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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0575.PDF
5 March 1954 261 Cross-sectional views of the test chamber, show ing the flow of air through the working sec tion. The corner vanes provide methanol cooling as well as their aerodyna mic turning effect. The two air-lock compart ments used for the entry of personnel are seen at the left-hand end. (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G) (H) (J) (K) (L) (M) Bridge from trol room Cold lock Pressure lock con- Thermal insulation Test chamber Observation dows Break joint Great door Sealing pad Great door riage Reinforced crete beam Concrete floo win- car- :on- (N) (O) (P) <Q) (R) (S) (T) (U) (V) (W) (X) (Y) (Z) Foundation bed Insulating cellar Insulating support block Fan motors Vacuum pipe Brick piers Dry air inlet pipe Cooling and turn ing vanes Aircirculation duct Expansion bellows Air circulation fans Chamber support Access to windows chamber has been made available for the projects of external organizations. The testing of naval gun mountings and radar gun- directors at low temperatures and high wind-speeds has been one such example, for which special high-speed nozzles were fitted to the lower air-ducts. Another investigation, jointly sponsored by Imperial College and Bristol University, involved meteorologi cal balloons. In order to determine the structural strength of alternative materials for the balloons, and the functioning of the release mechanism and radio equipment, tests were made at temperatures down to —60 deg C, and simulated altitudes up to 62,000ft. An interesting feature of this experiment was the use of infra-red and ultra-violet light to simulate solar radiation, which caused the interior of the balloons to be at +40 deg C while the outside air temperature was —60 deg C. The space around and beneath the pressure shell, but within the thermal insulation, is effectively at the same temperature as the main chamber, and is frequently used for tests which require cold conditions without simulated altitude. No special tests of the effects of altitude and low temperature on flying clothing or personnel have been carried out, but relevant information on these effects is recorded and passed to the Institute of Aviation Medicine at Farnborough, and a certain amount of development work on A non-aeronautical project was the study of the effect of cold weather on a naval gun turret. For this test, special nozzles (seen in the "great door" photograph on page 260) were fitted to increase the air velocity. personal equipment has been performed, such as that on the flexible rubber tubes for oxygen. Much and varied experience has been gained in the use of the stratosphere chamber during its 2\ years of operation, small modi fications to the refrigeration system being the only alterations required. The research and development team seem well pleased with their huge test chamber, and have already made excellent use of it. To meet die continued and essential need for thorough high-altitude research and test in the field of aircraft and asso ciated equipment in this country, the facilities of the "big flask" at Weybridge are second to none. K. T. O. ECONOMICAL STRETCH-FORMING AT the Brough factory of Blackburn and General Aircraft, Ltd., L considerable time is being saved, and economy secured, by the use of works-designed stretch-forming equipment for contour ing strip material of various sections. The method—which is the subject of a patent application—is so simple that the tool can be constructed mainly of lengths of channel steel and a few bolts and nuts. Designed for mounting on the bed of any suitable type of stretching machine, the tool consists essentially of an elongated open-topped box built up of three bolted-together sections of channel steel, one of the two side-walls being slot-and-bolt mounted so that it can be set at any required distance from the opposite wall. The workpiece is clamped in the stretcher jaws and so posi tioned that it abuts against the contoured surface of a wooden form-block in the bottom of the "box." If, for the sake of example, the work is. of simple angle section, one web will contact the surface of the form block and the other will locate between the side of the form-block and one steel wall; a rubbing-pad (e.g., of compressed fibre) is interposed between the wall and the work to allow the latter to slide during the stretching process. For sections more complex than simple right-angles, the sur face of the form-block is supplemented by any requisite number of fibre strips, which allow any required section to be contoured from the one block; they also permit the work to slide while adapt ing itself to the contour. Simple adaptations also make it possible to produce double curvatures and joggles. Blackburns state that five sets of equipment of this kind at Brough are now doing the work of several hundred form blocks. AIRFIELD-EMERGENCY RADIO A CONTRACT worth £70,000 has been awarded to Pye, Ltd., of Cambridge, for V.H.F. communications equipment to be installed in crash-rescue vehicles at Air Ministry airfields in Great Britain. The equipment is particularly useful when vehicles are sent, to attend a crashed aircraft out of sight of the control tower. Information can immediately be passed back and the tower kept informed of the condition of the airfield if the runway is obstructed or if reinforcements are required. Crash- rescue vehicles at White Waltham were fitted with the sets while the Duke of Edinburgh was undergoing flying training there.
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