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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0376.PDF
376 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS... FOURTEENS UP: An attractive aircraft in its own right, the H.P.R.5, which first flew last week (see below), is in fact in- tended only as a flying test-bed for Alvis Leo- nides Major engines. The aircraft, previous- ly the Mamba-Mara- thon, will be flying on a Ministry of Supply development pro- gramme. The nacelles are largely identical with the inboard units for the Herald. Leonides Majors Airborne IN view of its importance to the success of the Handley PageHerald feederliner and the requirement for helicopter appli- cations, the Alvis Leonides Major engine is now entering a stageof intensive development. Two events of considerable import- ance have recently occurred. Last week the H.P.R.5 flyingtest-bed took off for the first time, and subsequently, without delay or trouble, continued with a number of hours of handling.(Photographs appear above and on page 393.) The second event was the successful completion at the first attempt of a150-hr simulated type test. With these two important hurdles crossed the Leonides Major is well set to face the type testproper and to build up the considerable amount of air experi- ence which necessarily precedes airline service. Were the Major a completely new design doubts as to itschances of being ready and available in time might be consider- able; but in fact the majority of main units, especially themoving ones, are employed in common with the Leonides "9" —or Minor, as it is now referred to colloquially for clarity. Inaddition it may be recalled that the original design from which the Leonides was developed was itself a 14-cylinder two-rowunit. Thus the Major is in effect a return to type. Its fairly distant French relation is the S.N.E.C.M.A. 14X—a goodengine, incidentally, which might be regarded as an insurance —together, possibly, with the Wright seven-cylinder R-1300—by any who may have doubts about the Major's readiness. The Leonides Majors now flying in the ex-Mamba MarathonH.P.R.5 are in fact the inboard power units, forward of the firewall, for the Herald. This was a convenient and economicalway of providing for the Herald's forward needs at the same time as meeting the development contract for the Majors. TheH.P.R.5 at present flies entirely under an M.o.S. contract and this will help Handley Page to keep the cost of the Herald atabout the £130,000 mark announced—a modest figure and, incidentally, one to embarrass any foreign competitor. Early flights of the H.P.R.5 have shown that cylinder tempera-tures on the Majors remain very low and that oil-cooling capacity should be more than adequate for the hottest climates. When S/L. Hazelden has completed the preliminary hand-ling—it was he who made the first flight from Reading—the aircraft will be taken over by Alvis, Ltd., who will proceed withflight development at Coventry. The aircraft first flew on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 15th, completing 30 minutes ofhandling after a very short take-off and rapid climb. Johnny Williams, Alvis test pilot took off at the same time in theLeonides-Consul to observe the flight and provide immediate air-to-air inter-communication. After a preliminary period offlying, the engines will be stripped down for complete inspection, then re-assembled and left to carry on for a much longer period. Leonides 9 development is now carried out in Provosts and aPrince, the original Leonides Consul having just about completed its long test service. Helicopter units, both 9- and 14-cylinder,will be flight-developed, as hitherto, at Bristol. There is reason to believe that a D.H.C. Otter will be converted to LeonidesMajor power in due course. With this power, an already out- standing aircraft should become truly remarkable. Inventory of Inventions /"J.OVERNMENT statistics, especially when they deal with^* financial matters, seldom make stimulating reading. Occasion- ally, however, time spent in perusing Blue Books, White Paperset hoc genus omne will yield unexpected items of interest. Such "Flight" photograph was the reference to the cost of the Princess flying-boats (seep. 343, Flight, last week), made in the Auditor-General's report on the Civil Appropriations Accounts; and even the Accountsthemselves (H.M.S.O., price 9s) are not entirely an arid desert. In one of the appendices, for example, is a list of the sums paidout as Awards to Inventors during the year ended March 31st, 1954. Adding up to the not very impressive total of £241,856,they include quite a number of aeronautical items, some of purely Army import, and others of an indeterminate nature. Unmistak-ably aviation inventions figure in the list, with the sums awarded, as follows: — Aircraft designs, £100,000; automatic pilots (five cases—£8,500,£1,500, £400, £250, £100), £10,750; day/night flying training equipment (two cases—£7,000, £250), £7,250; Sommerfield trackand flex boards, £5,000; retractable gunsight mountings, £4,369; use of invention in a prototype Lysander aircraft, £2,500; appara-tus for discharging illuminating cartridges from aircraft, £500; quick release gear—Horsa glider, £500; modifications to bombtrolleys, £400. Honouring King's Cup Victors "THE Royal Aero Club buzzed with air-racing reminiscences on•*• the evening of March 16th, the occasion being a dinner for King's Cup winners between 1923 and 1954, of whom sevenmanaged to be present. Though this was a disappointingly small number, messages from some of the absentees showed that theywere not allowing the occasion to pass unmarked. A.V-M. R. L. R. Atcherley, the winner in 1929, had notified the secretary, Col.Preston, that he had flown to California to dine with Capt. Frank Courtney, who was first in 1923. The company was saddened to hear that F/L. H. M. Schofield,who won in 1934, was ill in hospital; Capt. Percival was down with 'flu, and Alex Henshaw was in New Zealand. Col. Preston remarked that, contrary to pre-war circumstances,sporting flying today was entirely amateur. It had often been asked why the round-England course had been abandoned, andhe gave two explanations—first, the difficulties created by Britain's civil air routes, and second, that 78 per cent of potential entrantshad asked for a short course, having regard to engine life. Lord Brabazon congratulated Maj. Mayo and his associates inkeeping the contest keen by their wonderful handicapping. Speed, he said, was not necessary to an exciting race. It might well bethat the sport of flying would be regenerated through ultra-light aircraft. Capt. "Wally" Hope—three times winner—was sad notto see "D.H. and some of the old boys who used to kick one around." Speaking for the post-war winners, "Nat" Somers saidthat one of the greatest things about the King's Cup Race was that it entailed a good deal of luck. He thanked the organizationswho gave fuel, oil and other necessities, and confessed the thrill he experienced on arriving for a race and seeing for the first time"the tents and the different-coloured aeroplanes." Mrs. Adams (formerly Miss Winifred Brown, popular winner in1930) said that sporting pilots today were fighting much the same battle as in the old days—and were fighting it just as well. Sherecalled taking her son, then aged 11, to one of the races of 1950. On the way, the young man asked why his mother no longerparticipated in air racing, and she was forced to admit that she just could not fly the fast modern aeroplanes. Arriving, however,she found that the machines were all of her time. Sir Alan Cobham—in tremendous form notwithstanding asevere cold—harked back to the days when he was making £200 a year with de Havillands plus "a bit on the side"—notably byselling D.H.9s, which he had bought for £22 10s. apiece, for £92 10s. He recalled, too, how, under the late George Robey's
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