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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0554.PDF
356 FLIGHT MARCH 24TH, 1949 Correspondence remote control, using instruments far away fiom the actual scene of destruction. It is now some five years since we luckily spotted the great German experimental organization at Peenemunde and destroyed it. There they had made a beginning with the V-i which was destined mainly to attack London. What could those same German scientists have done during the sub- sequent rive years with possession of the atomic bomb, the lessons they had learned from the V-i and with peacetime free- dom for development? In the meantime, our great tech- nicians in this country are using the success of the jet to try to exceed the speed of sound, with doubtful advantage when they have done so, seeing that already the V-2 type at over 3,000 m.p.h. has stewn us what might eventually accrue in this direction! • . . ' For the moment, and with the knowledge and resources we can call upon right now we ought to be able to replace the big and expensive "long-term policy" bomber with a simpler pilotless and crewless atom-bomb "delivery plane" to be launched from somewhere in this country and controlled by instruments to its destination, having due regard to the fact that we do not need any more "pin-point" bombing on any particular small target. It could be a " one-way '' machine with rocket assistance to a great height. The pressurized cabins and armaments and crews and undercarriage and the mass of impedimenta could be dispensed with, it could send back pictures of the ground it is travelling over and the "pilot" would all the time be sitting in his soundproof basement with instruments and charts and receivers in front of him. The bombs would, of course, be made harmless until they were some hours' distance from their launching base. We might also build pilotless re- connaissance machines to take photographs from a low height and either radio them or bring them home. Is it too much to ask that some pilotless '' atom carriers be put in hand immediately for tests over the Atlantic? We have good reason to believe that many of the German experts who were in advanced stages in this class of work have been working for the Russians for some years. May one hope that the writer is "speaking out of turn" and that such machines are already on the way? Petworth, Sussex. GRANVILLE BRADSHAW. EX-NAVAL PILOTS " Unwanted" by R.N.V.R., Welcomed by R.A.F.V.R.I WOULD like to add my voice in support of Messrs. Prout- ing and Warrender's recent letters regarding ex-naval pilots. Having flown for four years in the service of the Royal Navy, I was demobilized full of keenness to continue flying with the R.N.V.R During the past three years I have re- peatedly applied to the Admiralty to fly with a Reserve Squadron. As there is only one such squadron for the whole of London and the South, the only satisfaction I have received is that my name now adorns both long and short waiting lists for that squadron. Fifteen months ago I turned, in despera- tion, to the R.A.F.V.R., where I was welcomed with open arms. I deeply regretted and still regret the necessity of having to sever completely all connections with my " mother " service in order to take an active part in the nation's reserves. The R.A.F.V.R. flying school to which I am attached is the same school at which I did my E.F.T. whilst in the Royal Navy. Surely, if R.N. personnel -could train with the R.A.F. during war, they could "keep their hand in" with the R.A.F.V.R. during peace. At this school there are several ex-naval pilots who are still extremely keen, and at a recent ground lecture, held during a -wintry spell, 25 per cent of those present were ex-naval. Whilst being most grateful to the R.A.F.V.R. for being allowed to fly with them, I abhor the Admiralty's indifference, to its ex-pilots who are keen to see a strong and efficients Naval Air Reserve. H. G. TANNER, r'* Bexleyheath, Kent. F/O. R.A.F.V.R., Ex-Lt. (A) R.N.V.R. PROTOTYPE-ENGINE DEVELOPMENT What It Costs I HAVE just read the article '' Introspection'' in Flight ofMarch 3rd, and I am amazed by the remarks attributed to A. Cdre. Banks. He instances ^55,000 as the cost of de- veloping a 3,500 h.p. prototype-piston engine, and £58,000 for a turboprop of -similar power. I'll not contest the com- parison, for I have no idea of what this is, but I do most certainly contest his statistics. The figures he quotes would be no more than a mere frac- tion of the expenditure necessary to develop such engines; £580,000 would be a little closer to the actual figures. At least three years would be spent in development before the successful running of the prototype, and this would cost at least £500,000 in wages alone, quite apart from all the other numerous expenses entailed. If A. Cdre. Banks' figures were correct, how much happier would be the aircraft industry to-dayl Morden, Surrey. F. K. GOULDING. [We have asked A. Cdre. Banks for his comments, which are as follows.—ED.] " I assumed an active firm, already in being, with the neces- sary experience and technical and manufacturing personnel. I also assumed that the cost in question only covered the design and manufacture of one (the first) prototype engine. '' In order to take this prototype through the development phase, to the point where it can be successfully type-tested, would involve a further number of engines, i.e., at least ten or a dozen; and this, together with anything from 5,000 to 10,000 hours of development testing, comes to considerably more than Mr. Goulding's figure. In fact, with the number of samples of the prototype required during the development phase, and according to the complexity of the individual engine, the final figure can be anything between £J,000,000 and /2iooo,ooo. "If, therefore, Mr. Goulding had read my Bleriot article, he would have seen that the figures quoted in the article of your issue of March 3rd were actually for designing and build- ing a prototype engine and not for its subsequent development. '' There is, also, the extreme case where a firm with no previous experience of aviation engines has received a contract for the design and manufacture of a new engine; and where one engine, before development, has cost about ^250,000. The reason for this is that the single prototype engine has to bear the cost of running practically the whole firm." BOOKS UECEIVEB Aircraft Power Plants, by the Technical Development Staff of Northrop Aeronautical Institute. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Ltd., 36s. The Measurement of Stress and Strain in Solids. Institute of Physics, 17s 6d. ;. Aeromodeller Annual, compiled by D. J. Laid law-Dickson and edited by D. A. Russell, M.I.Mech.E.' The Model Aero- nautical Press, Ltd-, 7s 6d. Flight to Freedom, by J. V. Hewes. Hammond, Hammond and Co., Ltd , 8s. 6d. Aviation Medicine in its Preventive Aspects, by John F. Fulton, O.B.E., M.D., D.Sc. Oxford University Press, 12s 6d. A Textbook of Radar, by the Staff of the Radiophysics Laboratory of Australia. Chapman and Hall, 50s. A.B.C. of Airports and Airliners, by Owen G. Thetford. Ian Allan, Ltd., 3s fid. BA Aluminium Paste. The British Aluminium Co., Ltd. World Aviation Annual, 194.8, published jointly by the Avia- tion Research Institute, Washington, D.C., and the James Jackson Cabot Professorship of Air Transportation of Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont. Palmer's Company Guide, by J. Charlesworth, LL.D. Stevens and Sons, Ltd., Gs 6d. The Army Air Forces in World War II, edited by W. F. Craven and J. L. Cate. Cambridge University Press, 27s 6d. One Story of Radar, by A. P. Rowe. Cambridge University Press, 8s 6d. Smatterbook Number 10—100 Facts on Flying. General Editor, Charles Graves. The Naldrett Press, fid. Annual Report of The Smithsonian Institution, 1947. United States Government Printing Office. Air Transport Navigation, by Peter H. Redpath and James M. Coburn. Pitman, 25s. The Theory and Use of the Complex Variable, by S. L. Green, M.Sc. Pitman, 12s. 5d. Still Binding with Cheque-Mate!, by Richard Barker. The Punch Bowl Press, 3s 6d. •, Rockets and Space Travel, by Willy Ley. Chapman and Hall, 18s. The Helicopter, by Colonel H. F. Gregory. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 18s. Model Aeroplane Handbook, by F. J. Camm. George Newnes, Ltd., 12s fid. The Air League Book. Published by Foley House Press for the Air League of the British Empire, 12s 6d. Control Line Flying, by R. H. Warring. P. Marshall, 10s 6d. p. 26
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