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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2036.PDF
16 Jtcly 1954 67 Future of the Big Boats LAST week the Princess flying-boat G-ALUN was pulled out of the water at Cowes, and there was a rumour that she Was shortly to be Cocooned and join her two sisters in storage at Calshot Spit, Southampton Water. A subsequent statement by Saunders-Roe Ltd., said that the compaiiy was now awaiting Ministry of Supply instructions as to whether the aircraft should be stored until such time as more pow^fful engines are available. G-ALUN, the first Princess to b€ built and the only one to have been flown, has completed a limited test programme of some 100 hours in the air. Last week's reports suggest that, despite the interest shown in the Princesses by both^B.O.A.C. and Aquila Airways towards the end of last year J0light, November 13th), no encouraging developments may be expected for some time to come. The final verdict on the ultimate use of the three boats will continue to rest with the Ministry of Supply. The Saunders-Roe spokes man said last week that the company was convinced that flying-boats had a big future ahead of them and that the Princesses boats had a big future, and that the Princesses were the only aircraft capable of being fitted with nuclear propulsion systems. Anglo-Russian Exchange by Air THE first post-war student-exchange^*$"cheme between Russia and this country was due to begafyesterday, July 15th, with the departure from Bovingdon of^BOBritish. students in a Hunting-Clan Viking, bound for Pragtfe. From the Czechoslovak capital they were to continue to-Moscow in an Aeroflot machine, which had brought the party of Russian students from Moscow, while the Viking completed the Russians' journey to London. The return-flights are to be made on August 3rd. During the exchange, drganized in this country by the National Union of Students and the Wayfarers Travel Agency, comprehensive itineraries have been planned in both countries. J Exercise "Dividend" Begins T HE major United Kingdom air defence exercise for 1954, code-named Dividend, is being mounted in two phases, from 2000 hr today, July 16th, to 1800 hr oivfuly 18th and from 1500 hr on July 22nd to 1800 hr on July 25th. A very large number of aircraft from all United Kingdom Commands will be taking part in every type of defence aa& attack operation, nearly 1,000 aircraft being employed as the?-enemy." Efforts are being made to render the latter visualbrldistinguishable from the defending forces. The defences win be directed from Fighter Command H.Q. by the A.O.C-irwC., Air Marshal Sir Dermot Boyle. Since both phase**nave been arranged to include a week-end the Auxiliary squadrons all over the country will play their part alongside the jugular squadrons. Anti-aircraft Command and units of the JKoyal Observer Corps will also be fully engaged. Contemg<franeous with Dividend there will be two other major exercises^Haul and Winch. The former is a NATO Channel mineswe*eping and patrol exercise while Winch will involve the operation of a British beach brigade in a landing scheme on the Belgian coast. A Notice to Airmen (No. 408/1954) gives details of the exercise area and the, special Air Traffic Control regulations which will apply throughout the period between July 16th and 25th, when either Dividend or Haul, or both, will be in progress. Wright Jubilee Trophy PRESENTED last year by the Royal Air Forces Association *• to the Air Council, the Wright Jubilee Trophy is to be com peted for at the Central Flying School, Little Rissington, on Thursday, July 22nd. The competition will take the form of an aerobatic contest between selected flying instructors frqm the jet Flying Training Schools and the R.A.F. College, Granwell. A panel of judges will be drawn from the C.F.S. supervisory staff and will include the Chief Instructor, W/Q T. L. Dodd, D.S.O., D.F.C., A.F.C. Aircraft taking part will be Meteors and Vampires and each pilot will be required to execute a loop, slow roll, roll off the top of a loop, eight-f»fjint hesitation roll and vertical roll. In addi tion, each copip'etitor is allowed two minutes in which to carry cut a mang>dvre of his own choice. The jjimner will be announced shortly after the end of the competition, but the trophy will not be presented until December 17th, the next anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight. fSE-FL/GHT preparation of the Comet 3 was reaching a climax as this 'ssue went to press. The new prototype was first wheeled from its hangar on /Hoy 4th for initial engine-running. This picture, taken at Hatfield on Ju'iy 7th, shows the completed aircraft on tow between the experimental shop and the new flight hangar, where it was weighed. A High-Altitude Bisley T^HAT is claimed to have been the world's first rocket target-'" shooting meeting was held early this month at Yuma, Arizona. Both F-94C Starfire and F-86D Sabre teams from the defence commands of the U.S.A.F. took part. Each aircraft carried 24 x 2.75in rockets which it fired entirely under radar control at a 45ft-long sleeve towed by a jet bomber. Each team flew 24 sorties, half at 3O,O00ft and half at 20,000ft. Both types of fighter which competed are fitted with automatic lock-on radar and weapon-discharge gear. The winners were the Crew Train ing Air Force team from Moody, A.F.B., Georgia, who flew Starfires. Norway's Air Strength TN an interview with the newspaper Bergens Tidende, Maj-Gen. I * E. T. Johnsen, Chief of Staff of the Royal Norwegian Air | Force, says, "The Air Force has never been as strong as it is ! today. We have now achieved the strength as laid down by I Parliament: Seven fighter squadrons and a transport squadron. | By the end of the year we expect to have a wing of maritime air- I craft, and a photo-reconnaissance wing will be ready in the first I quarter of next year. In the next few months we expect to start I using a number of new radar stations, and in the course of the ' summer and autumn we will be opening a great number of radio —communication lines." "Balloon-Burst" Wind Tunnel THE use of a new type of intermittent wind tunnel at the Aero nautical Engineering Laboratories of the Massachusetts Insti tute of Technology was reported recently. The new tunnel, or "shock tube," is the property of the U.S.A.F. and is now being used under a contract with the Air Research and Development Command, Wright Field, Dayton. It is being operated ander the direction of Professor Raymond L. Bisplinghoff and Professor H. Guyford Stever. ^r The tube consists of a tunnel 98ft long, more than a foot square and constructed of |in steel plate. In the centre is a diaphragm section where a sheet of film divides the tube into two sections. After the film has been inserted a compressor builds up air pres sure in one end of the tube, and a pump can be used to reduce pressure in the other end, where the model under test is mounted. When the appropriate air-pressure conditions have been set up a remote control knife cuts the film, t#e compressed air is released, and a shock wave moves rapidly alqi^ the tube towards the model. After the passage of the shock wa^e the model is in a steady high speed airflow for approximately'0.04 of a second. With electronically timed .lugh-speed photography, engineers can photograph the model at any instant during the test. In a series of tests, such photographs can be used to show all stages of a shock passing the model, or of die model in established transonic or supersonic flow. The new equipment is stated to be an engineering tool intended for use with engineering studies of aircraft construction as well as in purely scientific studies of shock waves. It forms part of the facilities of "Project Locus" at M.I.T.—a study by die Aero nautical Engineering Department of die effects of bomb blasts on flying aircraft. As mentioned, it can also be used as a short duration wind tunnel, for speeds up to M = 1.5, for which purpose the new shock-tube is much more economical than conventional types of wind tunnel. A
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