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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 0638.PDF
286 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . The aeroplane again becomes a familiar Christmas tree, but, even so, it is far more difficult to fly at low speeds than an orthodox aircraft. "No amount of wing thinness or sweep back appears to delay the compressibility drag rise much beyond the Mach number of 0.87," says Mr. Millicer. "It seems that we shall have to be con tent with cruising at Mach numbers of 0.9 to 0.93 for medium or long-range aircraft for the next ten years or so. Therefore it appears to me that the delta wing configuration is unnecessary. . . . I am firmly convinced that in the next two or three years we shall see a turn away from sweptback wings to very thin wings with either slight or no sweepback at all." Summing up, Mr. Millicer says : "The delta wing emerges as a purely supersonic, short range aircraft with very short endurance. Due to its stability troubles near the stall it is very 'touchy' to handle, difficult to land, dangerous to stall. It should be satis factory for short-range pilotless missiles or even for short-range manned fighters. But it does not look promising as an economic proposition for a medium- or long-range subsonic transport, bomber or even fighter." Improved Leduc Ramjet THE fourth Leduc prototype, designated Leduc 021, is now nearing completion at Argentueil and is likely to fly this year. A Turbomeca Marbore turbojet at each wing-tip should give the 021 a great advantage over its predecessors in that it will be able to make an unassisted take-off from the ground; the earlier prototypes have been air-launched. A centre-line undercarriage is to be used, with wing-tip skids. It is stated that two 20 mm cannon will be fitted, while estimated performance figures—presumably for the ramjet assisted by both turbojets—include a time of under two minutes for the climb to 32,800ft, and a duration of 15 minutes at 49,200ft. French Turboprop Progress FOR the past four years the S.N.E.C.M.A. have been developing a medium-power, axial-flow turboprop, the TB-1000 which was described in Flight, May 12th, 1949, page 555. Now comes the TB-1000-A, in which the output has been raised from some 1,400 to 2,000 equivalent b.h.p. No details of the modifications are available, but they have not, apparently, affected the major rotating assembly or the overall weight. At Villaroche on January 14th the first TB-1000-A unit was put through a brief maximum-power test, during which a total equivalent b.h.p. in excess of 2,000 was recorded; the next day, the same engine completed a 15-hour test at maximum continuous power. Lancasters for the Record COMMENTING on a recent Air Ministry news release con cerning the tenth anniversary of the first Lancaster operation —a minelaying sortie on the night of March 3rd, 1942—A. V. Roe and Co., Ltd., remark that readers may be interested to see a production analysis of the 7,366 Lancasters which were built (75366, apparently, is an accurate figure—7,333 was quoted in the anniversary story). The following, then, are the delivery totals, as given to A. V. Roe by the Ministry of Aircraft Production in November, 1945 : Maker Mk No. Output A. V. Roe (Manchester and Yeadon) 1 896 S ™r. ." . ,„" " 3 2>774 Armstrong Whitworth (Coventry) 1 919 j; 3, „ ••• 2 300 » jj „ 3 no Vickers-Armstrongs (Castle Bromwich and Chester) 1 300 33 33 33 33 33 33 2 235 Metropolitan-Vickers (Manchester) ... ... i 944 S3 ,3 33 136 Austin Motor Co. (Birmingham) 1 150 33 33 33 33 • • • ... ... / 180 Victory Aircraft (Canada) — 422 TOTAL 7,366 Australian Acceleration T^HE Australian Department of Supply has placed a contract -•- with the Fairey Clyde Aviation Co. (Pty.), Ltd., for a number of test rockets for use at Woomera; the company has also been asked to develop a number of rocket types supplied from the United Kingdom. Electrically welded, precision steel tube will probably be used for the motors, British Tube Mills Pty., Ltd., of Adelaide, having been asked to guarantee a continuous supply. The Armstrong Siddeley Viper expendable turbojet used in the Australian pilotless aircraft is reported to have a service life greatly in excess of requirements and is, therefore, to be suitably H.R.H. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH made an extensive tour of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, on Thursday of last week. He is seen here with (left) Mr. Duncan Sandys, M.P., the Minister of Supply, and Prof. A. A. Hall, who was recently appointed Director of the R.A.E. modified—the reverse of usual practice ! The aircraft, which has been given the name Jindivik, was designed by Mr. Ian Fleming with Mr. le Cheminant as technical director. Prototypes have been built at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation factory at Port Melbourne; production models will be produced by Chrysler (Australia), Ltd., Finsbury, South Australia. At least two examples of the aircraft have made successful trial flights, according to reports, and another destined for Woomera Range is featured in the Pathe newsreel generally released this week. This one bears the numbers B.4 on the nose and A.92/4 on the tail. A brief description of the Jindivik in the January 25th issue of Flight included illustrations of B.i. The span of the square-cut wings is less than 20ft and the length is 22ft. It may be controlled from the ground or from another attendant aircraft. La Bell France THE French national group S.N.C.A.N. have purchased a licence for the manufacture of the Bell 47D-1 helicopter. Powered by the 200-h.p. Franklin flat-six engine, the type will be mass-produced to meet both civil and military requirements. Thunderjets for Italy TPHE latest European air force to receive Republic F-8.4 Thunder- -*- jet fighter/bombers from America, under the mutual defence assistance programme, is Italy. The first batch arrived at Brindisi on March 8th. It is presumed that these machines are F-84ES, powered with the Allison J-35 turbojet. Easier Logistics THE Chief of Transportation of the U.S. Department of the Army, Maj.-Gen. Heileman, recently described the impact of the helicopter on military transportation as "all but impossible to over-estimate." The U.S. Army, he said, were regarding the helicopter as an improvement on the traditional ground-transport methods, rather than as the introduction of a modified aeroplane. Use of the helicopter would aid military transportation more than did the first motor vehicles. Transparent Metal AMETHOD of coating glass with a thin, transparent, electri cally conducting film has been developed at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, and is now being patented. The layer is of a metallic oxide. Not all metals can produce transparent oxide films; tin is a notable example of one which does, and is readily available, although expensive. The tin is deposited, as the element, on the glass by normal industrial methods which give very even distribution. The glass is then heated to near the softening-point and cooled; this oxidizes the tin and renders it transparent. Finally, the film is washed in water and dried; this increases its electrical conductivity. The oxide film is then hard, and inseparable from the glass on which it is deposited; it is also resistant to chemical attack. Visibility reduction is negligible—for all practical purposes- while the resistance to current is about 1,000 ohms across opposite faces of any square area. Electrical heating can thus be used at a sufficient current density to prevent the accretion of ice or snow, or to arrest interior misting due to condensation.
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