FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1632.PDF
39&- FLIGHT, 22 September 1949 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor of "Flight" does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents in these columns. The names and aiMresses of the writers, not necessarily Jor publication, must in all cases accompany letters. ELUSIVE RECORD •:-/.-.--\v.^-..^;/ TPRULY, Farnborough was an occasion for a hearty measureJ- of good, old-fashioned national pride, and no one was more warmed around the heart (and I must confess, chilled downthe spine) than myself by the performances of our two research fighters, the Hawker P.1052 and Supermariiie 510. But at thesame time I was puzzled and disappointed, for neither appeared to be as fast as the standard F-S6 Sabre fighters in every-dayservice with the U.S.A.F. We have to admit, it seems, that though Britain leads theworld, in jet propulsion, she is at present incapable of regain- ing the world's speed record. Surely this is a state of affairswhich demands urgent attention. We are not even able to offer a favourite excuse of ours 011 these occasions—that theforeign record-holder is a special hotted-up racing job with no practical application. The Sabre is, I repeat, a standardtighter, backed by many months of service. Bolton, Lanes. W. SYKES. FALLACY OF course, the fallacy behind "Soundproofs" argument(Correspondence, September 15th) is that directed against all transport, or mechanical progress in general; it is valid, butagainst air transport as opposed to other forms, it is com- pletely invalid. He praises railways while scorning airways.To turn his own argument against him—a horse-drawn coach of perhaps four "horsepower" might carry six people. Canhis 1,500 h.p. rail loco beat that power/passenger ratio? On what data does he base his assumption that aircraft are danger-ous while trains are safe? Statistics show no such great difference. If he said: "Let us all walk and dispense with mechanicalaids," he would have a,n argument, albeit unpopular. But he cannot condemn air transport on those grounds without con-lemning all transport. G. R. SATCHLER. Oxford. FARNBOROUGH SUGGESTION—I NOW that Farnborough has come and gone—and a grandaffair it was, from every point of view—may I, through your columns, venture a suggestion to the S.B.A.C. ? Likeevery other spectator present, I was thrilled to the core by the high-speed, low-altitude flying of the jet-fighter pilots;but—and again, I am sure, like many others—I could not repress an uneasy feeling about what might happen in theevent of anything going wrong. In such a connection, and in speaking of such magnificent pilots and aircraft, I do notsuggest the possibility of either an error of judgment or a mechanical failure, but rather one of those unforeseen, once-in-a-million occurrences, such as a pilot being stung in the face by a wasp just as he pulls out of his dive at "o feet." I dimly remember that before the war, at an air display on the Continent, an aircraft ploughed through the crowd, withfatal results to some dozens of people. If a pre-war machine could do that, the result of a similar occurrence with an over-600 m.p.h. fighter among the densely packed crowds on the Farnborough public days simply does not bear contemplation. I therefore suggest that, at future S.B.A.C. Displays, lowflights be made only along the runway, and not over the public enclosures, and that no spectators be allowed to con-gregate in the area immediately opposite the runway's end (i.e., the eastern end, towards which most of che " beat-upa "were done). Whilst well aware that such a regulation would deprive alot ot people of a thrill, one must visualize the possible alter- native which may otherwise come sooner or later—namely,3. catastrophe which would be the worst possible advertisement for the S.B.A.C., the manufacturer concerned and Britishaviation in general. It would be most interesting to hear the views of the demon-strating pilots concerned. W. H. SMITH. London, S.W.i. FARNBOROUGH SUGGESTION—II ONLY one thing was lacking at Farnborough—the note ofgaiety introduced by flags, as exemplified at almost every Continental air display Would it not be a pleasant gesture,at future S.B.A.C. Displays, to fly the national flags of the _|O-odd countries which usually send representatives?Luton, Beds. SPECTATOR. FIRST DRAUGHTSMAN ? SOME of the large number of persons who are or have beenemployed as draughtsmen (and, for that matter, draughts- women) in the aircraft industry over the past thirty years maybe interested to learn who, actually, was the first aircraft draughtsman in Britain to work as such for a wage. As far as can be ascertained, the record for this achievementmust go to the late Sidney Hollands, who worked as draughts- man for Sir Hiram S, Maxim on the design of the latter's largesteam-driven aircraft constructed at Baldwyns Park, Bexley, Kent (the home of the inventor) during the years 1891 to 1893.Later (somewhere around 1906-7), Mr. Hollands worked as draughtsman on the design of a small dirigible balloon con-structed by Spencer Brothers, the balloonists, of Highbury, London. This dirigible had no higher aim in life than that ofadvertising a well-known baby-food, popular at that time, and the whole enterprise ended in litigation in the High Court,the baby-food proprietors being the winners. Incidentally, the airship was chartered by the Suffragettes of those days for oneof their militant exploits. The writer believes he is the only person still living who isin possession of the information about Mr. Hollands. E. V. HAMMOND. London, S.W.17. INSIDE THE IL-12 (Continued fromThe seat belts as fitted are definitely inadequate. There is a DC-3 type of window emergency exit on each side. Cabinheating is by means of hot air through ducts at the base of the walls. The seat-belt and "no smoking" signs are in Czech,Russian, English and French. At the rear of the cabin opposite to the entrance door isa small, well-equipped pantry, and aft on the starboard side is a lavatory with wash-basin and large mirror. Occupying the space to port of the lavatory and also behindit is a freight hold of generous proportions, connected by a door with the passenger cabin and having a loading door on the portside. This door is rather high, for exterior loading and is probably too small for the acceptance of other than smallfreight. Between the cabin and the crew's compartment is another ireight compartment, the size of which depends on thenumber of passenger seats installed; it is loaded through a hatch in the floor. The wing, which has hot-air de-icing, is of thick section,with a noticeable change in profile at about half-way along the outer section The flaps and ailerons, like the rudders andelevators, are fabric-covered ; metal trim tabs are fitted to all control surfaces except the port aileron. the previous page)The engines are 1,650 rated h.p. ASH 82 FN two-row radiate (ASH. denotes the designer, A. D. Shvetsov) and they drivelarge-diameter four-bladed metal airscrews with fluid de-icing. The twin-wheel main undercarriage units retract forward to becompletely housed in the nacelle. Retractable landing lights are fitted under each wing. The II-12 was taxied quite fast and ground control appearedto be positive. Take-off time with fifteen passengers and a crew of five was just under 20 sec, and the climb was steep;the pilot, Captain Koucky, proceeded to demonstrate manoeuvrability with some impressively tight turns. On cruising powers the noise and vibration are reasonable—perhaps slightly better than those of the Viking. The II-12 has a span of 104ft, length of 69ft nin andheight of 26ft 6in; weight empty is 24,470 lb and weight loaded 38,030 lb; economical cruising speed is 205-21 r m.p.h.at 9,800ft at 1,850 r.p.m. Dimly discernible beneath the Czech registration was aSoviet civil registration which suggests that this IL-12 had seen service with Aeroflot. The type will probably be placed inservice on the Prague-London route when further aircraft have been delivered. Ten may be commissioned.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
