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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1793.PDF
FLIGHT, 2S September 1050 At first glance the vertical aerofoil fitted amidships is the only feature to distinguish the Roctiiffe Ice Wagon from other Canadair North Stars, but closer inspection shows an impressive array of research equipment, some of which is revealed in the other illustrations. Note, just forward of the aerofoil, the starboard blister from which the de-icing gear on the aerofoil leading edge can be watched. ON THE ICfJ^AGON Equipment of a CaapdiCLrfTJnit to Investigate Icing Phenomena Illlustratecl with "Flight" Photographs) RECENTLY a National Researchscientific officers made a round of visits incountry with an amusingly named R.C.A.F. Canadair North Star—the Rockcliffe Ice Wagon. As a result of this tour, members of the British aircraft industry, the airlines and Government departments, had an oppor- tunity to examine at first hand the methods by which the Canadians are tackling the aircraft icing problem. Fitted out as a remarkably well-equipped flying laboratory, the Canadaii is as unorthodox as it is interest ing. In addition to a special dorsal fin mounted half-way along the fuselage the aircraft boasts as fine a collection of "whiskers" as we have seen for many a day, to say nothing of a pair of fuselage blisters through which the extra fin may be observed. Ihe dorsal appendage is, in fact, a very convenient means whereby full-scale de-icing methods can be tried out without incurring serious effects upon the performance or safety of the aircraft, and takes the form of a symmetrical aerofoil surface, 8ft high and of 10ft chord, to the leading edge of which de-icing media are fitted. F/L. J. J. Higgins, R.C.A.F., the captain of the aircraft, told us that the only noticeable change in the North Star's performance as a result of having the addi tional vertical surface was that the safety speed was in- creased by two knots and that cruising speed was decreased by roughly 10 knots. Alteration in directional stability was stated to be so slight as to be negligible. Mr. John Orr, the engineer in charge of the low-tempera ture laboratory of the National Research Council, expressed a firm belief in thermal de-icing by contrast to mechanical or chemical means and, whilst not willing to pronounce o:i Growing whiskers : This head-on view shews some of the special equipment on the nose. Apart from aerials, the pro- tuberances are mainly sensing-points for thermometers, and cloud-density and water-droplet-size recorders. the ^ej^fcw^1" tnerits of thermal de-icing employing heat "aTDsfxacted from gas-turbine power units, gave it as his opinion that electro-thermal means offered, within the pre- sent limits of his experience, by far the most effective and
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