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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1564.PDF
718 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS M.V.O. for Capt. Loraine VXf HEN Capt. A. C. Loraine had landed the B.O.A.C. Strato- " cruiser Canopus at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on November 25th, after bringing the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh from England and Bermuda, Her Majesty went forward to the flight deck and personally appointed him a Member of the Victorian Order (Fourth Class). This honour is conferred in recognition of "extra ordinary, important or personal services to the Sovereign or the Royal Family." Canopus, G-AKGK, had reached Bermuda on November 24th, on schedule from Gander, having flown 1,265 statute miles in 5 hr 25 min. The next stage, 1,273 miles to Montego Bay, was flown between 1000 hr and 1453 hr G.M.T. on the 25th, also exactly on schedule. A photograph of the arrival scene at Bermuda appears on page 742. The royal travellers are now continuing their world tour in the liner Gothic; they are due to begin their next flying stages on December 18th, when they fly over Fiji and from Fiji to Tonga by T. E. A. Solent. After she had embarked in Gothic Her Majesty sent the follow ing message to Sir Miles Thomas, chairman of B.O.A.C. : "Please give my thanks and congratulations to the Captain and crew of Canopus and to all members of your Corporation who helped to make our flight from London to Jamaica so easy and successful." Last Monday, the Daily Express reported that Sir Miles was considering asking permission to re-name the Corporation "Royal British Overseas Airways" after, at a later stage of the tour, the Queen had been flown from Aden to Entebbe and Tobruk; alter natively, it was stated, he might apply for B.O.A.C. to become a royal warrant-holder. The Corporation, on Monday evening, would make no comment on this story. New Wind-tunnel for A.W.A. VIEWS of the construction of a large supersonic wind-tunnel, ^ at a cost of over £100,000, was announced last week by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, Ltd. The tunnel, which is expected to reach completion next year, is powered by a 7,700 h.p. motor and designed for speeds up to Mach 3. Already in use at Coventry is the company's intermittent-type transonic tunnel, built and put into operation in only six months. Its working-section castings were originally designed for the supersonic tunnel, and for most of the remainder of the tunnel use is made of Weyroc compressed-wood board. Two compressed- air storage bottles of 1,720 cu ft capacity are used in conjunction with a 90 h.p. compressor, the air being fed to the tunnel through four inlet pipes. It is understood that ad hoc work on specific problems is the main function of this tunnel. Before the Wrights "THE majority of references to the Wright Jubilee, including *• those by Flight and various learned societies, have spoken of "the 50th anniversary of powered flight." Although there can be little misunderstanding that powered flight by a heavier-than-air machine is referred to, it does occur to us that the lighter-than-air aspect should be mentioned. For the record, then, let us remark that on September 24th, 1852, the French engineer Henri Giffard made a successful flight, in an 88,000 cu ft dirigible airship which he had designed and constructed, from Paris to Trappes, a distance of 17 miles. The airship flew, under reasonable control, at a speed of about 5 m.p.h. on the power of a steam engine developing about 3 h.p. for a weight (including boiler) of 350 lb. Previous dirigible flights had been attempted, but with only qualified success. Two years earlier, for example, Hugh Bell had ascended from Kennington Oval in a 15,000 cu ft airship, the 6ft airscrew of which he operated manually; he drifted down-wind, 30 miles in some 90 minutes. Also worth recalling at this time is the Russian claim to have antedated the Wrights' success by some 20 years. They credit the honour to an engineer named Mozhaiski, who designed a monoplane and a compound steam-engine said to have produced 30 h.p. for a weight of about 330 lb. Though in recent years the Communists have queered their own pitch by extravagant claims to "firsts" in almost every sphere, this particular example does at least appear to be reasonably well documented. We dealt with it in some detail in Flight for July 17th last. F. H. Pollicutt Joins Percivals T-1 HE firm of Percival Aircraft, Ltd., have long had a reputation -*• for design-originality: the Provost and the Prince/Pembroke, to quote two of their post-war products, are private ventures that have met with general success. News from the Luton firm last week-end, to the effect that Mr. F. H. Pollicutt, F.R.Ae.S., has been appointed chief designer, indicates that the tradition is likely to be more than main tained. He began his new duties last Tuesday, at the head of a design-team under the direction of Mr. L. G. Frise, B.Sc, F.R.Ae.S., A.F.I.A.S., the com pany's technical director and chief engineer. Frederick Henry Pollicutt was educated at Farn- borough Junior Technical School (now Grammar School) and in 1924 was apprenticed to the R.A.E. Six years later he joined the Bristol Aeroplane Co. as a technical assistant and in 1938 he became chief of that company's stress department, thereafter being appointed chief technician (1942), assistant chief designer (1945) and deputy chief designer (1950). Just over a year later he went to Folland Aircraft, Ltd., as chief designer, a post which he has held for the past two years. In his new appointment he rejoins his former chief, for Mr. Frise himself was with Bristols from 1931 to 1948. Radar Association Extends Activities ORIGINALLY formed as a social club for ex-R.A.F. radar mechanics and operators, the Radar Association has now extended its activities by the formation of a technical section, membership of which is open to all who are, or who have been, "engaged in the technical or operational fields of radar." A season of lectures has been arranged, the first of which will take place on Monday next, December 7th. The speaker will be F. H. Pollicutt. TWOyJANS OVER THE WATER: Reference was made recently to the trials of several new Naval aircraft from the deck of H.M.S. "Eagle." The contra-rotating blades, familiar on Gannets and Wyverns, were joined on this occasion by others in the horizontal plane—on the Bristol 173 (two Leonides). The first landing trials of a 173 on a carrier are depicted in these official Admiralty photographs.
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