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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 2193.PDF
DECEMBER 23RD, 1948 FLIGHT 757 cable-chopping, and is operated by pulling a cord in the cab (penalty for improper use £5). This releases a piece of 6in by 3m channel, pivoted at one end, which acts as the hammer. So far, it has not been used in earnest, but on test has been most effective. The cab is protected by wire mesh, and the driver sits with the drum on his right and the engine on his left. The throttle and other engine controls are also on his left, together with the gear lever, brake and chopper release. On his right is the clutch lever. A telephone and signalling lamp are provided. After a few slight mods., the design proved to be most satisfactory. Using rather less than 3,000ft of cable, in a light wind an Olympia can be launched consistently to 750 or 800ft. In a breeze strong enough to discourage the local Tiger Moths, 1,000ft is the order of the day, and in a really good wind 1,200 or even 1,400ft has been obtained. Apart from pouring in the appropriate fluids, little main- tenance has been needed, and cable-wear seems reasonable. There have been practically no snags so far as the basic design of the winch is concerned, except that second gear is a little too low and the brake can be rather tricky, 't should be explained that the brake is lightly applied whilst the cable is being towed out to the launching point to damp out surging and to prevent the drum over-running. Most cable-breaks have been due to this brake having been used too frequently. As a trailer, it is a little unwieldly, weigh- ing rather over ij tons, but stiffening the springs has helped to make it behave fairly well on tow. Having the motive power on the ground instead of m the aircraft introduces a number of peculiar problems, but this type of winch, one of the few in this country to be designed specifically for the job, seems to provide the answer to most of them. KIM. FASTENER THE requirement for cowling fastenerswhich are simple in operation, posi- tive in action and do not cause disrup- tion in skin contour, has been made the subject of a Ministry of Supply specifica- tion. Many of the larger aircraft manufacturing companies do, of course, fit cowling fasteners of their own design, but there are other concerns who manu- facture proprietary designs of toggle fastener, among them the King Aircraft Corporation, of flillington, Glasgow. Of the eight makes of fastener presented for official examination, that made by King Aircraft was deemed to have the greatest number of desirable features. The accompanying sketches illustrate the external appearance of the fastener as fitted to a cowling and also show the respective parts in such a manner as clearly to indicate the method of opera- tion. The central sketch shows thesocket element, whilst the right sketch shows the inside of the lever unit, thehooked feet of which fit over the shoulders in the base of the socketmember. The latch mechanism consists of a pivoted latch plate embossed"PUSH" and extended by a coil spring to maintain it in the locking position :the latch itself engages with the upper pin spanning the walls of the hookedlever. Pivoted between the hooking feet of the lever is a two-part link, the lowerhalf of which is in turn pivoted in the head of the base block. The two partsof the connecting link are spigot-screwed together in order to provide somelatitude of adjustment between the parts of the cowling the fastener is intended tounite. As may be seen, this fastener pro- vides a positive lock and smooth exterior. BEECHCRAFT 45 TRAINER HPHERE is something distinctly British about the conception-*• of the new Beechcraft Model 45 which was announced very recently. American trainers have tended in the main to bemore powerful and more elaborate than their counterparts in Europe; however, in this case a very clean and simple tandemmonoplane with 185 h.p. Continental engine is introduced. The particular talking points are said to be its lively per-formance coupled with exceptional running economy and low cost of maintenance. Purchase price is to be reasonable aswell. The name of Mentor, already used by the Miles com- pany in this country, has been given to the Beech 45, whichis a development from, and has many points, other thanN|S butterfly tail, in common with the Bonanza. The Beech Air\craft Corporation of Kansas describe their venture as a'"-. "primary and basic advanced trainer," which is possibly in-tended to indicate extreme versatility but which runs the .risk of being interpreted as inability to make up their minds i|s +nwhat niche this new trainer would best fill. Nevertheless^ fc the rather iimited information at present'available, the appears to be an attractive proposition in the basic (Britishdefinition) two-seater class. It is of all-metal construction with retractable undercarriage,and has been designed with a load factor of 10. It is said to offer strength unmatched by other competitive aircraft. Beech-craft's chief pilot said after its first test flight at Wichita on December 2nd that the Mentor was very stable in all planes,had the characteristics to make a good trainer and offered comfort and excellent visibility from either seat. Details ofequipment have not been stated. Dimensions and performance are as follows:Gross weight Top speed at sea levelCruising speed at 10,000 feet at 61 per cent powerMaximum dive speed Landing speed (with full flap)Initial late of climb Service ceiling Cruising rangeFuel consumption Take-off over 50 feet (zero wind, S.L., offgrass) Landing run over 50 feet (zero wind) .... 2,6501b.rj6 m.p.h. 160 m.p.h.280 m.p.h. 56 m.p.h.925 ft/min. 18,000 ft.634 miles. 10 g.p.h. 435 yards,250 yards. This illustration of the Beechcraft 45 emphasizes the excellent view enjoyed by both pilots. METEOROLOGICAL HANDBOOK The Meteorological Office has published a handbook ofweather messages, codes and specifications to replace the pre- war publication Wireless Weather Messages. Full details areincluded of the code forms to be used for weather messages as from January 1st, 1949, together with tables of specificationsfor individual weather elements. Separate chapters are devoted to surface reports, upper airreports, reports from aircraft, forecast codes and the inter- national analysis code, and the meteorological section of theQ code is reproduced. The handbook is publishc-d by H.M. Stationery Office. B ig
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