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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0312.PDF
204 FMGf/T FEBRUARY 17TH, 1949 AIR SURVEY EXHIBITION Hunting Aerosurveys Display in Famous Gallery OFFICIATING as chairman at the opening of '' TheWorld From the Air'' exhibition at the AlpineClub's gallery on February 8th, Lord Brabaron of Tara—the father of air mapping in this country—related some of his experiences at the beginning of the 1914-18 war when he, as 2nd Lt. (under probation) Moore-Braba- zon, with Sgt. Laws, under the command of Col. Tren- chard, attempted to persuade the Army chiefs of the usefulness of air photographs. He recalled that only after a number of rebuffs was their value recognized. ,. Lord Pakenham, who opened the exhibition, in con- tinuation of Lord4$rabazon's theme, pointed out that air mapping of the invasion areas was started on D-Day minus 2£ -years and that the resulting plans were of a larger scale and much more detailed even than those made by the French. Another point made by the Minister was that air .survey now lived by its own right and was no longer a by- AT THE OPENING : (Left to right) Lord firobazon of Torn, who also celebrated his 65th birthday on ths day the exhibition opened. Lord Pakenham and Lord Rennell of Rodd, the eminent geographer. product of any of the branches of cartography or aviation. For an exhibition 'dealing with a subject having so many facets, the space available is very limited but Hunting Aerosurveys, who are the sponsors of the display, have manag£d to include examples of most of the important applications. Down one side of the gallery examples of these applica- tions cover the walls ; forestry and agriculture, geographical education, geology, archeology, architecture, town plan- ning, map revision and model making are all shown. On the opposite, flank are examples of work done by Hunting Aerosurveys at home and in the Middle East, as well as specimens from other concerns of the Hunting Group in Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Displayed around the lower panels of the gallery are nearly 80 oblique photographs of superb quality, and quite outstanding in their aesthetic value are two air view* of trees and villages peeping through low mist. The floor is taken up by exhibits of equipment accessary for air survey work. Kodaks show special panchromatic and infra-red films, filters, Kodatrace sheeting and some air photographs in colour. Bristols have a model of their famous Freighter displayed with a number of photo-" graphs showing the aircraft adapted specially for air survey work. The Williamson Manufacturing Co., Ltd., who designed and built the first British semi-automatic air camera ever to fee made, have on show their latest O.S.C. Mk. 2 survey camera and Williamson-Ross Multiplex mapping equipment, In graphic form Decca Navigator Co., Ltd., show their •method of enabling air - survey plotters to estimate the exact position in space occupied by the photographing aircraft at the time of making an exposure. Accuracy is claimed to be -within 20-100 yards. The exhibition, which is free, will continue until Feb. 19th and is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Lectures, demonstrations and films are given each day at 3 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. The address of the Alpine Club's gallery is 74, South Audley Street, London, W.i. H GEORGE JEWETT IS many friends in the aircraft industry will have been deeply sorry to learn of the death, after a short illness, of George Percival Jewett. He was less than forty years of age, and had before him his most valuable years as an aircraft engineer. After working for ten years as a designer with the de Havilland Aircraft Company, George Jewett had been suc- cessively chief power plant designer and aircraft development engineer with the Bristol Aeroplane Company. In 1943 he joined Mr. A. E. Hagg At Airspeed primarily as a development designer on the Ambassador, and he was engaged on this work at the time of his death. - VAMPIRE FUTURE THE -DE HAVILLAND AIRCRAFT COMPANY, LTD., haverecently announced their views on the future which lies before the famous Vampire fighter. ' Adopted by no fewer than eight'governments; apart from its service with the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm, the Vam- pire is undoubtedly the most extensively chosen fighter in the world to-day. It would be logical to develop the design in such a way that the aircraft's qualities of short take-off, -exceptional docility and manoeuvrability, and controllability at high altitudes, are retained, while advance is made ia performance, principally in •climb, ceiling and speed. The key to these improvements lies, of course, in the direction of increased thrust and a better Mach number limitation. On the powder side of the picture, the Vampire went into squadron service with a Goblin of 2,700 Ib statici thrust. This was advanced to 3,000 Tb and then 3,300 1b, and recently the existence has been officially announced of a'Goblin turbojet of even 'higher output, tli^ Mk 4. It is also quite well, known-that, since May gth, 1947, a Vampire has' been undergoing flight development fitted with a Ohnst-*eTigine of 5,000 lb thrust and, of course, the Ghost may well be ex- pected to rise to higher ratings, just as the Goblin has done. It is pertinent to recall in this connection that the Ghost- Vampire holds the International Height Record, and has done much valuable development flying at a little under 60,000 ft. In regard to Mach number limitations, and aerodynamic pro- gress generally, the company's unremitting work with the D.H. 108 aircraft, which liave been flying since May 15th, 1946, and have exceeded the speed of sound in the dive, cannot but accrue to the general advantage, not only of future types of Vampires, but also of the still mote advanced de. Havilland fighters of the later future. BLACKBURN GENERAL AIRCRAFT FREIGHTER PLANSI T seems that no final decision has yet been taken regarding the airfield to be used for the first flight of the Blackburn General Aircraft Freighter which has reached a fairly advanced stage of construction at Hanwoxth. The original intention was to make the first take-off from Hanworth itself, but this has wisely been vetoed by the Ministry of Supply, for although the aircraft would undoubtedly be capable of taking off from the limited space available, Hanworth airfield is surrounded by housing estates, and the Freighter'^ response to its power- assisted controls bound to be something of an unknown factor. A report has circulated in Yorkshire that the units of fhe Freighter are to be taken by road to the Blackburn factory at Brough, there to be assembled and test flown for the first: time. Although this is not confirmed at Efanworth it would seem to be a sensible proposal, for once the linits are loaded the cost and trouble of Conveying them 200 miles by road would be little more than carrying thtem the two or three miles to London Airport wr-the 70-prkl miles to Southampton, two othfr alternatives; which have been mentioned, B 20
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