FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0005.PDF
CONGRATULATIONS! Our readers will join with us in respectfully offering our warmest felicitations to H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh on his first solo, successfully completed on December 20th at White Waltham. He flew for about 1S minutes in poor visibility under a 1,000-ft cloud-base. The aircraft was a de Havilland Chipmunk, on which the Duke has been receiving instruction from F/L. C. R. Gordon, seen with him in this picture. FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . the Nation discard them ? It could. It would, however, have this on its conscience: it has employed them on para-military duties as civilians, since by so doing the training was cheaper than if it were performed in the R.A.F.; it has side-stepped from any pension responsibility by employing them in the name of civil contractors and it has left it to those contractors to provide pensions, or not, as they thought fit . . . These pilots . . . deserve at least the compensation (either pension or gratuity) to which R.A.F. employment would have entitled them. The solution therefore proposed by B.A.L.P.A. is that those civil instructors declared redundant should be offered the choice of: (i) returning to the R.A.F. under special arrangements; or (2) being granted compensation at rates at least as favourable as they would have received if they had been employed directly in the R.A.F. Gannets for Australia THE Fairey company's annual Christmas party in London on December 22nd was brighter even than usual, for it coincided with the announcement, synchronized in England and Australia, that the Royal Australian Navy had placed an order for 40 Gannets (Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba turboprop) at a cost of £3,200,000. Deliveries will be made in 1955. Of the 40 machines 37 will be used for anti-submarine work and three for training. The Gannet order follows extensive Australian experience with Fireflies—particularly those which form part of the complement of H.M.A.S. Sydney in Korean waters. Production Conference SOUTHAMPTON was the venue for a "Problems of Aircraft Production" conference held on December 19th and 20th by the Institution of Production Engineers. The papers presented were as follows : Designing for Production, two papers, by R. W. Walker, F.R.Ae.S., chief designer, Gloster Aircraft Co., Ltd. and Dr. A. E. Russell, D.Sc, F.R.Ae.S., F.I.Ae.S., chief aircraft designer, Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd.; Prototype to Production, two papers, by C. E. Fielding, O.B.E., A.F.R.Ae.S., M.I.Prod.E., works director, A. V. Roe, Ltd. and H. Povey, A.F.R.Ae.S., works director, de Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd.; and The Impact of Modifications on Production by T. Gilbertson, M.I.Prod.E., director and general manager, Folland Aircraft, Ltd. Each of these papers will be summarized in our next issue, together with the chief points raised by the various chairmen and during the discussions. A Handley Page Gathering '"THERE was no doubt at all that everyone very much enjoyed * the senior staff dinner of Handley Page, Ltd., which took place at the Cafe Royal, London, on December 23rd. A. Cdre A. V. Harvey, proposing "The Company," mentioned the earliest days of Handley Page at Barking, and said that it was the first limited- liability company to be devoted solely to aircraft construction. He went on to say that money expended wisely on aircraft was a good form of defence investment. With 300 or 400 jet bombers "and the right things inside them," there would be no more war. There might not be such tremendous future in the civil aviation field as some people suggested, said A. Cdre. Harvey, but the future was big enough for the right aeroplanes. He added that we did not charge enough royalties for the jet licences we granted. In conclusion, he affirmed his faith in the future of the aircraft industry: in thirty years' time certain industries important now might not exist, but aviation, he felt sure, would continue to increase its contribution towards the nation's prosperity. Sir Frederick Handley Page, presiding, first paid tribute to his staff, and then went on to speak of British aircraft. It was, he said, much better to have quality than quantity, and that this nation could not compete in numbers with Iron Curtain countries or with United States domestic markets. Referring to the "great deal of technical development ahead," he said that some things would revolutionize design in the future. He mentioned the suction wing, saying that it was possible to reduce drag to one- tenth by comparison with the figure today. Coltishall Christmas FEW stations are happier than Coltishall, Norfolk, where two famous night-fighter squadrons are based. We recently enjoyed a most convivial week-end on the station, where we incidentally heard something of how the Service has taken to the Meteor NF n and the Vampire NF 10. The Meteor unit, commanded by S/L. R. K. Bailey, is the proud possessor of an unusually fine sterling-silver model of the NF 11 which has been presented to them by Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, Ltd., in honour of their having been the first jet night-fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force. The Vampire unit, under the command of S/L. A. J. Jacomb-Hood, D.F.C., engage in friendly rivalry with their faster, but more massive, companions. We hope that free discussion of these aircraft will soon be permitted. P. G. Lawrence Joins Glosters EQUALLY well known as test pilot and racing pilot, Peter Godfrey Lawrence, M.B.E., has joined the flight-test staff of the Gloster Aircraft Co., Ltd. Born in 1920, he entered the aircraft industry in 1937 as a Handley Page apprentice, and during the war served in the Fleet Air Arm. He began test- flying of naval aircraft in 1942, in the Service Trials Unit, and on demobilization in 1945 joined Blackburn Aircraft as an experi mental test pilot. After taking the E.T.P.S. course he was appointed chief test pilot, and his M.B.E. was in recognition of his deck-landing trials of the Firebrand 4. From 1948 on wards, flying such varied aircraft as Firebrands, Proctors, and an old Blackburn B.2, he competed in most of the major air races, his successes including the Kemsley Trophy at Newcastle last sum mer. In June last he left Black burn and General Aircraft and went as a test pilot to English Electric. He has some 3,000 hours on over 80 different types. P. G. Lawrence.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
