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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0913.PDF
10 July 1953 69 burner, which is now on test. The show engine was real and could run, and it showed the manner in which Lucas and Rotax have handled the fuel and electrical problems, respectively. Now, Dovern production depends upon the interest attracted. Turbomeca.—A completely new type was a 400 h.p. turboprop named Marcadau. This is an Artouste shaft-turbine, on the front of which is mounted a secondary reduction gear for an airscrew. The final shaft is well below the centre line and runs at 2,500 r.p.m. Gearboxes contribute more than half of the 307 lb weight, the basic gas-turbine assembly being that of the Palas turbojet. The Marcadau is scheduled as the power-plant for forward propulsion of the Farfadet convertiplane. Air turbines driven by bleed from the main engine compressor were also shown, one of them being a cold-air unit, and the other having a quill-shaft for a gearbox. Altogether, the Turbomeca stand showed the versatility of M. Szydlowski's staff, and also their ability to produce. Production licences are held by Continental (U.S.A.), Blackburn and General (Great Britain) and also in Jugoslavia. United Aircraft Corporation.—Just before the Salon opened, the U.S. Navy permitted Pratt and Whitney to show an exhibition PT2F-1 Turbo Wasp, the commercial version of the T34 turboprop. This, probably the most powerful single-shaft unit in the world, was of absorb ing interest. At the front the Hamilton four-blade airscrew has an integral hydraulic control circuit, and the airscrew drive includes a reverse-torque safety switch and a single-cylinder circumferential torquemeter. Around the concentric gearbox is an annular intake, de-iced by hot compressor air. The steel compressor has 13 stages of thin blades, and a steel-drum stator; its diameter is even less than it appears, for there is an additional light-alloy false outer shell, which carries four large, pneumatically con trolled blow-off valves. The heavy steel centre-member carries the accessories and four pick-up points, which are large vibration-damping drums toed in toward the e.g. There are no other mounting points. The cannular combustion chamber has a steel outer case in two halves, into which inject eight dual burners from two rings and two igniter plugs. Fuel flow is sensitive to combustion mass-flow. The three-stage turbine has high-aspect-ratio blades with shrouded tips. Around the narrow waist of the engine are grouped the auxiliaries: fuel controls below, electrics and oil system at the side, and starter and power take-off on top. On the right, in a heavy casing, are a hydraulic pump and multi-disc brake. The pre-production engine shown was fairly bristling with test devices and thermocouples. The T34 has been flying in a B-17 for some years, and will shortly power an R7V-2 Constellation and YKC- 124B Globemaster. It gives 5,600 e.s.h.p. at 11,000 r.p.m., although the diameter is but 34m, and the weight 2,564 lb. This is achieved at the expense of heavy fuel consumption, which is quoted as 0.64 lb/e.s.h.p./hr, at full power, and no less than 0.77 in a 60 per cent, sea-level cruise (2,990 e.s.h.p. at 10,250 r.p.m.). The Pratt and Whitney PT2F-1 (top) is 158in long, but of very small diameter. The STAL Dovern is ready for use, and enquiries were invited. Also shown was one of the first R 1340-PC-1 Wasps made by Pratt and Whitney, Canada. These 600 h.p. engines are built at Longeuil, Quebec, principally for Harvards and Otters. The example shown was clearly excellently built, but one cannot help reflecting that Wasps have been built for nearly 30 years. THE AERONAUTICAL BOOKSHELF 'Time Enough to Live," by Dan Brennan. Seeker and Warburg, 7 John Street, London, W.C.i. Price 10s 6d. T HIS is a novel about pilots who, having survived one tour of operations with Bomber Command, longed to end their "rest" period of instructing and get back on to Mosquitoes, to convince themselves that they had not lost their nerve. It is often wordy, and there are the inevitable heavy drinking, "realistic" language, and love-making in full, glorious Technicolor. In consequence, Time Enough to Live forms sharp contrast with the picture of a wartime bomber station painted, for example, by Nevil Shute in his delightful novel Pastoral. But Dan Brennan himself experienced life at such stations, first as an R.C.A.F. tail gunner and then as a U.S.A.A.F. ball-turret gunner; and one is left with an uneasy feeling that to condemn his version would be to condemn many of those whose unremembered achievements and sacrifice brought final victory. "The Rommel Papers," edited by Capt. B. H. Liddell Hart. Collins, 14 St. James's Place, London, S.W.I. Illustrated. Price 25s. T HERE is plenty of justification for calling Rommel a brilliant tactician; but The Rommel Papers do not bear out Capt. Liddell Hart's assertion that he had also a shrewd sense of strategy. He was certainly right in claiming that Malta should have been neutralized by Germany before Crete, and that in June 1944 available Panzer forces should have been so placed that they could move into action speedily against Allied beachheads in Normandy; but he was by no means so right in other strategic matters. Capt. Liddell Hart is better justified in referring to Rommel as a great military writer. His letters and accounts of his campaigns are lucid, human and very readable. Similarly, there is no dis puting that his defeat in North Africa resulted primarily from shortage of supplies when victory was in his grasp. After Alamein, Rommel had no doubt of the outcome of the war, believing that Germany would have to make peace with the West and so present a united front against Russia. The Rommel Papers contain striking testimony to Allied air power. There are constant references to the devastating effect of attack by Hurricane "tank-busters" and other aircraft before Alamein, of the efficiency of R.A.F. reconnaissance, the disastrous toll of Axis supply ships taken by Malta-based torpedo-bombers, and the overwhelming Allied air onslaught after D-Day, which literally drove many German troops mad and so thoroughly churned up the ground that tanks could not be driven out of bombed areas. Similar tribute is paid to the support given by the heavy guns of Allied naval forces in the beachhead area. On the subject of Rommel's loyalty towards his Fuhrer the reader is left in some doubt. In his final letter to Hitler on October 1st, 1944—a fortnight before he was murdered—he wrote "One thought only possesses me constantly, to fight and win for your new Germany." Capt. Liddell Hart writes this off as bluff; but there is little doubt that Rommel was a more complex character than his biographers would have us believe. They stress constantly the humane side of Rommel's character; yet he admits quite cheerfully to shooting a French officer prisoner who refused to climb aboard a German vehicle in 1940. The reader is, there fore, well advised to consider how much of The Rommel Papers was written when the author thought German victory merely a matter of time, and how much was written when it seemed he might one day have to answer for his part in the events described. "Wings of Our Air Force," "Wings of Our Navy," "Jets of the World" and "Arms of Our Fighting Men." All by Major C. B. Colby, C.A.P. Coward-McCann Inc., 121 Sixth Avenue, New York 13, U.S.A. Illustrated. Price $1. THESE well-produced picture books, intended to show American citizens where their billions of dollars of defence expenditure go, form a useful guide to current equipment of the U.S.A.F., U.S. Navy and U.S. Army. The Air Force book contains large pictures of 56 different air craft, including excellent new air-to-air shots of such interesting types as the lifeboat-carrying SB-29 Superfortress, C-122C Avitruc, Northrop X-4 research aircraft, Bell XH-15 helicopter and Service Navion. The captions, although sometimes written in "Americanese" are, in general, accurate and full of useful data. Wings of Our Navy, with 58 photographs, is even better, with fascinating views of several new or lesser-known types, including a full range of helicopters, early-warning Fortress PB-iW, Avenger transport and AD-4NL Skyraider Night Attacker. Jets of the World is chiefly notable for some very dubious Russian warplanes, but covers its subject quite well, except for mis-labelling the Mystere as an Ouragon. One glimpse at the fantastic, formidable array of weapons in the Army book— ranging from a sub-machine gun which fires round corners to 14 types of tank and self-propelled gun—should persuade any young American that in any future war he will be much safer in the air!
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