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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1234.PDF
39° FLIGHT INTER-CITY HELICOPTERS . . particularly in the cabin roof, through which a good deal of transmission-noise percolates. But it is only the super-critical passenger who is going to notice such matters: the others will, we prophesy, be far too delighted with the practical advantages which these services offer—such, for example, as travelling 80-odd miles from Brussels to Rotterham in 70 minutes, which is said to be less than half the time taken by the best trains, and at a cost of £2 10s, which is only lis 6d more than the second-class rail fare. Sabena are, of course, going to need very high load-factors to make such fares an economical proposition; but we gained the impres sion that they are prepared to stake a good deal on making the Low Countries truly helicopter-minded by the time, three years or so ahead, when they are able to re-equip with large helicopters. In any case, the helicopter services are primarily intended as feeder-lines to the international routes. As to whether the big helicopters are likely to be British or American, senior executives with whom we talked later were not prepared to commit themselves. But to return to the proving flight. After a brief call at Deurne Airport—Antwerp has not yet established a heliport—we con tinued towards Rotterdam, and as we crossed the mighty Maas with its usual fleets of giant barges the weather began to clear; and by the time the S-55 was dropping in over the docks the sun was shining. Here the heliport is a trim square lawn, with a 60ft X 60ft concrete apron at its centre, within a few hundred yards of the City Hall. The passenger building is of the same neat, compact and pleasing design as that in Brussels. The approaches are even better, for though the scars left by the Luftwaffe's onslaught in 1940 are being healed by many fine new buildings, there remains a large central area almost unobstructed by anything higher than lamp-standards. It was still early—8.20 a.m.—and soon the railings were lined with interested office-bound citizens. International formalities— welcome, for once, since the police rubber-stamped our passports "Rotterdam Heliport," thus converting them into historic docu ments—a quick refuelling of the aircraft, and we were on our way back to Antwerp and Brussels. Incidentally, the S-55s "Flight" photograph Turn-round at Rotterdam: the pleasantly designed terminal building are always refuelled for a 45-minute reserve; allowing 400 lb for fuel, they are at present carrying a 1,750-lb payload. Of the return trip, made in a few minutes over schedule against a 15 kt head-wind there is little to tell: visibility was better, though it was raining hard when we called at Deurne. M. Vernieuwe is quietly confident of the success of the venture, and certainly he seems to have reason to be. On the mail flights—the first of which was made nearly three years ago— an operational regularity of 97 per cent has been maintained; and some 40 million letters have been carried. All-weather flying has, of course, been the main subject of study, and the S-55 pilots, each of whom was trained in America, have put in something like 100 hours of simulated instrument-flying, using amber goggles, at 35 kt with a supposed 50ft ceiling. Though B.E.A., in their helicopter planning, intend to use Decca as their principal navigational aid, the Sabena pilots seem quite happy with their V.H.F. D/F., coverage by which is excellent in these areas, in spite of the low operational altitude. SONIC BANGS (Continued from page 382) itself. The contributions putting forward this explanation were started by A. J. Macdonald (Flight, September 26th, 1952, p. 433) followed by B. A. Hunn (Flight, October 31st, 1952, p. 569) and J. W. Fozard (Flight, December 5th, 1952, p. 696). The essential importance of "component of the aircraft velocity in the direction of the observer being sonic," and not "aircraft velocity being sonic" has already been pointed out. As an example, if an aircraft took off and attained Mach 2 in Scotland, say, and was able to fly at this speed before slowing down and landing in France, then an observer at Farnborough, who would be out of earshot of the two passages through Mach 1 itself, would nevertheless hear a sonic bang just after the aircraft had flown overhead, corresponding to the instant just earlier when the aircraft was approaching him at sonic speed. Besides the false explanations that have been expounded there are a number of factors which, whilst not contributing to the essential cause of the sonic bang, nevertheless help to fog the issue for those who want as simple an explanation as possible. The heterogeneity of the atmosphere, of course, causes shock- waves to be defracted to some extent, especially those that are travelling nearly horizontally. There is also the possibility of extra bangs being heard due to reflection from the ground in certain circumstances. These effects, whilst present, will usually be of minor significance only. In conclusion, it may be remarked that there is one matter that, to the author's knowledge, has not been explained; it concerns the puffs of cloud that have appeared on occasions at the same time as sonic bangs have occurred. It is highly improbable that such puffs of clouds are related to trie generation of such bangs; but until an explanation is forthcoming the possibility of a con nection must remain. Some such puffs of cloud appeared immediately after John Derry made his dive at Farnborough last September, just prior to the tragic crash. Perhaps some meteorologist can furnish a clue as to the explanation. I am indebted to the Chief Scientist, Ministry of Supply, for permission to publish this article, but the views are my own. "FLIGHT" PHOTOGRAPtfS M ANY of the photographs reproduced in Flight, i.e., those taken by our own photographic staff (as indicated on pub lication), are subsequently available in the form of high-quality prints. Prices are as follows (dimensions given in inches): 5i X 3|, Is 4d (glossy or semi-matt, unmounted) or 2s (toned sepia, unmounted); 6 X 4, 2s 6d or 4s; 8 X 6, 3s 6d or 5s 6d; 10 X 8, 5s or 7s lOd; 12 X 10, 6s or 9s 8d; 15 X 12, 9s 6d or 13s; 20 X 16, 13s or 18s. Also available are a postcard series, totalling over 200, depict ing both historic and modern aircraft of the R.F.C., R.N.A.S., R.A.F. and Fleet Air Arm. Complete lists of the series are obtain able on application. Prices are 8d each card, or 7£d each for quantities of a dozen or more. One view—most cases a good three-quarter front or side—is available for each aircraft type. MODEL-MAKERS in Dorset House are "Flight" editorial artists Frank Munger, John Marsden and A -thur Bowbeer, responsible for many of our detailed cutaway drawing*. Their respective models—the result of many lunch-hours' work—are a Vickers F8 9 Gunbus, an uncompleted Auster 4, and "Grey Dove", the Fairchild F-24VV Argus of the W.J.A.C. All are flying scale machines, and in the recent Model Engineer exhibition the Gunbus won a Bronze Medal award. The two completed aircraft are each powered by a 5 c.c. diesel engine, and constructed to 1/12 scale.
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