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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1482.PDF
636 FLIGHT, 13 November 1953 FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . New Principal Director of Engine R. & D. Vl^HEN, at the end of the year, A. Cdre. F. R. Banks vacates ""the post of Principal Director of Engine Research and De velopment, Ministry of Supply, in order to return to the Asso ciated Ethyl Co. (from whom he is "on loan" to the Government) he is to be succeeded by the present Director, Mr. R. H. Weir, B.Sc, F.R.Ae.S. The appointment was announced by the Ministry last week. Educated at Allan Glen's School, Glasgow, and at Glasgow University, Robert Hendry Weir (who is now 41 years of age) began his engineering career in 1928 as an apprentice at the famous Dumbarton marine engineering firm of William Denny and Sons, Ltd. Finding that his inclinations lay in the direction of aeronautical engineering, he secured a post as a technical assist ant at the R.A.E., Farnborough, in 1933, and thereafter received steady promotion. At the beginning of the war he was a senior technical officer at the A. and A.E.E., Boscombe Down; from 1942 to 1944 he was with M.A.P. in a similar capacity, thereafter becoming a principal technical officer in that Ministry and its successor, the Ministry of Supply. From 1947 to 1949 he was an M.o.S. principal scientific officer, and was then made an assist ant director. For two years before assuming his present post, he was the Ministry's Director of Industrial Gas Turbines. In Ten Year's' Time AIR COMMODORE BANKS was also in last week's news ** from Canada, where he has been attending the convention of the Air Industries and Transport Association. Answering questions from journalists on the subject of jet airliners, he said Britain would be able to "hold her own" against American com petition in the jet field. The Americans, however, built very good aircraft and in from five to ten years this country would have stiffer competition to face. He added that improvements in the efficiency of turbojet- and turboprop-powered aircraft could be made, but there were no radically new types of aircraft engines "on the horizon." Fuel consumption had generally been cut by 20 per cent since the early jet engines went into service, and he predicted that an other 20 per cent cut would be made in the next ten years. Asked about the noise problem, A. Cdre. Banks said: "We now think we can cut the noise of jets, in the low-frequency band, to an acceptable level." Things to Come HP HE Fifth of November was chosen by the Graduates' and •*• Students' Section of the Royal Aeronautical Society for a talk on rockets and where, some time in the future, they would take us. The speaker was Mr. Arthur C. Clarke, B.Sc., F.R.A.S. (chairman of the British Interplanetary Society), the talk was entitled "The Exploration of Space," and the chairman for the evening was Mr. A. V. Cleaver, A.F.R.Ae.S., of the de Havilland Engine company. The library of the Society was overcrowded some time before the meeting began. Mr. Clarke's talk was based on a series of slides, many in colour, illustrating present work on rockets and probable future developments in interplanetary travel. He began by describ ing the use of telescopes for astronomical observation, and pointed out that soon man would obtain knowledge by actually travelling to the planets. This was made possible by the de velopment of rocket propulsion, Mr. Clarke continued (as rising orange streaks seen through the window behind the speaker indicated a small-scale yet popular application of the same principle). After describing work at the rocket proving ground at White Sands, New Mexico, and the multi-stage principle for obtaining increased velocity in rocket missiles, the speaker explained the "fundamental idea of orbiting the earth" some 1,000 miles from it. This could act as a stepping stone on which to refuel before continuing on to outer space. Mr. Clarke's subsequent mention of 25,000 m.p.h. (as the velocity needed to escape from the earth's gravity) was received with suprising yet commendable calm by his audience. There would be three distinct types of vehicles, he continued: relatively short-range tankers, machines capable of reaching and landing on the moon, and "deep space vehicles, unstreamlined, travelling from orbit to orbit and not landing." Useful concept of the science-fiction writer, "nothing has any weight in this orbiting," was confirmed by Mr. Clarke—but, in connection with what the well-dressed space explorer would wear, he emphasized, "strictly none of the goldfish-bowl stuff." The remainder of the speaker's talk was a fascinating account —illustrated by some breath-takingly beautiful colour pictures— of some of the novel phenomena and problems which would probably come with the advent of space exploration. When would this be? Exploration of the moon, by die end of this century—or in 20 or 30 years, given money. And finally, why explore space anyway? There were many reasons, including both the scientific search for knowledge and a sense of adventure. A vigorous discussion followed, with questions ranging from the esoteric problems of relativistic mechanics to the simple, inevitable, "what about flying saucers?" Concerning the latter, Mr. Clarke summarized with finality: "Flying saucers have not landed, and there are no little men." A Shock at Southampton ONE morning last week, when we were paying a visit to Eastieigh (Southampton) Airport, we noticed that the blue Supermarine S.6.B Schneider seaplane, still marked No. 7, and the actual aircraft in which F/L. G. H. Stainforth took the world's speed record in September 1931, at 379.05 m.p.h., was sitting in the corner of a hangar. We recalled that some time ago this air craft had been presented to the Southampton Municipal authorities so that they might arrange for its preservation and exhibition at some appropriate place. The same afternoon, to our horror, we saw workmen approach this classic and most beautiful aircraft and start to take it to pieces in order, according to bystanders, to "hang it on the wall" or "throw it out" because the hangar space was required. Surely this is one machine which must at all costs be saved from the breakers or elements? By virtue of the material of its construction it has so far remained well preserved from corrosion and damage. We have since learned that there is a possibility that the original makers may, at this eleventh hour, take a hand'in assuring the S.6.B's future. We hope this will be so. Following the views expressed by A. Cdre. A. H. Wheeler in his article "A National Museum of Aircraft?" in Flight last week, we are glad to see signs that at least one firm of manu facturers is taking an interest in the fate of its veteran products. Apart from the 5.6 move mentioned above, Vickers are said to be anxious to preserve the original Wellington—a Mk. 10, serial MF628—if the Air Ministry can be persuaded to part with it; and they also hope, we believe, to preserve two early marks of Spitfire, one in flying trim and the other as a "museum-piece." Stability and Control AT the Institution of Mechanical Engineers last night, Novem-- ber 12th, Mr. J. C. Wimpenny, A.F.R.Ae.S., was due to give a lecture, "Stability and Control in Aircraft Design," before mem bers of the Royal Aeronautical Society. In the first part of his paper, the author defined stability and control requirements as related to the pilot's judgment of an aircraft's handling qualities, and discussed a number of current problems concerned with control feel and dynamic stability. To gain more insight into the make-up of good handling qualities, he stated, more measure ments of the stability and control behaviour under dynamic conditions were required, together with more effective methods of analysis. Mr. Wimpenny's paper went on to describe the determination of air forces, and the correlation between theory and test for the more important derivatives. Concerning the design of an air craft, either the explicit or the overall method of examination could be used. Tail design and wing design respectively were then considered in detail by the author, who, after discussing power controls and repeatability, concluded by summarizing the outstanding problems of stability and control which the designer faced today. We hope to print a fuller summary of Mr. Wimpenny's paper in an early issue. Helicopters and the Independents IN a discussion held in the library of the Royal Aeronautical Society on November 6th, members of the Helicopter Associa tion heard contrasting points of view on "The Independent Air line Operator and the Helicopter." The chairman was Mr. D. L. Hollis-Williams, of Westlands, and the first main speaker was Mr. I. J. Rees, B.Sc., A.F.R.Ae.S., who described some of the overseas operations performed by his company, Airwork, Ltd., and for which the helicopter might be suitable. Capt. B. Greensted, M.B.E., of Hunting Air Transport, then presented his paper, "Independent Ideas on Helicopters" and the final paper was "Development of an Aerial Spraying Contract Service," an account of the helicopter activities of Pest Control, Ltd., by Mr. J. E. Harper, A.F.C. In the brief discussion which followed, it transpired that Capt. Greensted's paper had provided con troversy; we hope to give a full account of the meeting in next week's issue.
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