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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0686.PDF
684 FLIGHT, 20 May 1955 SUPERSONIC FIGHTER ... are slanted in order to provide for the longitudinal displacementbetween the two guns on each side. Link and case chutes are simple flush orifices. The engine intake is, of course, well forwardof disturbances created by firing of the guns. Each wing is provided with three pick-up points for externalloads, at stations 55, 108, and 155. The accompanying sketch (p.683) shows the variety of stores which can be carried by eachrack; the total load in the present F-100A is of the order of 6,000 lb. Where maximum range is required, two low-speed tanks can besecured to the racks at station 55 and two "unlimited" tanks can be attached at 108. The low-speed tanks are drained during take-offand climb to operating height, and are then dropped before work- ing up to high Mach numbers. The unlimited tanks, which are ofa curious form as shown by the main drawing and the photographs, can be kept on during supersonic flying. The special store (notshown) is a nuclear weapon, with a high-drag trajectory to permit the launching aircraft to get well clear before detonation (although A particularly striking aspect of the F-100, emphasizing the low mounting of the tailplane. The slot width is also apparent. it is probably streamlined until it is released). Only one suchstore need be carried at a time, and it would presumably be balanced by an equivalent load on the other wing. Nothing canbe carried under the F-100 fuselage, owing to the continuous succession of doors and the large air brake. The U.S.A.F. are becoming concerned at the relative ineffec-tiveness of day fighters; it is now generally agreed that interception radar is required for high-altitude work even on the clearest day.The F-100A has only a radar gunsight, fed from an aerial mounted beneath the upper lip of the intake. Later versions of the aircraftare to have full radar fire-control, and they should be capable of employment in all weather conditions. It is also possible thatsome forms of the aircraft may have fuselage-mounted folding-fin aircraft rocket missiles (Mighty Mice), although, in view of thefact that these weapons can be carried under the wings, it is probable that the guns will be retained. Altogether, the F-100, of which some hundreds have now beenbuilt, is as much ahead of its contemporaries as was the F-86. It is, however, far from perfect, and North American would nodoubt do things differently had they to design another supersonic fighter/bomber today. In the past two years much has beenlearned of the advantages which can be gained by reducing peak suctions over a supersonic body, this trend having already mani-fested itself in "Coke-bottle," or wasp-waisted, fuselages, in which the cross-section is reduced in line with the mid-chord of thewing. The Grumman F11F Tiger and the Convair F-102A both have such a waist and it is certain that, if it were a design featureof the F-100, supersonic drag would be very considerably reduced. Alternatively, the maximum Mach number could probably beraised well above the present limit of about 1.45. It was recently stated that the F-100 was on the brink of "a newhigh in performance," and it is possible that these increases in Mach number will result from aerodynamic improvement ratherthan from increase in power. W.T.G. ROLLS-ROYCE ENGINE HISTORY THE story of Rolls-Royce aero engine development was heardby some 250 gas engineers who attended the luncheon given at Kenilworth last week—in connection with the British IndustriesFair—by the Gas Council. It was told in an address by Mr. A. F. Kelly, B.Sc, A.M.I.C.E., A.M.I.Mech.E., M.I.P.E., director andgeneral manager (manufacturing) of the Rolls-Royce aero division. The Council's choice of Mr. Kelly as the speaker on this occasionwas an appropriate one, for he himself received his early engineer- ing training in the gas industry. Though his historical review was necessarily a brief one, touch-ing on little more than the highlights of the company's 40 years' work on aero engines, Mr. Kelly more than held the interest ofhis audience. The salient facts would be familiar to most Flight readers—we have quoted them in a number of articles during pastyears—so it is unnecessary to record them here. It is, however, interesting to be reminded of the scale of the Rolls-Royce wareffort. In 1935-36 they employed just under 8,000 people; by the end of 1944 their payroll was 57,000, and they were alsoemploying over 500 firms as sub-contractors. This was for Merlin engine work at Derby, Crewe and Glasgow, and did not includethe production of these famous units by the Ford Motor Co. at Manchester and by Packard in America. By the end of the warover 150,000 Merlins had been built. Having concluded his historical review, Mr. Kelly remarkedupon the good service provided for his company by the gas industry. At present they were using, in their various factories(Derby, Glasgow, Crewe, Bamoldswick and Mountsorrel) nearly 600m cu ft of gas a year. The bulk of this consumption was forheat-treatment processes, foundry melting applications coming second; melting, however, constituted the biggest single load.The gas was used in appliances of practically every type, ranging from Bunscn burners to the largest furnace and immersion-heatinginstallations. One unusual piece of equipment recently installed was a gas-fired flash boiler, of American origin, for raising steamto drive a small high-speed turbine. Steam at the appropriate pressure was available literally within minutes of starting up, andthe boiler could be shut down equally quickly. (We learn that the steam turbine referred to by Mr. Kelly is being used to drive jet-engine turbines in overspeeding tests.) The speaker concluded his address with some parallels betweenturbojet engineering and comparable aspects of gas engineering. Thus, in the matter of flow measurement, some engines now underdevelopment showed a figure of the order of 10m cu ft of air an hour. This was recorded by a flared-entry meter with an accuracyof about 97 per cent. The modern jet engine could, in some degree, be likened to alarge gas burner, but the combustion space was relatively much more restricted than it would be in a gas burner designed to givethe same amount of heat. The combustion area of present produc- tion engines was only 45 per cent of that of an equivalent gasburner, yet they also operated at an air/fuel ratio four times as great. This meant that in an engine of 10,000 lb thrust there wasan airflow of 280 tons an hour, in which period 144m B.Th.U. were released. BACK TO ORANIENBURG AFTER lying unoccupied for two years, the airfield at Oranien-• burg, in Germany's eastern zone, has begun life anew. Recently a squadron of 11-28 twin-jet bombers arrivedthere, accompanied by a Po-2 trainer and two 11-12 transport aircraft. One or two of the Il-28s were trainers, with a secondcockpit raised above the first. All carried wing-tip tanks. Shortly afterwards a dozen or two German pupils of the Vopo Volks-polizei) Luftwaffe arrived to undergo training. A number of formation flights have been made, and there is gunnery practiceagainst a drogue towed by a trainer. Bombing training is also undertaken at Oranienburg. At Cottbus, fighter pilots are being trained on Mig-15s, afterbasic training at Kamenz, in Saxonia. Although Russian pilots of these aircraft fly at great heights, German pupils are said to berestricted to a height-band of 5OO-l,5OOm and are not allowed to fly singly. PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUET HE Institute of British Photographers National Exhibition ofProfessional Photography, open until June 7th at the R.B.A. Gallery, Suffolk Street, London, S.W.I, is quite up to its usualhigh standard and in its 860 exhibits has something to please or interest everyone. For those with aeronautical interests there are a number ofair-to-air shots of aircraft and some excellent aerial pictures by the photographers of Aerofilms, Hunting Aerosurveys and StewartBale, Ltd. In a collection of very remarkable colour prints is one byMr. Elphinstone, called Power over the Atlantic. Showing the port wing and engines of a Constellation lit by the yellow lightof a setting sun, it conveys a wonderful sense of deep space. Of other things that fly, there are five examples of bird photo-graphy by Walter E. Higham—each a gem—and some perfect colour pictures of various insects by the Shell Photographic Unit.
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