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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 0118.PDF
54 FLIGHT AGRICULTURIST from AMERICA Piper PA-18-A for Spraying and Dusting DURING the past three years, the Piper Aircraft Corporation has been working with the Ohio State Aviation Board, the Delta Experiment Station and other organizations in order to evolve the best specification for an agricultural aircraft. The outcome of this work is the recently announced Piper PA-18-A combined duster, sprayer and general utility aircraft. Developed from the Super Cub, the PA-18-A is designed speci fically for farm use, the Piper Corporation also being responsible for the dispersal equipment. Pilot safety—of special importance in this low-altitude agricultural work—has been improved by the fitting of a heavy-duty safety belt and of shoulder harness, while wire cutters have been added to the landing gear. The main fuse lage structure has also been modified in order to accommodate the large insecticide tank. This tank holds no gallons of liquid or 18 cu ft of dust and is easily removable. For spraying, two streamlined booms, each carrying 12 spray nozzles, can be fitted under the wings as shown in the accompany ing photograph. Together, they put down a swath 50ft wide, the coverage being variable between a half-gallon and five gallons per acre by adjustment of the nozzle orifice size and the delivery pres sure from the slipstream-driven gear pump. One and a half man-hours suffice to convert the aircraft to dusting, for which work the same tank is employed. Two agitators driven by shafting from a windmill assist the dust to fall into twin venturi-type distributors. In either condition, it is claimed, the aircraft can effectively treat up to 220 acres in 45 minutes with one load of up to one-half ton of insecticide. Super Cubs of earlier types are Air Year Reviewed (continued from page 31). . . May.—In Korea, on the 9th, over 300 U.N. bombers and fighters took part in the biggest raid, that on a Communist air base. A fortnight later, 500 aircraft of the N.A.T.O. Powers par ticipated in Exercise Ombrelle. At home, on the 3rd, the Festival of Britain opened, with a somewhat disappointing display of aircraft in the South Bank transport pavilion. There were flying events throughout the month, including the R.Ae.S. Garden Party at White Waltham and air displays at Plymouth, Shoreham, Hucknall (attended by 75,000 people), Derby (where F/L. J. Finlay won the Harben Trophy Race), and Wolverhampton (where Fred Dunkerley, in a Miles Mercury, won the Goodyear Trophy at 161 m.p.h.). The Vickers 660, four-jet bomber, later to be announced as the Valiant, was airborne for the first time on May 18th, in the hands of Capt. J. Summers. On that day we announced that Vickers-Armstrongs, with the Swift (as yet unpublicised) had secured the first contract for swept-wing fighters for the R.A.F. The D.H. Sprite rocket-motor had its first flight test (in a Comet) on the 7th. Lincoln Ellsworth, famous polar flier, died in New York at the age of 71. On May 10th, Maj. F. B. Halford became president, for 1951-52, of the R.Ae.S. British air services were stepped up for Festival traffic: B.O.A.C.'s "Monarch" Stratocruiser service, inaugurated on March 1st with five flights a week from New York to London, was increased to a daily frequency. Sir Miles Thomas, the Cor poration's chairman, returned from a tour of the Americas, expressing himself "both encouraged and chastened" about B.O.A.C.'s progress there (its route down the west coast of South America had just been withdrawn). B.E.A. discontinued their London-Prague services on May i8th, largely owing to the obstructive tactics of the Czech authorities. A French operator's order for two Series I Comets was announced. Lord Pakenham, Minister of Civil Aviation, was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. The ban on gliding by Germans of the Federal Republic was lifted. In England, F/L. W. A. Bedford established a new British gliding record pf 250 miles to a declared destination. On May 26th, in dull weather which nevertheless failed to pre vent the fly-past, the King's Colour was presented to the R.A.F. in Hyde Park, Prjncess Elizabeth deputizing for the King. At mid-month there occurred the tenth anniversary of the first flight of the Gloster E.28/39, and this we celebrated by publica tion of a Gas Turbine Number on May nth. Other special fea tures which we published during May included a history (by John Yoxall) of No. 7 Squadron, a design-analysis of the Percival said to have sprayed over 1,000 acres of cotton or wheat per day. That our own industry is not backward in the development of agricultural aircraft was demonstrated by an account in Flight of March 30th, 1951, of the spraying of 17,000 acres of the Anglo- Egyptian Sudan by three Agricultural Auster Aiglets owned by Aerial Spraying Contractors, Ltd. P.56, adopted as the R.A.F.'s new basic trainer, and the first of a series by K. W. Gatland on guided-missile evolution. The Editor flew our Gemini to Holland in order to make an air test of the new Fokker S.13 twin-engined trainer. On the 29th, H.M.S. Theseus returned to England after six months in Korean waters, during which her aircraft flew 3,446 sorties. On the 29th-30th, the U.S. pilot Capt. Charles Blair flew his Mustang Excalibur HI over the North Pole from Norway to Alaska, 3,375 miles at 321.4 m.p.h., then almost immediately on to New York, another 3,400 miles. British aircraft exports for May were valued at nearly £4 million—almost £900,000 up on the monthly average for 1950. June.—Outstanding event of the month was the Paris Show; it opened on the 15th, to conclude on July 1st with an inter national flying display at Le Bourget that attracted nearly a quarter of a million spectators. At the Show, the Rolls-Royce Avon made its first public appearance. In England, the H.P. 88 (destined to be lost, with its pilot, D. J. P. Broomfield, two months later) made its first flight on June 21 st. Westlands demonstrated the S-55 helicopter, similar to one which had flown-out over 100 casualties during a short period of experimental operation in Korea. In America, the big new Class N Goodyear airship made its maiden flight on the 18th, and two days later, in Canada, the Orenda-powered CF-100 flew. Lord Ogmore was appointed Minister of Civil Aviation on June 1st. On this day B.O.A.C. reintroduced their New York to Bermuda service, suspended since March 1950. B.E.A. were forced, by aircraft shortage, to limit or suspend services on six routes. On the 5th, I.C.A.O.'s Fifth Assembly opened in Mon treal; Spain was elected to a vacancy on the Council. A Hermes V (four Theseus turboprops) flew from London to Paris in 46 min. On June 1st, B.E.A. inaugurated their London-Birmingham helicopter service with Westland-Sikorsky S.51S. On June 7th, the N.W. Chain of the Decca Navigator system was inaugurated. P. A. Wills, on June 3rd, achieved a British out-and-home gliding record of 160 miles. During the month, air displays were held at Rearsby, Fair Oaks, R.N. Air Station Bramcote, Swansea, and elsewhere. Prof. A. A. Hall was appointed to succeed the late Mr. W. G. A. Perring as director of the R.A.E. A major disappointment was the abandonment, through bad weather on the 23rd, of the Festival of Britain National Air Races. Notable articles in Flight during the month included an account, by a member of the staff, of a tour of Scandinavia's air routes. Handling impressions of the Short Sealand were also given. On the 29th this journal sustained a grievous loss by the death of its Editorial Director, Mr. G. Geoffrey Smith. (To be concluded next week)
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