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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2948.PDF
25 October 1954 637 A smart "break" by Meteor F.8s of the Duxford Wing. famed aerobatic show, with Sgt. Izzard flying No. 2 to S/L. Bennett, F/L. Spiers as No. 3, F/O. Dick No. 4, and F/O. Heard No. 5. With the sun lowering in a blue autumn sky, clear but for a contrailing B-47 forging up from the soudi, conditions could hardly have been more favourable, and His Imperial Majesty, we believe, will not soon forget either the setting or the form of this last aerial tribute. Bristol Also Honoured ON October 19th the Emperor—with his son, the Duke of Harar—paid a three-hour visit to the works of the Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd. Escorted by Mr. C. F. Uwins (aircraft divi sion managing director) and Mr. A. J. Pegg (chief test pilot) he spent a considerable time inspecting the flight-deck and cabin of the first production Britannia. The royal visitors—who had been received on arrival by Sir G. Stanley White (deputy chairman) and other directors—also inspected Type 171 and 173 helicopters, in which die Emperor showed the greatest interest; this interest became even more apparent after he had seen a Sycamore demonstrated in com- Having examined the Hawker Hunter F.1 (later demonstrated to excellent effect by S/L D. H. Seaton, of the C.F.E.), the Emperor moves on to inspect static ally parked aircraft. At tending him is QIC. J. Rankin, D.S.O., D.F.C., commanding officer, RAF. Station Duxford. Following, with Air Marshal Sir Der- mot A. Boyle, A.O.C-in-C. Fighter Command, is His Imperial Highness the Duke of Harar, second son of His Majesty the Emperor. *% »%• ^ >% *%" pany with a Freighter, and he asked for full details of the helicopter to be sent to him. After the flying demonstrations, H.I.M. Haile Selassie was con ducted by Dr. S. G. Hooker (chief engineer) through one of die engine test-houses, where he was able to watch an Olympus on test. After lunching with die directors the royal party left by road for Oxford. I THE LORDS DISCUSS HELICOPTERS BRITISH helicopter development was searchingly examined •** in the House of Lords last week. Lord Brabazon opened the debate and, after outlining die possibilities of the helicopter, spoke as follows: "If your Lordships look at the situation today you find that not only is America well ahead of us, but she is very active in development and production. I am, and always have been, a great admirer of the British aeroplane industry, but I maintain that on this subject a little more drive and activity is long overdue. "There are some honourable exceptions. The great firm of Fairey is experimenting with a most revolutionary design which looks as if it might be satisfactory; but it will not be in produc tion until 1960. The great firm of Bristol have done some noble work. They have produced a twin-rotor machine and others, but not even their greatest friends could ever accuse the firm of Bristol of being in a hurry. Westlands are die representatives of Sikorsky in tiiis country. They... cannot get an order for the S-56... I tiiink tiiey should be given diat order immediately. All other machines of a revolutionary type are more or less gambles. One of our greatest firms is doing noming at all..." Lord Brabazon went on to point out that the Bell Corporation were selling 60. Model 47s a month and that the total American export of helicopters was already some $500m per year. He '-"ided:"Of one tiling I am perfectly certain: the modern aero-plane-fs not the last word. The requirement, first, of a runway £ mile long, of 8in concrete, to enable the machine to get up into ae air, and the fact diat it touches down at over 100 miles an VJUT just will not do, though it may be all right for the present. •ow are we to galvanize the industry, and indeed their ally, the Government, to appreciate what is going on in other countries • o that we can outstrip them? It is no good for tiiis little country • imitate people ... We have the talent, but somehow we do not •em to have the will to do it." ^In the ensuing discussion, Lord Balfour suggested that each f'l.die British Services should put a little money into a pool for me development and purchase by the Air Ministry of helicopters for all three of them. Lord Brabazon had previously said that Igor Sikorsky "was just about to fail when . . . the Royal Navy went to him and ordered a large number of helicopters, which saved him but which were never received" [owing to their diver sion to the U.S.A.]; Lord Sempill recalled that this, the first order ever placed for helicopters, was for 250 Sikorsky R-5s, in 1942., Replying for the Government, Lord Mancroft stated that the official policy for development followed two lines. The first con cerned the geared, hub-drive machine, and one of the most important production orders was for about 100 developments of the Bristol 173, principally for anti-submarine work. Sub sequently, it was intended to produce a versioh of this machine with gas-turbine engines, which "should yield a helicopter with 27 seats, for short stages, or 12 seats for longer stages." The second line of development concerned aircraft with reactionless rotor systems, aimed particularly at meeting the longer-term demand for faster, simpler, larger and more economical machines. The Fairey Rotodyne, said Lord Man croft, was a research aircraft; but the characteristics of the first prototype had been so chosen as to fit it quite closely to the 40- seat specification of B.E.A. The M.o.S. had recently ordered a second Rotodyne in order to accelerate this development, and it was hoped that the eventual machine would compete success fully widi any other transport, fixed-wing or not, up to stages of at least 100 miles. It was also hoped that it would meet the Army's needs. Lord Mancroft warned against "putting too many of our... financial eggs into the helicopter basket After all," he said, "there are other developments of at least equal promise on the way—for example, the techniques of blowing air at high speed over die wings or out of the flaps of fixed-wing aircraft." He went on to point out that "on a realistic comparison, the time gap between the Sikorsky S-56 in a tried civil form and our own Rotodyne will not be as large as some people think. A civil version of die Piasecki machine is even further off..."
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