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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1957.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded 1909 No. 2137 Vol. LVI. THURSDAY, 8 DECEMBER, 1949. EDITORIAL DIRECTOR G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. ED/TOR MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C. ASSISTANT EDITOR H. F. KING, M.B.E. ART ED/TOR JOHN YOXALL 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 Street. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telephone : Coventry 5210. BIRMINGHAM, 2. King Edward House, New Street. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone : Midland 7191 (7 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 " . ' 260, Deansgate. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412 (3 fines). Deansgate 359S (2 lines). GLASGOW, C.2 26b, Renfield Street. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Home and Overseas : Twelve months, £3 Is. Od. Six months, £1 10s. 6d. U.S.A. and Canada, $10.00. 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, J16. In <his issue: England - Australia An- niversary -•-.-•- - • 724 Land-and-Water Air Base 728 Collecting aStratocruiser 735 Mis-leading Edge - - - 742 Aeronautical Cleanness - 743 The Prestwick Controversy - - - - 748 .„.'.;••.• ••. .--• — ..-• _• •.. . Aids ..- ••-•- •• : -••• •• •,.••••' -'. FOR the spare-time pilot, summer sunshine has the effect almost of an elixir;rain, fog, frost and gloom are soon forgotten, so the first "clamp" of wintercomes as a nasty jolt. Better prepared in every way for bad weather and night operations than the amateurs are the airline crews whose job it is to keep the routes open whenever humanly possible. Somewhere between the two are the Service pilots, particularly those charged with the defence of the country. Though they have the finest available machines to fly and first-class training, they have not at present anything like the number of aids that are available to the commercial pilot nor, in their jet aircraft, a quarter of his reserves of fuel. They must, nevertheless, be able to fly in all kinds of bad weather and low visibility. During the last few weeks many young pilots have found themselves confronted with low cloud and seasonable bad visibility—not by any means for the first time in their careers, but probably for the first time when flying a jet fighter, which is a very different matter. The weather has undoubtedly been a primary cause of several forced landings by aircraft that have become lost and short of fuel, and in one or two instances the causes of collisions involving loss of life and equipment. A different but associated problem for which no effective remedy has yet been found is the total icing-up of cockpit enclosures during rapid descents. Frequently a pilot must fly on instruments at low level and high speed for several minutes before the ice thaws and he can see to land. On more than one occasion recently we have heard Service pilots say "If only we had more aids! If the old homer isn't u/s they're as likely as not to give you a reciprocal; what we want is G.C.A." It would certainly be a good thing if more Air Force stations could be G.C.A.-equipped and more pilots and operators obtain regular experience with it. To quote two examples we have in mind, there is, first, Driffield, the training unit for young fighter pilots converting to jets; it is situated in as foggy an area of Yorkshire as one could find. In contrast across the country, there is Boscombe Down on Salisbury Plain, where the most experienced pilots juggle with the latest prototypes and have little enough time when airborne to consider navi- gation. Is a simple homer sufficient for such units? The answer, it seems, is that for the time being there is nothing else available. All —that is, all eighteen or two dozen.—G.C.A. units sent here during the war from America have been allocated, and new ones would cost something like £100,000 each in dollars. British sets now under development, and in several ways superior to the earlier equipment, are estimated to be about twelve months from production, either for military or for civil use. Two British companies are concerned, one with P.A.R. (Precision Approach Radar) and the other with A.C.R. (Airfield Control, or Surveillance, Radar); these are the two services which go to make up the complete equipment for Ground Controlled Approach. In search of temporary remedies, experts have suggested using war-time H2S blind- bombing radar in reverse as it were, to keep a check on the positions of aircraft within ten miles or so of the airfield. This is, of course, a poor substitute, but probably merits more than the one try-out which we have heard of to date. To guide aircraft on the circuit and final appjoach there is much to be said for a visual aid in the form of a powerful and preferably mobile beacon. The fusillade of Very lights fired from the base of the runway, for lining-up in bad visibility, seems something of a makeshift. This country has a large and powerful industry capable of handling all our radar needs for ground and airborne use, but there nevertheless seems to be a disquieting lack, at least in any quantity, of all the latest forms of radar equipment. Is it a matter of priorities, lack of money, or insufficient energy and foresight on the part of those who plan and place the orders? Surely the industry itself is not to blame? In these observations we have been concerned mainly with the safety of individual aircraft and their pilots or crews. There remains the disturbing thought that without adequate radar equipment to warn, assist and direct fighters—and in its absence they are virtually impotent—the defences of this country would be rendered powerless.
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