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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 2079.PDF
FLIGHT, i August 1952 117 FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . New Decca Chain yHE south-west British chain of Decca Navigator stations has •*-been built principally to meet the needs of shipping; it will aid all craft in the South-western Approaches and should enable accurate landfalls to be made in all weathers. But there are many important airfields in the area covered by this chain—which reaches from Southern Ireland to well inside France—and aircraft will also benefit from its operation. Geographically, this new chain follows the usual star pattern, the master station being near Plymouth and the slaves being sited on St. Mary Island in the Scillies (Green), in Jersey (Red), and at Llancarffan. near Cardiff (Purple). The official opening was per formed on July 29th by Sir Norman Guttery, K.B.E., C.B., Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Transport, at a ceremony aboard M.V. Vecta, steaming from Southampton to Poole Bay. Cause for Congratulation pONGRATULATIONS are due to Capt. R. C. O. Lovelock, ^ D.F.C., of Airwork, Ltd., on a skilful forced landing which he executed with a Hermes IV in a field near Pithiviers, south of Paris, on July 23rd. The aircraft was flying on a trooping service from Blackbushe to Malta, and had 54 soldiers and six aircrew on board. It appears that the starboard outer engine lost its airscrew, in process of which the starboard inner was also put out of action. Capt. Lovelock put the aircraft down, and all its occupants were able to escape before it caught fire and was burnt out. In stating that only three of them received injuries, which were of a minor nature, Airwork express the view that this fortunate outcome may well have been due to the fact that the cabin of the Hermes was fitted throughout with rearward-facing seats. The troops were flown back to London, and re-kitted, a few days later. Facing Aft Y^HATEVER reasons may be preventing others from coming to "a decision on rearward-facing seats, the U.S.A.F. has tried the layout and found its advantages sufficient to justify its adop tion. In fact, under a new requirement of the Military Air Trans port Service, all future American Service transports will be equip ped with rearward-facing seats and present equipment is being modified to the same configuration. The first new transport to be delivered under these rules will be the Convair C-131, a variant of the CV-240, scheduled to join M.A.T.S. early next year; like most airliners today, the C-131 will take a leaf out of B.O.A.C.'s book in having a white-painted cabin-top. Pruning and Forcing THE American Aircraft Production Boaid has now reported -1- to the U.S. Air Force and Navy its findings of a recent survey of types currently in, or scheduled for, production. It recommends that building of the following aircraft should be cut back, or stopped altogether: Grumman F9F Panther and Cougar; Lock heed F-94C Starfire; Martin B-57A Canberra; Northrop F-89 Scorpion; and Republic F-84G. In place of these types the following are suggested : McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee, itself to be replaced by the F3H—which may also cut out any requirement for the new Grumman F10F Jaguar; North American F-86F, to be replaced by the N.A. F-100 supersonic fighter; Douglas B-66, RB-66 and Navy A3D—variants of a basic design, stated to be superior to any similar aircraft; North American F-86D, to be eventually replaced by the Convair F-102 supersonic "automatic" delta; and Republic F-84F and RF-84F. Other suggestions are the boosting of Boeing B-52 production at the expense of other long-range bombers; the replacement of the big Douglas F3D Skynight by the tiny F4D Skyray (see picture on p. 118) earlier than expected; the hurrying into produc tion of the Douglas A2D turboprop attack aircraft; the mainten ance of Boeing B-47B and B-47C output at the present impressive rate; and the cancellation of all piston-engine contracts as soon as turboprops can be substituted. Industry Recruitment Improves OFFICIAL figures recently issued show that employment in the "Manufacture and Repair of Aircraft" reached 189,100 at the end of April, an encouraging increase of 2,600 from the previous month. The average rate of intake from November, 1951, has averaged nearly 2,800 a month or about 34,000 a year. When the "super-priority" scheme was announced in March this year, an official statement was made that 75,000 more workers were needed by early 1955 to meet our peak production needs. 1951 January February March April May June July August September October November December 1952 January February March April Men 134,100 135,800 137,000 138,000 138,740 138,800 139,600 141,100 143,600 145,800 147,300 149,600 151.500 155,600 157,700 159,800 Women 23,000 23,500 23,600 23,900 24,550 24,600 24,700 25,100 25,900 26,700 27,000 27,400 27,900 28,500 28,800 29,300 Total 157,100 159,300 160,600 161,900 163,290 163.400 164.300 166.200 169.500 172,500 174,300 177,000 179,400 184.100 186,500 189.100 Monthly Lou/Gain + 3,500 +2,200 +1,300 +1,300 +1,390 + 110 + 900 +1,900 +3.300 +3,000 +1.800 +2,700 +2,400 +4,700 +2,400 +2.600 SELECTING A MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Concluded from page 115) On landing Parke was able to give an intelligent account of what happened, though he and his passenger, as well as those on the ground, were understandably shaken by the experience. A. E. Berriman, technical editor of Flight, was on the spot and, alone among the air correspondents present, realized the full implications of the incident. In the issue for August 31st he devoted to it two full pages with diagrams, and a full-page G.A. drawing of the machine (for such drawings Flight was even then justly renowned), explaining how the Avro had got into the predicament, and how Parke had managed to regain control. "Parke's nose-dive," as it became known, was the beginning of the laying of the spin bogy; and it was not long after this that the phenomenon became more fully understood and pilots could spin intentionally and regain control. Wilfred Parke, by this con tribution to flying knowledge, should have a secure place in aviation history. He lost his life on December 15th of the same year, in an encounter with another unknown force, when he got into the down-draught on the lee side of a hill in a Handley Page monoplane near Wembley. The final results of the Trials showed that Cody's top speed was 72.4 m.p.h. and his minimum speed was 48.5 m.p.h., a very good speed range for those days. He was able to stop on the grass surface after running onlv 30 yd, and took off from harrowed ground in 320 yd. His gliding speed at an angle of 1 in 6 was 59.2 m.p.h. He dismantled his biplane to road trim in 21 min and reassembled it to flying trim in 30 min with five persons to helo him. The best performance in windy conditions was by Howard Pixton, in a Bristol monoplane with 80 h.p. Gnome engine, who flew for 15 min in a wind measured as 44 m.p.h. maximum and 17 m.p.h. minimum. Perhaps it is something of an anti-climax to have to record that the competition did not, after all, directly produce any suitable aircraft for the R.F.C. The Cody aeroplane was never a success. A model, bought for the R.F.C. as the result of the Trials, killed its pilot, Lt. L. C. Rogers-Harrison, at Farnborough on April 28th, 1913; and on August 7th, 1913, Cody was himself killed at Farnborough, with W. H. B. Evans, a well-known Hampshire County cricketer. Mr. (now Sir Geoffrey) de Havilland, who was chief designer to the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough (then known as the R.A.F. and now as the R.A.E.), studied the rules carefully and designed a biplane which could fulfil most of the requirements of the Trials rather better than the competing aircraft, though it could not comply with some which D.H. thought were silly and unnecessary. Being the employee of the Government, D.H. was not eligible to compete, but his aeroplane, the first B.E., was agreed to be the best military design yet seen. The B.E. was later developed by Harry Folland and E. T. Busk into the B.E.2C, which, with the B.E.2d, B.E.2e, R.E.7 and R.E.8 were extensively used by the R.F.C. in the 1914-18 war. The aircraft that flew in the Trials look strange by modern concepts and their performance is laughable by today's standards; but we must remember that the contest was held only nine years after the Wright brothers had made the first powered flight and only three years after Bleriot had first flown the Straits of Dover on 25 h.p. at a height of only about 200ft. Neither the Army nor the Navy had begun to take aircraft seriously, but the Trials at least had the effect of making the military mind think about aircraft possibilities, and they brought Army officers into close contact with the pioneers of the aircraft industry for the first time. So they were undoubtedly an historic milestone, the first milestone, on the road to world air power as we know it today.
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