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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1417.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER first Aeronautical Weekly in the World ". " - " — Founded 1909 No. 2121. Vol. LVI. THURSDAY, 18 AUGUST, 1949 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. EDITOR MAURICE A. SMITH. D.F.C. ASSISTANT EDITOR : H. F. KING, M.B.E. " ... ART EDITOR -•"'*" JOHN YQXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices : DORSET HOUSE, ' STAMFORD STREET. LONDON, S.E.I. Telegrams : Flightpres, Sedist, London. Telephone -. Waterloo 3333 (60 lines). Branch Offices : ? COVENTRY 8-10, Corporation Stren. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. BIRMINGHAM. 2. . King Edward Housa, New Street. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 7191 (7 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 260, Deansgate. Telegrams: Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412 (3 fines). Deansgate 3S9S (2 lines). GLASGOW, C.2 26b, Renfiefd Street. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Home : Twelve months, £3 I*. Od. Six months, £1 10s. 6d. Overseas : Twelve months, £2 18s. 6d. BY AIR : To any country in Europe (except Poland). Twelve months, £5 Is. Od. Six months, £2 10s. 6d. Canada and U.S.A. Six months. $16. In this issue: Zero Reader - The First Air Display Bristol Proteus Athena Mark 2 - National Gliding Contests Prestwick Pioneer Progresses 182 188 191 197 - 203 - 205 Off to a Good StartP ROGRESS with the Comet, entirely in keeping with its character, continues to delight everybody and inspire comment in quite unexpected quarters. The • aircraft was designed to travel much faster than any other airliner, it has appeared sooner than had been expected, and it has made remarkably rapid progress in its early flight trials. In the first two weeks, 18 flights totalling some 20 hours were made, and so satisfactory was the performance of the aircraft and its four Ghost turbojets that John Cunningham felt sufficiently confident to carry out hand- ling trials on a range of fore-and-aft loadings, to try the stall with and without flaps, and to climb to 37,500ft—very nearly its operational height. True air-speeds of 430-450 m.p.h. have also been reached. Such highly satisfactory progress as this, achieved in such a short time, offers real promise of a British recovery in the air- transport field. Nor are these achievements, unique, for another British turbine-powered airliner, the Viscount (four Dart turboprops), built to meet a different set of requirements, has also progressed smoothly and rapidly since its first flight more than 12 months ago. It is not to be wondered that other countries are watching British developments with the keenest interest, tinged with both envy and, no doubt, some anxiety. It would be unwise, however, to allow our gratification to carry us too far too early, for it is one thing to produce a good prototype and another (in time at least) to develop it to meet the exacting requirements of modern air transport. To-day an airliner cannot be accepted if it falls short in any one ot several key qualities. In the case of the turbine-powered aircraft, fuel consumption remains the most critical consideration. In addition, it should not be forgotten that airway-control problems (notably holding procedures and traffic pattern co-ordination) are by no means solved, nor is it known how comfortable or otherwise passengers will find themselves when flying at very high speeds and altitudes. Much is, of course, already known and much more will be learned in the next two years about high-speed, high-altitude flying. Military aircraft of several types and research machines such as the Ghost Vampire have provided some of the essential data. A flight of Mosquitoes has also had as its sole duty for many months past the investigation of high-altitude weather conditions. Anxious as everyone is to see the Comet in service quickly, it may be that its early appearance and rapid progress will be valuable chiefly in allowing both manufac- turers and operators additional time to gain experience with it before the scheduled time for entry into service. There is nothing haphazard about bringing a new air- liner into use: the writing-off of the earlier aircraft after a given period, the training of crews, the opening of new-services to new schedules—all these are part of a long- standing operational plan which it may not be convenient, advisable or economically sound to alter. One of the main tasks of the Comet will be to help lift our airline economics out of the red. In this connection it may be recalled that several exceptional endurance runs by turbojets and turboprops have indicated that these units will require much less ser- vicing than do piston engines. A. Cdre. Whittle, lecturing in Paris earlier this year, estimated that for pure jets a figure of one man-hour per power unit per 10,000 miles of flying would be representative. Man-hours for airframe servicing were also likely to be reduced, due to the virtual absence of vibration from the engines. An- other most important forecast was that, when produced in equal quantities, turbojets would cost less than would piston engines of equivalent power. An interesting direct comparison of performance and operating costs may be provided by the Marathon I with four Gipsy Queens and the Marathon II with two Mambas, which recently flew for the first time and of which some details and a photograph appear on page 185. Enterprise in the building of jet airliners is no longer, however, ours alone: for another Commonwealth country, Canada, has announced the first flight of its four- Derwent transport, the Avro C-102, to be known as the Jetliner. Canada is an ideal country for the introduction of jet passenger services in view of the great distances to be covered and the fine, clear, accurately predictable weather it enjoys.
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