FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0243.PDF
25 February 1955 243 As for performance, the Hunter gave its first public demon-stration of supersonic diving at the NATO display at Brussels in July 1952. On the evening of the first day of the 1953 S.B.A.C.Display, over the historic course between Rustington and Kings- ton Gorse, a Hunter F.I flown by Neville Duke broke the world'sabsolute speed record with an average speed for four runs of 727.,62 m.p.h. His aircraft—the famous WB188—had been givena "needle" nose and a streamlined windscreen, and the Avon RA.7R turbojet made use of an afterburner. On September 19th,again in WB188, Duke raised the 100-km closed-circuit record to 709.2 m.p.h.—in distinctly unfavourable weather.Hunters in Service.—To see the Hunters in R.A.F. service we made our way, on the icy morning of February 16th, to the starkFighter Command base at Wattisham, in Suffolk. Hot coffee in the crew-room, and the warmth of an 11 Group welcome—accorded us by the A.O.C., A.V-M. H. L. Patch, C.B., C.B.E.— restored our circulation, and from the Station Commander (G/C.H. I. Edwards, V.C., D.S.O., O.B.E., D.F.C.), the Wing Com- mander Flying (W/C. C. S. Vos, D.F.C.), and squadron pilotswe heard the Hunter's virtues extolled with unfeigned enthusiasm. With a stiff cross-wind over the runway, and flurries of snowand sleet for good measure, we scaled the heights of flying control to witness a display. The squadrons engaged were No. 43, whichhad flown down from Leuchars, Fife, and Wattisham-based No. 257—commanded, we were agreeably surprised to find, byMaj. Howard Nelson Tanner, United States Air Force. Meteor N.F.14s of No. 152 Squadron and Meteor F8s of No. 263 tookthe air to afford some comparison in performance. After a mass cartridge-start (a most engaging performance) theHunters drew out of line one by one, to go squealing, squalling, booming and roaring out to the operational readiness platformand depart in pairs at five-second intervals into the snow- clouded air. The tower seemed to shudder as a single machine hurtled by at(the Wingco. Flying assured us) a shade above 600 knots, which is some 720 m.p.h.; then, at a mere 450 knots, the formationsappeared, precisely aligned as in L. W. McLaren's air-to-air photographs in these pages. At points on their route the pilotshad contended with a cloud-base of 300ft. The cold was such as to chill anything short of the very warmestenthusiasm; and that we certainly experienced. For too long we had waited for just this occasion, and now we found ourselvesgreatly heartened and profoundly impressed. The merits of the Hunter, of course, are not confined to itsflying qualities. Especially is it notable for its short "turn-round" time after an operational sortie, and, as we ourselves watched,ground crews had removed the gun panels from one machine; detached the barrels of the four Adens; lowered the massive gun-pack on to a special trolley; replaced the barrels; winched-up a new, re-armed, pack, weighing some 1,900 lb; recharged theoxygen bottles; changed the cine film; and completely refuelled the aircraft by means of the high-pressure valve in the port mainwheel bay—all this in 5 min 42 sec. As we had hoped, our visit was productive of information addi-tional to that already given. On official authority, for instance, it can now be stated that the automatic gun-ranging radar is con-tained in the front fuselage, with the scanner in the extreme nose, enclosed by a laminated plastic radome. The radar works in con-junction with the gyro gun-sight, provides automatic ranging, and can be controlled by a twist-grip on the power lever. The rate offire of the Aden gun was given as 1,200 rounds a minute, and one gathered that the entry of gases into the engine-air intakes may beminimized or prohibited by modifications to the gun ports and to the intakes themselves. Some danger remains, however, fromthe collection of explosive gases in the gun bay. Discussion of operational techniques is precluded, but it canbe said that at stand-by the Hunter pilots sit in their aircraft at the end of the runway and are in direct telephone contact withthe sector controller. Thus, as a raid develops they are completely in the picture up to the moment of take-off. Handling.—One of the most impressive aspects of the Hunter—and there are many—is the way in which it has been accepted by the squadron pilots. It is remarkable that an aircraft whichintroduces in one step so many new features should, in fact, prove to be so easy to handle. Everything seems as straightforward asone could wish. One of the aircraft's most important qualities is that, while being easy to fly, it gives the pilots a performancewhich they have been longing for these many years. At last they can face the Canberra with the sure knowledge that it cannot getaway from them—still less be able to indulge in the highly shaming quarter attack on the fighter which has been known to Meteorpilots. Before the Hunter reached the squadrons a number of its handling characteristics took on the proportions of bogies, butwhen it arrived the bogies did not materialize. Careful briefing, well-learned drill and, above all, happy experience, showed themfor what they were. As already described the between-sortie turn-round is extremelyfast and it should, now, be quite feasible to start up for a second sortie only six minutes or so after shutting down at the end of On a field azure and camouflage a Hunter pilot, gardant, proper; on his helm a cockerel in his pride, rampant, armed. the first. The start-up itself must be sheer joy to the ex-Meteor pilot, there being no trollies, cables, ground/flight switches, or external panels to be attended to. A single ground crewman takes away the ladder and the pilot can taxi out about 20 seconds later. Taking-off in pairs presents no new problems, and even in ablustering cross-wind, such as was blowing at Wattisham, there seemed to be no difficulty in holding formation at the difficultstage while unsticking. Some of the pairs "hit slipstream," but it was evident that the effect of this is far less than, for example,on a Meteor. And it should not be forgotten that some of the pilots taking part were flying in formation for only the second time. At altitude (and this now implies levels far in excess of 40,000ft)the Hunter cruises comfortably at a very high Mach number, but battle-formation flying was said to be if anything easier than withthe Meteor. "Pitch-up"—another "bogy"—also seems to have made itself conspicuous by its almost complete absence. Notwithstanding the attachment of the under-fuselage air-brake, the Hunter's flaps are still stressed for high airspeeds and the 40-deg high-lift setting can be used while making a formationlet-down at a speed higher than that for a Meteor. The slow-speed flying characteristics of the Hunter are suchthat a G.C.A. approach in close pairs is quite comfortable at a very moderate air speed. Particularly indicative of the Hunter'sapproach characteristics during a normal circuit was the fact that the aircraft demonstrated at Wattisham made a "curved" approach,so much so that some even touched down on one main wheel before the other. After touch-down some pilots lowered theirnosewheels on to the runway immediately and began to brake, while others held them, Meteor-fashion, high in the air. The runway threshold is apparently crossed only 10-15 knotsfaster than in the Meteor, and the final turn-in is perfectly com- fortable so long as the speed is maintained above a very reasonablelevel. The Hunter's minimum-drag speed is, of course, a little higher in proportion to its stalling speed than that of a comparablestraight-winged aircraft. Below this speed, therefore, a great deal of power is required to maintain height and airspeed, butthere is enough power available. All the pilots who flew last week at Wattisham had been opera-tional on Meteors. Their conversion to Hunters had taken the form of three or four preliminary workouts in the simulator (ofwhich more below) and about ten flights in the new aircraft. Even fewer than ten flights, and one or two landings in manualcontrol, are all that is needed before operational working up can start. In fact it was said that, with the average Hunter hours-per-pilot standing at 20-30, the squadrons were already considered operational. A landing in manual control, incidentally, is yet another of thebogies which did not materialize. Although stick forces are con- siderably higher it is quite possible to follow the normal circuitprocedure with only a slight easing of the final turn-in. Minimum weather conditions for a first flight are considered to be 1,000ftcloud-base and three miles' visibility. The simulator—one is set up at each new Hunter station—consists of a Hunter forward fuselage mounted on a fixed base, giving a reproduction of the cockpit, complete with ejector seatand all systems, but without gunsight. It is intended to be a systems and procedures trainer rather than a flight simulator and,from a panel mounted on the starboard flank of the fuselage, the instructor can select any of the failures likely to occur in flight.The trainee pilot meanwhile, can go through all the checks and procedures, noting instrument reactions. The cockpit, as exemplified by this simulator, is one of the bestwe have seen. A great deal of thought has evidently gone into producing a really logical layout, particularly with indicators closeto controls, and these conforming to the latest ideas on the subject. All in all, then, the Hunter is a tractable, comfortable aircraft,as well as being a mighty defensive weapon. It is heartening to know that, in addition to the units named, No. 222 Squadron, atLeuchars, is fully equipped and that other squadrons including No. 263 (S/L. R. Aytoun, D.F.C.) at Wattisham are converting.H. F. K.; C. M. L.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
