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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2048.PDF
JGHT, 16 July 1954 >ROOF of the ARIES npressive Performance on England-Australia Flight SUPER GEMINI" was the catchline for our caption to the photograph of the Miles Aries which appeared in Flight on April 24th last year. The Aries had then ust received its C. of A. Many readers may know that this jst prototype, G-AMDJ, has recently completed a flight rom England to Australia: from the owner and pilot, Mr. nthony Vigano of Melbourne, we have received a most nthusiastic letter concerning the performance of the Aries in this flight. The journey, which began on May 8th and finished at Mel-lourne on June 6th, included a two-week stay in France and Italy, he remainder of the flight being made in a leisurely manner. 'The Aries performed wonderfully," Mr. Vigano reports, "and s the only private aircraft I have ever flown that comes up fully o the makers' specifications. In fact, I found that these specifica- ions had been on the conservative side." The letter continues; "Point to point at 2,200 r.p.m., a true air ipeed of 150 to 155 m.p.h. is quite easily achieved at a height of 1,000 to 6,000ft. The climb at full load is about 1,300 ft/min, vhile we were amazed that at 17,000ft over the Alps, for a short fceriod, the climb was still in me region of 200 ft/min. The air-Kraft easily maintains altitude on one engine at 5,000ft at full weight with a temperature of 25 deg C. This was often tried over •ndia on either engine and where temperatures are high. On Suitable strips we also tried single-engine take-offs at full load and Bound that, holding the machine down (using both engines) until 1)5 to 70 m.p.h. had been reached, in order to get rudder control, •cither motor could be cut, the take-off continued and a climb in khe region of 200 ft/min maintained, whilst at two to three thousand feet the aircraft then maintained height on cruising revs 1(2,200) quite easily and, due to its big rudders (larger than those fcf the Gemini), could easily be maintained on course. "Petrol consumption over long hops was quite amazing and at 12,200 r.p.m., with a true air speed of 150 to 155 m.p.h., 6\ gall Ion each side were used—naturally with maximum use being made of the mixture controls. After we left Singapore we flew in company with a Proctor 5 flown by Mr. Beverley Snook and in order to stay with him we found we had to decrease revs to 75 The first prototype Miles Aries, powered by Cirrus Major Ills. 2,000 and sometimes less, and at this r.p.m. setting we still had a T.A.S. of 125 m.p.h.,and were amazed when we found we were using no more than five gall/hr on each side. I may add that our all-up weight can be left to the imagination of the reader as on a trip of this nature one always gadiers weight as souvenirs accumulate, added to which neither myself nor Arthur Schutt (the co-pilot), are lightweights, both being in the 200 lb class, added to which we had an auxiliary fuel tank of 30 gall capacity on the back seat. This made a total of 96 gall plus personal luggage, dinghy, rations, water, etc. . . . The hydraulic brakes are a great improvement on those of the Gemini. "Both the Lear ADF 12 and the Murphy MR80 23-channel V.H.F. are wonderful radio equipment, the Lear being amazingly sensitive and often homing up to 400 miles away, and the Murphy reaching up to 80 miles away at six to seven thousand feet. This is amazing when one realizes that the Murphy weighs 16 lb and the Lear, a full radio compass, weighs only 17 lb. "After such a delightful trip, completely trouble-free and, due to proper equipment, completely without hazards, both Arthur Schutt and myself want to extend our congratulations to F. G. Miles, the makers of the aircraft, and to Blackburns, whose engines (Cirrus Major 3) purred away mile after mile without a trace of trouble and with almost unbelievable economy. "We both feel that if there were more private aircraft of the Aries class available, then private aviation might receive the sup port it will eventually get, a lot sooner." Relevant news from F. G. Miles, Ltd., is that a second proto type Aries is now under construction and should be completed by the end of the summer. Apart from its improved engine in stallations, this machine will not differ essentially from the first. In both these first two aircraft Gemini components have been used as the basis; the high cost of tooling for a production run has made quantity production, from scratch, impracticable. To meet the demand for Aries-type performance, however, the re building of existing Geminis to Aries standard is a future possi bility which is being considered at present. FARNBOROUGH 1954 r\ETAILS have been announced by the S.B.A.C. of this year's XJ Flying Display and Exhibition at Farnborough, from September 7th-12th. The arrangements follow the general lines of those for last year's show, and are as follows:— Dates.—Monday, September 6th: technicians' and Press pre view day. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (7th, 8th, 9th): guest days (Trade admission by S.B.A.C. invitation only). Thursday's flying display will consist of commercial aircraft only. Friday (10th): public premiere. Saturday and Sunday (11th and 12th): public days (10 a.m.-7 p.m.); flying begins at 3 p.m. Admission.—Tickets for Friday only can be obtained in advance from Autoparks Ltd., 1-31 Machse Road, Olympia, London, W.14, or through the usual agencies. Tickets for Saturday and Sunday can be obtained only at the gate, on the day concerned. Prices.—Friday: Adults £1, children 10s, cars £1, coaches £2, motor cycles 5s, cycles 2s 6d. Saturday and Sunday: Adults 5s, children 2s 6d; cars £1 10s (including occupants' admission), coaches 10s, motor cycles 2s 6d, cycles Is. Except where otherwise stated, vehicle charges are parking fees on'y and do not include admission. F-84F "AUTO HOT-SEAT" AN automatic ejection seat has been developed by the Republic ' Corporation for their F-84F Thunderstreak arid RF-84F Thundernash aircraft. The seat is not automatic to the same degree as that now being introduced into the R.A.F. service; it unfastens the pilot's safety harness after ejection but does not open his parachute as well. The seat incorporates two cartridges,^ the first accelerates the seat to 60 ft/sec to clear the aircraf«*'after a two-second delay a second cartridge acts on a piston ymich releases the harness, and the pilot is then able to open,Hs own parachute. Recent tests carried out on an F-84F fuselage on the ground show that the seat reached a maximum height of 35ft and that, by the time it fell to the ground 35ft behind its firing point, the dummy pilot was already fully clear of die seat. Republic also received a U.S.A.F. contract to develop a long-stroke ejector sea^for the pilots of B-47 jet bombers. The seat which eventually resulted was equipped with extensible guide rails which, jffi firing, extended to twice their closed len^h, a single cartjiflge accelerating the seat to 60 ft/sec. All B-47Bs and Es now in service are fitted with this type of seat for both pilots. The observer is ejected downwards.
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