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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1270.PDF
426 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS FASTEST BY THE WATCH : World speed record claimant, the red Hawker Hunter with Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet, has now added the 100-km closed- circuit record to its bag. Below are seen S/L. Neville Duke, the pilot (he is Hawker's chief test pilot) and on his right,SirSydney Camm, chief designer of Hawker Aircraft Ltd. New Closed-circuit Record for the Hunter T AST Saturday S/L. Neville Duke gained for Britain another -•—' world speed record—that for the 100-km closed circuit— with a speed, subject to confirmation, of 709.2 m.p.h. He was flying the same red Hunter powered by an Avon engine with re-heat in which he recently established a world's speed record. The new record is 19.082 m.pJi. faster than the previous one— still to be confirmed—of 690.118 m.p.h., held by Brigadier- General J. S. Holtoner. The official record is still held by Miss Jacqueline Cochran who, in a Sabre F-86E0, achieved a speed of 652.55 m.p.h. It is all the more remarkable since weather con ditions at the time were far from ideal, the temperature being lower than 60 deg F with some rain, low cloud, and bad light. The previous record had been set up during the heat wave in America at the beginning of this month. The course began and ended at Dunsfold, and entailed a 25-mile straight outward leg, followed by a 12-mile turn and a 25-mile straight leg home. It was marked by 15 bell tents, in each of which obssrvers were stationed, with Verey lights and candle markers. These were fired continuously to give the pilot a track guide. Immediately after the Hunter had passed, a Hurricane flew round the course to observe pre-arranged signals displayed at each tent. One white board indicated that the marker had not been infringed by the record aircraft, and two white boards would have indicated an infringement. In fact, no infringement occurred. The timing was carried out by a system of cameras interlinked with automatic electric clocks. In all important respects the red Hunter registered WB188 is a standard machine, although such features as the pointed nose and rounded windscreen are not found in production aircraft. This 100-km record, while it may not capture the popular imagination as does the maximum air speed record is, in fact, more significant from the point of view of a fighter aircraft ordered for the R.A.F. The chief designer is, of course, Sir Sydney Camm, to whom great credit is due, together with Neville Duke the pilot. The Swift Speed Record Attempt E ARLY this week preparations were under way for another attack on the world's speed record—by a Supermarine Swift F.4 with Rolls-Royce Avon of unspecified mark but equipped with reheat. It is possible that this new effort, with Mike Lithgow at the controls, will have met with success by the time these words are read. He set off in his blue Swift from Chibolton, in company with an Attacker, to fly to Castel Idris airfield, Tripoli, last Tuesday, and the attempt was to be made soon as possible. At present the unofficial record is, of course, held by Neville Duke in the red Hawker Hunter. The speed he achieved on September 7th was 727.6 m.ph. In all fairness to the Hunter (and bearing in mind that several American speed records have been made in high temperatures and over a dry lake-bed below sea level) it must be pointed out that the speed of sound increases as air temperature goes up, at a rate of 7 m.p.h. per 10 deg F. Thus, as the Hunter's designer Sir Sydney Camm has pointed out, Duke's record of 727 might well have been 745 m.p.h. had the prevailing temperature been 105 deg F, even allowing for the loss of engine thrust due to the increase in temperature. In fact, the Hunter's speed was achieved in far from ideal conditions and with an air temperature of only 74 deg F. It has been suggested in the daily press that the Hunter may be taken to Libya after the Swift has made its attempts in order to see if it can better its own speed, but for various reasons this now seems improbable. There is little doubt that the top speeds of which the Hunter and Swift are capable are within two or three m.ph. of each other. The Swift has a slightly greater angle of wing sweep; on the other hand its wing seems also to be a fraction thicker and its fuselage fatter. The New Zealand Race T HE London-to-Christchurch (New Zealand) Air Race is now less than a fortnight distant. The contest will be started from London Airport at 4.30 p.m. on Thursday, October 8th, by H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester. When the entry-list was first published, seven months ago, there were 19 nominations—13 in the Speed Section and six in the Transport Handicap. Since then there have been one or two changes and—as in all events of this kind—the inevitable withdrawals. An American entry, the F-82 Twin Mustang to have been flown by Maj. H. I. Hill and Mr. J. L. Dyer, was replaced some weeks ago by a B-45 Tornado, with the same crew, and since then the Royal Aero Club—who are responsible for the organization at this end—have been notified that the B-45, in turn, has been withdrawn. Another non-starter, not altogether unexpectedly, is the channel-wing Custer Executive, which made its first flight as recendy as July 13th; it was to have competed in the Transport Handicap. Other withdrawals, notified earlier, have been the Danish F-84G Thunderjet, the U.S. entry of a D.H. Hornet F.3 (to have been flown by "Slick" Goodlin), and the Spitfire 24 entered by the American Aircraft Corporation; the last-named aircraft crashed, killing P. D. Freytag, who was to have flown it in the race. There are rumours, incidentally, that the Australian Commonwealth-Mustang (F/L. Whiteman) is an unlikely starter. There now remain nine entries in the Speed Section and five in the Transport Handicap. The R.N.Z.A.F. Hastings arrived in this country on September 11th, landing at Lyneham after an uneventful journey from New Zealand. The pilot, W/C. R. F. Watson, said that they had experienced most unusual met. conditions of a head-wind of about 35 knots all the way—"If somebody can produce the same wind-direction for the race we shall be very happy." The Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant crew have to pack a con-
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