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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1353.PDF
16 May 1952 "IT GOES IN HERE—": We can only surmise that the dissertation by Mr. Crawford Gordon, Jnr„ concerning features of the Orenda-powered Avro Canada CF-100 fighter, is not of the elementary nature suggested by this picture, for his audience will be recognized as Sir Frank Spriggs and Sir Roy bobson, whose knowledge of "jettery" is by no means superficial. The artisan plying his screwdriver seems to have heard it all before and twirls away unmindful of the presence of his genial chiefs. Airmet: Outlook Still Gloomy T HE now only-too-familiar answer that "there is still no prospect of a suitable frequency being made available for the purpose" was given in the House of Commons on May 8th, to a question about the possibility of the Airmet service being revived. Sir Ian Fraser had asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air whether, in conjunction with the Minister of Education, he would consider the reinstatement of the broadcasts "for teaching purposes and as a general aid to navigation and farming." Mr. G. R. Ward said in reply that the Meteorological Office was ready to resume forecasting for Airmet at any time; then, repeating an earlier answer by the Assistant Postmaster-General, he made the remark quoted above, saying that the A.P.M.G. and himself "did not think that any useful purpose would be served at present by fresh inter-departmental discussions." He added: "We do, however, appreciate that several classes of the community, including private fliers and farmers, are anxious that the service should be restored. I can assure my hon. friend that if the situation changes the claims of Airmet will be given every consideration." A Display in Devon OPENED by Mr. G. R. Ward, M.P., Under-Secretary of State for Air—who arrived, appropriately, in a de Havilland Devon —the flying display at Exeter Airport last Saturday in aid of the Cathedral Preservation Fund was above average both in scope and in execution. It was, therefore, all the more unfortunate that showery weather kept the attendance to less than half the 1951 figure of 10,000. Particularly praiseworthy was the tied-together flying of three Tiger Moths from No. 10 R.F.S.; they remained linked in spite of the anything-but-helpful weather. The crazy-flying of S/L. "Dusty" Miller of No. 12 R.F.S. in a Tiger Moth was as good as any we have seen, while other individual demonstrations were given by F/L. Gordon (Meteor T.7)—noteworthy for out side turns and inverted climbs; F/L. Hampton (Spitfire 21); and MASS IN MANOIUVRE : Easy handling is not the least of the qualities possessed by the Short S.A.4 jet bomber (four Rolls-Royce Avons) and manifest in the continuing trials with this capacious machine. The unusual system of superposing the turbojets will facilitate the instala- tion of experimental units. A new photograph is printed here. 579 a civilian pilot, A. W. Woolley (Beaufighter T.T. 10). The two latter aircraft came from No. 3 C.A.A.C.U.; this unit also gave a lively ground-attack display with Spitfires. Regular naval units taking part included No. 809 Squadron (Culdrose, Sea Hornet N.F. 21) and No. 803 squadron (Ford, Attacker F.i); both units gave polished demonstrations followed by stream landings. An unexpected feature of No. 803's flying was a very-American commentary, given over the public-address system by Lt. Chandler, U.S.N., who is attached to the squadron while here on an exchange visit. He spoke highly of the Attacker. Last, but by no means least, three of the familiar Stampe S.V. 4BS of La Patrouille d'Etampes provided flying of the type which has by now earned them a unique reputation in most European countries. Kerguelen, Darbois and Claveau were the pilots; on this occasion the usual individualist—Menard—was the victim of aircraft-unserviceability. Another Canberra Record CLIPPING one and one-quarter hours off the previous record— established on March 17th by an R.A.A.F. Canberra—a similar aircraft reached Laverton, Melbourne, last week in the (unconfirmed) flight-time of 23 hr 5 min from Lyneham. S/L. P. G. Fisher, R.A.A.F., who delivered the aircraft, is re ported as having chosen cruising heights of between 30,000ft and 46,500ft; ground speed was apparently 600 m.p.h. over the Mediterranean, and 515 m.p.h. calculated as an average for the 11,975-mile flight. Elapsed time for the flight was increased by the occurrence of slight radio unserviceability in India and of a leak in a wing tank at Singapore. Missing over the Timor Sea AS we go to press there is still no news of the Proctor which Mr. Martin Cherry was flying from England to Australia, and which was repor:ed missing over the Timor Sea last Sunday. Mr. Cherry, who was accompanied by his wife—their wedding was only a month ago—had left Kupang, Timor Island, and was due at Darwin at 2.45 p.m.; at dusk there was no report of their arrival at any part of the North Australian coast. The Proctor, which had no radio, carried fuel for six hours, giving a still-air range of about 800 miles; the crossing from Kupang to Darwin is about 525 miles, and it was reported from the Australian end that a strong head-wind was blowing. An R.A.A.F. Lincoln was despatched on a sea search, and preparations were made for a Dakota and a Lincoln to examine the coastline, which is of a very wild and irregular nature. Mr. Cherry is an Australian who had lived in England for the past three years, during which time he was with Handley Page (Reading), Ltd. Last November he flew a Proctor out to Australia with two passengers; eleven months earlier he had delivered an Aerovan from Reading to Benguella in S.W. Africa. Comet in South Africa LAST week we gave an impression of the departure of the first ' Comet service for Johannesburg on May 2nd. Its arrival there, less than 24 hours later, has been described for us by Mr. E. N. Tucker, editor of Wings, who writes "The Comet is certainly something of which Britain can be immensely proud. It has been the general topic of conversation here for days." Of the actual arrival, he writes: "When the Comet landed at Palmietfontein Airport at 15.35 hours (South African time) on May 3rd, 20,000 people crowded round the enclosures to give the airliner the biggest welcome accorded to pioneers since the days of Sir Pierre van Ryneveld, Lieut. Dick Bentley and others who first flew from England in the 1920s. Many of those present
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