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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0898.PDF
FLIGHT, 1 July 1955 FIFTY YEARS OF FARNBOROUGH . . . this basic work has been of great value to those of us who havebeen mainly concerned in developing suitable air intakes for particular engine installations. A notable contribution by the R.A.E. during the war was theinitial development of an improved fuel which permitted a con- siderable increase in the boost of the Merlin engine and broughtthe speed of the Mustang P.51.B. to over 400 m.p.h. at sea level. The first operational use of this fuel was against flying bombsin the middle of 1944. Subsequently the whole of A.D.G.B. was put on this fuel and it was later used by both the British andAmericans in the invasion of the Continent. Other contributions which come to mind are the work of MajorB. C. Carter on torsional vibration of crankshafts, and of Penn in developing the first automatic mixture control for aircraftcarburetters. Nor do we forget when talking of the R.A.E. that it has beenthe seed bed for many notable engineers in the industry, such as Dr. A. A. Griffith, the late Mr. J. E. Ellor, Mr. H. Wood andothers, and this is a process which in the natural order of things we should like to see continued. Finally, we cannot end this tribute without referring to thejoint effort which led to the successful operation of the Flying Bedstead. In this work as at all times we have had the closestfriendly relations with all staff at the R.A.E. Under its present Director, Sir Arnold Hall, the R.A.E. is con-tinuing to develop its strength and the range of its activities, and while felicitating it on the attainment of its Jubilee we wouldlike to offer every good wish for its future. From Sir Roy Fedden, M.B.E., D.SC, F.R.S.A., HON.F.R.ACS., M.I.M.E., M.S.A.E., M.I.A.E., HON.F.I.ACS. T HAVE many happy memories of the advice and help that•*• I received from the engine division at Farnborough between the two wars. My first official association with Farnborough was about themiddle of the First World War, during my early days on radial air-cooled engine development. Before this time I had watchedwith interest, as an engine designer, what was, for those days, the ambitious programme of engine development undertaken at Farn-borough, and also the considerable volume of production by Rolls-Royce, Lanchester and other motor car firms in the earlydays of the war on the R.A.F. series of air-cooled "V" engines, which were based on the French Renault. By 1917 there was established an excellent single cylinderdepartment, under the leadership of Dr. Gibson, the practical bench running being under the control of Capt. Irvine. SamHeron, patentee of the sodium-cooled valve, was in this depart- ment, and after the war went to America where he built up aninternational reputation for his research work on air-cooled cylinders, sodium-cooled valves and leaded fuel corrosionproblems. I was fortunate in having free access to this department onaccount of my firm, Brazil Straker, securing an order for 14- cylinder radial air-cooled engines. This engine was tested atFarnborough by F/L. P. W. S. Bulman in a Bristol Scout, and attained a record which held good for many years. After the war when I joined the Bristol Co. and founded theirengine department, I received considerable help and advice from the engine division of Farnborough. It prospered greatly underthe leadership of Major Norman, a great man of dynamic energy, who built up an excellent team of zealous engineers to undertakethe classic experimental work. His loss was a tragedy to British aviation. (It happened suddenly when on holiday in the mid-twenties.) His staff would do anything for him, although he was a strict disciplinarian. It is hard to pick out names from thisteam, but those which come readily to my mind are "Snowball" Taylor and Jock Taylor on the single-cylinder benches. HarveyMansell—later to become my chief research engineer at Bristol for many years;—Jimmy Ellor, of supercharger fame, who carvedout a name for himself in later years at Rolls-Royce, B. C. Carter, renowned for his work on engine vibration problems, and Dr. Griffiths, who is now on Rolls-Royce research. After the loss of Major Norman, Col. Hives followed him with distinction, Andrew Swan being his lieutenant. The standards set up by Farnborough on test plant, type testing, altitude calibration, etc., in the twenties, provided a basis for engine development which was adopted all over the world. In my view this was the golden age of engine development at Farnborough, and thereafter there was never the same leadership and inspiration as during the 10 years after the First World War. During my early days of building up the Bristol engine team, I received great help and encouragement from the various people I have named, as well as many others. In latter years, in a quiet, but nevertheless useful way, there remained a smaller team at Farnborough who were not so interested in actual design lay-outs, but rendered valuable service in regard to that subtle but important task of assessing engine requirements for several years ahead, irrespective of detailed physical form. Naturally, their guesses were not always right, but they provided a useful contact with whom one could talk things over. In due course, the gas turbine pioneers in this field, such as Dr. Constant, Dr. Hawthorne and several others, moved to the specialized centres set up for this new work at Pyestock and Whetstone. Pyestock alone exists today for jet engine research, and has been greatly added to in equipment and experience under the progressive leadership of Dr. Constant and his team. I must say that I greatly deplore the disbanding of that unique team at Farnborough. Although they did not actually design engines or calibrate blowers, they were able, by means of their specialized knowledge of aircraft engines and flying, to provide much valuable forecasting as to what was the next step for the future. Shortly after the war, on a visit to Farnborough, I was shocked to find dial, not only had this team been broken up, but also that the technical data on piston engines had, for the most part, been destroyed. Sir Arnold Hall now assures me that he is fully alive to the folly of this decision, and is taking active steps to ensure that Farnborough shall in future play its proper part in the field of aircraft propulsion. For this I am devoutly thankful, although I profoundly regret that the historic data has been lost for all time. - From Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, C.B.E., F.R.ACS., HON.F.I.A6.S. AT Farnborough in 1910 the accent was very much on airships**• and man-lifting kites. At the previous Aero Show I had met an old friend, Fred Green. He had been with Daimlers inCoventry when I was at Willans and Robinsons in Rugby. Through him I met Col. Mervyn O'Gorman, then superintendentat Farnborough. It was arranged that I should take my aero- plane there, and my job was to be partly in the drawing office andpartly flying. The War Office was not then convinced that aeroplanes wereuseful military equipment, and O'Gorman had to use strategy and tact in getting them to buy my aeroplane for £400. At that time it was still an event for an aeroplane to fly at all,and aerodynamics, stressing and flight testing had yet to be applied to the development of design. The instruments carriedwere few, usually an oil pressure gauge and a rev. counter and sometimes an aneroid. The factory developed a liquid typeA.S.I, about this time, followed by various instruments which made flying not only safer, but also enabled some useful datato be recorded. Among the early technical staff at Farnborough was EdwardBusk, whose brilliant work on practical aerodynamics made possible the stable aeroplane. All too early in his career I wit-nessed the tragedy of his death. We were both flying B.E.s as it was getting dusk and I was about to go down to land when Isaw a flaming aeroplane flying over Laffan's Plain. It seemed to do a normal glide and then hit the ground not far from Cody's shed. Busk must have been dead before it crashed.Test flying was only just starting to be an ordered operation. Speed was measured by flying low over the measured stripbetween the Common and Laffan's Plain, an observer with stop watch in a hut at each end. Climb was measured by a smallrecording barograph usually carried in the pilot's pocket. But whether an aeroplane was considered good or bad depended fartoo much on the pilot's personal opinion, and it was not always possible to get several independent opinions so as to get anaverage view. By 1912 I had assisted in the design of some new aeroplanesincluding a canard type and the B.E. series. Airship develop- ment was carrying on somewhat uneasily. The little Beta did alot of flying and was reasonably manoeuvrable. The Gamma and Delta followed but were not highly successful. The Lebaudyairship was flown from France in 1910 and housed in a large airship shed. Some weeks later it emerged for its first flight sinceits arrival. There was only a slight breeze, but the airship got out of control and draped itself over a house on the road borderingthe common. In those early days under O'Gorman and Green the founda-tions of Farnborough as we know it today were truly laid. Looking back to those times one realizes the vast change andintense development that has taken place. It is interesting to contemplate the probably still greater change there will be in thenext fifty years.
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