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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0163.PDF
FLIGHT, 6 February 1953 FOR NOTABLE PERFORMANCES: David Morgan, awarded the Geoffrey de Havilland Trophy; and the Britannia Trophy winners, F/L. Hillwood, SjL. Watson and VV/C. Beamont. See news item continued on this page from p. 160. FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . meritorious flying performance of the year. Presented to the Club by Horatio Barber, it was first won in 1913. The decision was recently taken to present plaques to all who have held the Trophy, or to a relative of those winners since deceased. Also announced by the R.Ae.C. is the award for 1952 of the Geoffrey de Havilland Trophy to David Morgan, Vickers- Armstrongs test pilot, in recognition of his London-Brussels point-to-point record on July 10th. Flying a Swift, he covered the distance at 665.9 rn.p.h. Presented by colleagues of the late Geoffrey de Havilland, the Trophy is awarded to the British pilot who achieves the highest speed in any official race or record attempt. R.A.F. Accident Rate AN analysis of casualties in R.A.F. flying accidents has been L given by the Under-Secretary of State for Air following a question asked on January 28th by Mr. Hale (Lab., Oldham, West). On being informed by Mr. George Ward that, as the answer contained a number of figures, it would best be given in Hansard, Mr. Hale asked whether, as it seemed from the papers, it was true that the loss of life was steadily increasing. To this Mr. Ward replied that the main point to remember was that the total flying effort of the R.A.F. was nearly twice as great in 1952 as in 1950, and, although he regretted that the loss of life was higher, the actual accident-rate was lower. The promised figures, given next day in Hansard, are as follows (for year ended December 31st in each case):— Pilotsf Other aircrew R.A.F. passengers ... Other passengers! Totals Killed" 1950 135 63 25 18 241 1951 188 65 24 14 291 1952 229 71 16 5 321 Seriously injured 1950 23 10 13 6 52 1951 58 30 18 7 113 1952 35 24 8 4 71 * Those who died of their injuries within 30 days of the accident. t Includes both first and second pilots, and both pupil and instructor in dual-control trainer aircraft. J Includes all R.A.F. occupants of the aircraft other than those actually engaged in its operation. Following Mr. Hale's question, the Under-Secretary was asked by Mr. Beswick (Lab., Uxbridge) whether he could say to what extent backward-facing seats had prevented loss of life after accidents. To this Mr. Ward replied that he could not give exact figures without notice, but—"they have undoubtedly helped." T.V. Discussion on Civil Aircraft MR GEORGE EDWARDS, chief aircraft-designer of Vickers-Armstrongs, Ltd., was the target for aviation journalists' questions in an interesting Press conference televised on Wednes day evening, January 28th. First questions concerned Britain's lead in turbine-powered civil aircraft, which Mr. Edwards attributed basically to the availability in this country of the world's finest engines. Alleged deficiencies in production capacity had been much overrated, he stated in a further reply, and he was confident that no "real" orders had been lost to the industry because civil aircraft could not be produced. Concerning the speeds of future civil types, Mr. Edwards believed 550 m.p.h. to be an approximate limit for the near future; supersonic speeds were certainly a long way away. The latest bomber wing plan-forms were all suitable for civil aircraft, and could achieve the speed mentioned. After forecasting that an increasing amount of traffic would go by air rather than by sea, the Vickers designer expressed a personal indifference to the specially designed freight aircraft: he liked designing aircraft "with curves, not square corners." Further questions concerned the expansion of the aircraft industry; Mr. Edwards believed that the industry could become one of the greatest export factors in the country, for replacement of the world's mainline aircraft would be worth £1,000 million. "What proportion of that do you think the British aircraft industry can catch?" asked Nat McKitterick of the American journal Aviation Week. "About 70 per cent," replied Mr. Edwards. His questioner appeared to think this somewhat over-optimistic. In answer to a concluding query on the qualities of Russian aircraft, Mr. Edwards stated that the present-day Russian military types had not proved as good in combat as their aerodynamic performance would suggest. It is to be hoped that the B.B.C. will give further T.V. and radio time to programmes of this quality and usefulness. Safer Hydraulics THE need for a truly non-inflammable hydraulic fluid has long been apparent, and more than one valuable aircraft would have been saved had such a fluid been available earlier. But develop ment of such a product has been surprisingly difficult and, today, something over 95 per cent of the world's aircraft still use fluid with dangerously inflammable characteristics. In the United States, Douglas and Monsanto Chemicals combined to develop Skydrol—a non-inflammable fluid now gradually coming into general use in several countries which can afford the required dollar outlay. It is gratifying to be able to record that Esso, in this country, have now prepared E.E.L. 6, which appears likely to be the first non-inflammable hydraulic fluid to become generally accepted in the sterling area. Much development work by the M.o.S., Esso, and the various makers of hydrauhc systems has been undertaken and considerable success has been achieved—not withstanding the inferior lubrication properties of present fluids. We learn from Integral Pumps, Ltd., that their standard Model 116 pump has now been modified to permit the use of E.E.L. 6. FuKher, a complete type-test has been undertaken with the fluid, using this pump, and Integrals believe they are the first firm to have been able to complete such a test. The normal type approval test for hydraulic pumps involves some 125 hours at various conditions of pressure and temperature, with full calibra tion of r.p.m., pressure and delivery; the new Integral pump has not yet been granted such a type approval certificate, but this is not likely to be long delayed. The pump modifications required were mainly confined to the bearings, both on the pump rotor and on the body. (E.E.L. 6 can be used in practically all existing aircraft without much revision of the hydraulic system, although it is possible that in some cases new seal materials will be required.) All the lessons learned with the Type 116 pump have now been built in to the improved and larger Type 1S0 pump, which is capable of increased delivery at higher pressure. All the endurance-running on this later pump has been completed, and it is likely to be a very valuable unit in the near future. In the meantime, development of fluids and pumps by other manufacturers is going forward.
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