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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0171.PDF
FLIGHT, 26 January 1950 Top: Sud-Ouest Espadon (Nene. turbojet); below: Sud-Ouest Narwai (Arsenal I2H piston engige). Finally, it can be said that the resuscitation of movable, "aimable" guns now appears to be a possibility, though the installations—of axially restricted type—would bear little resemblance to those dating from pre-war years. For crew protection it is common practice to provide steel and laminated dural armour and bullet-resisting windscreens. Titanium is being used experimentally. Gunsights on new British fighters are retractable, to improve view for search. Concerning the later types of sight and airborne fighter radar, there is little information to draw upon, though reference has been made in the American press to the British A.I.Mk.Q. "lock-follow" system in which a graticule, air speed, horizon and target are projected on the windscreen so that the pilot need not remove his eyes from the night sky. When contact is ' made, radar and automatic pilot are so interconnected that, in theory, the fighter and its quarry remain in contact until the autopilot is disconnected. A range of nearly 20 miles is reported for the radar in the Douglas Skyknight. Radar- controlled armament is already being installed in the McDonnell Banshee. Of instruments, it may be remarked that those of gyro- scopic attitude-indicating type have the defect that if attitude limits are exceeded they may "topple." Non- toppling electric artificial horizons are therefore being de- veloped. Moreover, where instruments are dependent upon the aircraft electrical system, battle damage might leaye the pilot without an indication of attitude, against which con- tingency the compressed-air bleed from the turbojet com- pressor to the tum-and-bank indicator is one safeguard. While touching the subject of instrumentation it may further be observed that present methods of computing turbo- jet thrust are at best elementary, and new, accurate, thrust indicators may be looked for in the immediate future. Improved fuel flowmeters and contents gauges are being studied, and a dial indicating remaining time of flight may soon be added to the fighter's array of instruments. With high priority, development is under way of light, compact, navigational aids for fighters and of equipment to enable large formations to be landed in a short time. Space for this gear must be found in the all-weather fighter and even the specialized intercepter may be required to carry a navigational aid. I.F.F. (identification, friend or foe) equipment continues to be required. Soviet single-jet fighter (possibly of Yak design). Soviet Yak-3 fighter fitted with a VK-107 engine. That discussion of the design and equipment of naval fighters should have been deferred until the conclusion of this review in no wise signifies underestimation of their importance; but the Fleet fighter of to-day is so closely related to its opposite number ashore that, with the single .tion that sweepback is slower to come into its own .val service, the foregoing survey of fighter design features applies in essence to naval types. There are, how- ever, certain characteristics which must be emphasized for compliance with naval requirements. Principal among these are docility at take-off and landing, which may postu- late greater wing area and more elaborate high-lift devices; the largest possible fuel capacity ; and a wide field of view, especially over the nose. Whereas land-based fight«rs have wing loadings ranging from 55-80 Ib/sq ft, naval types are commonly loaded to 35-50 Ib/sq ft. The designer of the Hawker Sea Hawk, depicted m a drawing on a preceding page has compared a naval fighter (presumed to approximate in weight and performance to the Sea Hawk) with a land-based machine, possibly simi- lar to the P. 1040, and quotes the following relative figures: Land-based fighter Naval fighterAll-up weight Max. Speed All-up weight Max. Speed Over 11,000 1b Over 600 m.pJi. Over 12,000 1b Approx.6oom.p.h. The same designer has further prepared the following table to convey an idea of the weight increases necessary to "navalize" reasonably similar piston-engined and jet fighters: Typical Typical . . airscrew jetfighter fighter (ft) (lb) Wing Folding _ 170 176Flaps — 170 Increased area .. .. .. .. — 4*Strengthening .. .. .. .. 32 36 Total ..Fuselage ArrestingAssisted take-off Strengthening Total Undercarriage Increased absorption Strength rr »• •• •« Total Operational Equipment RadioNavigational aids Electrical Miscellaneous 26 26 22 2O 22 202 74 6435 47 6136 146 35 5 22 43 2346 Total Total increase (approx.) .. 105 425 240 900 The absence of airscrew slipstream involves the use of special devices for the control of hit and drag during land- ing: on the Supermarine Attacker, for instance, the pilot approaches at a fixed throttle setting and controls the approach path by means of specially developed spoilers, extending them fully on being given the "cut" signal by the "batsman." Angle-of-attack indicators and stall- warning devices are now being installed. La-ll fighter, a widely used Soviet type.
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