FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1183.PDF
FLIGHT, 22 June 1950 743 BRABAZON COMES TO TOWN •X,:. 1ONDONERS gave as warm a welcome to the BristolBrabazon as they were allowed to when it visited-J Heathrow at the end of last week. Up to the time of its arrival it had been hoped that quite a number of repre-sentatives of Ministries and of the Press, in addition to the Prime Minister, Minister of Supply, and their parties, wouldbe able to make flights in the Brabazon, but this proved im- possible, for no licence to carry passengers was forthcoming.Nevertheless, thousands who went to Heathrow were able to see the take-off and landing trials and to examine the parkedaircraft (see photograph on p. 731) from not too far away. All those who were fortunate enough to see over the interior of the Brabazon, even though in some cases they had examinedher while under construction, were astonished at the spacious- *~|.ness of the temporarily furnished rear cabin, within which1 ""three comfortable seats can be placed on each side of the-/'" wide aisle Most of the interior is still, of course, devoted to test equipment, and in the compartment above the wingcentre-section and a second one forward of the leading edge are no fewer than twelve automatic recorders. For the time being the tail unit is quite empty, while the section behind the cockpit and crew positions, eventually to contain themain entrance hall, wardrobes, and crew rest-room, is fairly free of equipment except for ballast tanks. The cockpit woulddelight any pilot by its comfort, simplicity and outlook. Only essential instruments and controls are provided forthe pilots and, as is now customary on many aircraft, both civil and those of R.A.F. Transport Command, the pilot callsfor the engine power—boost or r.p.m.—and services which he requires, and the engineers or other members of the crewtake the necessary action, much as would be the case in a ship. For taxying or other occasions when the pilot mightwish to control the engines himself, the pairs of Centaurus each have a single throttle lever, making four in all on thepilot's quadrant, for the eight engines. The pilots have found that a centre white line on the run-way is most helpful for ground handling, and the now redund- ant point on the nose is also useful foi maintaining direction. Good progress has been made with the flight-test programme.The Brabazon has already flown at 25,000ft, which is the best operational altitude with the present Centaurus piston engines.It has been ascertained that there is no longer any need for the mass-balances on the tail surfaces, but there are furtheitests to be made including diving tests, before the aileron mass-balances can be taken off. Although more than fiftylandings have been made, the original set of tyres is still in use. RESERVE SCHOOLS COMPETE LTHOUGH there is normally plenty of evidence ofReserve Flying School activity at individual airfields, there are few opportunities of seeing Reserve flying enmasse. At Redhillxjn Saturday, June 17th, however, visitors were able to watch four schools of No. 65 (London Reserve)Group join forces in a flying competition and display. The four schools were No. 1 R.F.S., Panshanger, No. 15—here, at Redhill (where British Air Transport, Ltd., operate the school), on their home ground; No. 17, Hornchurch; andNo. 18, Fairoaks. The last-named flew their new Chipmunks, and the other schools their worthy old Tiger Moths. Each school also put up an Anson, and the four aircraftcompeted in the opening event, a "navigator and signaller" pinpointing competition. Panshanger's Anson was easily firsthome, with all points duly pinned. Conditions were not particularly propitious for the forma-tion-flying competition, in which nine aircraft of each school competed. Though the Fairoaks Chipmunks were noticeably MIKE AND MAJESTY: M. J. "Mike" Lithgow, pilot of th- Supermarine Attacker fighter on the Valetta/Attacker tour, described in Flight of May 25th, discusses the undercarriage of his aircraft with the Shah of Persia. precise, the judges left them unplaced, probably on the prin-ciple that the pilots of the new trainers had an easier job than the Tiger pilots; Panshanger were the winners. The monoplanes came into their own, however, in theindividual aerobatics, in which one aircraft from each school had to execute a vertical figure-of-eight with half-rolls, fol-lowed by slow rolls to left and right. Some unbelievable glide-stretching characterized the spot-landing competition, won with an almost bang-on touch-down by the Panshanger representative. These four events constituted the officially competitive partof the programme. Additionally, the C.F.I.s of the foui schools competed in spot landings, and A.T.C.-cadet naviga-tors, representing the A.T.C. squadrons affiliated to each R.F.S., took part in a navigation competition. Surrey GlidingClub contributed some pretty sailplane work and No. 2600 (City of London) LA.A. Squadron, R.Aux.A.F. Regiment,went into action with a Bofors gun and, harassed by two Chipmunks, produced a fittingly fiery, smoky and noisy finale. The display was watched by the A.O.C. No. 65 Group,A. Cdre. W. J. M. Akerman, C.B.E., and the judges were G/C. Stanley-Turner, C.B.E., W/C. R. P. R. Powell, D.F.C.,and W/C. A. V. Rogers, A.F.C. Placings of the schools in the four main competitive events were as follows: — Formation Flying.—1, Panshanger; 2, Redhill; 3, Hornchurch.Spot Landing.—1, Panshanger; 2, Hornchurch; 3, Redhill. Aerobatics.—1, Fairoaks; 2, Redhill; 3, Hornchurch. Navigation and Signalling.—1, Panshanger; 2, Redhill; 3, Horn-church. Total Points Awarded.—No. 1 R.F.S., Panshanger, 9; No. Is,R.F.S., Redhill, 7; No. 17 R.F.S., Hornchurch, 5; No. 18 K.F.S.', Fairoaks, 3 MARKING A MILESTONE TN a little over a fortnight, tens of thousands will be1 making their way to Farnborough to watch the magnifi- cent spectacle of the revived Royal Air Force Display, to be held on July 7th and 8th. The occasion is certain to be a memorable one, andFLIGHT intends to mark it fittingly by the publication, on July 6th, of a special ROYAL AIR FORCE NUMBER. Inthis greatly enlarged issue, illustrated in colour and photogravure, every important aspect of the Service willbe dealt with in authoritative articles. The duties of Commands and other formations will be explained, andsquadron equipment illustrated and described. A review of famous R.A.F. aircraft of the past will be of interestboth to young readers who have never seen them and to older ones who remember them affectionately. Although paper restrictions are now less severe, the demand for this number will be heavy, and readers are advised to place orders with their news- agents in order to avoid disappointment. f\.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
