, the necessary number of aircraft have been de-livered and the crews and maintenance staff trained to the high standards required by B.O.A.C. No prudent civil airline operator would put a new type ofaircraft into service without adequate testing and conversion training of both crews and maintenance staff.As the Tudor aircraft will be replacing existing converted military types such as the Yorks, Lancastrians and Sunder-lands, both the crews and maintenance men will be drawn from existing staff, the majority of whom are ex-R.A.F., and with-out whom B.O.A.C. could not maintain the thousands of ser- vices it operates every year. F. \V. WINTERBOTHAM, Public Relations Director, B.O.A.C. Ex-R.A.F. Personnel Can Keep Them Flying RE " Tudor Maintenance " in your issue of January 22nd,by " Ex-Cpl. F"itter, R.A.F.," I heartily endorse his state- ments on the expected proficiency on all types of engines ofthe F.II.E. and the very few failures due to faulty maintenance in those days. I should like to point out to him, however, that a numberof B.O.A.C. mechanics are ex-R.A.F. F.II.E. and F.II.As.; we have full confidence in our ability to service and maintainthe Tudors, and it seems very unfair to say that we can't cope. Believe me, we can still keep them flying as we did inthe old days, but we are not allowed to; B.O.A.C.'s system of maintenance is a weird and wonderful thing to see in op^tt^tion. We are no longer skilled fitters; every part of our W&K is checked for tightness and security by a number of inspectorsbefore it is fit for service. Components are classed as u/s for the most trifling reasons. Under the B.O.A.C. system anengine change which took a matter of hours in the R.A.F. takes two of us up to two weeks to change. I have myselfinstalled three different engines in the same power plant before it was mounted in the airframe, due to blunders by some per-sons responsible for planning. So, in conclusion, I would like to say please don't think ofthe poor mechanic when you say we can't cope, or we lose £& million; it isn't all our fault. "EX-F.II.E. on B.O.A.C. STAFF." ;. LONG-RANGE FREIGHTERS The Need for a New British Type TTHE artist's impression in Flight of January 29th showing-L the projected Curtiss-Wright C.W.32 long-range freight carrying aircraft, came as a timely reminder that we in GreatBritain lack and, it seems, will continue to lack for many years, a specialized long-range high-performance cargo-carry-ing aircraft. This is all the more regrettable because in the Bristol Type 170 we possess a unique machine for short-haulwork, and, in the General Aircraft Universal we shall have a larger type which promises to perform admirably overmedium distances. But neither of these types can claim either to high performance or long range, and there will eventuallybe a demand, both on Empire routes and in the export market, for such an aircraft as the C.W.32. The fact that the C.W.32is not to be built until firm orders are forthcoming in no way calls for modification of this view. Would it not be possible to develop for the Bristol M.R.E.a fuselage of similar section to that shown in your drawing of the C.W.32, or. preferably to undertake the developmentof a specialized aircraft to replace the Haltona and other "merchant ships" now approaching the end of their usefulcareers? The French have the right idea in the Breguet 760 and the Cormoran, but even they have not yet undertakenthe construction of a machine in the category to which I have referred. : F. R. HAYTER.Hawarden, Cheshire. .;-'. .. ,.- Feb. Feb. Feb. Feb.Feb. Feb. Feb. Feb. Feb. Feb. Mar. Mar. Mar. Mar. 6th 10th 12th Mtn18th 23 rd 25th 25th 26th 26th 3rd 4th 10th 12th FORTHCOMING EVENTS —Institute of Navigation : " A New System of Compass Cor- rection." Dr. G. N. Harvey, O.B.E. -R.Ai.S. (Graduates and Students) : " Stability and Control Problems." D. J. Lyons. -Royal Aeronautical Society : " The Aerodynamics of the Gas Turbine." A. R. Howell. -Fair Oaks Aero Club : St. Valentine's Day Dance. —Royal United Service Institution : "The Strategic Offensive Against Germany." Air Chief Marshall Sir Norman Bottom- ley, K.C.B., C.I.E., D.S.O., A.F.C. —R.Ae.S. (Bristol) : " Accidents and Their Investigation." Air Commodore Vernon Brown, C.B., O.B.E., M.A., F.R.Ae.S. -Royal United Service Institution : "The Home Fleet in the War." Vice-Admiral Sir Patrick Brind, K.C.B.. C.B.E. -R.Ae.S. (Graduates and Students) : "Suction Aerofoils." B. Thwsites. —Royal Aeronautical Society : " Evolution of the Design of an Aeroplane." Prof. R. L. Lickley, B.Sc. D.I.C., F.R.Ae.S. —R.Ae.S. (Manchester) : " Naval Aircraft." Capt. Fancourt, —R.Ae.S. (Bristol) : Prize-winning Papers by Junior Members. -R.Ae.S. (Gloucester and Cheltenham) : "The Development of the A.S. Type Gas Turbine Engine," W. H. Lindsey, M.A., A.F.R.Ae.S. —Royal United Service Institution : " Progress in Aircraft Design." B. N. Wallis, C.B.E., F.R.S. —Institute of Navigation : " Air Sextants." P. F. Everitt, B.Sc.
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