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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0502.PDF
4i8 FLIGHT 15TH, ig4g NORTH ATLANTIC THE potentialities of refuelling in flightare, perhaps, greater at this momentthan they have ever been in,the history *" of aviation, but there is much misunderstanding regarding some aspects of the operation because the idea is new to many people. It may be taken for granted that the economic and aerodynamic advantages that can be obtained by refuelling large aircraft over long sea routes are irrefutable. All technicians who have studied the economic benefits accru- ing by virtue of refuelling agree on this point. There are two other aspects on which opinions have differed. First, the practicality of the actual operation, and secondly the psychological aspect so far as passengers and operators are concerned. I will deal with the latter subject first and state briefly that the only people who seem to be apprehensive about refuelling in flight are my own contemporaries—the old hands who have fought their way through years of flying and helped to build up air transport; such men are not used to flying in formation. The man in the street will accept any flying that is given to him by reputable operators of to-day. He vMll take refuelling for granted. Having questioned hundreds of different people in order to get a «ross-section of opinion I am quite convinced on this point. A Service pilot is not worried in the slightest by refuel- ling ; formating to him is an everyday procedure. From recent experience I know that the young captain in civil aviation is invariably a refuelling enthusiast. The idea of the tanker formating for refuelling does not worry him. On the contrary, he rejoices in the fact that, by reason of the flight refuelling service, he is permitted to take off below the all-up weight, and will have an ample margin of fuel to reach his destination. On the other hand, the senior captains, with perhaps a million or more miles to their credit, may not, in their whole flying career, have had any experi- ence of flying in formation. In consequence they are a little apprehensive of allowing a tanker pilot to come in their proximity. May I claim that the tanker pilot is an expert at his job, and, furthermore, the practice of formating is a qualification for his employment; another is the ability to take off in adverse weather conditions, to fly blind to the rendezvous, possessing that weather sense which enables a pilot to cope with any meteorological situation. Comparative Safety I would ask the senior captains to consider the situation that occurs day after day at any large terminal airport, where they hand over the safety of forty-odd passengers to the man in the Control Tower—when the captain is de- pendent upon the satisfactory operation of his own wire- less system, and those of a dozen other aircraft; of the wireless system at the airport and the ability of the in- dividual in the Control Tower to direct his movements; while, maybe, he flies blind in a "stack-up" round and round, sometimes for hours, and heaven alone knows how close to other aircraft, relying entirely upon the accuracy of his instruments and the ability of the controller to bring him down without collision. I must confess that after flying around for an hour and fifty minutes over London Airport under these conditions, I am a nervous wreck. Refuelling in flight has never affected me in this way. To return for a moment to formation-flying, the statistics of Fighter Command for 1046 prove that, among the few accidents they had, those which occurred while formating ING (TRIALS An Answer to Two Queries By SIR ALAN COBHAM, K.B.E., A.F.C. A remarkable flashlight photograph of night refuelling at 9,000ft over the Atlantic. It was taken from the Lancastrian tanker white the two aircraft were in formation at 165 m.p h. The speed of the flash has apparently stopped the airscrews. were on6 in twenty compared with accidents during land- ings and taking off. To land and take off a fighter is far simpler than landing and taking off a heavily loaded air liner, and I would suggest that these statistics of Fighter Command are significant. If they can be accepted as a token, I maintain that every time an air liner takes off and lands there is twenty times more danger than during the opera- tion of refuelling in flight. Statistics prove that there is no danger factor in formating dur- ing the operation of refuelling in flight. It has been suggested on more than one occasion that the pilot of the air liner when being refuelled hands over the responsibility of his forty passengers to the tanker pilot. This is not true, because, provided the air-liner is flown on a steady course, there is no reason why there should be any danger from the skilled actions of the tanker pilot, who is, by the way, well trained, well paid, and has just as keen an interest in life as the liner captain. So much for the psychological aspect of the jo just a word on the practical operation. I maintain That eighty per cent of the job is a matter of flight planning, and the ability of the tanker pilot to take off under severe weather conditions, and to fly on his instruments to a pre- determined rendezvous. The actual refuelling operation is only twenty per cent of the job. It must be remembered too that refuelling is mainly the work of the tanker com- pany, because it has been so planned that the whole job is carried out by the tanker crew, with the co-operation of the air liner captain and his engineer. Flight Refuelling, Limited, adopted this policy, and i think it may be said that they were mainly responsible for the success of the Bermuda Trials. This in no way depreciates the magnificent training flights that were carried out by B.S.A.A. crews, when they flew non-stop from London to Bermuda and back. B.S.A.A. crewed the two receivers, which were maintained for the purpose of the trials by Flight Refuelling, Limited, who also operated the two tankers from the Azores. Experience showed that, even with the briefest instructions and very little know- ledge of refuelling in flight, the receiver air crews found no undue difficulties in collaborating with our crews.
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