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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0534.PDF
530 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS THE HUNTER ORDER and NATO FIGHTER PRODUCTION FOLLOWING the signing of various contracts in Paris on Thursday of last week, and bearing in mind previous infor mation, it is now possible to assess fairly accurately the extent to which each of various fighter aircraft have so far been ordered— some with, and some without, American financial backing—for the different NATO air forces. The extent of the orders to date may, therefore, be summarized as below. The size of the Hunter order is most impressive, exceeding as it does even the most optimistic of the forecasts which we quoted last week. Great Britain.—Hawker Hunter: As is well known, a consider able contract for the re-equipment of the R.A.F. with Avon- and Sapphire-powered aircraft has been in existence for some time. Now a new offshore contract for no fewer than 450 Avon-powered machines has been awarded to Hawkers. Delivery of the aircraft concerned will begin in 1955 and be completed by June 1956, a year later than the original deadline; and the value of the order is Si4om (£5010). The cost of one Avon- or Sapphire-powered Hunter therefore appears to be approximately £110,000—a figure which includes armament, radio, and essential spares. It is hoped that many of the aircraft will be allotted to the R.A.F., but the Americans naturally reserve the right to allocate them as they deem necessary, and final decisions have not yet been taken. Supertnarine Swift: Production of this aircraft is now in full swing. An original order was placed for the re-equipment of Fighter Command, and later a further number of aircraft were ordered as part of Britain's contribution to the general NATO plans, the machines concerned being also destined for Fighter Command. The value of the second order has been quoted as £2501, which, taking the price of a Swift as being approximately equal to that of a Hunter, represents about 250 aircraft. Hawker Sea Hawk: An order of unspecified magnitude for the re-equipment of the Royal Navy was placed some time ago. Now a new 113m (£4.601) offshore contract for more than 100 aircraft has been awarded—in this case, outside the general NATO pro- Mr. £. A. Hyde. Short Bros.' New Test Pilot FROM Short Brothers and Harland, Ltd., comes news of the appointment of Mr. E. A. Hyde as a test pilot. Mr. Hyde formerly served as a staff pilot of the Naval Ferry Flight operated by Short's Flying Schools Divi sion. After service in the Royal Air Force, during which he flew many fighter sorties in Burma, he joined Airwork, Ltd., as a main tenance test pilot before taking up duties with the Naval Ferry Pool. A member of the R.Aux.A.F., he acted as Senior Flight Comman der of No. 615 Squadron until his transfer to Belfast. Garden Party Plans T^HE Royal Aeronautical Society's annual garden party—to be A held at Hatfield on Sunday, June 14th—will again have private flying as its principal motif, and this year—the fiftieth anniversary year of powered flight—there will be a strong historical flavour. The famous aircraft on view are to include the Bristol Bulldog and the Gloster E.28/39, both from the Science Museum, and there will be a replica of the original Wright engine. Other historical types, more familiar at displays, will include the 1910 Deperdussin, 1912 Blackburn monoplane, Sopwith Pup, Bristol Fighter, Avro 504K and Hawker Cygnet. Bert Hinkkr's little tractor-pusher Ibis, recently discovered near Southampton, will make its re-appearance. Moving through the twenties and thirties, also, there will be a Blackburn Bluebird, D.H. Puss Moth, Hawker Hart, Gloster Gladiator, Miles Hawk Speed Six, Hawker Hurricane and Vickers- Supermarine Spitfire. Post-war types will include the Miles Aries, Prestwick Pioneer and Sweden's Saab Safir. Flying demonstrations of all the newer and (weather permitting) some of the earlier aircraft will be given. Striking a more militant and spectacular note there will be— gramme. A rough calculation indicates that the approximate price of a R.-R. Nene-powered Sea Hawk is £40,000. Belgium and Holland.—These countries are to manufacture Hunters and Avons under licence. The engines are to be made in Belgium, the airframes by both countries. The precise extent of airframe manufacture in each country has not yet been finally determined. Total orders are for £56im, of which £i5m ($42m) is an American offshore contract and the remainder a direct agree ment between Great Britain and the Belgian and Dutch govern ments. All aircraft manufactured are destined for the re-equip ment of the Air Forces of the two latter countries. France.—Offshore orders for the Mystere IV (Hispano-built Tay, with afterburner) amount to $86Jm (£3im) and, in addition, France has made her own contribution to the joint programme by setting aside a further $9101 (£32jm) for production of Mystere IVs and lis, the latter being equipped as ground-support aircraft. Italy.—Non-materialization of anticipated Venom contracts left the Italian airframe industry faced with widespread unemploy ment, and, in order to offset this situation as quickly as possible, a contract has been awarded to Italy for the immediate assembly of F-86D Sabre all-weather fighters. Components are available in the U.S.A. for the Italians to assemble, and later they may construct units of the aircraft themselves if jigs are supplied by North American Aviation. One aircraft not mentioned is the Javelin. It is now quite clear that no production of this type under this year's $55001 (£200m) offshore programme is envisaged, but it is known that the Ameri cans were very impressed by the performance of the machine during recent evaluation trials. It seems not unlikely, therefore, that something may be heard of Javelin production in a future dollar-backed scheme. Certainly the need for a transonic all-weather fighter for Europe's defence seems paramount. Ac cording to The Times, Belgium, Holland and Norway "have all agreed to buy a large number of all-weather fighters." if present plans mature—a Meteor aerobatic squadron and the French Stampe squadron. This year's event will be a true garden party, for the guests are to be accommodated on the lawn of Astwick Manor, the D.H. Technical School's H.Q. on the edge of the airfield. The Central Band of the R.A.F. will provide music. Tickets are obtainable only through R.Ae.S. members. A Symposium on Noise THE names of lecturers at the all-day symposium to be held in London by the Royal Aeronautical Society on Thursday, May 21st, are now announced. The meeting, held jointly with the Acoustics Group of the Physical Society, will take place at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The subject is "Aeronautical Acoustics—in Particular, Jet Noise," and the papers will be as follows:— From 10 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., Engine Noise, papers by Prof. E. J. Richards, F.R.Ae.S., and F. B. Greatrex, A.F.R.Ae.S.; 11.30 a.m.- 1 p.m., Aircraft Noise, papers by G. M. Lilley, A.F.R.Ae.S. (Aerodynamic Noise) and C. H. E. Warren (Noise Associated with Supersonic Flight); 2.30 p.m.-4 p.m., Ground Noise, papers by N. Fleming (Air-to-ground Noise) and J. D. Hayhurst, A.F.R.Ae.S. (Ground-to-Ground Noise). A general discussion will follow, until 6 p.m. The Size of Infrastructure FURTHER details are available of the vast scope of the "Infra structure" programme which has now been authorized by the Atlantic Council. By the end of 1956, 124 airfields are to be con structed in the NATO countries, and 34 more in Germany. Twenty-eight of the latter are already usable, and 80 of the former are scheduled to be completed before the end of this year. The total cost of the programme, which also includes such installations as headquarters, radar stations and naval bases, will cost £68sm— of which £25001 constitutes the additional amount authorized by the latest session of the Council last week. A notable feature of "Infrastructure" is the provision of an underground pipeline system to supply the airfields with jet- aircraft fuel. Two thousand miles or more of pipe will be required. Such a scheme may sound extravagant, but in fact promises to be extremely economical in terms of surface transport saved, owing to the inordinate amount of fuel that would be required in a "shooting" war. Furthermore, a road and rail transport can readily be dislocated by bombing, whereas it is relatively difficult to inflict serious damage on a pipeline system from the air.
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