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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1837.PDF
812 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS ITALIAN INTEREST: The FokkerS-14 Mach-Trainer was recently inspected and flown by a mission from the Italian Air Force. Seen here are Gen. Urbani, Chief of Staff, and Lt-Cols. Onofri, Franchina and Giglia. Fritz Diepen, Fokker's commercial manager, shows them round the cockpit. NATO may order the S-14. Civil Pilot Supply: A Call for Action OVER the past seven years a great many words have been spoken and written on the subject of training civil pilots, but little official action has been taken. On June 16th it was announced that the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Mr. A. T. Lennox-Boyd, had received from Air Marshal Sir Guy Garrod, chairman of the Air League of the British Empire, a memorandum stating that "It is now urgently necessary to place the recruitment of pilots for civil aviation upon a firm and permanent basis." The memorandum represents the results of several months' study by a working party representing the most important bodies in British civil aviation. These bodies, who fully support the proposals, are the Air League; Airwork, Ltd.; B.E.A.; B.I.A.TA; B.O.A.C.; B.A.L.P.A.; and G.A.P.A.N. The memorandum recalls that operators have felt increasing anxiety about the supply of civil pilots for several years, and that as long ago as 1947 this led to the appointment of the Wilcock Committee. It points to a number of weaknesses in the present system of relying primarily on the R.A.F. as a source. These include: the fact that the best of young R.A.F. officers are retained on permanent commissions; fluctuations in the flow of suitable ex-R.A.F. pilots; fundamental differences between the tasks of Service and civil aircrew; and the lack of suitable technical grounding on many important civil-aviation subjects during R.A.F. training. Urging that the recruiting policy for commercial pilots should be the same as for other professions, the memorandum suggests a scheme based on the following points: — Selection of candidates, in the 16-18 age group, of G.C.E. standard with a bias towards science and mathematics. The selection board would comprise representatives of the operators, the M.T.C.A. and the Board of Education. Ab initio training, including passing the P.P.L. tests, at a civil flying club, involving 50 hr flying. The candidate would also begin technical training, full time or at evening classes. Further training, lasting two years, for a Commercial Pilot's Licence and Instrument Rating at an approved establishment. With a C.P.L., and 250 hr flying experience (including 100 hr on twins), the candidate would be eligible for employment. Training towards senior licences would be at the expense and in the time of the operator. The memorandum says it is essential that candidates should be exempt from National Service. Cost:—A wastage of 5 per cent per annum among civil pilots could be expected during the next few years, requiring 70-120 new pilots annually. Allowing for an inevitably high wastage among recruits, it would be necessary to offer courses to some 400 boys annually. The corresponding total cost would be in the region of £250,000 p.a. The scheme would be financed through existing educational channels by means of State scholarships, obviating claims for financial assistance not available to entrants to other professional careers. The candidate would shoulder part of the cost of his maintenance while under training. Soviet Air Day Disclosures 'T'HE traditional Soviet Air Day display took place at Tushino A on June 20th. First, 32 Yak-18 trainers paraded portraits of Lenin and Stalin, and streamed the flags of the sixteen Soviet Republics. Then another group spelt out "Glory to the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union)," and two more (one flown by a woman) and aYak-11 performed aerobatics. Radio-controlled models—3J m in span and weighing 5 kg—were eclipsed by a demonstration of a flapping-wing glider, described thus: "In the sky appears, towed by an aircraft, a graceful glider with long slim wings. The glider breaks the tow and we see quite clearly that the glider begins to flap its slim wings like a sea bird. . . . The glider is designed by a young Ukrainian designer, Alexander Yrkevich. He has called it Koshuk. The wind-stream raises the glider's wing, gathering air in a special chamber. The energy thus gathered forces the wing to flap. The wind-stream not only supports the glider but actually amplifies the energy, enabling exceptionally long flights to be made." Next came a formation of A-9 gliders, led by a woman, and these concluded the civil part of the celebration. It was now the turn of the Air Force, under Lt. Gen. Rubanov. A Mikoyan swept-wing jet fighter performed aerobatics, and others followed suit in formation. Ten twin-jet bombers flew past, and forty-four helicopters landed in a "chess-board" formation, where upon they disgorged units of soldiers, with light artillery. "This was followed," runs one report, "by the dropping of six paratroopers, one of whom was making his 450th jump. Yet another mass drop of paratroopers was made from Antonov carriers. . . . When they cleared the field dozens upon dozens of transport planes appeared, each carrying about 30 soldiers, who jumped en masse." The Soviet radio network subsequently stated that "glider trains"—transport aircraft each towing three troop-carrying gliders, all piloted by sports pilots—had taken part in fly pasts in various localities that day. There was a talk by aircraft designer Merkulov, who averred that the first jet aircraft was designed in 1881 by the man who made the bomb which killed Czar Alexander II. It was in his death-cell in the fortress of St. Peter and Paul, said Merkulov, that the revolutionary Nikolak Ivanovich Kibalchich had drawn up his plans a few days before his execution, requesting that, after his death, they should be submitted to experts. In their "impotent wrath," however, the Czarists suppressed Kibalchich's work, which remained hidden in the Police archives. Kibalchich's idea had subsequently been taken up and developed by the Soviet inventor Ciolkovsky, who had proved the necessity of designing an engine running on liquid fuel. Kibalchich's followers carried the invention a step further, and in the years 1930-32 a liquid-fuel "jet engine" had been tested. The first such, for use in aircraft, had been built in 1939 by Dushkin. Merkulov revealed that in a recent test flight a Soviet jet aircraft had attained a speed of 2,650 k.p.h. (1,645 m.p.h.) at a height of 21 km (13 miles); its fuel ran out after a flight of 4£ min. A fighter had reached about 2,000 k.p.h. in a dive. FOR THE OUTBACKl At present operating a Heron and DC-3s, Mr. C. A. Butler, chairman and managing director of Butler Air Transport of Australia, is in London discussing his order for Viscounts. He is with Mr. R. C. Handasyde, of Vickers-Armstrongs (holding V.1000 model).
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