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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1442.PDF
596 FLIGHT, 30 October 1953 (Above) Mr. Tom Fletcher, chairman of Burnley Aircraft Products, pilots his own Proctor. (Right) Before and after: a damaged Derwent flame- tube as received in the repair shop, and another in the condition in which it emerges after treatment. CANWARE . . . the repair factory) is a well-equipped laboratory staffed by tech nicians of both sexes. It comprises X-ray and metallographic, physical and chemical sections. Briefly, its principal functions are: (1) The checking of materials against specification both chemically and physically; (2) testing and approval of weld-techniques before production; (3) checking of production components; and (4) check ing of production processes. The repair factory is situated in another part of the town. Burnley Aircraft pride themselves on their servicing and repair of all types of gas-turbine canware—a valuable service to gas- turbine operators, especially in view of the fact that much of the material involved is of an expensive kind (it may cost as much as 8s 9d a lb). Repaired components, of course, have to stand up to exactiy the same stresses and strains as new equipment, so inspec tion of such work must be on equally stringent lines; and, additionally, a watch must be kept for signs of fatigue in the materials. The visitor to the repair factory might see a skilled craftsman beating out replacement jet-pipe sections to fine limits; or two halves of a damaged discharge nozzle being welded prior to a panel-beater re-dubbing it into its original shape; or other items being planished back to their original form, always within the limits of the accepted standards which are laid down for such salvage work. Broadly speaking, the salvage scheme operated at Burnley is based on a 75 per cent method, i.e., if 25 per cent of the total content of the unit is recoverable, the work proceeds. If not, the component is scrapped. But this necessarily works to certain stan dards of acceptance. With a flame-tube, for example, if the head is sound, then work goes ahead irrespective of other damage, and the flame-tube will be passed back for use after the addition of complete front and rear sections. If, however, the head cannot be passed O.K. then the whole assembly is scrapped. In the case of an exhaust unit, the condition of the outer cone is the factor which decides whether repair should or should not take place. The 8,000th repaired flame-tube recently passed along the assembly line on its way to a second "tour of duty." Though Burnley Aircraft Products are now specializing in such an essentially modern aspect of aircraft production they are not by any means new to the industry. Throughout the war they were engaged on aircraft sheet-metal work, fabricating large quanti ties of such items as bomb-doors, escape hatches, flaps and drop- tanks, and they also handled Beaufighter repair contracts. For the future, they are planning considerable expansion of their present facilities for producing combustion equipment; a two-thirds increase in the present factory area is now under consideration. PATHFINDER ANNIVERSARY "VESTERDAY, October 29th, was the tenth anniversary of the •*- formation of the Pathfinder Association, and arrangements were made to celebrate the occasion by the holding of a cocktail party at the Pathfinder Club's premises in Mount Street, Mayfair. Incidentally, nobody seems sure whether another war, with radically altered bombing techniques, would bring a revival of the Pathfinder Force as such. But the honoured name "Path finder," at any rate, is well perpetuated, and not only by the Association; it has been applied—so far unofficially—to the B.2 version of the Vickers Valiant (which, it is rumoured, might be used for low-level marking duties similar to those for which Nos. 8 and 5 Groups used Mosquitoes in the last war); and it has even been figuring in the Motor Show news, as the name of the handsome new 2i-litre Riley. ONE MORE HELICOPTER CERTIFICATE TPHE Royal Aero Club recendy issued No. 27 Helicopter Avia- •*• tor's Certificate—the first to be awarded since June 1950. Though the holding of the certificate is not compulsory, civil pilots who obtain Helicopter Licences do, in fact, usually apply for the R.Ae.C. Certificate also; the total of 27, and the three-year gap is therefore a rather depressing indication of the progress of helicopter flying outside the Services in this country. Certificate No. 1 was issued on March 14th, 1947, the holder being W/C. Reggie Brie, who is in charge of the B.E.A. Helicopter Experimental Unit at Gatwick. No. 27 goes to Maurice A. Smith, Editor of this journal, who took a preliminary course of instruc tion with B.E.A. on the Bell 47 and more recently a course with Westland Aircraft, Ltd., on the W.S.51. The Editor thus adds a helicopter endorsement to his pilot's licence and includes rotating-wing hours with those flown on fixed-wing types, including jets, and now totalling 3,500 hours. Between them, and especially when a variety of wartime duties is taken into account, members of Flight's editorial staff can claim an unusual amount of practical flying experience. In addition to the Editor, four others—Bill Gunston (ex-R.A.F.), Ken Owen (ex-F.A.A.), Mark Lambert (who is in No. 600 Sqn., R.Aux.A.F.) and Bob Blackburn (private pilot u/t) are active power pilots. Owen also qualified, recently, for a gliding "C" certificate. Much of their flying is done in the staff Gemini, G-AFLT, which may often be seen at aviation events in various parts of the country during the season. In recent months the Gemini has also visited France, Germany, Belgium, Holland and Spain. G-AFLT, incidentally, also helps to earn its keep by being put at the disposal of other Iliffe journals for special events, such as the Isle of Man T.T. Races (for The Motor Cycle) and the Le Mans Race (for The Autocar). On some of these trips it is flown by C. R. ("Blick") Hodgson, who was on our staff before the war, attained the rank of commander in the Fleet Air Arm during it, and is now Iliffe's general manager. AEROSERVICES APPOINTMENT CROM Aeroservices (London), Ltd., Croydon Airport, comes -*• news that Peter Hill has joined them as commercial manager. After gaining his Pilot's Licence at Redhill in 1938 Mr. Hill was with Rollasons — later Fields Aircraft Consolidated—working in the drawing office and later being made engine inspector. After joining the R.A.F. in 1941 he became an instructor and was subsequentiy seconded to Air Transport Auxiliary. For the past three years Mr. Hill has been in charge of purchasing for the Midland Metal Spinning Co., Ltd., and has now resigned in order to rejoin his old chief, Mr. J. Lester Pendleton, manag ing director of Aeroservices. With nearly 4,000 hours on 41 types in his log-book, he may be expected to take a special interest in the test-flying activities of his Mr. Peter B. Hill. new firm.
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