FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0575.PDF
8 May 1953 569 which had been exchanged between Air Chief Marshal Sir Guy Garrod (chairman of the Council of the Air League) and General Doolittle, who is the chairman of the Committee which is organ izing the U.S.A. celebrations of the 50th year of powered flight. After the dinner which preceded the ball, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Salmond made a brief speech in which he commented on the amazing advances in aviation since the historic flight by Orville Wright 50 years ago. In this high-speed pageant of aviation progress, he said, men and women of all nations had played their part; but it was all begun by two Americans, and it was an American achievement that they were celebrating that night. After naming the U.S.A.F. representatives who were present, Sir John concluded by inviting the company "to drink to the memory of Orville and Wilbur Wright, and to all the pioneers who have carried forward the work that they began." A Derry and Richards Memorial IN memory of John Derry and Anthony Richards, who lost their lives in the Farnborough accident last September, a memorial medal is being struck by the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. It has been established by the members of the de Havilland organization, and its award is being administered by the Guild. It is the intention to make the award available, from 1954 on wards, "to a pilot, not on active service in Her Majesty's regular forces, but professionally engaged in flying for the testing or de velopment of British aircraft, whose flying over a period of time, including the previous year, has been of outstanding value to the advancement of the science of aviation." Demonstration at Woomera THE joint British/Australian Long-Range Weapons Establish ment at Woomera, 230 miles from Adelaide, has been the site of a great deal of very valuable pioneer work during the past six years. It is, therefore, gratifying to be able to report on three lines of development, each of which is now sufficiently perfected to have been publicly demonstrated. Although Australia goes to the polls tomorrow to elect a new Senate, the Prime Minister, Mr. Robert Menzies, broke his election campaign last Saturday, May 2nd, to visit the Establish ment. With him were Sir Philip McBride, Defence Minister; Mr. Howard Beale, Minister of Supply; Sir Stephen Holmes, United Kingdom High Commissioner; leading defence and supply personnel; and members of a Service mission from the U.S.A. The first demonstration concerned the Jindivik. This pilotless aircraft (which was described in Flight of April 25th, 1952), has been developed from the Pika piloted prototype which was used to perfect aerodynamics and control system of the design. The first Pika flew in October, 1950, and two have since logged nearly 100 hours. The Jindivik differs from the Pika in that the Arm strong Siddeley Adder turbojet is aspirated from a dorsal intake, the cockpit is replaced by a bay housing radio-guiding receivers and the tailwheel-type undercarriage is replaced by a launching trolley and belly skid. Both aircraft have been developed by the Australian Government Aircraft Factory to M.o.S. specification. After launching from its trolley the Jindivik is under the control of a small radio station—or, as the Americans have it, a "beep box." In the test on May 2nd, the control station was airborne in a Meteor T.7, and was manipulated by the occupant of the rear seat. Together, the Meteor and its tiny (23ft by 19ft) slave were airborne about a quarter of an hour, the Jindivik flashing white against a cloudless sky. After guidance on the approach, from the Meteor director, the Jindivik's own gyro-stabilizers took over as it slid to a halt on its skid. The Jindivik is to be variously used as a target for guided weapons or as a missile itself—with, it is reported, an atomic warhead. Much of its guidance system was developed by the R.A.E. and the British instrument and electronics industry. Production of 12 Jindivik Is will be followed by large-scale out put of the Mark 2, four prototypes of which are to begin their tests this summer. The Jindivik 2 has the much smaller, lignter and more powerful Armstrong Siddeley Viper, and may be super sonic. A large American order for Jindivik 2s is rumoured. Rocket Test Vehicle I was the next item in the demonstration programme. As its name implies, this is not a prototype of any particular weapon but is a basic research tool which has been made in large quantities. RTV-i figured in a Ministry of Supply release, reported in Flight of Aug. ist, 1952. It has a streamlined cyUndrical body with very short wings and two pairs of cruciform control vanes. A very similar vehicle was shown by the M.o.S. at Farnborough last year and was illustrated on p.363 of our issue for September 12th last. In-flight power comes from a large central rocket; four solid fuel boosters are provided to impart very high initial acceleration. Length and weight—presumably with boosters—are given as 22ft and 600 lb. and the maximum speed is variously quoted as 1,500 and 3,000 m.p.h. According to a Daily Mail correspondent, the RTV-i "shot up, trailing a white vapour arc like a magnesium flare. It was 10,000ft THE FAIREY V.T.O. was among the new developments which, as described on this page, Mr. Menzies inspected during his visit to Woomera. high before the roar of its firing was heard." Full flight data were telemetered back to the ground, while ground visual, camera and radio observation was also kept. The present vehicle is stated to have a short range, and to be recoverable by parachute. The boosters, which fall away as their thrust dies, are expendable. The third development shown was a vertical take-off delta- wing aircraft, by the Fairey Aviation Company. This resembles the orange-painted aircraft shown at Farnborough last year. Each wing has a large aileron and the vertical fin carries a large rudder. But vertical take-off with low acceleration—as developed by Fairey, obviously with piloted flight in view—imposes control problems which cannot be solved by the use of normal aerodynamic surfaces. The German V-2 used carbon vanes actually in the rocket efflux; the Fairey Beta I rocket (Flight, December 21st, 1950) has two jets, one of which can be swivelled laterally and the other vertically, according to signals from an autopilot. The result ing mean thrust line can thus be varied to maintain controlled flight at low airspeeds. Faireys have carried out many successful tests with this auto-controlled research aircraft, the first of which was from a ship in Cardigan Bay in 1949. The Fairey V.T.O. obtains 900 lb thrust from each Beta nozzle and, for launching, uses two solid-fuel boosters of 600 lb each, bringing the total thrust up to 3,000 lb—obviously more than the total weight. Mr. Menzies and his party also saw films and models of opera tional guided weapons. Since 1950, 440 guided missiles of various kinds, together with 700 rockets, have been fired at Woomera. A further 2,200 bombs have been dropped and present tests of ground-to-ground, ground-to-air and air-to-ground weapons are stated to be almost continuous. One of Woomera's most im portant commitments is known to be development of the guided bomb, for which Bomber Command—and Sir Hugh Lloyd in particular—have waited expectantly. W/C. Stanford Tuck for English Electric APPOINTED sales manager of the Marconi aeronautical k. division earlier this year, W/C. R. Stanford-Tuck, D.S.O., D.F.C. and two Bars, American D.F.C., has been released to join the aircraft division of the English Electric Co., Ltd., parent company of the group of which Marconi's is a member. He now goes to Warton Airfield, near Preston, Lanes, where he will work directly under A. Cdre. Strang Graham, of English Electric. W/C. Stanford-Tuck, who joined Marconi's in 1949, was one of the best-known Battle of Britain pilots, having destroyed no fewer than 29 enemy aircraft. Twice he baled out and was taken prisoner; in March, 1943, he took part in the famed mass escape from Stalag Luft III. Over to Weybridge IT was disclosed last week that W/C. Charles Gardner, the B.B.C.'s air correspondent, is to forsake broadcasting next July in order to join the aircraft division of Vickers-Armstrongs as assistant—particularly in such matters as public relations—to Mr. George Edwards. Charles Gardner joined the Corporation in 1937, and since then —except during his war service as a Coastal Command pilot and on Lord Louis Mountbatten's staff—he has made hundreds of broadcasts, some of which (notably a Battle of Britain description in 1940) are remembered as classics of the commentator's art. He has also provided knowledgeable commentaries on the public- address systems at many air races and displays. Not all his broadcast news subjects were directly aeronautical: sometimes he gave an airman's-eye angle on big news-stories, such as the flood disaster earlier this year—to our way of thinking, this particular effort was a masterpiece of reporting. Clearly, the B.B.C.'s loss will be Vickers' gain, though we imagine that W/C. Gardner will not forsake the microphone completely,
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
