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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0482.PDF
FLIGHT APRIL 15TH, 1948 TAIL-LESS TRIUMPH Mr. John Berry, in D.H. 108, Raises 100-km Closed-circuit Record to 605.23 m.p.h. THE sun was well down in the sky last Monday whenMr. John Derry, D.F.C., a de Havilland test pilot,took off from the long runway at Hatfield to attack the international ioo-km closed-circuit record in the D.H. 108 high-speed research aircraft. His flight had been somewhat delayed by minor technical troubles and by turbulent air, but, like members of the de Havilland tech- nical staff, who were in attendance, he seemed confident of the outcome. The performance he put up—an average of 605.23 m.p.h.—was indeed a tribute to his flying skill and to the technical excellence of the " 108," entered jointly by the Ministry of Supply as owners, and the de Havilland Aircraft Company, Ltd., as designers and builders. Mr. Derry has not hitherto been well known to the public. He joined de Havillands last November, having previously been with Vickers-Supermarine, whose Attacker jet fighter will continue officially to hold the 100-km record with 564.881 m.p.h., until confirmation of Derry's flight is^Eorth- coming. Those who were privileged to attend the Naval air. display at Lee-on-Solent last year will remember Derry's dramatic bunt on the Seafang. A one-time air gunner, he learned to fly with the R.A.F. and served as a squadron leader with a 2nd T.A.F. Typhoon Wing. For a month or so past he has been doing most of the development flying on the D.H. 108, and it was this reason, rather than satiety with record-breaking, which led Mr. John Cunning- ham—de Havilland's chief test pildfr and holder of the world's altitude record—to stand >k$ide in this instance. Mr. John Derry, D.F.C., in the cockpit of the D.H. 108. Obviously, no one, excepting, possibly, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, was more pleased with the new record than Cunningham. It was Cunningham who made a weather reconnaissance in a Vampire, and who subsequently went round the course again to check with the observers that Derry had cut no corners. The Aircraft Of the D.H. 108 itself, little may yet be said beyond the fact that it is a pure research aircraft, designed for investigation of control problems with swept-back wings and for the study of high-speed flight. The first model flew on May 15th, 1946, and since that date a great deal of technical experience has been accumulated which will be put to good use in the design of the D.H. 106 ultra-fast, long-range airliner, with four de Havilland Ghost turbojets. The D.H. Goblin installed in the 108 is a special up-rated model, giving appreciably more than the 3,000 lb static thrust of the standard unit. Though generally referred to as "tail-less," the 108 has vertical surfaces. The course for Derry's flight .was one lap of a left-hand circuit starting and ending at Brookmans Park B.B.C radio mast. The turning points were (a) Puckeridge radio mast, north of Ware ; (b) a brickworks near Three Counties station, Letchworth ; (c) cement works at Upper Sundon, Luton-; and (d) a point south-west of Beechwood lifese, Marinate. This last point was difficult to identifycind smoke indicators were burnt for Derry's guidance. Two members of the R.O.C. acted as observers at each turn. Within a few minutes of a last, smooth passage by the 108 over Hatfield, on which there was no sign of the pitch- ing motion which has been imputed to the machine, Mr. Martin Sharp was proclaiming the speed signalled by the Royal Aero Club observers. A chit bearing the figure was thrust before Derry's nose before the Goblin's turbine had ceased to rotate. The pilot later told us that towards London, from which direction he entered the course, visibility was none toe good, but that, in general, conditions could hardly have been more favourable. Though earlier in the afternoon Derry had experienced bumps at 3-4 g, the air was calm and, except on the second leg, during which he flew a little wide, he could see his landmarks clearly. His highest indicated speed was 635 m.p.h.—about 15 m.p-h, below the world's absolute speed record. The 108, he said, went " like a bird "—a more elegant description than " bat jet " and " whistling boomerang " by which sobriquets one of the world's most remarkable aircraft is popularly known
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