FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1413.PDF
AUGUST IITH, 1949 FLIGHT 177 The Meteor end its "mother" make contact over Poole Harbcur. •fe" Meteor's •-- 12-hour Flight Successful Trial of Neiv Air ; Refuelling Technique FOR the second time this year an outstanding aviationfeat has been permitted by the use of equipment andtechnique evolved by Flight Refuelling, Ltd. This firm, it will be remembered, made possible the U.S. Air Force's globe-circling non-stop cruise of 23,452 miles, flown in Q4 hours by a Boeing B-50 some five months ago. From Flight Refuelling's home airfield at Tarrant Rush- ton, Dorset, a Meteor 3 took off at 0700 hr last Sunday morning and remained in the air for 12 hr 3 min. Flying continuously over the South Coast, the Meteor had its tanks replenished in flight ten times from a converted Avro Lancaster, which itself landed twice to refuel. While this performance has unquestionably set up a record endurance for jet aircraft it is most significant as a completely successful trial of new and greatly advanced equipment for flight refuelling, which thereby gains in- creased scope for possible military and civil applications. Sunday's flight was a culmination of a series of experi- ments which began last April with equipment designed during the previous four months. Simplicity is the essence of the new technique. The tanker aircraft trails a 65 ft fuel-hose which terminates in a conical drogue (so called) containing the main fuel valve. Applying half-flap, the Meteor pilot approaches the tanker and engages with the drogue a "probe" which protrudes from the nose of his aircraft; within the drogue it is gripped by three toggles. Resulting slackness in the hose is automatically wound in by the drum in the Lancaster, and after one turn of the drum fuel begins to flow. Five standard fuel-booster pumps were fitted to the 1,250-gall kerosene tank of the Lancaster used on Sunday, and they transferred fuel at about 100 gall /min. The two main fuselage tanks of the Meteor (total capacity 325 gall) were filled simultaneously, and the average time from contact to breakaway during refuelling It will be seen that during refuelling—iwo stages 0/ winch are shown—the Meteor's dive brakes were extended. The flaps, which are normally used, had developed a snag. B 20
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
