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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1219.PDF
Operations with the Aid of Flight-refuelling: an Analysis of Possibilities THIS article is an abridged version of a most thorough analysis of the a .'vantages to be gained by in-flight refuelling of bombers. The author has held a number of important positions in aviation, including that of senior technical officer at the A. and A.E.E., Boscombe Down, in 1939-42. He has been closely associated with the Anglo-American flight-refuelling experiments conducted during the past few years. of the major headaches in the planning of global war. Any device that endows the present-day bomber with the requisite additional range is worthy of profound consideration: the air forces of the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. have already adopted flight-refuelling as the best available means of achieving this object. The primary purpose of refuelling bombers in flight is to extend the range beyond their normal maximum, and here it is hoped to show how great such extension can be: in fact, flight-refuelling gives meaning to the adjective "hemispherical." The many other uses of flight-refuelling, such as the light-weight take-off, and the rescuing of bombers (and other types of aircraft) when they are running short of fuel, are of secondary, though not unimportant, significance. The cost of the refuelling service can be assessed and weighed against the increased striking power: it will not be found expensive if employed correctly, but instead can be made to show substantial economies. The basis of bombing performance calculations, under flight- refuelling conditions, is fuel consumption per unit flight distance, within maximum and minimum operational weights. Consumption varies with weight, but for initial investigations it is convenient to ignore the variation, though it must of course be taken into account in actual examples. Also, initially, it will be assumed that bomber and tanker are aircraft of similar type, that each has the same dis posable load, and that fuel load and bomb load are interchangeable. The maximum radius of the bomber is R (Fig. 1), and there is a ( 1R\ =-s ) at which the bomber is able to take all the surplus fuel of the tanker, leaving just sufficient for the tanker's return flight. This is termed the "optimum refuelling point." The transferable fuel is thus one-third of the total disposal load (3a), and the T1 1? ^HE bomber gives us the best chance of preventing war, and of winning it should it be forced upon us." These are the words of Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Lloyd, lately A.O.C-in-C. Bomber Command, R.A.F. But this can be true only if the bomber is capable of fulfilling its role, which is to strike the enemy at every strategic point whence the sinews of war are sustained. The distance factor in the last world war was of greater magni tude than in 1914-19, and no military commander can face the advent of a future large-scale conflagration with complete equanimity unless he has at his disposal what is termed the "hemispherical bomber." Aircraft possessing the maximum range normally available today are dependent upon hypothetical bases in reasonably close proximity to the enemy's territory and the acquisition and retention of such advance positions provide one 3. 2 2. O m 5 2\. c Fig. . /REFUEL AT TARGET ^/ NOER • Vv>s /REFUEL AT %3 RADIUS N^O"^^/ WITH ER. NA \&\ ASSUMED CAPACITY . >^^>>N BOMB UNREFUELLED'/\7//VX^ BOMBING , VVV > RADIUS P-2R R 1. Bomb loads, single refuelling. (E.R.= LOAD REFUEL AT P NOER >y^-REFUEL ATP Z>C WITH EK Emergency Return.)
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