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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1179.PDF
FLIGHT, 22 June 1950 Itt* NAVY DAY AT BRAMCOTE A Royal Naval Air Station Brings a Sea Breeze to the Midlands HIS Majesty's Ship Gamecock, or in other terms,R.N. Air Station, Bramcote, is less than a dozenmiles from the. centre of England, and is therefore almost as far as it is possible to get away from the sea in this country. There was, however, no lack of maritime atmosphere on Saturday, June 10th, when, in glorious sunshine. Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fraser of North Cape, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, made a ceremonial Review of the "ship's company," and took the salute at ihe march-past in honour of the King's birthday. The Royal Standard was flown. In the after-noon an admirably diversified flying display was given, on which the Commander, Air, Lt. Cdr. E. W. Sykes, D.S.C., R.N., gave an enthusiastic commentary. A pair of Seafire 17s of 1833 (City of Birmingham) R.N.V.R. Squadron demonstrated rocket-assisted take-off, and Lt. Woodhead, also of 1833 Squadron, gave as polished a dis- play of aerobatics as we have seen for some time. Ten Firebrands of 813 Squadron (Lt. Cdr. Henry) demon- strated carrier take-offs and "addles" (airfield dummy deck-landing), but most impressive of all was their station- keeping in both " close-finger " and open battle formations. All ten aircraft were flown off in no sec, and their landing interval was 35-40 sec. They then took-off again for their home base before re-embarking in their carrier. Lt. Cdr, Sproule showed his mastery of sailplaning in an Olympia and received merited applause for his per- formance, after which W/O. Chablain demonstrated a Sea Otter, flying around with the wheels up and then down. A Westland Sikorsky S-51 Dragonfly, flown by Lt. Myer, showed the crowd how despatches are delivered each day between Aberdeen and Balmoral when the King is in resi- dence. The helicopter hovered at 10 to 15ft and lowered the hook of its hydraulic hoist so that a naval rating standing below could attach a suitcase, which was then lifted up and taken aboard. After flying round for a few minutes, the helicopter came back and reversed the pro- cedure, delivering the suitcase back to the man on the ground waiting to receive it. A trio of Sea Vampires from the Naval Trials Unit, Brawdy, gave a first-class demonstration of formation aero- batics in which, once again, the station-keeping was of an unusually high order ; barrel rolls in line-ahead, and climb- ing slow-rolls in Vic, to mention but two manoeuvres, were a delight to watch. The next item was an amusing im- promptu, featuring the crazy-flying escapades of a " lady '' who had "run amok." Bill Sykes contributed not a little to this diversion by his anguished broadcast ejaculations and entreaties. Seafires and Harvards of 1833 Squadron made a nicely timed attack on the '' iron fortress behind the wooden wall''—a plywood and canvas structure in the middle of the airfield. The Seafires came in low and fast, and the Harvards '' dive-bombed '' immediately afterwards; the fortress went up in a satisfying whoof of flame, for which, as the Commander, Air, remarked, the electricians were to be congratulated. The flying events finished with what was to have been the first item on the programme, a demonstration of fast and slow flying by Lt. Borthwick, in a Sea Meteor 7. After flying past the crowd at 591 m.p.h. at about 50ft, Lt. Borthwick then flew back at 97 m.p.h. at about 100ft ; it was a convincing display of the Meteor's speed range. There was an appreciatively incredulous murmur from the crowd when it was announced that the Meteor had flown up from Lee-on-Solent in n minutes—a time which we work out as being equivalent to a ground speed of 627 rn.p.h. With the Royal Navy's well-known propensity for look- ing after the children, there was an amusement park with roundabouts and see-saws among other childish delights to complement the static exhibitions of aircraft, engines, airscrews, ship's gear, armament and a variety of models in which both young and old could take equal interest. BI-FUEL JET STARTINGT HE necessity for rapid engine-starting in jet fighters hasbecome of increasing importance of late, as the perform- ance disparity between the fighter and the jet bomber hasVnarrowed. The effect of starting period on interception success is so patent that it does not require amplification.. In the investigation of turbojet starting procedure, a widevariety of schemes hav« been examined, among which is the use of hydrogen peroxide and a catalyst to produce an instan-taneous fluid stream to spin up the turbine. A description of the chemical reaction of hydrogen peroxide when subjected toa catalyst appeared in the February 2nd issue of Flight, in connection with the de Havilland Sprite rocket motor. One of the difficulties associated with the use of hydrogenperoxide is its relatively high freezing point of n deg F. This, of course, "becomes of real significance in relation to Arcticoperating conditions and it is, doubtless, this aspect which has led Avro Canada, Ltd., to evolve a means whereby thehydrogen peroxide is maintained in a liquid state so as to be immediately available in all weather conditions. In brief, thesystem provides for the employment of a small quantity of the peroxide starting-fuel as a source of heat, to prevent themain supply from freezing. The Avro Canada system employs an insulated fuel tank,which is divided into upper and lower compartments by an intermediate diaphragm. The upper half of the tank is usedfor storing the fuel and contains a heating coil, while the lower half houses the control units for the heating system. Athermostatic switch in the upper half regulates the control units below, the Switch being set to respond at a point justabove the minimum safe temperature for keeping the fuel from freezing. When the fuel itf~the tank is cooled to this pointthe thermostatic switch comes into operation, opening a meter- ing valve and allowing a little fuel to flow through a non-return valve to a "decomposer" where, in the presence of a catalyst, it is converted into hot vapour. This hot vapouris passed through a liquid-trap, so designed that the drain port of the trap opens when liquid collects there and closeswhen vapour is present, and it is then conducted to the heat- ing coil. After giving up its heat the vapour is eventually dischargedto atmosphere, whilst any of the hot vapour that is condensed in the coil will flow down under the action of gravity intothe liquid-trap and be discharged. When the temperature of the fuel in the tank has been raised sufficiently, the tempera-ture-sensitive device operates to close the metering valve and stop the flow of fuel. R.N.V.R. SUMMER TRAINING TIGHTER and anti-submarine aircraft of the four R.N.V.R. •*• air squadrons are beginning summer training this year with strikes against units of the Home Fleet in the north- western approaches of the Irish Sea. Fireflies and Seafires of Nos. 1830 and 1831 Squadrons, based respectively at Abbots- inch and Stretton, are taking part, under the direction of the Commanding Officer, R.N.A.S. Abbotsinch. R.N.V.R. maintenance personnel have embarked at Portsmouth in H.M.S. Theseus, on board which some 25 pilots of No. 1832 Squadron, from R.N.A.S. Culham, were due to alight this week for deck-landing practice and carrier-training exercises. This squadron will spend 13 days in the Theseus, during which time a call will probably be made at a French port. During July, No. 1830 Squadron will fly to Malta for anti-submarine train- ing with the Mediterranean Fleet. It is intended that tvvplve Fireflies of this squadron, together with a chartered Dakota, conveying maintenance personnel, baggage and stores, should make the flight. Nos. 1831 and 1832 Squadrons (the latter unit is based at R.N.A.S. Bramcote) will embark in H.M.S. Illustrious for sea training during the period August 2o.th-September 9th.
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