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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0391.PDF
2 March 1951 249 FROM ALL QUARTERS A French Occasion T'HE fourth Louis Bleriot lecture—to commemorate the crossingA of the English Channel by the great French pioneer in 1909— was read this year in London before a gathering of members of theAssociation Francaise des Ing&iieurs et Techniciens de l'Aeronautique and of the Royal Aeronautical Society, their hostsfor the occasion. The lecture room of the Institution of Civil Engineers was the venue, on the evening of Friday last. Entitled Power versus Weight in Aviation, the paper was the workof M. Maurice Roy, and was read in English by Commandant G. de Fraget, Chief of the Overseas Relations ^Documentation)Section of the Office National d'Etudes et des Recherches Aero- nautiques. In it M. Roy compared the inter-relation of powerand weight from the earliest days of aviation and then went on to discuss modern design-tendencies, particularly with reference tosupersonic aircraft. We shall summarize the paper next week. M. Roy is an authority on gas turbines. As early as 1928 heoutlined their future in aviation, and in the following year pre- sented a "general theory of jets" in which he clearly expoundedtheories on which present-day practice is based. For the next ten years he was a lecturer in aviation mechanics at the ficole NationalSuperieur de PAeronautique and, in 1949, was appointed Director ofO.N.E.R.A. At the conclusion of his paper M. Roy was thanked, on behalfof the R.Ae.S., by Dr. Roxbee Cox, who remarked that as a mem- ber of the Academie Francaise and "therefore himself an im-mortal", M. Roy was well qualified to do justice to Louis Bleriot. Spanish Airports Programme T'HE acquisition by the Spanish Government of a U.S. Export- -•- Import Bank loan amounting to about $5,000,000 (£1,800,000) —to be used for the modernization of civil airfields—is new being discussed in Washington. The U.S. Government is understood to be anxious that Spain's commercial air-transport facilities should be adequately developed. The programme would include the provision of adequate airfield radar and landirg aids, and would also involve increases in the size and strength of runways at several airports. The Spanish Government is also known to be interested in acquiring a number of modern commercial aircraft for use between Spain, the Caribbean, Miami, Mexico and Venezuela. Sir Arthur StreetT HOUGH he left the Air Ministry over five years ago, Sir Arthur Street, G.C.B., M.C., J.P., who died suddenly in London last Saturday at the age of 58, will long be remembered by all who worked there with him. Joining the Ministry in 1938 as Deputy Secretary, he was shortly afterwards appointed Permanent 'Under Secretary, a post which ^__occupied until the end of the "war; he was also Secretary of the Air Council. After the war he was Permanent Secretary to the Control Office for Germany and Austria for a short period before being appointed, in 1946, Deputy Chairman of the National Coal Board, a post he occupied to the end. In the First World War he had served with distinction in the Army; and in 1919, as a civilian once more, he went to the Admiralty, where he was P.P.S. to the First Lord. During the inter-war years, as Second Secre- tary at the Ministry of Agricul- ture, he earned the reputation of being "the man who saved English agriculture"; the National Mark food scheme was his. Most of the obituary notices over the week-end have implied that his death was a more or less direct outcome of his devotion to duty; that this should be so will be no surprise to those who saw him at work in the Air Ministry during the war. By their pheno- menal capacity for work senior civil servants under any and every British Government have always disproved the popular fallacy, and Sir Arthur Street was a supreme example. From early morn- ing to late at night throughout the dark and often dangerous years he was in his office; and many an R.A.F. officer, from the most junior rank to the C.A.S. himself, had cause to be grateful to this quiet, imperturbable civilian for his deep insight, good judgment Sir Arthur Street The president of A.F.I.T.A., At. Jarry, presents the Medaille I'Aeronautique to Capt. Laurence Pritchard, as related below. de and unfailing willingness to resolve the formidable problems, thewar-time conflicts between Service and civil interests. Sir Arthur bore with fortitude the loss of one of his two sons,in particularly tragic circumstances; young Street was among the R.A.F. officers murdered by the Germans in Stalag Luft III, New R.Ae.S. Secretary 'T'HE delivery of the Louis Bleriot Lecture to the Royal Aero--•- nautical Society last Friday—referred to elsewhere on this page—was also made the occasion of a presentation to theSociety's retiring secretary, Capt. Laurence Pritchard. On behalf of A.F.I.T.A. (the French counterpart of the R.Ae.S.)M. Jarry, its president, presented to Capt. Pritchard, with tradi- tional ceremeny, the Medaille de PAeronautique for his "servicesto French aviation". In particular, as M. Jarry pointed out, the award recognized the great part which Capt. Pritchard hadplayed during the past five years in fostering the friendship and co-operation between the two learned societies. This was the firstoccasion on which the distinction had been conferred in England. The award was followed by an announcement by the R.Ae.S.president, G. P. Bulman, C.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., of the forthcoming appointment of Capt. Pritchard's successor. The new secretaryis to be Dr. A. M. Ballantyne, Ph.D., A.F.R.Ae.S., A.M.I.C.E., A.M.I.Struct.E., who at present is senior lecturer in the Civil andMunicipal Engineering Department at the University of London. Dr. Ballantyne is expected to take up his new duties in June or July. Party With A Purpose /~*HIEF among many reasons for satisfaction occasioned by the ^-' Royal Air Force Reserves Club's second annual ball, at Grosvenor House on Saturday last, was a prediction by the Club's president, Air Chief Marshal Sir Guy Garrod, that the evening's merriment would mean a cheque for the R.A.F. Benevolent Fund even fatter than last year's — and that was for £1,052. Most honoured and most welcome of the guests were Lord and Lady Trenchard. Jimmy Edwards and Jack and Daphne Barker (surely the best possible entertainers for such an occasion) were on tip- top form—Jimmy in his capacity as auctioneer. Autographed copies of three best-sellers on R.A.F. escapology fetched Sotheby prices, and the famous bottle of whisky, signed by a bomber crew before jheir last sortie, raised £30. As Sir Guy Garrod observed in his message in the souvenir programme (by the selling of which a selection of London's most' pulchritudinous mannequins painlessly extracted a worthy sum) the ball provides an opportunity for its members to get together with other Air Force organizations and with the aircraft firms. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Mar. 3. British Interplanetary Society: "Combustion in the Rocket Motor," by Prof. A. D. Baxter, M.Eng., A.KI.Mech.E., A.F.R.Ae.S. Mar. 3. Royal N»vy v. Army Rugby, Twickenham. Mar. 5. Institute of Transport : "Air Transport by Charter Com- panies," by Capt. P.. J. Ashley. Mar. 7. Royal United Service Institution:"The Campaign in Malaya," by A.V-M Sir Francis Mellersh, K.B.E., A.F.C. Mar. IS. R.Ae.S.: "Towards Hydraulic Serviceability," by H. G. Conway, M.A., M.I.Mech.E., F.R.Ae.S., and R. H. Bound, F.R.Ae.S. Mar. 17. Helicopter Association : "Convertible Aircraft," by Capt. R. N. Liptrot, C.B.E., B.A.
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