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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0533.PDF
MARCH 24TH, 1949 FLIGHT 341 absolutely no signs of low morale. This was representative ofK.'A.F. morale generally. Finally, he thanked Lord Trenchard and the Pathfinder Association and said '' I assureyou that Bomber Command will not let you down in future." Air Vice-Marshal Bennett, who had flown a Tudor-load ofdiesel oil to Berlin in the morning and returned that afternoon by Proctor to be at the dinner, made several pithy andhumorous remarks with reference to wartime Pathfinder exploits and post-war civil aviation. He said " Every time Itry to drop a T.I. I drop a brick." There had been dark patches in 1941 but we did something about it. It was thesame now, and something must be done. To Pathfinders he said '' Forget the spoofs and dummies, press on—not quiteregardless. To be keen is not enough; you must act." Mr. Cyril Birks, proposing the toast of the Pathfinders andA.V-M Bennett, said that Arr Marshal Bennett had led the Pathfinder Force with great distinction and success. ThePathfinder Association, like all Service organizations, aimed to perpetuate the wartime camaraderie. He mentioned that theAssociation had found employment after demobilization for 500 of its 3,000 members. He traced briefly the history ofP.F.F. and A.V-M. Bennett's career, and concluded by thanking those who had given support and help in the organiz-ation of Bomber Command Reunion. To other names already mentioned he added, deservedly, that of F/L. Alec Thorne,secretary-general of the Pathfinder Association and organizing secretary of the Bomber Command Reunion Committee. G/C. D. F. E. C. Dean briefly, but adequately, proposedthe toast of "absent friends." The guests invited were as follows: — Marshal of the R.A.F. Viscount Trenchard, Marshal of the R.A.F. LordTadder, Viscount Rothermere, Air Marshal Sir Robert Saundby, Air Marshal Sir Alec Coryton, Ai^ Marshal Sir Arthrt* Sanders, Air Marshal Sir RichardPeck- Air Marshal Sir Aubrey EUwood, Sir James Barnes, A.V-M. 7. D. Brekey, Brig-Gen. J. B. Ackerman, G/C. L. Cheshire, G/C. R. C. Vaughan,W/C. M. Smith, S/L. A. J. O. Warner, L. M. MacBride, Esq., Guy Schofield, Esq., W. B. Harbud, Esq^, W. H. Parsons, Esq., E. A. Lister, Esq., G. R.Boak, Esq., Cyril Birks. Esq., Thnrstan James, Esq, H. C. Drake. Esq. Latest American Helicopter Piasecki XHJP-1 Claimed to be World's Fastest and to Have Made First Helicopter Loop ITRTHER information is now available concerning the Piasecki tandem-rotor helicopter, pictures of which we published last week. This machine, it will be recalled, has tandem overlapping rotors, and three are on order. The first two have been undergoing tests at the U.S. Navy Air Test Centre, Patuxent River, Maryland. During tests at the Piasecki Helicopter Corporation's air- field at Morton, Pa, one of these machines made calibrated runs at 131 m.p.h. It is not disclosed whether this speed was an average of two runs -in each direction, but in any case the flight was not officially observed, and so does not qualify for record purposes. Nevertheless, it is a praiseworthy perform- ance, especially if one bears in mind that this helicopter carries five passengers, plus a crew of two, on a Continental engine of 525 h.p. During the speed run it probably carried pilot only, as did the Faire.y Gyrodyne when it established the world's speed record of 134.3 m-p-h- The Alvis engine is of approximately the same power as that of the Piasecki, so, if this speed figure was not due to tail wind, there would appear to be advantages in the overlapping tandem-rotor arrange- ment. The following performance figures are said to have been obtained with the XHJP-i: rate of climb with forward speed more than 1,600 ft/min; in vertical ascent 1,500 ft/min. At 75 "per cent power the cruising speed is 114'm.p.h. As an j Pilot and co-pilot have an excellent field of view in the Piasecki -'- XHJP-1 tandem-rotor helicopter now being tested for the U.S. Navy- It will carry five seated passengers or three stretcher coses. and e.g. location is not critical. r '3 overload test the machine has been flown with a useful load of more than one ton. Transition into autorotative flight has been accomplished at a range of speeds, including the maxi- m-um permissible, but no information is available concerning the loads with which transition -was made. One of the advantages of the overlapping tandem-rotor arrangement, apart from compactness, is that centre-of-gravity location is not critical, so that passengers can move about inside the spacious fuselage. The manufacturers state that "the rigid all-metal fuselage has reduced vibration to a new low for this type of aircraft." According to reports, there was room for improvement in that particular direction. Main dimensions of the Piasecki XHJP-i are: length with blades extended, 39ft 3111; with blades folded, 31ft 7m. Width with blades folded, 9ft 4m. The height is 12ft 6in with blades at rest, and with blades running there is clearance of 7ft above the ground or deck. In doing a demonstration of the machine's ability to •with- stand high " g " forces, the Piasecki pilot, Jim Ryan a photo- graph of whom appears on page 337) made what was probably the first loop in a helicopter. He dived to attain the required test figure for pull-out and applied full control. This put the machine into a vertical position, and Ryan decided the only thing to do was to continue through a loop. All went perfectly well, but Ryan said afterwards that he admitted "sweating a bit." ACCURATE SURVEY PHOTOGRAPHYT O photograph an area from the air a series of straight and parallel tracks must be flown. The distance between ad- jacent tracks is chosen to give a- specified amount of overlap between the parallel strips of photographs, and this fact calls for highly accurate navigation, particularly on large-scale sur- veys. For example, at a scale of 1:2500 25m to the mile) the flight lines will be only 220yd apart and a momentary deviation of more than 20yd from the track ma3' result in insufficient overlap, causing a gap in the photographic cover- age and so necessitating a second flight. At the end of the 1947 photographic season the Directorate of Ordnance Survey considered that the programme of large- scale air photography then in hand in the United Kingdom de- manded a fresh approach to the problem of tracking, and several different types of radio and radar aids were examined. Eventually the Decca Navigator system was selected and sub- mitted to a series of trials. The system has the inherent quality of high accuracy and it was convenient that the English chain of navigational stations provided a readily available means of test for the particular purpose. After the preliminary trials, aircraft of a R.A.F. squadron were fitted with Decca receivers in readiness for a full pro- gramme in the 1948 season. It is understood that the results obtained were highly successful. One example was the cover- age of some 50 square miles of London at a scale of 1:25oo, made in 13 sorties between May 16th and May 19th. It was possible to take full advantage of favourable weather and the entire operation was completed without a gap in the coverage. In addition to the obvious economies effected by the elimina- tion of extra sorties to fill gaps there was an important saving in the work of handling and analyzing the prints owinj to the uniformity of the strips obtained.
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