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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 2142.PDF
PLIGHT, 26 October 1951 HSRE AND THERE .... tions . . - over a number of years in thefit: j of airborne navigation equipment." (I;. 1939 Mr. Pritchard formed the Naviga- -tion Section at the Royal Aircraft Estab- lishment.) Among recipients of threeBronze Medals for paper* contributed to the Institute's journal were Mr. C. S.Durst and Mr. N. E. Davis, for a paper on Jet Streams and Their Importance to AirNavigation. Mountaineering THE Piper Cub which, as we briefly recorded last week, was successfully landed on a snow slope near the peak of Mont Blanc, was later reported to have taken off with the aid of "a mechanism used for catapulting gliders"—probably the con- ventional rubber launching-rope. Power for the Future AN experimental small-scale electric power-station plant driven by a gas turbine is now under construction at the National Gas ' Turbine Establishment, Farnborough, and is expected to be com- pleted at the end of 1952. The output is to be about 10,000 kW. Heat from the turbine efflux will be utilized for heating the building in which the plant is installed. American Canberra Developments ONE of the latest steps towards Canberra (B-57A) production in the Martin plant •was the inspection, by an official Board, of mock-ups of "new wing and cockpit instal- lations." No details of these installations have been released, but it has been men- tioned that among improvements suggested were metal, instead of canvas, handles for the ammunition boxes (confirming that the B-57A will carry guns), and a water con- tainer for the benefit of the crew on flights of "three hours' duration, or longer." Dive- brake modifications may also have been made. 531 Rotating-winged Pilots A HELICOPTER which (as will be seenfrom the illustration) is suggestive of the "rocket men" currently popular incomic strips has been developed by Rotor- Craft Corporation of Glendale, California,for the U.S. Office of Naval Research. Weighing less than 100 lb, the machineconsists of little more than a steel tube, a pilot's seat, a control column, a fuel tankand a two-bladed rotor carrying at its blade tips throttle-controlled liquid-fuelrockets fed from the tank. A little "weather- vane" rudder apparently takes care of rotor-torque reaction. It is said that the rockets emit no flame, so that the helicopters couldbe safely "worn" by troops making night landings. Other than that "Pinwheel" (theAmerican term for "Catherine-wheel") is the name chosen, no further details havebeen released. It does appear, however, that the project is a serious one and thata number of promising ground tests have been made "at a military base near LosAngeles." THRUSTFUL: A de Havilland hollow- steel-blade airscrew under development on Britain's largest pis- ton engine, the sleeve- Yalve Bristol Cen- taurus 630 of 2,450 h.p., as installed in the Airspeed Ambas- sador. A similar 16ft 6/n diameter air- screw is used on the Bristol Proteus of 3,350 s.h.p. specified for the Bristol MS, or Britannia. The same mark of Proteus is employed in the out- board positions on the ,Saunders-Roe Prin- cess, while counter- rotating versions of the airscrew are fitted to the coupled Proteus units of 6,700 s.h.p. which occupy the inboard positions on this ultra-large fly ing-boat. UMBREUCOPTER: Though aesthetically leav- ing something to be desired, this drawing of the "Pinwheel" helicopter (see adjacent column) gives some idea of the general appear- ance of the device. Probably intentionally, the rotor-tip rockets are not shown. SHORTLY RETURNING from North America is Mr. Frank E. Buckell, AI.R.Ae.S., A.F.I.Ae.S. left), manager of the G.E.C. aeronautical departments He has been attending, in New York, the I.A.T.A. discussions on visual aids, and is now in Canada to discuss airfield lighting and also, at the Canadair (and possibly the Canadian Avro) factories, matters concern- ing aircraft electrical equipment. IN BRIEF THE British Institution of Radio Engin-eers has been honoured by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh's acceptance of honorary membership. * * * Major-General C. A. L. Dunphie, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O., has been appointed a director of Vickers-Armstrong Ltd. * * * It is announced that. Sir Cecil Weir, K.B.E., M.C., has joined the board of directors of the Pyrene Co., Ltd. * * * The Ministry of Supply has given type- test approval to the Hymatic HC51 com- pressor for ancillary services in aircraft. Weighing only 10 lb, the compressor pro- vides free air delivery of 1.5 cu ft/min when delivering against a pressure of 3,000 lb/sq in. * * * The B.O.A.C. service down the west coast of South America, between Kingston (Jamaica) and Santiago (Chile), via Peru, which was referred to in the recent article "Over Amazon and Andes", is not at present operating. Brazil is served from London by the B.O.A.C. route down the east coast of South America. * * * H. M. Hobson, Ltd., Fordhouses, Wolverhampton, announce that Mr. T. P. Searight has resigned his position as chairman but remains a director, while Mr. S. W. Hughes has been elected chair- man and continues as managing director. Mr. T. Simpson becomes assistant manag- ing director and Mr. P. H. Stokes has been appointed to the post of technical director.
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