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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1847.PDF
348 FLIGHT \ FARNBOROUGH: THE OPENING PHASES . . . modified Venom single-seater which made full use of the lastounce of thrust delivered by its "reheated" Ghost. The tail-pipe orifice, incidentally, is not adjustable. The cloud opened up very obligingly for the super-speedfighters now due to make their number. Hawker's P. 1067 (even more beautiful in the flesh than in the best of the few pictureshitherto released) climbed away at a most satisfactory rate and angle. Most astonishing, however, was its speed as, at 50ft orso, it seared along the enclosures on what must have been the fastest run yet observed at a Farnborough display. Three succes-sive rolls were completed with quite exceptional speed and the Hawker team had the satisfaction of making one of the deepestimpressions of the whole display. The Vickers-Supermarine 535, standing-in for the Swift, putup another of its flashing performances, turning and rolling with great speed and precision. On one fast turn the flaps were seento be partially extended, and during the landing the specially provided tailwheels appeared to touch the runway. Boulton Paul's delta-winged P.111 now made its public debutby flying up the runway at a pace which certainly justified its description of "high-speed research aircraft." Its rate of roll wasall that one would expect from a short span and Boulton Paul design. The landing was certainly on the "hot" side, but theparachute brake functioned with evident effect. Last (the Supermarine 508 not having arrived by this time)came the Avro 707A, so highly finished that it resembled its model in the Science Museum. It took off in its characteristically nose-upattitude and turned as soon as the wheels had left the runway. A low inverted run bespoke the complete confidence of the pilot,as did roHs and rapid "whip-overs" from bank to bank near the ground. Two landings were made to demonstrate the techniquesimpartially employed. The first, at a very sharp angle of attack, was made without the braking parachute; on the second, using aflatter approach, the 'chute blossomed while the aircraft was still 10ft or so above the runway. Technically, the displays of theBoulton Paul and Avro deltas were among the most significant yet seen in the whole series of S.B.A.C. displays. As the guests dispersed, the Vickers-Supermarine 508 swept over with a mighty Avon roar, landed and took its place n thedistinguished company assembled for this great occasion. Round "The Static" As for the static exhibition—well, as ever, it is magnificentSituated at the eastern extremity of the north-west/south-east runway, the exhibition is housed under a multiple marqueecomprising literally acres of canvas. Beneath this admirably light but (in the sunshine and with the milling hordes of visitors)extremely warm covering, the stands are arranged in avenues and streets extending from the central squares which accommodatethe displays of the "big" concerns such as Hawker Siddeley, de Havillands, Bristol, etc. There are, in all, no fewer than 195 standseach carried out in the same decorative scheme of cream and blue' but different from all its fellows in the individuality of display. ' It is not our purpose here to give more than a very generalimpression of the static show—advance notes have already been published and a review will appear next week—but, nevertheless,mention must certainly be made of the Napier Nomad compound engine: a massive and most unusual-looking power unit, it wascontinually surrounded by a crowd of people as it stood glistening effulgently on the Napier stand. Credited with a specific fuelconsumption of 0.36 lb/e.s.h.p./hr, the Nomad (or a development of it) would appear to be certain of a future. Another arrestingexhibit is the slowly turning i6ft-diameter de Havilland airscrew for the Bristol 175 Britannia; by contrast to the highly polishedmottled surface of the ordinary dural blades so commonly seen, this airscrew's hollow-steel square-tipped blades have a matt blackfinish. It was also good to see on the de Havilland stand a very beautiful model of the Comet, in the gold-lined scarlet livery ofCanadian Pacific Air Lines. The model bears the name Empress of Vancouver. Sufficient has perhaps been said, by mention of these few'exhibits, to indicate that the quality of this year's static exhibition is as high as ever and, to complement the outstanding interestof the flying part of the event, the range of technical variety sets a new high standard. THE WILBUR WRIGHT EVENING BEFORE the delivery of the 39th Wilbur Wright MemorialLecture (see pages 371-373), given by Mr. A. E. Raymond before members of the Royal Aeronautical Society and theInstitute of the Aeronautical Sciences at the Royal Institution on Monday, September 10th, the president of the R.Ae.S., MajorF. B. Halford, presented the Society's annual awards, as is the custom at this important lecture. The presentations were madeas follows :— The Society's Gold Medal (the highest honour which the Societycan confer, for work of an outstanding nature in aeronautics).—Awarded posthumously to W. G. A. Perring in recognition of his distinguishedservices in the aeronautical sciences. The Society's Silver Medal (for work of an outstanding nature inaeronautics).—S. B. Gates, for his work on the stability and control of aircraft.British Gold Medal (for practical achievement in aircraft design).— A. E. Russell, for his work with the Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd.British Silver Medal (for practical achievement leading to advance- ment in aeronautics).—G/C. John Cunningham, D.S.O., D.F.C., forhis work as chief test pilot with the de Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd. R. P. Alston Memorial Prize (for practical achievement associatedwith the flight-testing of aircraft).—R. J. Falk, for flight-testing British delta-wing aircraft.George Taylor (of Australia) Gold Medal (for the most valuable paper read during the previous R.Ae.S. session).—R. E. Bishop, for hispaper on Design for Maintenance. Simms Gold Medal (for the most valuable contribution on anysubject allied to aeronautics).—Dr. G. S. Hislop, for his paper on Investigation of Gusts.The Society's Bronze Medal (for work leading to an advance in aeronautics).—H. J. Pollard, for his many contributions to the develop-ment of aircraft construction. Herbert Ackroyd Stuart Prize (for the most valuable contributionon applied thermodynamics read before, or received by, the Society).— A. V. Cleaver, for his paper on Rockets and Assisted Take-Off.Edward Busk Memorial Prize (for the most valuable contribution on applied aerodynamics).—R. Hills, for his paper on The Use ofWind Tunnel Model Data in Aerodynamic Design. Following presentation of the medals and awards, the presidentannounced that the recipients of honorary fellowships of the Society this year numbered three; and he thereupon presentedscrolls to Sir Bennett Melvill Jones and Sir Henry Tizard; Mr. C. C. Walker, the third member of the trio, was unable to bepresent personally to receive his honour. When Mr. Raymond had delivered his paper—a quite out-standing lecture even by the high standard of the Wright Memorial lectures of the past—a vote of thanks was accorded him byMaj. G. P. Bulman, past-president of the Society, as deputy for Maj. Halford, who was suffering from a "subsonic" throat. Maj.;Bulman spoke quietly and with great sincerity, and likened the! lecture to the summing-up of a judge at a trial, the prosecutionand defence of which had been given the previous week at the joint R.Ae.S.-LAe.S. Conference at Brighton. The lecture, hesaid, put the whole thing in right perspective and was, in fact, a challenge to the future. The vote of thanks was seconded—in contrastingly humorous:vein—by the recently retired secretary of the Society, Capt.; J. Laurence Pritchard. He said that he had listened to something:like 30 of these lectures, and genuinely thought that Mr. Raymond's was the most remarkable. Capt. Pritchard was quite sincere inhis belief that the lecture was one which would live, and he felt it a very great honour to second the vote of thanks. Mr. Raymondwas then given a tremendous ovation by the audience of well over 400 people—itself something of a record number even for aWright Memorial lecture. Following this notable occasion, the greater part of the audience(which, naturally enough, included many of the American visitors) went from the Royal Institution to No. 4, Hamilton Placefor a reception given by the president of the Society, Maj. F. B. Halford, Mrs. Halford, the Council and their ladies. GILES REID-WALKER HIS many friends in the world of private and sporting aviationwill be grieved to hear of the death of Giles Reid-Walker, at the early age of 26, in a road accident in South Africa on August 31st1 A private aircraft owner and a member of the Wolverhamptop Aero Club, Mr. Reid-Walker had competed in a number of air races and other sporting events; in 1949, flying a Piper PA-K> he won the Goodyear Trophy Race. He entered the R.A.F. from the Cambridge University Alt Squadron during the latter part of the war, but—to his personal disappointment—had no chance of operational flying, for VJs- Day came while he was still with an S.F.T.S. in South Africa.
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