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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0830.PDF
374 FLIGHT THE AERONAUTICAL BOOKSHELF . . . ing such things as stressed-skin construction, boundary-layer control, and the principles of various types of jet engine complete a book that cannot fail to interest air-minded youngsters—and their fathers. "How to Make Model Aircraft," by P. G. F. Chinn. Percival Marshall and Co., Ltd., 19 Noel Street, London W.l. Illustrated. Price 3s. W HATEVER you want to know about model aircraft, you will almost certainly find the answer in this book. It covers everything from how to choose a 3s 8d "beginner's kit" or a £5, 3.5 c.c diesel motor to control-line flying and such mystic devices as dethermalizers. Its 17 chapters appeared originally as articles in "Model Aircraft," which is sufficient guarantee of their accuracy and soundness. "Flight—A Pictorial History of Aviation," by the Editors of "Year." 11833 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles 25, California, U.S.A. Illustrated. Price $10. T HIS is without doubt one of the finest, most comprehensive histories of flying that has yet appeared. An editorial staff of 53 sorted through more than 5,000 photographs and pyramids of literature and letters before selecting 1,300 illustrations and writing 75,000 words of narrative and captions for its 192 pages. The large page-size (14 x 10|in) although difficult to fit into a library shelf, has permitted effective, newspaper-style layout, with satisfyingly few postage-stamp pictures. There are one or two errors, like an Anson wrongly identified ASUGGESTION by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder of a supersonic bomber for the Air Force aroused considerable interest in the House of Lords during last week's three-day debate on the Defence White Paper. His point was that such an aircraft might well prove more reliable and economic than the guided missile which, because of its com plicated nature—"a fantastic menagerie of electronic ingenuity" —was liable to be "misguided." Another facet of the debate was a call for an inquiry into the respective roles of the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy; it was made in support of a similar argument deployed during the Navy Estimates debate in the House of Commons. LORD ALEXANDER, Minister of Defence, recalled in opening the debate that ever since the present Government took office it had been their aim to build up a mobile strategic reserve in the United Kingdom, available and ready to deal with any emer gency which might arise at any place and at any time. This reserve would be formed as soon as there was a diminution of our world-wide commitments. Already, of course, large numbers of troops were moved by air. But these modern means of movement must be developed, and it had been decided that for the transport of troops and their equipment over long distances, a high-speed, long-range aircraft [the Minister did not identify it] would be introduced into Transport Command. For the transport of heavy military equipment as well as troops, the Beverley freighter had been ordered for Transport Command. [It was recently announced in the Commons that 20 had been ordered.] This aircraft would carry over 15 tons of stores for more than 600 miles, including, if need be, the equivalent of a light tank, a 25-pounder or six jeeps. In a reference to the development of guided missiles, the Minister confirmed that the ground-to-air missile was to be operated by the R.A.F., the reason being that it would be operating in the same air space as the fighters and therefore must be under the same single ground control. LORD ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH added his voice to the request made in the House of Commons during the Navy Estimates debate by Mr. James Callaghan and Capt. R. E. D. Ryder, V.C., for an inquiry into the respective r61es of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. He thought the time had come to get rid of the sense of frustration on such questions as whether the aircraft carrier would be of major importance in future, or whether shore-based aircraft would be able to cover all our air commitments in the defence of sea areas. LORD HORE-BELISHA directed attention to the recent statement by Sir John Boothman, lately Controller of Supplies (Air), Ministry of Supply, that the time-lag between statement of requirement by a Service department and delivery for opera tional purposes by the M.o.S. varied approximately from seven and a half to ten years, and that the Russians did the job in a very much shorter time. This was an aspect of defence activity to which particular attention should be given. as a Blenheim; but it is almost impossible to think of an event or development in aviation that is not covered, and there are few traces of nationalistic bias—even Russia's claim that Alexander Mozhaisky preceded the Wrights with the first successful powered flight is not ignored, despite Senator McCarthy! The result is a gold-mine for collectors, with scores of pictures of rare birds, including Capt. Wyndham's delta-wing design of 1910; a fantastic "air yacht" of 1913; the almost unknown Wright Model F trainer with orthodox fuselage and tail; a superb flying view of Sikorsky's first four-engined aircraft; a searchlight mounted in front of the airscrew boss of a French Spad for night flying in 1916; and an excellent new photo of the Heinkel Hel78, first jet to fly. "Photographic Enlarging." Published for "Amateur Photo grapher" by Iliffe and Sons, Ltd., Dorset House, Stamford Street, London, S.E.I. Illustrated. Price 6s 3d inc. postage. ""THE ranks of aviation enthusiasts include a vast proportion A who are also photographic enthusiasts; the number of cameras pointing skyward at the Farnborough display each year is sufficient proof of this fact. Modern photography, especially of aircraft, presupposes the use of an enlarger if full aesthetic value is to be gained from negatives. The correct use of all types of enlargers is dealt with in this third edition of a practical and popular textbook. Consideration of the subject-matter is complete. All the "tricks of the trade" are explained in detail, from the production of straightforward crisp enlargements to introducing all the effects wanted on exhibition prints. But this book is not only for the amateur; many professionals could undoubtedly profit from lessons to be learned therein. Sir John had also stated: "We view with concern our complete dependence on foreign suppliers for certain types—to the extent of nearly a quarter—of all the machine tools ordered from abroad. We recommend that the Ministry of Supply should consult with the industry to discover how this strategic weakness can be remedied." Some assurance was needed on this point, said Lord Hore- Belisha, and he invited the Secretary of State for Air to say whether the jet medium bombers in course of production for the Air Force were likely to compare favourably with the heavy long- range bombers that were being turned out in America and Russia. The performance figures of the latter types were striking. The Russian Tu-4 had a maximum speed of 350 m.ph. and a range of 3,000 miles, which meant that it could not only bomb this country directly from Germany, but could do so by going to the north and west in an effort to avoid our radar systems. The 11-28 had a maximum speed of 600 m.p.h. The Tug-75 was believed to have a maximum speed of 415 m.p.h. at a height of 30,000ft and a range of 7,650 miles. It was to be hoped that Britain's productive system would be correspondingly effective. Lord Hore-Belisha was disturbed about the manpower situa tion and suggested that there were in the active Air Force insufficient personnel to do the job of manning the fighters and bombers required for the defence of this country. There were at the moment, 277,000 men compared with 291,000 at the time of the Battle of Britain and 420,000 in 1950. This seemed to him a particularly serious state of affairs, because more men were now required in relation to each aircraft, owing to the growing com plexity of modern types. LORD WINSTER believed a division of opinion existed between the British Chiefs of Staff and their American opposite numbers on the fundamental question as to whether strategic bombing could be a decisive factor, and whether new weapons rather than manpower could be relied upon to provide the requisite safety and security. He hoped that Sir John Slessor was right in his assumption that the threat of retaliation could be staved off with an atomic bomber force. Some tremendous assumptions had certainly been made about air power having altered the strategic position and rendered existing weapons obsolete. Similar things had been said about every new weapon as it was introduced, Lord Winster recalled. LORD CUNNINGHAM OF HYNDHOPE feared there was a danger of repeating the mistakes made at the beginning of the last war, when too little of our effort was devoted to fighter defence; the result had been that, when the test came, the fighters and fighter pilots in this country were so short that we only just pulled through. He felt that in the first stage of a future war our strategy must, of necessity, be defensive. LORD TEYNHAM rejected the case for an inquiry into the roles of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Nothing, he thought, was to be gained from it. The facts were well known to the Minister THE LORDS DEBATE BRITAIN'S AIR POWER
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