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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0342.PDF
342 FLIGHT V.T.O. BY CORDITE: On March 11th the Martin-Baker Company demonstrated a develop- ment which will surely make a profound impres- sion upon military aircrew everywhere. A dummy, seated in an automatic lightweight ejection seat, was fired from the rear cockpit of the Meteor on a take-off run. Deployment of the drogue, main canopy and separation from the seat were almost instantaneous, and the dummy landed "unhurt." This development is intended to remove all minimum-height restrictions on "hitting the silk" FROM ALL QUARTERS Doing Away with the Runway VTESTERDAY evening, March 17th, the Eighth Louis Bleriot-*• Lecture was due to be delivered before the Royal Aeronautical Society by M. Georges Hereil, the well known French aircraftconstructor. Bearing the title Making Aeroplanes Independent of Runways, M. Hereil's paper considered the limitations imposedby long runways and means of eliminating such runways com- pletely. Most of the solutions discussed involved replacing theconventional undercarriage by some gear which was part of the ground equipment, while at the same time retaining unchangedthe aerodynamic characteristics, propulsive power and operational uses and performance of the aircraft. The possibilities examinedincluded metal track, low-pressure tyres, caterpillar track, launch- ing ramps (inclined, but not vertical), catapults, cable launching,railed trolleys, braked landing (arrester gear and landing mats), skis and skids. Boscombe Down Appointment WHEN, on March 1st, Mr. Handel Davies, M.Sc, F.R.Ae.S.,takes up his duties as Scientific Adviser to the Air Ministry, Mr. J. Hanson, B.Sc, D.I.C., F.R.Ae.S., will succeed him asChief Superintendent of the A. and A.E.E., Boscombe Down. Mr. Hanson has previously held this post, in 1950-52, since whenhe has been Director of Technical and Personnel Administration, M.O.S. High-level Camera THE impressive aerial camera illustrated here is intended for useby P.R. versions of the Canberra and the new V-bombers operating at heights between 60,000 and 70,000ft. Designed byWilliamsons, and developed in co-operation with the Royal Air- craft Establishment, it is capable of taking, in one run, up to1,200 9in X 9in photographs at intervals of less than two seconds between each exposure. The whole operation is remotely con-trolled. To obtain wide lateral cover it is sometimes necessary to operate several suchcameras in a single aircraft, and in order to achieve perfect synchronization an inter-valometer has been developed capable of controlling the cameras simultaneously. Lenses available for the FX96 vary froma focal length of 48in down to 6in wide- angle type, one exposure from which atmaximum height covers 400 sq. miles. Despite the great altitudes at which it isintended to operate the FX96, compensa- tion must still be made for the high speedof the aircraft. The mechanism has there- fore been designed to allow the film, withits register-plate and pressure-pad, to move with the image during exposure. Reference to the new camera was madeby Mr. Colin Williamson, C.B.E., F.R.P.S. (chairman and managing director) and Mr.John Odle, F.R.G.S. (joint managing director) at the 49th annual dinner of theWilliamson Manufacturing Co., Ltd., held in London last Friday. FOR STRATOSPHERIC P.R.: The Williamson FX96 with long-focus lens tube fitted. Britannia: Heat-seeker THOUGH evidently published in the best of faith, the reports•*- in Monday morning's papers that a Bristol Britannia had flown from England to Johannesburg in the shortest time yet achievedby any civil airliner were, in fact, inaccurate. The Britannia— a Mk 100 registered G-ANBA—flew to South Africa on Saturdayfor a month's tropical trials and covered the 6,070 statute miles with one stop, at Khartoum, in a total elapsed time of18 hr 52 min. Flying time was 17 hr 24 min. The fastest civil flight on record was made on July 17th-18th, 1951, by a deHavilland Comet 1, with Capt. Majendie in command. A distance of 6,218 miles was covered in an elapsed time of 17 hr 33 min, witha chock-to-chock time (excluding stops at Cairo and Entebbe) of 14 hr 53 min. Average speed, in round figures, was 420 m.p.h.,whereas that of the Britannia was about 350 m.p.h. The log of the flight, as cabled to Filton on Monday, was:—"Take-off Filton 1215. Crossed coast Lymington 1225 at 18,000ft. Over French coast at Le Havre 20,000ft at 1255. Cruising 350 m.p.h.Wind N.E. 28 m.p.h. Crossed Riviera coast, east of Marseilles, at 1425 at 23,000ft. Speed 362 m.p.h. Wind S. by E. 40 m.p.h. PassedMalta 1628 at 25,000ft at 357 m.p.h. Wind S.W. by S. 50 m.p.h. "Crossed African coast 1735 due south of Benina at 25,000ft at360 m.p.h. Wind W. by S. 165 m.p.h. jet stream. Half-way across Sahara at 1835 at 26,000ft at 357 m.p.h. Wind due W. 155 m.p.h.Started let-down from 26,000ft at 80 miles distance from Khartoum 220m.p.h. Wind N.N.W. 28 m.p.h. Landed Khartoum 2106. Startedengines 2223, took off 2234, on course 2236. Levelled out at 19,500ft at 2301, speed 341 m.p.h., wind N.W. by W. 14 m.p.h."Crossed equator above violent inter-tropical front storm at 0146 about 70 miles west of Entebbe at 19,500ft at 345 m.p.h. Wind N.E.by N. 24 m.p.h. Dawn at 0330, crossing south end of Lake Tanganyika at 22,000ft at 355 m.p.h. Wind N.W. by N. 23 m.p.h. Crossed Zambesiabout 200 miles N.E. of Livingstone at 0450 at 22,000ft, 362 m.p.h. Wind S. 23 m.p.h. Over Bulawayo 0547 at 22,000ft, 362 m.p.h. WindS. 28 m.p.h. Started let-down from 22,000ft at 0640, 90 miles from Johannesburg at 210 m.p.h. Wind S. 28 m.p.h. Over Johannesburg0702. Landed." The pilot was W/C. Walter Gibb, D.S.O., D.F.C., assistantchief test pilot to the Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd. Carrying 42 officials and technicians, including representatives of B.O.A.C.and the Air Registration Board, G-ANBA took off at her maximum all-up weight of 150,000 lb (picture on p. 369). Moscow on West German Air Force /COMMENTING on the alleged preparations in Western^-/ Germany for the formation of an air force, a Colonel Bik- hovsky, speaking in Moscow, has said that, despite official com-muniques in die West, the West German Air Force would not be "a small one." The aircraft industry, he maintained, had nowbeen almost completely rebuilt in the Bonn Republic and was ready to turn out military aircraft once again. As far back as 1952,he went on, the Junkers company was re-established in Kassel. Preparations were in full swing in Western Germany to designand produce new types of aircraft, and such well-known designers as Messerschmitt, Tank and Dornier were working on new typesof jet aircraft, flying bombs and guided missiles. A network of research institutions studying aeronautical problems was beingset up in Western Germany. All work in the field of rocket propulsion and flying, said theColonel, was now concentrated in what was known as the Society for Rocket Construction Research, and in the Stuttgart Instituteof Rocket Techniques. German airmen were receiving advanced training at schools in Great Britain, the U.S.A. and other countries,and at one of the flying schools in Switzerland 90 per cent of the pupils had come from Western Germany. Another group of WestGerman airmen which, according to the West German press,
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