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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0384.PDF
384 MAINTENANCE OF HELICOPTERS . . . had been re-assembled properly. They had had little troubleat Bristol with blade tracking, for which they always used the "cat's eyes" method. S/L. G. C. Matthews (Air Eng. Branch, R.A.F.) said thatexperience in the R.A.F. had been similar to B.E.A.'s but differ- ent solutions had been found. Overseas maintenance had to bedone in the open but serviceability had been maintained in spite of torrential rain and hot sunshine. He asked whether the timewas not approaching when a re-examination of the necessity for crack detection should be made. Better accessibility was a featureto which he felt designers should pay more attention. He would like to see a helicopter in which unit replacements for a completeoverhaul could be effected in 24 hours. Lt-Cdr. M. Hayward (R.N.A.S. Gosport) considered that track-ing was an essential feature of naval operation, owing to the need for rotor blade folding afloat. They could track a rotor in tenminutes using the flag method. He paid a tribute to the rugged- ness of helicopters. On one occasion, a broken hoist wire hadsliced 6-8 feet from the tip of one of their blades while hovering over a ship but the machine had been able to fly back to its basesuccessfully, a distance of 28 miles. J. Leason (B.E.A.) thanked the Helicopter Association for theinvitation to S.L.A.E. members. He thought that the stage for adopting the "leave well alone" policy had not yet been reached.He proposed the use of ultra-sonic or X-ray equipment to attempt to anticipate the detection of fatigue cracks before the actual crackoccurred. W. Gibson (British Timken) thought the lecturer had dealtunfairly with the question of tapered roller bearings. Their bear- ing life expectancy was higher than that of ball bearings andthrust races and they were used exclusively in British helicopter designs as well as in some notable American designs. J. Shapiro (consultant) agreed with the principle of leavingwell alone but said that wear in moving parts could result in a redistribution of load and it was up to the maintenance engineerto keep a close watch on this and prevent fatigue from having serious results. G. Newbery (M.o.S.) was of the opinion that fatigue was notentirely the designers' responsibility. When a component was tested for fatigue limits, the results only held good whilst thatcomponent was operating under the same conditions as in the test. In the actual machine, the conditions deteriorated. In /—; FLIGHT, 25 March 1955 addition, corrosion could produce severe stress concentrations;it was the duty of the maintenance engineer to watch this. He was interested in the proposal to use X-ray equipment to detect weak-nesses but, so far, nobody had succeeded in devising a satisfactory method of doing so. /. Chichester-Miles (Hunting-Percival) asked what proportionof the passenger fare was absorbed in maintenance costs. R. H. Whitby (B.E.A.), replying on the lecturer's behalf, statedthat the proportion was approximately 2d out of every shilling. Mr. Willans, in reply to the discussion, said B.E.A. could notuse the naval methods of tracking satisfactorily, nor would the A.R.B. allow them to work on the 400 hours' military overhaullife for transmission components. He stood by his own man-hour figures for overhauls as being more realistic than those quotedby Mr. Voss. PUBLICIZING NATO AIMS AN extensive advertising campaign in European newspapers as**• means of helping to explain the aims of NATO has been embarked upon by United Aircraft Corporation. Full-page adver-tisements are being printed in 25 leading newspapers in 13 countries. Mr. H. M. Horner, the company's president, has said that hehopes the series will help to build popular support for the policy of collective defence against aggression; stress the war-preventionpossibilities of NATO; and offer convincing evidence of the sin- cerity of American participation. The advertisements have nodirect connection between United Aircraft and the issues discussed. THIRSTY WORK A "BASE RECORD," and possibly a record for the U.S.A.F.'s•'*-2nd Air Force, has been set up by Boeing KC-97 tankers of the 2nd Air Refuelling Squadron at Hunter Air Force Base,Georgia. The KC-97s transferred more fuel to B-47 Stratojets during January than, it is stated, "the average filling stationwould pump in three years." A total of 563,270 U.S. gallons was transferred in sixteen flying days. One crew alone trans-ferred 56,600 U.S. gallons in a one-month period. Since its inception four years ago, the 2nd Air Refuelling Squadron hastransferred more than six million U.S. gallons of fuel—two million from KB-29s and four million from the more efficientKC-97s, which were received during November 1953. LANDING-GEAR BY HISPANO IT is not generally known in this country that the great inter-national Hispano Suiza group make many things besides armaments and turbojets. Typical examples of their airframeaccessories are the two sets of undercarriage legs illustrated here. Both sets are in full production, the manufacturing methods beingvery similar to those employed in this country. Initial forging or casting is carried out to limits very near thefinished dimensions, and high-strength light alloy is used through- out. The undercarriage units for the Vautour are made in Hidu- minium RR-58 and those of the Fouga Magister (and for theSE-210 CaraveUe) in Zicral (AZ 5 GU). The legs have oleo- pneumatic cylinders incorporating a diaphragm with variablecharacteristics. Hispano supply the units complete with mounting, wheels,brakes and the associated hydraulic piping. The brakes, which are of the disc type on the units shown (not yet fitted to theVautour units illustrated), are made under licence from Dunlop. Maxaret units are also made under a similar licence. Five undercarriage units now being produced by Hispano Suiza. From left to right: the outrigger unit for the S.O.4050 Vantour (70 Vantqurs are on order), the steerable forward unit of the Vautour "bicycle," the rear Vautour unit, the nose undercarriage of the Fouga CM.170R Magister (100 of these aircraft are on order) and the Magister main unit.
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