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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0885.PDF
Like the Vickers-Armstrongs Tay-Viscount above, the Avro Ashton (right) is being used to establish techniques and the behaviour of equipment. RESEARCH AIRCRAFT ... On June 24th, 1943, a height of 42,170ft was attained. A final 10-hour testing programme was undertaken in 1944, and in April, 1946, the machine was housed in the National Aeronautical Collection. ,' Since the brave days of the E.28 Britain's turbine-powered research aircraft have been of two sorts : first,, the machines specially designed for aerodynamic research and typified by the A.W.52, D.H.108 and three delta-wing types; second, those adapted military and civil machines used for power- plant investigations and for the study of operational techniques. Earliest of the specialized machines for aerodynamic research was the D.H.108, the first prototype of which made its maiden flight—in the hands of the late Geoffrey de Havilland—on May 15th, 1946. Three examples were built and were the means of amassing a precious store of knowledge on the behaviour of semi-tailless aircraft and swept-back wings at high Mach numbers before each, in its turn, met with disaster. The "108s" were followed by two prototypes of an equally remarkable machine of tailless design—the Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52. The first "52," with two Rolls-Royce Nenes, first flew on November 13th, 1947; the second, with two Derwents, on September 1st, 1948. These machines were built for the study of design characteristics of much larger tailless machines for civil and military work. The tailless configuration, of course, is relatively old; but the delta form is one which stems directly from jet propul- sion, for only the gas turbine or rocket offers the thrusts necessary to make it worth while, its merits being manifest chiefly in the transonic regime of flight. Britain's first delta was the Avro 707A, which first flew on September 4th, 1949. Having appeared at the S.B.A.C. display of that year, it was subjected to a programme of flight trials during which it was destroyed in a crash. Con- struction of a second 707 was, however, already in hand and this machine emerged last year as the 707B. Its first flight was on September 6th, and by mid-December it had more than a hundred flights to its credit. W/C. R. J. Falk reported "easy and pleasant" flying characteristics. On October 6th, 1950, S/L. R. H. Smythe made the first flight of the Boulton Paul P. 111 Nene-powered delta aircraft, and on March 12th this year the Fairey F.D.I, of somewhat similar configuration, was taken up for the first time by G/C. R. Gordon Slade. Conversions of piston-engined airliners to jet power (solely for research flying) are the Vickers Nene-Viking and Fairey F.D.I delta research aircraft, powered by a Rolls-Royce Derwent. Tay-Viscount, and the Avro Tudor 8 and Ashton, both with four Nenes. The following are representative flying test- beds : Gloster Trent-Meteor (the first turboprop aircraft to fly—in September, 1945); Welland-Wellington; Lancasters and Lancastrians with one or more Nenes, Ghosts, Darts, Mambas, Pythons, Avons and Sapphires; a Hastings with Sapphires; Lincolns mounting the Naiad, Theseus and Proteus; and Meteors with Avons and Sapphires. One of the most significant achievements by a research aircraft was Mr. John Cunningham's attainment of the world's record height of 59,492ft in a special Ghost-powered D.H. Vampire on March 23rd, 1948. The experimental Gloster Meteor with two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets. Representative of British flying test-beds is the Sapphire-Lancastrian above. The delta-winged Boulton Paul P. 111 (below) has a Rolls-Royce Nene
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