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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0507.PDF
APEIL 1948 FLIGHT 421 the line of vision of both instructor and pupil. One result of the care and skill devoted to the design stage is that the machine is free from anv unpleasant vibrations, stick shake or an 'noticeable lag in control response. It was fl^wn the day it left the shops, and within a very short period it had been flown at speeds up to 35 m.p.h. By now it has doubtless been pushed up quite close to its estimated maxi- mum speed of 80 m.p.h. Details of the rotor head can be seen in one of the photographs. Not only does the use of "four-off" parts in the rotor head make for ease of production, but the accessibility is such that maintenance should be simple. There are the usual flapping and drag hinges, and the now almost standard controls with collective and cyclic pitch-change levers. Some years ago we were in the habit of ^xoressing the structural efficiency of fixed-wing aixfaft by the ratio of disposable load to empty weight. That immediately gave an idea of the percentage of its own weight which the aircraft would carry as disposable load. Empty weight included full equipment neces- sary for the proper functioning of the aircraft, but with empty tanks and, of course, without crew and pay load. On this basis the SG Mark VI-D shows up well, its disposal load being 39.7 per cent of its empty weight.- The more usual dimensional and performance data are <^ Pilot and des/gners of the SG VI-D : Henry Eagle, Selma Gottlieb and Bernard Sznycer. shown in the table on the preceding page. So far it has not been possible to settle the price of this new machine, but it is expected that it will compare well with those of other helicopters. COMBINED EXERCISES SOME 120 aircraft, drawn from Royal Naval and R.A.F.squadrons, are taking part in large-scale exercises which were scheduled to start on April 12th and conclude on April24th. On or about today—April 15th—R.A.F. fighters will attempt to intercept Naval machines engaged in attacks onthe Royal Air Naval Station at St. Merryn, in Cornwall, and on the 22nd will oppose Naval fighter-bombers and R/P. air-craft, escorted by fighters, attacking the Holbeach Ranges in Lincolnshire and No. 12 Group H.Q. in Nottinghamshire.Meteors of No. 12 Group and Vampires of No. 11 Group will be used in this exercise. The eight Naval Squadrons engaged will be Numbers 801(Sea Hornets), 813 (Firebrands), 804 (Seafires), 812 (Fireflies), 807 (Seafires), 810 (Fireflies), 803 (Sea Furies) and 825 (Fire-Hies). The R.A.F, will operate Meteors, Vampires and Hornets. LIMITS AND POSSIBILITIES T^HE Director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farn-•*• borough, Mr. W. G. A. Perring, made some interesting observations when addressing the British CommonwealthAdvisory Council in Melbourne, Victoria. Mr. Perring stated that the latest estimate of the physical limit to the speed atwhich man could fly was 3,800 m.p.h. That is to say, the next barrier beyond the speed of sound wa>. expected to occur atfive lilies the speed of sound. At such a velocity, an aircraft oulFbe flying in liquid air produced by its own motionthrough the atmosphere. Another item of interest from Mr. Perring's address washis statement that a wind tunnel designed for velocities up to 1,783 m.p.h. may be built either in Australia or in NewZealand. This, presumably, would be in connection with the Australian Long-Range Weapons Organization which, at theinvitation of the British Government, is to sponsor the pro- duction ef a guided missile. This, according to the MelbourneHerald, "might be a pilotless aircraft with a speed of more than 500 m.p.h.: later models would probably be jet-propelledand travel faster than sound." These latter observations can be viewed askance, for therewould seem to be little point in producing a guided missile which could be overtaken by already obsolescent fighter types.Additionally, we think it unlikely that any aircraft, full-size or model, intended to fly at above sonic speed, will be poweredwith anything but rockets, for these are the only prime movers, at our present state of knowledge, which produce a sufficientlyhigh thrust for a sufficiently low weight to provide power to overcome the enormous increase in drag occasioned by flyingt speeds in the transonic range. It has been established that the power required to overcomethe increase in drag through the transonic region is of the order °f 1 1b thrust for every pound of aircraft all-up weight. CUSTOMER APPEALT HE importance of attractive presentation and packaging ofgoods being exported for overseas markets has, in the past, been frequently overlooked by many manufacturers in thiscountry, especially since the shortage of paper, cartons and suitable wrapping materials has prevailed. As competition inexport markets intensifies, so will the importance of " customer appeal " be magnified. The engineering industry can materiallyassist the nation's efforts to capture and hold the interest of foreign buyers by clearing out for salvage and recovery thelargest possible amount of waste paper such as unwanted draw- ings, blueprints, specifications and other forms of paper nolonger required. There is an urgent need to increase the re- clamation of paper by 100,000 tons before midsummer, and thelead of principals and executives can greatly assist this project because it is known that the example of leading members offirms always results in a better response than can be obtained without such leadership. Prices for salvaged paper range from4s per cwt for mixed office waste to 8s 6d per cwt for news- papers ; arrangements can be made for collection by local wastepaper merchants and details of their addresses and other infor- mation can be obtained from the Waste Paper Recovery Asso-ciation, 52, Mount Street, London, W.i, telephone Grosvenor 3233- NORTHERN HEIGHTS GALA T"*HE programme of the 1948 Northern Heights Gala Day on-t Sunday, June 20th, will shortly be available, price fid X?id post free) from the Hon. Sec, Northern Heights ModelFlying £lub, H. R. Turner, 61, Avenell Road, Highbury, N.8. Once more the airfield at Langley will be made available bycourtesy of Hawker Aircraft, Ltd. The two outstanding events will be the "Queen's Cup" and the "Helicopter Trophy"contests. These are open to any competitor, the former being for rubber-powered duration model aircraft, with mainplaiiearea of between 200 and 300 sq in and tailplane area not ex- ceeding 33 per cent of the mainplane area. The minimum totalweight of model for the Queen's Cup should not be less than rz oz, and the minimum cross sectional area of fuselage is to ... ,, t , (overall length of model) 2comply with the formula 2 . All flights are to be made '' rise off ground '' without any assistancewhatever, and the "five minute" limit applies. The aggre- gate of three flights will count.The "Helicopter Trophy" contest imposes rio restrictions on design but all models must stand unaided on three points.The aggregate of three flights is to count, and duration in seconds will count as points. These points will be doubled ifthe model makes a controlled descent by auto-rotation. Flights are to be "rise off ground." A maximum engine run of twominutes is allowed for power-driven models.
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