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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 0084.PDF
30 FLIGHT, 11 January 1952 AIR YEAR REVIEWED The Notable Events of 1951. Part I : January to June January off the coast of Korea: Furies and Fireflies on the flight-deck of H.M.S. "Theseus." WHAT a lot can, and does, happen in the aeronautical world in twelve months ! Civil aviation, the Ser vices, the industry, the learned societies—all con tribute their quota to a torrent of news that is impressive enough in relation to this country alone; andjwhen we come to survey world aviation, as it is the duty of this journal to do, the volume of rumour, speculation and fact assumes positively frightening proportions. Even in sifted, digested and annotated form as it eventually appears in our pages, the week-by-week record of events remains little short of staggering. These thoughts are prompted by a perusal of the pages of Flight for the year just passed. To recall and review (as we do in this article) the story of 1951 is in itself a formidable task; much must perforce be omitted, and the main emphasis placed on British developments. What, then, were the outstanding happenings ? January.—On January 9th, in the hands of John Cunningham, the first production Comet for B.O.A.C, G-AYLP, made its maiden flight. From France, at about this time, came news that Hispano were to build the Rolls-Royce Tay under licence, and from America it was reported that construction of the U.S.A.F.'s first turboprop transport had begun—the Douglas YC-124B (four P. and W. YT-34-P1 engines). A more direct transatlantic influence was felt here on January 17th, when an imposing fleet arrived at Lakenheath, Suffolk—six B-36 bombers and three C-124 transports. A week later four U.S.A.F. Tornado recon naissance aircraft (with tankage for 7,000 gallons of fuel apiece) landed at Manston after flying the Atlantic "by a Northern route." On the 19th the Australian Prime Minister, Mr. R. G. Menzies, visited Biggin Hill in order formally to bestow the honoured name of Canberra upon a Tactical B.2 version of the famous English Electric bomber; after the ceremony, W/C. Roland Beamont gave one of his incomparable flying demonstrations. On the 24th B.E.A. put their first Pionair (DC-3 converted by Scottish Aviation, Ltd.,) into service; chartered by Smiths Air craft Instruments, it took a party of guests to Dublin, where it was demonstrated to Aer Lingus. A less happy occasion for B.E.A. was the temporary grounding of 19 of their 41 Vikings by reason of airscrew-hub trouble. Among the January activities of the learned societies was a helicopter symposium held by the R.Ae.S. Noteworthy articles which appeared in Flight during that month included a series by John Yoxall, describing a journey which he made in Transport Command aircraft to the Far East, where he flew on operational sorties against the bandits in the Malayan jungles; a series on helicopter development by Capt. R. N. Liptrot; an explanation of the Decca navigation system by the Technical Editor; and the final article, in a series of seven by A. R. Weyl, on fighter arma ment. In lighter vein among January's news was a nice little story of a Rapide pilot who flew into the Radlett circuit while a Hermes IV was being test-flown—to be chased seven miles, and have his registration noted, by an incensed S/L. Hazelden. February opened with the shock—pleasant or otherwise, according to the recipients' circumstances—of the announcement of the scheme for recalling R.A.F. reservists. Civil aircraft like wise found themselves faced with the possibility of wearing uniform, for the first rumours were heard of the proposal to turn the Saunders-Roe Princesses into troop-carriers (at about this time, incidentally, a trial installation of a coupled Proteus power unit was being made in the most advanced of these three big flying-boats. Defence preparations, in fact, had begun to show a new urgency. The first Thunderjets were on their way to Western Union countries; a "substantial" order was placed by the Admiralty, through the M.o.S., for the Fairey 17 (now known as the Gannet); the Navy conducted trials in operating helicopters from a small platform built on a merchant ship; and in America an F-84F was flown with an Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet, shortly destined to be put into production by the Wright Aeronautical Corporation as the J-65. The necessity for a speed-up was now being almost daily under lined by news from Korea—as, for example, that the Communist Migs, "with a top speed of well over 600 kt" were threatening to prove more than a match for the U.N.'s best fighters; and some measure of this country's intentions was contained in the publica tion of the Air Estimates, earmarking £328$ million for the R.A.F. —a sum to be challenged as inadequate in the Commons' debate which followed shortly afterwards. The outstanding achievement of February was undoubtedly that on the 21st, when a B.2 Canberra crossed the Atlantic from Aldergrove to Gander, in 4 hr 37 miri for the 2,100 miles. The R.A.F. crew, under S/L. A. E. Callard, later flew the machine on to the Baltimore airfield of the Glenn Martin Company, who are now building the type under licence. British civil aviation's high-spot for the month was the in auguration by the M.C.A. on the 15th, of Phase II of the U.K. Airways System. Lord Brabazon's report on relative respon sibilities in bad-weather take-offs and landings was published as a White Paper. "How to Make Air Transport Pay" was the Left: Crew of the Canberra that flew the Atlantic in February: FjL £. A. J. Haskett (navigator), S/L A. E. Callard (captain), FjL A. J. R. Robson (signaller). Right: The D. H. Comet G-ALZK, property of the Ministry of Supply, was loaned in April to B.O.A.C. for route development trials. "Flight" photographs
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