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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0975.PDF
6io FLIGHT, 25 May 1951 FROM ALL QUARTERS Gas-turbine Anniversary Celebrations THE Saro S.R. A/i fighter flying-boat (two Metrovick Beryls) isto be moored in the River Thames near the South Bank Exhibition during British Gas Turbine Week, from June 18th to 23rd. Organized by Power Jets (Research and Development), Ltd., at the request of the Festival authorities, and with the help of many firms, the week is intended to celebrate the tenth anniver- sary of jet propulsion and to focus interest on British initiative and achievement .ja-this field. The S.&. A/i will land in the lower reaches of the> riverrand be towed iip to the South Bank site. The Naval vessel M.T.B. 5559, which has a Metrovick marine gas-turbine power unitj"will be moored nearby, and will make demonstration runs. Within the exhibition itself, special emphasis will be placed on the existing gas-turbine exhibits, one of the most notable of which is an early Whittle unit just as it remained after turbine failure during a bench-test in 1940. The Rover turbine-powered car will be on view, and in the Telecinema the documentary film Wonder Jet, telling the story of Sir Frank Whittle's achievement, will be shown. Near the Transport Pavilion will be a gas-turbine in- formation bureau. Also in celebration of the anniversary, a unique banquet is to take place in London next Thursday, May 31st, at which some 300 senior air force officers, aircraft constructors and technicians of 30-odd nations will be present; among them will be Marshal of the R.A.F. Sir John Slcssor and General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, U.S.A.F. Chief of Staff. Mr. T. O. M. Sopwith and Sir Frank S. Spriggs will act as hosts, and during the evening presentations will be made to Sir Frank Whittle and to Mr. W. G. Carter (technical director of Gloster Aircraft) in honour of the work as designers in the historic engine and aircraft. The story of ten years of jet-propulsion progress has already been told in a recent issue of Flight—the Gas-turbine Number published on May nth. H. T. Chapman for Hawker Siddeley Board ON his return from America, which he visited with otherArmstrong Siddeley Motors executives in connection with the production of the Sapphire by Curtiss-Wright, Mr. H. T. Chapman, F.R.Ae.S., M.I.Mech.E., managing director of the Coventry firm, has been appointed to the board of the Hawker Siddeley Group. Now fifty-four years of age, Mr. Chapman served in the R.F.C. and R.A.F. during the First World War, and was subsequently employed with the Parsons steam-turbine works, next as a colliery engineer, and then in the design offices at the Elswick factory of Armstrong Whitworth. In 1926 he joined Armstrong Siddeley, and was responsible, as a designer, for the Leopard, Double Mongoose, Cheetah and other famous A.S. Mr. H. T. Chapman, whose new post is announced here, alongside a Sapphire production line in the works at Coventry. units. Later he was put in charge of production, and between 1937 and 1944, as works manager, he superintended the manu- facture of over 28,000 engines and a great deal of war material of other kinds. In December 1944 he was promoted to deputy general manager, and to general manager in the following April. He was appointed to the A.S. board in April 1946, and became managing director in September last year. Growing Impetus TWTEWS of expansion in the industry to meet the increasing -L^l demands of the armament drive continues to flow in. In addition to developments mentioned elsewhere in this issue, a big acquisition of additional factory and airfield space by Hawker Aircraft, Ltd., is announced by Mr. Neville Spriggs. The Govern- ment has allocated the 1,500,000 sq ft factory at Squire's Gate, Blackpool, where Hawkers will also have use of the airfield. In addition, since their present airfield at Langley, Bucks, is inadequate—and too close to London Airport and Northolt— for use by jet aircraft, they are to share Dunsfold, near Godal- ming, Surrey, with Skyways, Ltd., the charter company which has been operating there for some time past. Work at the Hawker factories at Kingston and Langley will continue. The new moves were contemplated some eighteen months ago, then postponed when the air re-armament pro- gramme was temporarily slowed down. Another acquisition, this time in the components field, is that of the Coventry Precision Engineering Company's Earlsdown, Coventry, factory by Dowty Equipment, Ltd. Purchased from the present owners, Tecalemit, Ltd., it will be used mainly f©r production of gas-turbine fuel pumps and systems. Dowty have also signed an important agree- ment with an American firm, Thomp- son Products, Cleveland, Ohio, for the production of Dowry systems under licence; they are to be made there for the American-built Arm- strong Siddeley Sapphires. Airborne May 18th—THE VICKERS 660 IA/E hove no doubt that in the years yy to come scores, if not hundreds, of pictures of the Vickers 660 will appear in the pages of "Flight". The greater interest, therefore, attaches to these first-released views of this most im- pressive aircraft—Britain's first four- jet bomber. The first flight of the 660 was made at Wisley on May 18th by Capt. J. Summers. "A substantial order" has been placed for the R.A.r^
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