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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1974.PDF
74O Mount Rainier (14,406ft), south-east of Seattle, forms the back- ground to this striking and revealing Stratocruiser study. COLLECTING A STRATOCRUISER . . (g) Limits for flight planning for all airports on deliveryflights are 8ooft and two miles. For actual landings, at the discretion of the captain, C.A.A. limits for Constellations plus200ft and one-half-mile may be used. Captains with under ioo hours' experience on Stratocruisers fly to standard limitsplus 200ft and half-a-mile. We arranged to forgather at the B.O.A.C. office on theairfield edge at about eight o'clock in the evening, local time, after taking a last dinner in the city. In addition to the crewand supernumeraries there were a few B.O.A.C. representa- tives—including Mr. Ed. Townsend, Mr. Condon and CaptainBurgess—and half a dozen or more Boeing passengers. We took our luggage down at about nine o'clock and stowed it,some in the after hold and some with the crew bags forward. There was great activity on the airfield, which was brightlyilluminated, and work was going on on several of the other huge aircraft—B-50S and Stratocruisers—which stretched awayin long lines as far as the eye could see. On our own " ship " ground and air crews were rushing purposefully about, makinglast-minute checks, and looking to the lna/ting and distribution of luggage and crates. It was a cold, fairly clear, night out-side but in the cabins it was quieter and warmer. One almost despaired of the captain being able to get allthe vehicles and tackle and helpers and visitors clear of the aircraft before dawn, but by 10.30 all seemed aboutready. It was to me a most moving scene, the atmosphere being very reminiscent of the quayside when a great liner ispreparing to leave. Looking larger at night, the silver Strato- cruiser, with little decoration beyond its Speedbirds and UnionJacks, towered above us as we stood by the rear entrance door waiting nntil the last moment to climb in. With external checks complete, the order came to close thethree doors and we were cut off from those outside except for the telephone, through which the flight engineer was preparing FLIGHT, 8 December 1949 to give starting instructions. I moved forward to the cockpit and listened to the crew methodically go through their checks. Before starting, First Officer Sarson read the 45 items on the station check list, then the cockpit check list (26 items), to which the other members of the crew (and sometimes himself) responded as appropriate. For example: — (13) Wing flaps checked? First Officer: "Out 10 deg on emergency, then off. In on normal, then off." (14) Propeller de-icer? Captain: "Off." (15) Pitot heaters? Captain: "Checked and Off." (16) Torque line heaters? Captain: "On."(17) Navigation lights checked as required? (18) "No smoking" and "seat belts" [indicator switches]checked? First Officer: "On." (19) Radios? Radio Officer: "Checked."(20) Engineer's pre-flight check? Engineer Officer: "Com- pleted." (21) Amount of fuel, oil and A.D.I.? Engineer Officer:" . . . lb fuel, oil, turbo and A.D.I, tanks checked, caps secure." (22) Pitot covers and gear locks? Engineer Officer: "Offand stowed." (23) Cabin secure? Steward: "Cabin secure, cargo doorsclosed, ship's papers aboard." The complete check took about eleven minutes this firsttime, but with practice it will be much quicker. Next came starting-up, in the order 3 and 4 then 2 and 1. Engines arenumbered one to four across from port to starboard. It went something like this: "Engineer Officer: "All clear to startNo. 3, Ground? " Ground had previously pulled each engine through eight blades to check for hydraulicking (oil collectedabove the pistons). The engineer officer prepared all controls with fuel selectors at tank-to-engine position, one booster pumpon, mixture control at fuel cut-off, throttles at 800 to 1,000 r.p.m., turbo override switches at take-off, starting selectoron 3, and so on. The First Officer, looking back at number 3 engine, called out " One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,eight blades, Eric." Whereupon Eric put the ignition switches on and, after a turn or two more: "Engine firing—keep itgoing." Forward went the mixture control and a little extra throttle seemed to help at first. This procedure was repeateduntil all four Wasp Majors were running smoothly and quietly behind us. Nine after-starting checks were called out and fivemore for before taxying, but at this point a considerable drop in the level of the hydraulic-fluid tank (upon which I wassitting) had been noted and reported to the captain; after a moment's consultation it was decided to close down andremedy the matter. The hydraulic tank, situated behind the engineer officer's panel in the cockpit, had been changedduring the day and the system drained. The new tank had been refilled but the system had remained empty; conse-quently, on starting-up the engines, the tank was almost emptied to fill the system. A gang quickly arrived withmobile hydraulic-fluid pump, and some three gallons of cold fluid were slowly persuaded to pass through the filter in thetank filter neck. There was a good deal of homely Anglo- American natter as instructions were passed back down theline: " A bit faster . . .take it easy . . . STOP! . . . now a bit more ... speed 'er up a bit . . . more . . . STOP! " Andso we got our fluid. The next start-up went smoothly and quickly, and by mid-night we bad taxied out to the run-up position. There were all the usual checks, together with turbos, airscrew reverse-pitch and others as well. Finally, the 23-item take-off check was called out, starting with "all windows secure and flaps25 deg," and ending—from the engineer officer—with "stand- ing by for take-off." [In the next part of this article the flight home will be - described.] First refuelling of Coltdonia at Idlewild Airport, New York, and (right) the engineer officers supervise the operations. - Fiioht
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