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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0760.PDF
FLIGHT, 12 June 1953 A line-up of Sea Vampires and Meteor TJs. 'Flight" photograph The Royal Naval Review and Fly-Past . range and endurance. In the fly-past, the Gannets will probably use both halves of their engines, and the aircraft will be immedi ately distinguishable by virtue of their smooth humming engine note. Other distinctive features are the wide-span cranked wings, the three separate cockpit canopies along the top of the portly fuselage, and the large auxiliary fins on the tailplane. Although the Gannet may appear rather ungainly, it is very manoeuvrable and is certain to be greatly liked both in the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy. GLOSTER METEOR. Although there was a hooked and partially navalized Meteor of early vintage many years ago, all the Fleet Air Arm's Meteors are now land-based. The great majority are T Mk.7s and they are used for advanced training, jet conversion, renewal of instrument cards, and for such work as reconnaissance, fast liaison, photography and target-towing. The majority of these Meteors carry yellow "training" bands, and they equip second- line squadrons, of which No. 759 in the fly-past is typical. Other users are the Fleet Requirements Unit (771 Squadron), represented in the fly-past by Fireflies. SUPERMARiNE ATTACKER F.B.2. This, the standard fighter/ bomber of the Royal Navy at present, is unusual among modern Attacker F.B.2s of No. 800 Squadron. A production Sea Hawk F.B.1. A Meteor T.7 of 759 Squadron. fighters in that it employs a tailwheel-type undercarriage. The basic Attacker design was the progenitor of a great line of jet fighters, one branch of which has culminated in the Supermarine Swift of the Royal Air Force; the other branch will shortly produce a very large and fast carrier^based fighter developed by wiy of the Supermarine 508. The Attacker is now well past all its teething troubles and is proving itself an efficient and much-liked fighter. Its armament of four Hispano cannon is carried in the unswept laminar-flow wing, only the tips of which fold. A heavy under-wing offensive load can be carried, and a common and prominent excrescence is a huge external fuel tank which fits flush beneath the fuselage. Apart from this tank, the Attacker has fine lines and more closely re sembles a winged projectile than do most other fighters. The wings are straight-tapered and have quite small area, and the stumpy tail is mounted well forward of the jet efflux. The Royal Navy's premier squadron, No. 800, was the first to equip with the Attacker and will be seen in the fly-past together with Nos. 803, 890 and 736 (second line) squadrons. HAWKER SEA HAWK. Adopted as the standard Naval fighter/ bomber to replace the Attacker, the Sea Hawk is one of the cleanest and most graceful of all modern fighters. It is, in fact, so devoid of excrescences that the spectator's first impression might well be that something was missing. Although it is a single-engined machine (Rolls-Royce Nene) there are two wing-root intakes and twin jet-pipes, the latter arrangement being adopted to permit the installation of a useful fuel tank in the rear fuselage. The fuselage itself is finely streamlined and appears to merge into the mid- mounted straight-tapered wing, the whole lot being rounded off by a typical Hawker tail of the pre-sweep era. Four 20 mm cannon are mounted under the floor and there is provision for a considerable weight of under-wing stores. As this fly-past shows, No. 806 Squadron are already very pro ficient on their new aircraft, and many other squadrons are due to form up this year to match the considerable Sea Hawk production from the Hawker and Armstrong Whitworth factories. A batch of 107 Sea Hawks is due to be built for the Royal Navy under an American off-shore purchase. DE HAVILLAND SEA VENOM. Soon to be the standard carrier- based all-weather fighter, the Sea Venom shows an increase of nearly 200 m.p.h. over the Sea Hornet which it replaces. The pilot and navigator sit side-by-side in the compact central nacelle, in the rear end of which is the large Ghost turbojet. In the nose is the airborne interception radar, and four Hispano cannon are mounted beneath the floor. The Venom shows obvious signs of having been developed from the Vampire, from which it differs in having a very thin wing with leading-edge sweep and with fuel tanks on the tips. The arrester hook is also housed in a prominent fairing which nearly reaches to the tailplane. Sea Venoms are only now leaving production lines, for land-based aircraft have been filling the factories until now. Production Sea Venoms are likely to embody all the latest improvements, such as clear-vision canopy and extended dorsal fins. Only one Sea Venom will appear in the fly-past, but units are due to form this year. A prototype Sea Venom.
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