FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1694.PDF
45» FLIGHT, 6 October 1949 HERE and THERE End of an Achievement OPERATION Plainfare, the K.A.F.share of the Berlin Air Lift, came to an end on September 23rd; the final flight was made by a Dakota, which, In- carrying passengers on the outward jour- ney, brought to 91,000 the total of Ger- man civilians " backloaded " from Gatow to the Western Zones. The Air Lift it- self officially ended at midnight on Sep- tember 30th. It was to have continued for a further month, but sufficient stocks of supplies had been built up in Berlin to justify the conclusion of the operation. Wing-spar Failure PROCTOR owners who may be con-cerned about the report of an acci- dent in the Yorkshire area will be inter- ested to read the following comments provided by Percival Aircraft. Ltd. It was reported in the daily Press, they state, that Douglas fir was "used as" a substitute for spruce '' in the wing spars of the aircraft but, in fact, fir was speci- fied ; the actual timber used in this par- ticular aircraft was, however, below specification. The machine, the 7 add, was not constructed by themselves, but by sub-contractors, who built a total of 400. This is the first structural failure to have occurred in the air. Spieer Memorial Prize Awarded 'THE Society of Licensed Aircraft En- -L gineers announces that the 194^ Dorothy Spicer Memorial Prize Essay Contests has been won by Mr. R, A. Fry, who is the chief ground instructor of Air- speed, Ltd., and an associate member of the society. His prize-winning paper was entitled : The Servicing and Maintenance Of Aircraft. Mr. Fry—first recipient of the award—will receive the full prize of ^25 at a formal presentation in London on November 19th. Miss Spicer (Mrs. Richard Pearse), who was killed in an air accident on Decem- ber 23rd, 1946, was a contemporary of the late Amy Johnson and Pauline Gower. As a founder member of the photograph. VINTAGE : As reported on this page, a 1924 Beardmore Wee Bee (Bristol Cherub) will shortly be flying in Australia. The picture above, a quarter of a century old, shows the general features of the type. S.L.A.E., she had a particular interest in maintenance, and was the first woman to hold A, B, C and D maintenance en- gineer's licences. Canadian Ceremony " HPHEIR shoulders held the skies sus- J- pended; they stood, and earth's foundations stay'' are the words etched on the approach to the memorial gates which, presented to Canada by the three other nations which took part in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, have been erected at R.C.A.F. Station Trenton, Ontario, in com- memoration of the Plan. The presenta- tion ceremony took place on Saturday last, October 1st. Mr. St. Laurent, Canada's Prime Minister, received the presentation, which was made by Mr. Arthur Hender- son, the British Air Minister, and Mr. F. M. Forde and Mr. J. Thorn, the Aus- tralian and New Zealand High Commis- sioners in Canada. Those present included Marshal of the R.A.F. Lord Tedder, and, among Canadians who took a prominent part in the Air Training Plan, Mr. Mackenzie King; Mj, C. G. Power; Mr. C. Gibson ; Air Chief Marshal L. S. Breadnerand Air Marshal R. Leckie. Supersonic Skyrocket IN the attainment of high speeds, com-petition between the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy has assumed an almost international aspect. The world's speed record of 670,981 m.p.h., by an F-86 fighter, is actually held by the .U.S.A.F., but considerably higher speeds have been reached by special research aircraft. As far back as 1947, the Air Force's Bell X-i exceeded the speed of sound—it was the first aircraft to do SOVIET STRAFERS? Poor quality notwithstanding, no apology is made for the publication of this photograph, showing what is believed to be a recent type of llyushin ground-attack aircraft in service with the Soviet Air Force. By compari- son with the 11-2 Stormovik the wing is of entirely new plan form, thin and re- latively long in span ; the broad tailplane has a straight leading edge. so—and there has since been a report that it has flown at 1,000 m.p.h. Recent news from America tells of equally significant progress by the Navy, whose Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket is stated to have exceeded supersonic speed on .several occasions, and to have a "design capability" of 1,820 m.p.h. at 75,000ft, compared with the 1,000 m.p.h. at 60,000ft of the X-i. At Muroc, California, last Jury, the Skyrocket flew at 710 m.p.h. in level flight. The Sky- rocket has swept wing and tail surfaces, and is compositely powered by a J-34 turbojet and a Reaction Motors rocket unit; it may be regarded as a more ad- vanced design than the earlier X-i.Jets for Italy f . TTALY'S Defence Minister, Signor Pac- -»- ciardi, stated recently that, under a large rearmament programme, the coun- try would apply for licences to build • British jet aircraft. As there is inevit- ably a considerable time-lag before such arrangements come to fruition, Italy is likely to buy new jet fighters from Britain in the meantime. _ Indestructibility Plus ! "C^OLLOWING a recent paragraph on -F the apparent indestructibility of a Com per Swift, information has come to light of an even older light aircraft which is still active. This is a Beard- more Wee Bee, which flew for the first time in July, 1924, rather more than 25 years ago. Mr. W. S. Shackletoii, the original designer, has received a re- quest from Mr. Vincent Boyes of Vic- toria, Australia, for performance data. He has just purchased a model of this little aircraft and is hoping to obtain a C. of A. in the near future. It was last flown in 1939 and is still in good condition, although needing some fabric replacement. Past records show that the Wee Bee was reputed to have the remarkable ceiling of 21,000ft, and a speed range of 36 to 86 m.p.h. Solent DeliveredT HE first Solent to be delivered for service in New Zealand with Tas- man Empire Airways, left England on September 22, as reported last week, and has completed an uneventful and highly successful flight to Auckland. The journey took 66hr 45mm, this flying time being spread over six days. This incidentally, constitutes an unofficial flying boat record for the journey. The official record is held by a Lancastrian, which completed the journey in 59hr 50mm flying time during a three-day B 6
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
