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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1887.PDF
ii July 1952 37 Flight planning room. 1200 hr: a Silver Wing crew, photographed an hour before take-off for Paris. From left to right art Capt. E. R. A. Roberts, FjOff. G. R. D. Atherstone and R/Off. F. T. Caulkin. D.F.C., D.F.M., explained the practical aspects of con verting pilots from Vikings and Pionairs to Elizabethans. Capt. Gillman, incidentally, is chairman of the Vintage Aeroplane Club and proud part-owner of the one and only Avro Avian. The chief instructor is Capt. A. I. Robinson, who was on leave at the time of our visit. Both Capt. Gillman and his fellow-instructor, Capt. L. E. Alexander, have some 6,000 hours' flying experience. Gill man joined the R.A.F. in 1939 and, after flying Blenheims on bombing and anti-shipping operations, was given command of a photographic unit formed to make "newsreel" records of both operational and experimental flying. His career as a commercial pilot began with Railway Air Services in 1946. Alexander joined the R.A.F. in 1939 as a fitter, and was trained by the U.S. Army Air Corps as a pilot, three years later. He later became, in turn, an instructor, Dakota pilot with No. 147 Squadron, Transport Command, and a B.O.A.C. pilot, transferring to B.E.A. in 1946. Most of the Elizabethan training was completed during the slacker winter months and, at the moment, training flights are made whenever an aircraft is not required on the line. London Airport, as the Elizabethan base, is obviously the ideal centre for instruction. Although the Elizabethan is regarded as an "old gentle man's aeroplane," being viceless, smooth and simple to fly, conversion courses are extremely thorough. The syllabus for captains involves 28 flying hours, of which about one-third is single-engined. With its 115ft wing-span and all-up weight of 52,000 lb, the Elizabethan is unusually large for a twin- (Below) Engineers take charge of Elizabethan "Earl of Leicester' No. 3 Bay of B.E.A.'s giant maintenance base at London Airport. in engined airliner, and there is a natural insistence on a high standard of asymmetric flying. The Centaurus is fitted with an auto-coarsening pre- selective feathering system, by which loss of power on take-off is indicated by an amber warning light, enabling the pilot to press a single button on the throttle-lever to feather the airscrew, which has automatically been placed in coarse pitch. This emergency is simulated in training, and the whole feathering operation, including the 12-item fire-drill, has been timed at 35 sees. (Training flights, incidentally, are carried out with the aircraft ballasted to the maximum landing-weight of 50,000 lb.) Other items on the syllabus include flapless landings, glide landings, engine-failure before unstick (at 80 kt), engine-failures on take-off by day and night and single-engined I.L.S. let-down and overshoot. Landings are also practised with the use of the reverse-pitch (negative thrust) airscrews. In short, pilots are prepared for almost every emergency, including failure of the pressurization system at 20,000ft. In this case, the procedure is to lower undercarriage and full flap and descend at 130 kt; the corresponding rate of descent is about 3,000 ft/min, and the maximum time taken to safe breathing altitude of 10,000ft is four minutes. First officers receive a comparable, but shorter, course involving about 12 hours' flying. Like captains, they also fly as supernumerary crew in Elizabethans on regular European services, in order to practise I.L.S. approaches at the various airports visited. The training captains occasionally take over services, not only to keep their hand in but also to help out when the routes are particularly busy. The Elizabethan Flight occupies its own newly built and well-planned offices at London Airport; the building houses the flight captain, Capt. C. E. F. Riley, and his administrative section, an aircrew rest room, flight-planning department, control room, navigational store, captains' room, training offices and medical quarters. Capt. Riley, who formed the flight on August 23rd, 1951, likens his present task to that of an R.A.F. squadron commander. He is responsible for the smooth running of all Elizabethan services and for main taining operational standards, and his staff includes an administrative officer, Mr, E, A, Cameron, a technical officer, F/Off. Cook, and a radio officer, Mr. C. D. Cast. Capt. Riley learnt to fly 26 years ago and has logged some 11,200 hours in his varied and eventful career. In 1933 he joined Imperial Airways, transferring to Central Africa about five years later, and soon afterwards, on the outbreak of war, entering the R.A.F. Most of his wartime service was with Transport Command, where he formed and com manded two squadrons—525 and 147. In 1946 he joined B.E.A., becoming chief pilot of the Continental division (later No. I Flight). There is nothing forced about Capt. Riley's enthusiasm for the Elizabethan, and he assured us that the reactions of passengers—particularly Americans—have been every bit as favourable as B.E.A. had hoped. During their first three months of operations (March 13th to June 13th, 1952), when the average strength of the
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