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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1888.PDF
PLIGHT, 14 September 1951 373 THE WELL-TEMPERED AIRCRAFT . . . intricate and test programmes so longthat it was difficult to get tunnel results eariy enough in the design of the air-craft to allow design modifications to be made while the drawings were fluid.In these circumstances, the wind tunnel tended to become a checking devicerather than one for the collection of design information. Aircraft design was not a completescience and never would be, so night tests and service experience were neces-sary in order to check what had been done on the drawing board and in the laboratory.The aircraft was, first of all, a flying machine, and there was no substitute for good flying qualities. A good flyingaeroplane had to be obtained first 01 all; the rest could be added later. In a sense, however, the development never ended, for solong as the aircraft lasted, improvements would be made in it. What was aimed at in the development period was to get the air-craft into such shape that it could go into service and do its job month in, month out, and average not less than, say, five andperhaps as many as ten or more hours of flying time per day. If it could do that, it was a well-tempered aircraft and justified itsexistence. Follow-Through.—At completion of the development phase, theaircraft passed from builder to operator. This transition could be made easier if key-men from the operating side were brought intothe factory some time before delivery, to become familiar with the aircraft and to share in its test programme. There was a tendencyto criticize a new aircraft, if it was not fully understood. It might be much better than previous types but, just because it wasdifferent, it would at first seem strange and uncomfortable. An easy affection came only after long familiarity and the period ofbecoming acquainted with something new could be very awkward f a well-thought-out and organized programme was not put intoeffect to bridge it over (Fig. 8). On the subject of spares, Mr. Raymond said that nobody knewahead of time exactly what would be needed, but the spares situation for the civil operator was a good deal better than in themilitary case. Spares for military aircraft were often badly handled; large surpluses and acute shortages went hand in hand.The nature of military operations made the problem of spares particularly difficult, but the supply problem could be simplifiedby the use of air transport (Fig. 9). Thorough Exploitation.—Mr. Raymond expressed the opinionthat a well-conceived well-executed and weil-developed aircraft could usually be adapted to a wide variety of uses over a periodof years, so extending its market and lengthening its life-span. It had been estimated that successful military aircraft underwent,on the average during their useful life, modifications totalling at least one-half of their original cost. The record for successfulcivil aircraft was much the same, for these found their way to many different customers, each of whom required variations tomeet special preferences or conditions of operation. There was little use bewailing this tendency toward non-standardization. Modifications undoubtedly added to the cost, but without them the number of aircraft produced would be manyless which, in itself, would probably raise the unit cost even more. Correct Succession.—Regardless of how good an aircraft mightbe, there came a time (and it might come imperceptibly) when it became uneconomical to continue production. Any further SUCCESSION IN MILITARY AIRCRAFT Fig. 11 modifications would cost more than their benefit (Fig. 10). Thiswas the time when a new model should be through its development phase and ready for operation. The new model must, therefore,have been started several years before. It was not enough to acknowledge the point of obsolescence when it occurred; it had tobe foreseen considerably in advance. The problem of succession when applied to military aircraft hadsome special elements which were worth noting. The losses that a given air force would sustain in battle against the enemy dependedon its quality. If aircraft were not replaced from time to time with newer models, their attrition rate would be higher in the event ofwar. Replacements in wartime would then have to be more numerous (leaving aside the difficulty of getting them in time) andtheir total cost would be higher. This added cost would tend to offset the added cost that would have been incurred had moremodern aircraft been secured in the first place. Mr. Raymond then made the trenchant observation that the penalty of allowingan air force to slip behind the state of the art through failure to renew was so great that a drastic policy of scrapping existingmilitary aircraft and replacing with new ones as soon as they could be made available would pay in the long run. In other words, assoon as today's bomber or fighter had been placed in production, tomorrow's should be started on the drawing board (Fig. n). Adaptiveness.—There had always been a great many people inthe aircraft business whose attitude was optimistic and who expected the best. Many projects would never have been startedhad this not been so. A surprisingly large proportion of these had been successful, when a careful and thorough preliminaryanalysis would have shown their chances to have been much less than even. If no one drilled an oil well unless he were absolutelysure he would strike oil, petroleum production would be much less than it was. Certainly, there were times when it was justified totake-chances. The qualities of mind referred to, flexibility, optimism, andlack of caution, were youthful qualities. Aviation would undoubtedly always be a field which attracted young men, and onewhich was benefited by their presence. Those who had been in it a good many years might be able to supply the tempering judg-ment which only experience could bring, but they could not allow themselves to think that they had all the answers. To illustrate the importance of the unplanned-for element,Mr. Raymond concluded his lecture by quoting the case history of the Dakota. What it amounted to was that the DC-3 had beenlucky enough in its early years so completely to capture the market (and this had not been the result of particularly good planning)that competition was thrown off balance. It therefore had had the benefit of a rather unique position, but the fact remained thatstern realism undiluted by a certain light-hearted assumption of risk might well have damped the project in its early stages. AN AIRLINE'S QUARTER-CENTURY "High Horizons," by Frank J. Taylor. McGraw-Hill Book Co.,Inc., 330, West 42nd Street, New York. Price $4.00. T ATEST addition to the fast-growing library of companyhistories is this story of United Airlines, who celebrated their 25th birthday this year.* The sub-title "Daredevil Flying Postmento Modern Magic Carpet" gives a clue to Mr Taylor's picturesque, American style of writing, which may cause the more conservativereader to squirm occasionally, but, on the whole, is highly enter- taming and descriptive Take, for example, this story of one of the^aredevil Postmen" in his war-weary D.H.9 mailplane in 1921 : Pilot J. Dean Hill, when he left Bellefonte, invariably lighted along cigar and puffed leisurely as he flew. When the stogie burned down to two inches in length, he figured it was time to come down°.yer the Jersey meadows. Hill always claimed that his stogie was "ie first instrument to aid commercial fliers." Whether or not that conforms with the reader's idea of greatEnglish prose, High Horizons is worth a place on every aviation "ooKshelf. Beginning with the individual stories of Varney Air- * See "United is Twenty-five", "Flight", March 9th. lines, Pacific Air Transport, Boeing Air Transport and NationalAir Transport—the four companies which combined to form United Airlines in 1929—it shows how they survived years of bigbusiness, political manoeuvring and financial crises to become the great free-enterprise Main Line system of today, carrying 7.\million passengers a year on 13,000 miles of routes. We read how United pioneered a brand-new profession bytaking on the first air hostesses in 1930, and then began the modern mania for red carpets, free meals, orchids and champagne byserving the first in-flight meals to their passengers. Some bright ideas misfired : for instance, after introducing a scheme by whichwives could accompany their husbands free of charge on certain flights, United's sales staff wrote to ask the ladies if they hadenjoyed the trip. Unfortunately, it transpired that at least one husband had neglected to tell his wife that he had taken her along ! It is a fascinating book, because many of the "great names" inAmerican aviation had a hand in building United Airlines. But more than 94 per cent of United's present top managementpeople came up the hard way in the company's offices and "off the ramp," and Mr. Taylor pays well-merited tribute to them also.
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