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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0101.PDF
FLIGHT, 23 January 1953 99 Helicopters of up to 100 tons lifting capacity, as vizualized by the author, could even serve as tank transporters. In this impression, the two men making the crane-hook ready for attach ment to the slings round the damaged tank give scale to the size of the aircraft—the Westland W.85 project. THE ARMY and the HELICOPTER . . . its release from the captivity of the great Victorian cities? Throughout this period we will, however, be in desperate need of a flexible means of large-scale transport at a time when road, rail and port facilities may be in chaos. In the early stages of the destruction of the great cities the giant helicopter, with its capacity exceeding that of the average train and its high cruising speed enabling it to perform the work of four trains in a given time, may well be the only effective means of succour and rescue able to reach the stricken popu lations. Such machines can bring in the equip ment and fuel for generating light and power, the necessary food and clothing, the medical, rescue and sanitary teams, the demolition squads and their heavy equipment. They can help to control fire by lifting water direct from rivers and reservoirs and showering it on burning buildings at up to 20,000 gallons at a time. They can effect the large scale evacu ation of civil populations from contaminated or threatened areas to temporary communities, to which they can also bring pre fabricated housing direct from the factories, together with every necessity of food, water and other amenities. In such emer gencies a military air-transport service, operating helicopters of from 10 to 100 tons lifting capacity, could entirely replace road and rail transport over wide areas. In the dispersal of industry the large helicopter can also effect much valuable saving of time by transporting heavy machinery for earth-moving and road making and for the construction and equipment of underground factories, by transporting prefabri cated pontoons and entire crane installations direct from inland factories to temporary port sites, and generally by moving the thousand and one heavy, bulky or awkward items which may be urgently needed in inaccessible positions. At the same time a close network of freight and passenger airlines will be needed to link new and old industrial communities with each other and with the new military and government administrative centres. In this service the fast helicopter of five to ten tons lifting capacity can make an outstanding contribution. Modern means of travel and communication no longer necessi tate overcrowded communities as a condition of the concerted mental effort required for private or public enterprise and, except during the period of transition, the efficiency of the community as a manufacturing unit need not be seriously affected by the dis persal of industry and population. Throughout the war years and up to the present time most large manufacturers have sub-con tracted their work to factories all over the country. A more obvious dispersal would merely emphasize the already urgent need for greatly improved travel facilities to distribute materials, equip ment and products, and to permit more frequent and more efficient visits by industrial executives with each other and with Government and military representatives. Ultimately this latter service, supplementing the airline network, will have to be per formed by small fast helicopters operated by the major enterprises and military formations. The importance of the helicopter lies in the fact that road and rail facilities and fixed-wing air transpon are already unable to meet the civil or military transport needs of the modern world. From the military point of view it is becoming increasingly urgent to eliminate exposed troop and weapon concentrations in transit and in combat areas, to eliminate lines of supply and communica tions tied to vulnerable ground facilities, to be able to operate in mountainous areas without being tied to mountain passes and without having to force transport along valley roads, to traverse long distances and to manoeuvre large forces at high speed over open country, converging only at the target areas. In short, it is becoming increasingly urgent to achieve the long- awaited airborne or air-transportable Army. For this purpose the genus Helicopter provides the full range of vehicles capable of transporting the most modern armoured striking force, of maintaining it with supplies and reinforcements while in action, and of evacutating it when the action is completed. By shuttle service the helicopter can move larger quantities of men and equipment in a given time, at higher speeds and with greater flexibility and safety than any other tactical means of trans port; moreover, as in the parallel development of rail and road vehicles, when carrying certain types of weapon the helicopter can itself partake of the nature of a weapon. It is, for example, suited to development as a range of extremely mobile artillery weapons, fired either from the air or from the ground, particularly in the form of the heavy mortars required for atomic shells. It is also the ideal carrier for the increasingly wide range of recoilless weapons including guided-missile ramps, rocket batteries, and flame-throwers. In such cases the helicopter can operate as a self-contained unit with its weapon-crew and ammunition, advancing or retreating with great rapidity, flying low to take full advantage of hills or Other means of cover, and hiding behind buildings or in forest clearings while in action. Such combat vehicles could be accom panied by single-seat "Peeping Tom" helicopters—jet-driven, with extremely high rates of climb and descent and great manoeuv rability—acting as forward scouts, artillery spotters and as a com munications link to the rear. Offensive units of this kind would restore to the Army a local striking force and power of surprise which it has not had since the heyday of the cavalry. To develop tactical mastery of this new form of transport will need constant practice and frequent large-scale manoeuvres; and it may be wondered how great military fleets of flying vehicles and weapons can safely traverse the civil airline network and cross the paths of perhaps hundreds of other large and small helicopters on non-scheduled journeys. The answer to this question is as import ant as any other concerned with the development of the helicopter, for many find it as difficult today to visualize the significance of this new vehicle as it must have been to foresee the full development of the road vehicle in the days before the coming of the motor roads. To each form of transport there is an appropriate form of road, without which the vehicle by itself cannot develop its full potential ities, and in the absence of which the value and significance of the vehicle can hardly be appreciated. The essence of a road lies in an instruction which, if followed within the normal limits of human fallibility, will preserve the safety and promote trie efficient transit of the vehicles obeying it. The instruction must be couched in terms suited to the characteristics of the vehicle and to the abilities of the driver; and conversely, for the safety of other vehicles, no driver can be permitted to use a road of which the essential in struction is beyond his mental capacity or training. Thus, in the case of the aeroplane which flies beyond the limits of mechanized navigation, and which is unable to slow to a halt without elaborate and skilled landing manoeuvres, the essential instruction, including I.F.R. airway and control-zone procedures, is beyond the capacity of all but the most highly trained drivers and their crews. Such a system, demanding a high degree of training and dependant both on timing and on clear communication be tween the driver of the vehicle and traffic controllers on the ground, can be used by helicopters in airline operation but is unsuitable for the general development of the helicopter as a significant means of civil and military transport. The helicopter which, from the highest cruising speed, can be
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