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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0081.PDF
FLIGHT, 11 January 1951 53 AMERICAN NAVAID SYSTEMS IN the January issue of our American contemporary, Skyways,are two articles. "Is Omni Good Enough?" and "New Omni Airwny is Airline Flown." Each, as it happens, has abearing on the subject-matter published on pages 44-47 of this issue. The first deals with the V.O.R./D.M.E. evaluation projectsrecently completed and reported upon by the Airborne Instru- ments Laboratory, Long Island, and states that, at present, theaccuracy of airborne V.O.R. receivers appears to be directly related to their size, weight and cost. The total spreads inV.O.R. ground-station errors at flat, mountainous and valley sites are given as 3 deg, 3.1 deg and 4.4 deg respectively. Of D.M.E., it is stated that small errors of a fraction of amile could sometimes be increased to as much as four miles at extreme range, but that this was chiefly a.matter of improvingthe equipment. Computers, according to the test results, also needed much attention in the direction of improving reliability.The article also states that the most favourable evidence of future potentialities of V.O.R. was that " despite the manytypes of errors affecting the course indication, the actual result- ing off-course displacement of the aircraft was never morethan 4 deg, and was usually very much smaller." According to our calculations, f< 4-deg error at a range of 50 miles (the nominal maximum of a V.O.R. station) places the aircraft3^ miles off-course; if one assumes that the error is only 2 deg, then the aircraft would be \$ miles off-course. In the ankle "New Omni Airway H Airline Flown,' noticeis given that Continental Air Lines began, during the last week of October, 1950, operating the first C.A.A.-approved V.O.R.airway system This extends through six states and connects such cities as Omaha, Kansas City, Denver, Albuquerque,Wichita, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, El Paso, and Fort Worth. Th; system is stated to be in a section of the country relatively freeof heavily congested air traffic areas. By the end of June this yeai, the C.A.A. intends to have415 V.O.R. stations in operation with an ultimate total of 466 plus 64 two-course V.H.F. visjal-aural ranges (V.A.R.) whichwill subsequently be converted to V.OR The article concludes with the statement that within two or three years D.M.E. andthe course-line computer will enable a pilot to fly a straight line to any destination he wants and not have to stick to estab-lished controlled airways. Thus, ii seerm, there will eventually be in America a navaidsystem which, subject to some limitations, will do what a British system—Decca—already does with greater ease and accuracy. A SURPRISE FOR THE S. OF S. ^PHE Air Ministry is so familiar with the complaints of-L disgruntled citizens who object to the noise of training aircraft, or to the sounds associated with air-firing and bombingranges, that it must have been a very refreshing change for the Secretary of State for Air to receive the following entertainingletter from a Leysdown, Kent, resident: — " Dear Sir,—As you will see by the address, I am at Leys-down, and my bungalow stands by itself right against the run-in for the targets, and, needless to say, when the boys arefiring I watch them and believe me, sir, it would gladden your heart to see them here. I vouch that all who have been herecould shoot a two-shilling piece off a pig's hindquarters, especially the one who was here this morning. I wouldgamble he could shoot a Colorado beetle from beneath a potato leaf. " I congratulate all, and especially the training staff. If pos-sible, please convey my appreciation to these boys, and oblige. —Yours faithfully, H. Dabbs." SAPPHIRE. THUNDER JETS trials of a Republic F-84F (swept-wing developmentof the Thunderjet) with a British-built Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet are scheduled for early February. About ahundred Sapphires are reported to have been ordered for instal- lation in Thunderjets, to permit testing before Curtiss-Wrightcan achieve quantity production of the American version. WILLOW RUN RE-ENTRY? F America's many vast aircraft-producing factories, theWillow Run (Detroit) plant was perhaps better known in England during the war than was any other. Photographsdepicting its immense area and the lines of aircraft produced were a considerable comfort in the dark days. Run by Ford,it was claimed to have had a peak production of 500 aircraft a month. The four-engined Liberator was the principal product.It is now learned that this plant and airfield, where 8,000 build cars for Kaiser-Frazer, may soon again be turned over to aircrfftproduction. The Fairchild C-119 Packet may be built. SOUTH-BANK AERONAUTICS : AIRCRAFT at the FESTIVAL Panorama of the Festival of Britain Transport and Communications Pavilion which, adjoining the Dome of Discovery, will house the aeronautical exhibits. Suspended from the roof can be seen an Olympia sailplane ; the original D.H. Comet G-ACSS which won the Mildenhall-Melbourne air race in 1934 ; the Supermarine S6B which in 1931 established a world's speed record of 408.8 m.p.h. ; and a Slingsby T34A high-performance sailplane. At (eft centre is a nacelle with 16ft contra-rotating airscrews similar to the Brabazon and Princess installations, and beneath the eaves of the Dome *M be shown a Brabazon main undercarriage assembly. The first-floor gallery of the pavilion will accommodate a model-and- display history of biiish aviation, leading up to two huge showcases containing l/24t/i scale models of all post-war types of British civil aircraft. These will be complemented by a display of representative piston and gas-turbine power units, including a Leonldes helicopter power-plant complete with rotor.
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