FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0203.PDF
13 February 1953 201 die case of a bogie, but this is more than countered by the greatly decreased weight of the small wheels and tyres as compared with one large one. Provided brake torque is properly allowed for, bogie tyre-life has been found at least as good as that experienced with single-wheel units. On the other hand, initial cost is higher, and the bogie must also introduce added maintenance work. Particular difficulties attach to the ground testing of bogies and drop testing frequently demands unusual techniques. Electro- Hydraulics are particularly proud of their test rig, which can drop the bogie truly vertically—with wheels spinning backwards at touch-down speed to simulate spin-up drag—on to a pair of sideways-moving synchronized tables. Certainly this rig can faithfully reproduce all modern landing conditions; it is, therefore, an asset which the company is finding invaluable. It is illustrated in the adjacent photograph. Of future undercarriage prospects, it may be argued that the bogie can always replace the single wheel with advantage. This is not the case, and fighters in particular are unlikely to appear with bogies. This is largely owing to the impossibility of designing high-capacity brakes within the limits set by wheels of very small diameter. The track-type undercarriage appears to have possible applications, although the "unsprung weight" is here very high. An interesting development by Count Bonmartini in Italy involves the use of a row of wheels carrying a track-type pneumatic tyre tank-fashion, the tyre itself being of rubber with steel bands to take the end-load. Spin-up drag is, of course, high, but it has been suggested that a modern British four-engined bomber with a Bonmartini undercarriage could have a tyre loading no greater than 50 lb/sq in, and therefore be operated from grass. The final development in undercarriages is, paradoxically, their elimination. Flexible-deck experiments have been undertaken for several years widi success, and this sort of technique might possibly become universal for fighters. It permits considerable weight-saving, at some expense in ground manoeuvrability. On the other hand, passenger-carrying aircraft are unlikely ever to lose their wheels. The flexible-landing-mat technique imposes disconcerting decelerations of approximately four g, and it also demands unusually accurate flying at the touch-down to ensure proper engagement of the arrester hook. A Victor bogie in the Electro-Hydraulics moving-table drop test rig. SCIENTIFIC MEETING IN INDIA THE Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Defence Science is to meet in New Delhi from March 2nd to 14th. The attend ance of scientists from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, India, Pakistan and South Africa has already been announced, and Service specialists will also be present. The British delegation will be led by Sir John Cockcroft, chairman of the Defence Re search Policy Committee and head of the A.E.R.E. at Harwell. The talks are the first of their kind to be held outside Britain, under the new scheme whereby each participating country acts as host in turn; the last conference was at Cambridge in July, 1950. Topics likely to be considered include lessons learned from the recent atomic explosion in the Monte Bello Islands, methods of defence against bacteriological and chemical warfare, guided- missile progress at Woomera, and anti-submarine techniques. Delegates are also to visit research establishments. It is possible that India will make important contributions to atomic-energy development, for the country has large deposits of thorium and there is also some uranium. (Thorium is the third of the world's fissionable elements; plutonium—which has to be made arti ficially from uranium in a pile—is the other.) According to the Ministry of Defence, the object of the talks will be to "promote scientific research relating to defence in all fields by closer collaboration within the Commonwealth. IF ONLY THESE ALUMINIUM-FUEl! AND"EXPENDABLE - FIGHTER BOYS COULD GET TOGETHER WE MIGHT GET SOMETHING: ILwU, AIR-SEA VICTORY T HE sequence of greatest aeronautical interest in Sea and Sand, Episode 13 of the B.B.C. Television film Victory at Sea, was undoubtedly that of an impressive fleet of JU52S used by the Germans to build up their forces in Tunisia after the Allied landings in North Africa. These landings resulted in the first major victory for the Allies which, in the words of the com mentator, "if it was not the beginning of the end of the war, was at least the end of the beginning." Other shots of aircraft included Lightnings being towed through streets, the unloading of Kittyhawks from a ship, and a Dauntless laying a smoke screen in front of Allied landing craft. There were also a few brief glimpses of a Hurricane IID shooting-up Axis tanks. Episode 13 marked the half-way mark of the complete series and it is significant that, although the film is dealing primarily with the Allied victory at sea, of the 6 J hours so far screened, over i£ hours have been devoted entirely to air-power and to impressions of aircraft in action. Episode 14 encompassed the conquest of Sicily and the invasion of Italy up to the fall of Rome on June 5th, 1944. The war's biggest convoy, totalling 3,000 ships, and landing craft carrying 160,000 men, took part in the initial landings. An omission from the film was the spectacular parachute drops made during the invasion gf Sicily—during which, we believe, there were some instances of faulty aircraft recognition by naval gunners, with disastrous results. The landing at Salerno was covered and dramatic shots shown of some of the bitter fighting that took place. Remarkably big echelons of JU87S were shown dive-bombing Allied transports and the warships were seen giving artillery support to the hard-pressed British troops. According to the sound-track commentary it was during this action that the Germans used their new "remotely controlled glider bomb" for the first time, apparently with con siderable success. As the Henschel HS293 glide bomb had been in operational use since the summer of 1942, this was presumably meant to refer to the radio-controlled "Fritz X-i" armour-piercing bomb, which soon afterwards sank the Roma, the largest Italian battleship, after her surrender to the Allies. Also shown was the landing of 50,000 Allied troops behind the German lines at Anzio. B-24 Liberators and Fortresses were shown in action, bombing and fighting off attacks by Mei09s. Some unusual shots of German Heavy A.A. guns firing almost vertically were also seen.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
