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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1244.PDF
460 FLIGHT FARNBOROUGH'S FULL WEEK . . . load consisting of a Land Rover and Vauxhall and Bristol cars, and the time of unloading—from engines stop, doors open, to doors close, engines start—was only 1 min 39 sec. Bath Viscount and Britannia were demonstrated on partial power, as illus trated on page 403 of this issue. The latter took off with one Proteus out of action but was observed to unstick in well under 20 seconds. The Pembroke's pilot rcopped one of the two Leonides during the initial climb and on return showed off this snappy machine's asymmetric qualities by a single-engined over shoot. Both the Beaver and Pioneer were demonstrated with passengers aboard. The Bristol 171 went two better by flying first with freight (in the form of two large oil drums slung in a net container for easy pick-up); then as an ambulance with two stretchers; and finally with four passengers. The twin- rotor Type 173 gave a longer and rather more lively demonstra tion than on previous days; its angles of bank almost rivalled those of the spritely Skeeter. Westland's were represented by two versions of the S-51—a Naval Dragonfly and the red-and-cream civil demonstrator—which performed simultaneously. When the Skeeter, the smallest aircraft in the show, concluded its demonstration, it was the turn of the largest—the supremely impressive Princess which for some time had been orbiting beyond the fringe of trees to the west of the airfield. Tyson's low runs more man made up for any dull moments experienced earlier in the programme. HELICOPTERS ORIGINALLY displayed on the Percival stand, later removed and eventually restored, was a model of an 8,200 lb helicopter with a jet-driven rotor. A disposable load of 3,330 lb is claimed for this type, including eight passengers, whose chairs are arranged four forward and four rearward. The cockpit has dual controls and the power unit is located centrally in the floor. Air ducts feed up on each side of the cabin and their "boxes" are reminiscent of those which contain the wheels in the Short Sea- land. The engine itself is a Napier high-efficiency, low-pressure gas-propulsion unit, inspired by a Percival design. There is no mechanical coupling whatsoever. A conventional fin and tail- plane were shown on the model and the machine will, in fact, have an orthodox rudder; but at the moment Percivals have nothing to say as to elevators or horizontal trimmers on the tailplane. Already components are being whirled in a specially built test-pit at Luton. References to the Bristol and Westland helicopters were made in our report last week, and some detail illustrations appear in subsequent pages of this review, together with a further note (p. 406) on the Bristol 173. BOMBERS BECAUSE of the immense design and production effort they have occasioned, as well as for their awesome military potentialities and the high promise of civil derivatives, the Vulcan, Valiant and Victor bombers are of cardinal importance to British aviation as a whole. Accordingly they were duly revered and sedulously studied at Farnborough. The delta "circus" afforded the first opportunity for comparing the two Vulcan prototypes. These are almost indistinguishable in the air, but it was observed that the second—Olympus-powered— machine has redesigned air brakes, the action of which may be studied to excellent advantage, and compared with the earlier type, in pictures on page 404. The Vulcans have stick control for their great, powered control-surfaces. Avro's Armaments Division showed their A.V.151 triple bomb- carrier, weighing about 42 lb and carrying three 1,000 lb bombs The ample wing area and the flap arrangements on the Short Seomew are particularly well shown in the uppermost view. Successively are depicted a production Foirey Gonnet; the Avro 707C, for delta familiariza tion; and the Boulton Paul P.111A delta-wing research aircraft, with its "petal" dive-brakes and arrester parachute in action. II
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