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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 2215.PDF
DECEMBER 30TH, 1948 FLIGHT 771- Review of 1948 sition of the Ambassador's amazing aerodynamic qualities. The Vickers Viscount—in certain respects a more advanced, and exceptionally safe design, having four turboprops— dropped out of the running for Corporation orders, but proved a delightful harbinger of the "turboprop trans- port" era. Though rightly publicized as "jet airliners," the Avro Tudor VIII and Vickers Nene-Viking are considered by their sponsors—the Ministry of Supply—as pure-research machines. They will strengthen the foundation of experi- ence upon which such types as ultra-fast D.H. Comet, with its four Ghost turbojets, must stand before they enter service. The Handley Page Hermes IV, 25 of which are ear- marked for B.O.A.C., made an impressive debut at Farn- borough, and will be followed by the even more efficient Mk VI. In the Arm strong- Whitworth factory, the attrac- tive form of the four-Mamba Apollo gradually took shape throughout the year. At last, the Brabazon I saw daylight at Filton and, all questions of operational efficiency aside, showed itself (as proved by new photographs in this issue) to have classic beauty of line. Its first flight during the New Year will be a milestone on the adventurous road to British pre-eminence in aerial commerce. Less spectacular, but a real tribute to those responsible for engines, air- frame and airscrews, was the Bristol New Type 170, offered .during the year. Typifying recent progress in what, for want of a more concise term, may be called the "charter" field, the Per- cival Prince and the Short Sealand amphibian attracted a steady flow of enquiries from home and overseas. Their designers have done wonders in translating the ephemeral and often conflicting specifications of operators into prac- tical and outstandingly attractive vehicles. While '' The Clubs'' have been persevering with ageing equipment, such desirable light aircraft as the Chrislea Super Ace and Auster Avis have been perfected, while the first flight of the unorthodox Planet Satellite pusher mono- plane has drawn closer. Especially encouraging have been the great forward strides in the development of rotating-wing aircraft. The speed record established by the Fairey "Gyrodyne speaks for itself. Westland's S-51 has offered abundant evidence of its practical possibilities, and the Bristol 171 Mk I, itself highly successful, gives but a foretaste of the remarkable efficiencies promised by later and larger models. The pon- derous Merlin-engined Air Horse was airborne late in the year, contrasting amazingly with the 1,200-lb. two-seater Skeeter, from the same (Cierva) stable. On no more promising a theme could this cursory stock- taking of Britain's aircraft for 1948 be concluded. POWER UNITS /~*LEARLY woven in the power unit progress pattern of ^-^ the past year have been two designs: the first, to prove the dependability of gas turbines in all their appli- cations, and the second, to exploit the potentialities of turboprops in trainers and in new civil aircraft. Both are of the utmost importance not only in establishing more firmly the place of gas turbines in the civil as well as military field, but particularly because in the face of deter- mined world aviation competition British experience and "know-how" with turbojets and turboprops are trump cards. Producer companies, co-opsrating with the Ministry of Supply, undertook and without exception passed success- fully a series of remarkable endurance tests The gas turbines concerned were the de Havilland Goblin, the Bristol Theseus and Armstrong Siddeley Mamba, all, of course, type-tested units. The first-named made 234 test cycles of 65 minutes' duration, simulating combat flights, followed by further test runs. The unit completed over 500 hours over a period of seven weeks, requiring only routine attention. The two turboprops each completed 500-houi "sealed" test runs, again receiving only scheduled inspec- tion. The Mamba test was made up of 34 five-hour and 33 ten-hour runs. For the Theseus the schedule included 67 starts and five hours at maximum take-off power. The 500 hours' running was completed in 567 hours' elapsed time. Some details of the Bristol Proteus became known during 1948, and good progress was made with this all-important future power unit of the Brabazons. Rolls-Royce gave a While the turboprop Vickers Viscount (top left) is very much 0 " pukka " trans- port, the Nene-Viking (top right) is classed as a research aircraft. Outstanding among the world's light aircraft, the Planet Satellite (centre) was completed, but not flown, during the Old Year. Like the Nene-Viking, the Avro Tudor VIII (lower right) is a research aircraft. It has four Nenes and will be the instrument of investiga- tion into high-altitude transport operations. On the left is the very handsome Handley Page Hermes IV, adopted by B.O.A.C.
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