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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2083.PDF
98 FLIGHT HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME above Puget Sound rides Boeing's Model 707 Stratotanker/Stratoliner prototype. The aircraft is seen on its maiden fight (described on page 125), and is flying with its trailing- edge flaps at landing setting. Its lines may be com pared with those of the Comet 3 (opposite), which made a slightly longer first flight just four days later. FROM ALL QUARTERS The Duke Inspects R.A.F. Valiant T HE first indication that a Vickers Valiant is in the hands of the R.A.F. came last week when it was made known that H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh had inspected one of these machines during a visit to R.AT. Station Witter ing. He is said to have discussed the aircraft with its captain, S/L. Roberts. The Duke had previously flown to Wiftering from Hendon in his Devon. No great powers of observation have been needed to discover that several Valiants have now been produced and that the R.A.F. are preparing tc/form squadrons of this first V-bomber. Part of the R.A.F.Vairfield-reconditioning programme is believed to have been in readiness for Valiants and no doubt a commander and some crews have already been earmarked for the first squad ron. A completely new training scheme will be required for this first four-jet aircraft to be delivered to the R.A.F., but it seems .likely that squadron will be formed this year. A Test Pilot Honoured 'THE Guild of Air Pilots and -*- Air Navigators announced last week that the first award of the Derry and Richards Memorial Medal for experi mental flying has been made to W/C. J. H. Heyw^rth, A.F.C., "for his outstanding record in the field of turbojet engine development flyrfg." W/C. Heywqfth—who retired from active flj^rig last May and went over tqf the sales-promo tion side of JRolls-Royce, Ltd.— began test flying with the Derby company |ri 1937. His duties embraced* the testing of numerouf types of piston and jet engines (the latter including pioneer W2B engine in the tail of a t Wellington in 1942) and culminated in the development flying of the RA.14 in a Can berra in 1953. In 1946 he was awarded the Air Force Cross. In the course of his experimental flying, W/C. Heyworth has flown almost every prototype aircraft to be fitted with Rolls-Royce WjC. Heyworth. engines and can claim to have been the first pilot in the world to amass 1,000 hours of gas-turbine flying. The Derry and Richards Mfidal was sponsored by the employees of the de Havilland,Aircraft Co., in memory of the D.H. test pilot and flight-observer who lost their lives in the 1952 Farnborough Display accident. It is awarded annually by the G.A.P.A.N. "to a pilot, npf on active service in the regular forces but professionally engaged in flying for the testing or develop ment of British Aircraft, whose flying has been of outstanding value." Loss of the Victor ON Wednesday, July 14th, the first prototype Handley Page Victor, WB 771, was completely destroyed at Cranfield, Beds. The aircraft was carrying out position-error trials, and had made numerous runs at about 100ft altitude (the "sea-level" case) each at a higher airspeed than the one previous. At about 1 p.m. the bomber was approaching the airfield at |tf s height when it was seen to be behaving erratically. Eye-wisSesses stated it made a sudden dive and then levelled out agajtiff and that at this stage the whole horizontal tail assembly wCs fluttering badly. The complete tailplane and elevators thejrbroke away and rose above the flight-path, while the remainder of the aircraft went straight into the ground at full powerwrffriking exactly at the intersection of two runways. Disintegration was cqifiplete, and appears to have been accompanied by fire, although the spread of the wreckage obviated any conflagration in jtie. normal sense of the word. The hori zontal tail surfacey 'came to rest on the airfield; they were substantially intact^and may therefore yield valuable evidence. None of the Jtrew of four escaped. The aircraft was being flown by the,.company's deputy chief test pilot, F/L. R. V. Ecclestone, Ef.F.C, A.F.C. Thirty-one years of age, he flew Stirlings and Lancasters in Bomber Command, and also Hurri canes and Spitfires in the Bomber Defence Tactical Unit. Later he was engaged in development flying, successively at Marham, Boscombe Down and Farnborough; he had completed the Empire OVER THE SEA TO SKY: Dramatic departure, from a launching site in Malta, of a French SFECMAS Ars 5.501 pilotless targst (the parentage of which is too obvious to warrant comment), one of a number now being tried out by the Royal Navy. They have radio control: weigh about 15 cvt and are launched with the aid of booster rockets, which fall away about 300 yd from the ramp. A parachute aids recovery from the see.
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