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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 1434.PDF
282 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER 2ND, 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. FLYING-BOAT OPERATION Special Marine Corporation Wanted MAY I suggest that a new alignment of the nationalized airtransport corporations should be considered, so that, instead of only being divided up into geographical spheresof operation, they be divided (or sub-divided) according to whether they operate land or sea-going aircraft. In otherwords, let us have a special corporation to operate flying- boats. In the Saro 45 (please, Saunders-Roe, give it a name soon,instead of a number like a convict) we shall have a transport which can give a lead to all the world. No expensive andrare runways are required for it; only harbour facilities are needed, which could be developed reasonably cheaply where-ever there is water. A certain sum of money will be needed to develop these, the cost of which will be small comparedwith the cost of runways and airfields. But a marine aircraft corporation is needed to develop these on a world-wide scale. London, W.i. GEOFFREY DORMAN. AIRSHIP TRANSPORT Has it a Place in Modern Times? IN all recent discussions in this journal on the future modeof air transport, the main issue seems to be " flying boat' versus landplane." No mention is made of that seeminglyforgotten machine, the airships Admittedly, in the past the record of these machines has inmany cases been one of tragic failure, but surely, with the use of helium gas and the advantage of present-day power andnavigational advancements, many of these accidents would never have occurred.I imagine, of course, that the cost of building them would be far greater than that of a large landplane, but would thisnot be amply offset by the far greater pay load that would follow ? In conclusion, I must say that my assumptions are not basedon any great technical knowledge, and I would therefore appre- ciate it if any of my fellow readers could make any constructivecomment, for or against, upon them. Willesden Green, N.W.2. DENIS B. HAMPSON. R.A.F.V.R. TRAINING Greater Flexibility Needed THE question of ground training in the R.A.F.V.R. is oneto which the authorities should give second thoughts. To say that those members who fail to attend lectures are notfulfilling their obligations is tantamount to declaring that only those who live in close proximity to their training centreshould consider joining the V.R. The primary object of the scheme is, surely, to keep in flying practice as large a bodyof potential wartime aircrew as possible. Many who live at a distance can put in the necessary number of flying hoursby reason of being able to choose their own time (and this applies to Link training as well), whereas they cannot attendground training which must necessarily be organized at given times. Let it be remembered that flying practice is the reallyessential part of the scheme; in the present condition of the world, everything should be done to encourage as many aspossible to join the V.R., and the one essential qualification should be ability to do the appropriate amount of flying. I should also like to put in a plea for greater flexibility inthe organization of the V.R.- I happen to be a master at a boarding school, which means that I spend the terms in onepart of the country and the holidays in another, and it ought to be possible for me to put in my training at the two centresnearest my home and school respectively. I understand, how- ever, that this is impossible without transferring from onestation to the other, a procedure which is obviously impractical for such short 'periods. It should be possible for one to beon the strength of one centre and yet be able to carry out a portion of one's training at a second centre in such circum-stances. Such an arrangement would benefit many. H. F. Swansea. HOLLAND'S AIR FORCES Training and Equipment T)LEASE accept my congratulations on the clear and favonr-A able article about the Dutch Air Forces published in Flight of August 5th. I would like, however, to point out two slight errors:1. You state that the Army Air Corps undertakes all trains ing (including training of Naval personnel) under the guid-ance of the Directorate of Flying training (page 159, first column). This Directorate of Flying training, which recentlywas renamed Command of Aviation Training, however, is a joint Command formed by Navy and Army. The Officer Com-manding is at present a Commander R.Neth.N. 2. The Army Air Corps equipment appears to include North-American Mitchells. These Mitchells formed the equipment of 320 (Dutch) Squadron R.A.F. 32oSq. was a Squadron mannedby the Netherlands Navy, including attached Army Air Corps personnel. Recently the Mitchells were collected in England by theNavy and now form part of the equipment of the Naval Air Service. . K. J. F. KREDIET, Netherlands Embassy, Commander R.Neth.N.,London, W.i. Naval Attache. Sept Sept. Sept Sept Sept Sept Sept Sept Sept Sept Sept Sept. Sept, FORTHCOMING EVENTS 4th.—Northants Aero Club : Air display at Sywell. (Cancelled.) 4th.—Butlin's Week-end Air Rally, Speeton, Filey, Yorks. 4th.—Bristol and Wessex Aeroplane Club : Air display, Whitchurch airfield, Bristol. 5th.—Light aircraft rally and model flying meeting, Flers, France. 7th to 12th.—-S.B.A.C. Exhibition and Display, Farnborough airfield, Hants. 12th.—Royal Air Forces Association : Festival of the Battle of Britain at the Royal Albert Hall. 18th to Oct. 3rd.—Copenhagen Show, organized by the F.B.I. 18th and 19th.—Aero Club of Milan : Air rally, Forlanini airfield. 25th.—S.L.A.E. (South Eastern Area): "Aviation Gasolines," by G. L. Coles, B.Sc, A.R.C.Sc, F.lnst.Pet., Manson House, 26, Portland Place, London, W.I, at 3 p.m. 25th and 26th.—Butlin's Week-end Air Rally at Ingoldmells, Skegness. 25th and 26th.—International air rally at Cervin, Sion, Switzerland. 27th to Oct. 1st.—Federation Aeronautique Internationale Con- ference, Paris. 30th.—Royal Aeronautical Society : Fourth British Commonwealth and Empire Lecture: "Some Economic Factors in Civil Aviation, with Emphasis on Civil Aircraft and their Pros- pective Trends of Development." Peter G. Masefield, M.A., F.R.Ae.S. BUILDING THE SR 45 "PRESCRIBING, in a series of articles, the construction of-L' the 140-ton Saro SR.45 flying boat, Aircraft Production observes that the makers' marine tradition is clearly apparentin the method adopted for hull assembly. From the viewpoint of conventional aircraft practice, the most remarkable featureis that an assembly fixture in the accepted sense of the word scarcely exists, except for the location of frame 51 at theafter end of the pressure-hull section. For the rest, the hull is built up on a keel former consisting of a mahogany saddleshaped transversely to receive the bottom curvature of the keel extrusion and following longitudinally the line of theplaning bottom, the step and the after body. Problems that arise in the construction of a boat of thislarge size (the pressurized section of the hull is 121ft in length) are typified by the fact that checks had to be made of thefloor level of the main assembly shop, in case the tidal waters which adjoin the works affected the foundations. These checksestablished that not only had the floor beeen well and truly laid, but that the subsoil itself was not susceptible to tidalchanges—fortunate circumstances both, as in the Saunders- Roe works on the opposite side of the Medina estuary the tidescause appreciable changes in floor level. BALL AT HEATHROWL ONDON AIRPORT authorities and the airline operatingcompanies are combining to organize a second International Air Ball in the reception building at London Airport on Fridiay,October 15th, from 8 p.m. till 2 a.m. Tickets, whichf are £i is single, can be obtained from the Honorary Secretary,International Air Ball, c/o Airport Manager, London Ailport.
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