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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0505.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded 1909 No. 2309 Vol. LXIII. FRIDAY, 24 APRIL 1953 EDITOR MAURICE A. SMITH. D.F.C. ASSISTANT EDITOR H. F. KING, M.B.E. ART EDITOR JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams, Flightpres, Sedist, London. Telephone, Waterloo 3333 (60 lines). Branch Offices: COVENTRY 8-10, Corporation Street. Telegrams, Autocar, Coventry. Telephone, Coventry 5210. BIRMINGHAM, 2 King Edward House, New Street. Telegrams, Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone, Midland 7191 (7 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 260 Deansgate. Telegrams, lliffe. Manchester. Telephone, Blackfriars 4412 (3 lines). Deansgate 3595 (2 lines) GLASGOW, C.2. 26b Renfield Street. Telegrams, lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone, Central 1265 (2 lines). SUBSCRIPTION RATES Home and Overseas: Twelve months £3 3s. Od. U.S.A. and Canada, $10.00. BY AIR: To Canada and U.S.A., six months, $16. IN THIS ISSUE: Supermarine's Royal Day 502 Electronic Survey - - 507 Straight to the Target - 508 Two-seat Runner-up - 510 Our American Correspondent Reports 512 No. 207 Squadron - - 514 The Military Influence - 519 No More Scruples O NE cannot help feeling sorry for the foreigner learning to spell and read the English language: plough, cough and dough must be as difficult for him to accept as la plume de ma tante is simple for us. By the same token, our curious systems of mensuration, though picturesque and packed with tradition, are nevertheless a misery to all who must learn and use them. In the schools, the drudgery associated with the third "R" in basic education would be much reduced were tables of weights, measures and money to mount in regular tens and hundreds—as they do for the children in many other countries which use the metric system. We learn with interest that the great profession and industry of pharmacy, having abandoned the scruple some time ago, is in July to abolish drachms and the like in favour of simple metric measures, the c.c. and its weight of water—the gram. Undoubtedly this will make the work of many people appreciably easier and, what is perhaps more impor tant, will bring this country into line with many others which already employ these metric units. But then there are snags and shortcomings to outright acceptance of metrics—as Major Oliver Stewart, chief journalistic metrician in this country, would freely admit. Centimetres, metres, and kilometres are all very well, but when it comes to aeronautical or any other kinds of navigation, nautical miles have almost everything in their favour. It follows that knots are preferable to miles (or kilometres) per hour. Sound has not seen fit to travel at any particular round-figure speed at sea-level, and thus the practical and useful decimal Mach number has been adopted and is to an increasing extent replacing older units of speed for air pilots. Most people know that the nautical mile (of 6,o8oft) was selected as being the length of one minute of latitude or one minute around the equator's arc—in fact, we believe, it was subsequently discovered that this figure was a little over seven feet short. Up or down the globe, one is surprised to find that metric units fit better, the distance from pole to equator being 10,000 km. On the whole, circular measurements and the related ones of map-distances and time do not lend themselves to decimal points. May we be preserved at this time from 100-degree right-angles and ten-hour clocks ! Standardization of screw threads is a different but associated matter, and one which equally calls for attention. If, innocently, one asks the engineer why this country has remained faithful to its B.S.F.s and Whitworths for so long, the rather uninformative answer may be—as to us on one occasion—that they are "better" threads than the others. Whitworth threads are quite widely used in America and elsewhere for some classes of work. In fact, the very important, if unspectacular, decision of about four years ago that Great Britain, Canada and the United States would adopt a new, diplomatically named Unified Standard Thread is now being implemented in this country; and when, in the near future, the B.S.I, specifications are issued, U.S.T. threads are likely to be officially specified for new engine and aircraft contracts. Already at least one aircraft manufacturer is in process of adopting this 60-deg thread. We may add that America and France have, in the main, always used 60-deg threads, while B.S.F. and Whitworth employ the 55-deg angle. Apparendy Great Britain yielded most in the interests of standardization, and agreed to stand the cost in time and money. It is an example of the fact that habits die hard, that British factories happily employ a great mixture of national and metric measures in their day-to-day work and are slow, if not actually reluctant, to change or unify them in any way. To summarize, if the chemists and also'the many technicians concerned with screw threads, are examples of groups separately prepared to go to considerable inconvenience and expense for a short period to achieve greater efficiency and standardization later, then there is hope that others may be prepared to follow suit. Regardless of the impression which might be given by some of the remarks in these in part light-hearted notes, we believe that much good would come both of more unifica tion and of the use of the simplest available units; in several instances, and particularly where arbitrary measures are concerned, this implies the adoption of the metric system.
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