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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0497.PDF
FLIGHT, 9 March 1950 that other airlines, including their own state-coatrolled organi-zations, will be using jet-driven aircraft in the none-too-distant future, so that it is in their own interests to see that thenecessary facilities are provided. "Between Australia and New Zealand I travelled on the newSolents that are being operated by T.E.A.L. These aircraft are running to 100 per cent load factor and are provingextremely popular with passengers. They are running with highly commendable regularity, and seem particularly suitedto" the Tasman weather conditions. I gained the impression that New Zealand was a natural flying-boat area, as the land-plane facilities are in the main a considerable distance from the city centres and extension of runway length is a very expen-sive undertaking. "I formed the impression that there was a considerablemarket developing, not only in Australia but in the Far East as well, for medium-sized British aircraft. What seems to bewanted is something to replace the DC-3S as they become obsolete, for the shortage of spares makes their operationdifficult. A 20-25-seater aircraft with flexible passenger /freight capacity seems to be indicated. Iu Burma there is to-day afull-scale airlift in operation. This is due to the fact that road transport runs into difficulties caused by predatory bands ofrobbers who operate quite close to town centres—within thirty miles or so—and the railway bridges have all been blown, sothat train transport is practically non-existent. Even potatoes are being air-freighted in Burma, and the decision to make a3,ooovd runway at Rangoon, already a very busy airport 329 indeed, is in itself an indication of the- high favour in whichair transport is regarded in that part of the world. "Indeed, the impression 1 obtained during the whole of mytour was that civil aviation is on the up-grade. Peoples of the East have taken to flying as a common amenity in theirlives. And in Australia, one out of every seven members of the populace travel by air every year. It is claimed locallythat this is the highest utilization figure anywhere. "Finally, let me tell you how I heard the Election results.We were coming into Calcutta on the Friday evening, which would be mid-day in London. I was standing up in the Argo-naut cockpit wearing earphones, so that I could watch the approach while listening to the control tower. " By some means the radio officer picked up a London broad-cast and superimposed it in my phones only (not the crew's). The result was that I heard something like this: ' Speed birdGeorge How Able approaching Calcutta.' A snatch of music, then, 'Are you flying Victor Fox? ' The BBC. breaks inwith 'Here is the latest state of the parties—Labour 193. Conservatives and others 155.' 'This is Dum Dum Controlreceiving you loud and clear.' ' Mr. Zilliacus has lost his seat.' 'You are now clear to land.' More music. 'TheLiberal candidate has lost his deposit.' More music. Then the voice of an Indian pilot, excitedly disgruntled becausehe has been told to stand off until we have landed ; and so on. " It would have been even more exciting if we'd been a littlelater and heard the almost photo-finish result. But you can't have everything." THE MENACE OF CADGETRY (Continued from page 327) pushed the electrical engineer to produce smaller and lighterequipment without sufficient regard for reliability. On the subject of electronic complication, Mr. Bishop citedthe cabin blower of the Comet. Here, he said, it was decided to avoid using "an electronic box of tricks"; instead, theytapped the main engine blower. There was, at that time, and probably still was, a regulation which prohibited tapping theblower for cabin pressure, but they thought jt was not neces- sarily a correct one; and, as there seemed to be good reasonswhy such a scheme might work, it was tried out on the test- bed and in a Ghost-Vampire; the whole system had beenworking well in the Comet to date, with a great gain in simplicity. This illustrated the folly of attempting to makeregulations before enough experience had been gained to know whether they were either necessary or feasible. Another source of complication was the tendency to guardagainst every conceivable type of failure, likely or unlikely. Also, there was the danger caused by failure of the gadgetswhich this policy encouraged. He quoted the case of a pilot having to make an emergency overloaded landing when afire-warning light flashed—only to find that the warning was due to an electrical fault jn the indicating circuit. After discussing in some detail the desirability of simulatingrigorous service-conditions in the testing of components and systems before their incorporation in the aircraft, the lecturerxent on to compare piston engines and jets from the main- tenance standpoint. He instanced one aircraft in which plug-changing was a major operation involving the removal and substitution of 224 plugs and necessitating considerableremoval of cowlings and cylinder baffles. He proceeded to give an impressive list of items, ranging from airscrew controlsto combustion heaters, with which the gas-turbine user was not concerned. Such simplification, in turn, brought a comple-mentary easing of the situation in regard to control systems and cockpit simplification. The smoothness of the gas turbine,also, greatly reduced the necessity for routine maintenance throughout the aircraft. Though the turboprop, basically, w'as little more compli-cated than the pure jet* there was some danger of losing this simplicity in the case of the laTger coupled types at presentbeing developed; Mr. Bishop thought that, while they might be justified for long-range military aircraft, they might wellturn out to be more difficult to maintain than -some of the i'iston engines at present in use. THE DISCUSSION Opening the discussion, Mr. G. R. Edwards (Vickers chief <5'--='tgner) said that Mr. Bishop's paper was "full of common sense and wisdom." He agreed the trend towards automaticity ">vas one of the main causes of the complexity of civil aircraft; the highly trained pilots of to-day probably spent so much time worrying whether the atitomnticity was working that they would-be far happier without it. He thought, however, that electric actuators were preferable, particularly for pres- surized aircraft. Quoting tile example of electronic controls for turboprop power-plants, Mr. Edwards considered that tht Americans were showing signs of becoming "electronic-mad."Replying, Mr. Bishop reiterated there was great need for improvement in the field of electrics; during the Comet test-flying, more trouble had been caused by a V.H.F. set than by any other component in the aircraft. Mr. Sydney Camm (Hawker chief designer) emphasized theneed for ..extensive pre-delivery testing and, unlike Mr. Edwards, considered that the electrics situation was gettingworse. Mr. K. E. Rowe (B.E.A. research and long-term develop-ment) agreed that it was important in test programmes to simulate actual operating conditions as far as possible. Ontests with the Ambassador, attempts were being made to feed into the test-rigs such factors as vibration, dust, temperature-changes and humidity. Pre-determination of the lives of par- ticular components was most desirable. Replying to a question on the possible effects of high-frequency vibration on fighter aircraft, Mr. Bishop thought a recent firing demonstration of a 30 mm gun was " "a horriblesight." Mr. D. Mowrer of the Boeing Aircraft Corporation, gavea brief outline of his company's approach to the problem of co-ordinating the viewpoints of design and maintenance engi-neers. He recommended that civil aircraft should be designed as far as possible to facilitate "trouble shooting" withoutremoval of the component. March March March March March March March March March March March March March March March March March 9 10 13 14 14 15 16 17 21 22 23 23 24 25 27 28 28 Mar. 28-31 March 29 March 30 FORTHCOMING EVENTS R.Ae.S. (Isle of Wight): "High-speed Research." by J. D. Derry. R.Ae.S. (Portsmouth): "Design Problems of Large Flyine Boats." by H. Knowler, F.R.Ae.S., A M.I.C.E. R.Ae.C. : Film Show. Londonderry Honse. Aero Golfing Society: Match v. R.A.F.G.S., followed by f/irh: Dinner. R.Ae.S. (Belfast) : " Problems of Highspeed Flight,1 by H. Davies, M.Sc. F.R.Ae.S. R.Ae.S. (Coventry): "Flying Boats," by H. Knowler F.R.Ae.S., A.M.I.C.E. R.Ae.S. : "Air Survey." by Prof C A. Hart, M.Sc (En* > Ph.D., M.!nst.C.E.. F.R.I.C.S. Institute of Transport : Annuai Dinner. R.Ae.S. Section Lecture : " Boundary Layer at High Speeds " by A. D. Young, M.A., F.R.Ae.S. R.Ae.S. (Manchester): " Accident Investigation," by A. Cdre Vernon Brown, C.B., O.B.E.. M.A., F.R.Ae.S. R.Ae.S. (Glasgow): " Fuel Consumption," by J. Leggatt R.Ae.S. (Isle of Wight): " Gliding," by P. A. Wills, C.B.E. College of Aeronautics Senior Common Room Society Annual Dinner. Helicopter Association : " Performance Testing ol Heii- copters," by F. O'Hara, M.A. R.Ae.S. (Bristol): " Gliding " by A. H. Yates B.Sc A.F.R.Ae.S. Institute of Transport (Metropolitan Graduates) : " Post- war R.A.F. Developments and their Effects on Civil Aviation ' by A. J. Allum. R.Ae.S. Graduates : " Undercarriage Design and Testing ' by G. S. Cranwell. Grad. R.Ae.S. Royal Meteorological Society : Symposium OxTord. R.Ae.S. (Gloucester and Cheltenham) " Aircraft Materials and Processing." by Dr. H. Sutton. D.Sc. F.R.Ae.S., F.I.M. (at Gloucester). R.Ae.S.: " Testing Aero Engines and Power Plants." by A C Lovesey, O.B.E.. B.Sc.. F.R.Ae.S.
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