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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0072.PDF
34 FLIGHT, 8 January 1954 HERE AND THERE Next Big Bang A WASHINGTON report last week said that a B-36 crew is in training for the dropping of a hydrogen bomb next spring. The test will be made over the Pacific— presumably in the Eniwetok Atoll area. R.Ae.C. A.G.M. THE annual general meeting of the Royal Aero Club, when committee elections take place, is to be held at 119 Piccadilly on the evening of Wednesday, March 24th. The Jet Gyrodyne— FOLLOWING a long period of blade- testing on the ground test-rig, the complete Fairey Jet Gyrodyne is now making tethered flights at White Waltham. On starting-up, the tip-jet blades turn slowly under the impulse of the compressor air supply alone; when fuel is turned on and ignited they accelerate rapidly. At close quarters, they may be described as noisy, though not deafening; but the noise would not prove serious at airfields, because taxy- ing can be done on the thrust of its two pusher propellers. Being the subject of a Ministry of Supply development contract, the machine has lost its old civil registra tion and now carries the serial XD759. —and its Pilot TESTING the Jet Gyrodyne is Mr. J. N. Dennis, who joined Faireys as rotary-wing pilot in June 1949. Previously he had been a civil test pilot at the R.A.E.; earlier still, as a flight lieutenant, he had performed similar duties there. He received training in 1944 at No. 1 Helicopter School course, Andover, after serving with the Autogiro squadron at Halton, and subsequently did research and development work at Beaulieu. He has some 800 hours on rotating-wing aircraft out of a total of more than 3,000 hours flown. SUPERSONIC MINISTER: Probably the oldest passenger to fly at supersonic speed is France's Air Minister, M. Louis Christiaens (63). As seen, he was the occupant of the back seat of the S.0.4050 Vautour when it made one of its now commonplace dives beyond /V.ach 1 on December 29th. The picture also shows the canopy actuation on the two-seat first prototype. Rebecca for France THE French Air Ministry has placed an order worth over £100,000 with a British firm—E.M.I. Factories, Ltd., of Hayes— for 100 sets of Rebecca Mk 4 medium- range homing equipment, as developed by the firm in conjunction with the M.o.S. High-speed Helicopter? BACK in Germany last week after 18 months in Sao Paulo, where he has been in charge of a German helicopter team working for the Brazilian Air Ministry, Prof. Heinrich Focke said that if restric tions were lifted it would not be difficult for Germany to make up lost ground in helicopter development. The professor— founder of the Focke-Wulf and Focke- Achgelis businesses—added that he was now designing long-range helicopters for speeds of o^er 300 m.p.h. Transatlantic Honours TWO Britons are honoured by the Insti tute of the Aeronautical Sciences. A Foreign Honorary Fellowship—America's highest aeronautical honour to a non- national, only one award of which is made each year—goes to Sir William Farren, THE FAIREY JET GYRODYNE (referred to above) is seen in this artist's impression, which serves to recall of the configuration employed; two-blade tip-jet rotor, two pusher propellers, conven tional tail control surfaces. A Leonides engine in the rear of the fuselage drives the propellers through gearing and also provides power for the compressor which produces air for the tip jets. C.B., M.B.E., F.R.S., technical director of A. V. Roe and Co., Ltd. A Fellowship is awarded to Mr. N. E. Rowe, C.B.E., B.Sc, M.I.Mech.E., F.R.Ae.S., Whit.Ex., technical director of Blackburn and General Aircraft, Ltd.; in most years only two non-Americans are elected Fellows. Both Sir William Farren and Mr. Rowe appear in photographs on page 40. Transcontinental AFTER nearly eight years the 4 hr 13 min record flight across America set up in 1946 by Col. Councill in a Lockheed XP-80R has been beaten—by a mere 4 min 55 sec. The new holder is Col. W. K. Millikan, U.S.A.F., who flew his F-86F Sabre the 2,530 miles from Los Angeles in 4 hr 8 min 5 sec at an average ground-speed of 615 m.p.h. His air-speed must also have been over 600 m.p.h., for Col. Millikan experi enced headwinds for much of the journey. He intended to land at the Air Force base at Hempsted, Long Island; but, running dry at 5,000ft over Brooklyn, he was forced to turn south to Idlewild International Air port, where he made a "dead-stick" landing. Mr. R. K. Page's Appointment IN a reference last week to the appoint ment of Mr. F. H. Pollicutt, lately of Folland Aircraft, Ltd., as chief designer to Percival Aircraft, Ltd., and to the move of Mr. R. K. Page from Westlands to Follands, an unfortunate confusion of com pany names arose. The true facts are that Mr. Page has joined Follands (not Percivals) as chief technician; he comes from Westland Aircraft, where for four years he was assistant chief designer (pro jects). Mr. E. N. B. Bentley has been, and remains, chief technician of Percivals. Look, No Flap! DURING a test flight on December 31st the Victor lost its port inner flap—a surface 10ft long by 5ft wide. S/L. Hazelden, Handley Page chief test pilot, was flying the Victor on slow-speed tests over Hert fordshire when the incident occurred. An eight-year-old boy saw "an object" fall off, and his father notified the police, who told the Radlett control. The information was radioed to the pilot, who prepared to pass low over the airfield in the hope that the damage might be identified; but as soon as he lowered his trailing-edge flaps he realized what had happened.
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