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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 0575.PDF
7 March 1952 259 N.A.C.A. Chief on British Jets T\R. DRYDEN, a director of the National Advisory Committee *-* on Aeronautics, has "no reason to believe that Britain is ahead of the United States on jet-engine development." He said so at a Congressional private committee meeting—the proceedings of which have since been made public—after the chairman, Mr. Albert Thomas, had stated that the committee had been advised that Britain had the best jet engines, and had also been asked when the U.S. was going to catch up. Dr. Dryden denied that Britain was "15 to 18 months ahead" of the United States in technical and scientific development on jets, but he agreed that she had begun development two years before America. "We have larger engines going into production at the present time than the British have,"„he said. "But as far as engines running on the test stands are concerned, United States and British engines are comparable." Pointing out that British and American specifications were different, Dr. Dryden said the United States demanded a more "severe" performance from jet engines than Britain. British engines taken over by the United States, he said, had had to have certain changes made in their design to meet American require ments. R.C.A.F. Wings for Lord Alexander /~\NE of the last ceremonies at Government House in which **f Viscount Alexander participated before leaving Canada was his acceptance of R.C.A.F. wings from the Canadian Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal W. A. Curtis. In making the presentation Air Marshal Curtis said : "You have flown some 700 hours in R.C.A.F. aircraft of all types—a goodly portion of this time was spent in actually flying the aircraft—not only in Canada and the United States, but in South America, over the Atlantic, in England and on the Continent. We feel that in view of this flying, coupled with what you did in light aircraft during the war, you have earned your wings." Viscount Alexander has now arrived back in this country to take up his new post as Defence Minister in Mr. Churchill's Government. They Like Nike TCROM Washington a Daily Telegraph correspondent writes that •«• the U.S. Army will soon have a substantial stockpile of "Nike" anti-aircraft missiles; nearly a thousand, he says, should be available by the end of the year. So-called after the Greek goddess of victory, "Nike" is claimed to be able to track down and destroy enemy aircraft at distances up to ten miles. A B-17 bomber, recently flown by remote control over the White Sands proving grounds at 250 m.p.h. at 30,000ft, was tracked by, radar. A pencil-slim "Nike" was projected from its launching platform and locked on a radar beam, eventually trans ferring from the beam to "final guidance," and when within killing distance of the B-17 the warhead (filled with smoke generating equipment instead of explosive) was seen to detonate. The missile descended by parachute and the B-17 returned to base. Further Term for General Vandenberg THOUGH General Hoyt S. Vandenberg completes his four-year term as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force at the end of April he will not complete the thirty years' service necessary for his full pension until the end of June, 1953; it is therefore announced from the White House that President Truman will ask the Senate to accept the nomination of General Vandenberg for a further 14-month term of office. This would allow the General to finish his service without having to assume an inferior post during the final year. The arrangement will also defer the difficult decision of select ing a suitable successor; a number of rivals are possible choices, each of whom represents a group with its own convictions of the role of air power, and the need for co-operation with the U.S. Army and Navy. It will be interesting, when the question does arise, to see which group eventually carries the day. Sir Frank Whittle : Commons Questions IN the House of Commons last Monday, Mr. Wedgwood Benn (Lab., Bristol S.E.) asked the Minister of Supply if the recent criticisms of British jet-engine development made by Sir Frank Whittle were made with his [the Minister's! consent and what steps he was taking to improve development. Mr. Duncan Sandys replied : "Sir Frank Whittle no longer has any official connection with the M.o.S. The first part of the question does not therefore arise. With regard to the second part, I do not consider that these criticisms call for any change in our development policv." Mr. Wedgwood Benn pointed out that Sir Frank Whittle had been offered a very highly paid post in the United States and was FORMAL ACCEPTANCE: H.E. the Rt. Hon. F. W. Doidge, C.H., M.P., New Zealand High Commissioner, accepts from Mr. W. £. Nixon (right), de Havilland Aircraft managing director, two special Devons for the R.N.Z.A.F. On the left is A. Cdre. C. E. Kay, A.O.C. the London H.Q. of the R.N.Z.A.F. The aircraft are specially equipped radio and naviga tional trainers, and their interior accommodaion and instructional equipment was illustrated in "Flight" of February 15th. considering accepting it. He asked the Minister, therefore, to consider discussing the matter with Sir Frank "in order to retain the services of this distinguished scientist." Mr. Sandys said the Ministry were well aware of the views held by Sir Frank as to the advantages of the centrifugal and the axial compressor systems, but that was not a matter which could be discussed at Question Time. Co-operation in Magnesium THE increasing use of magnesium alloys in aircraft construction lends interest to the announcement, made last week, that the principal companies of the United Kingdom magnesium industry have formed a consultative and advisory body to be known as the Magnesium Advisory Committee (M.A.C.). The broad object of the M.A.C. will be to encourage expansion in the production and applications of magnesium and its alloys. Initial activities will be to hold discussions on general policy and technical matters between the member companies, and to serve as the negotiating body with the Ministry of Supply and other Government Departments, with particular reference to the Defence programme. Membership is open to all companies engaged in the production, casting and or hot working of magnesium or its alloys, with the provision of approval of applications by the committee. Founder members of the M.A.C. are:— Aeroplane and Motor Aluminium Castings, Ltd., Birmetals, Ltd., Birmingham Aluminium Casting (1903) Co., Ltd., James Booth and Co., Ltd., Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd., High Duty Alloys, Ltd., Kent Alloys, Ltd., Magnal Products, Ltd., Magnesium Castings and Products, Ltd., Magnesium Elektron, Ltd., Rolls-Royce, Ltd., Sterling Metals, Ltd., J. Stone and Co. (Charlton) Ltd., Stone-Fry Magnesium, Ltd. Meetings are for the present being held at Distillers House, St. James's Square, London, S.W.i, and Mr. R. G. Wilkinson, deputy chief metallurgist, Magnesium Elektron, Ltd., Bath House, 82 Piccadilly, London, W.i, is acting as honorary secretary to the committee. Pest Control's Chairman THE board of Pest Control, Ltd., announce that Sir Guy Marshall, F.R.S., has relinquished his chairmanship for health reasons; he is to be succeeded by Lord Boyd-Orr, D.S.O., F.R.S. Sir Guy Marshall, who was founder of the Imperial Institute of Entomology, and its first director from T913-1942, made a great contribution to entomology by ultimately bringing practical appli cation of research results right on to the farms. He has been chairman of the Pest Control since it was founded in 1939; in ten vears it has grown from a small private company to a public com pany operating on the European Continent, Africa, and Asia, and with a considerable dollar-earning trade with America. Lord Boyd-Orr is best known for his work as Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization; he was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1949. He has for some time been interested in the application of science for the control of plant pests and diseases as a valuable means of alleviating the world food-shortage.
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