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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0997.PDF
22 July 1955 109 minimize the redundancies and they were also seeking furtherexport orders. The full extent of redundancies would depend on their success in this direction; but if no more work at all wasfound the figure would amount by next April to about 3,300 out of a total labour force of about 8,000. The Minister added thathe was anxious to find further work for Armstrong Whitworths, but he would not be justified in either spending additional sumson military aircraft beyond the requirements of the Services or in transferring work within the existing programme. Mr. Maudling's reply did not prevent a barrage of questionsfrom the Opposition; he reminded them, however, that it was illogical to ask for a cut in defence expenditure and then toprotest when the cut was made. Answering a later question, he said that the pound-for-poundcost of Hunter production by Armstrong Whitwordi in Coventry might be a little cheaper than that at Blackpool, because the Black-pool factory was less fully loaded. The transferring of work from Blackpool to Coventry would, however, increase the cost of workat Blackpool and would bring no economy at Coventry. Livery for the Guild THE Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators of the BritishEmpire has been admitted to the exclusive ranks of London's City Livery Companies. A meeting of the Court of Aldermen,held last week under the presidency of the Lord Mayor, agreed to constitute the Guild a Livery Company, "the number of theLivery not to exceed 300." The Guild was founded in 1929 to watch the professionalinterests of air transport pilots and navigators, and to act as a link between them and the M.T.C.A. and other official bodies. TheQueen is Patron, and the Duke of Edinburgh was installed as Grand Master in October 1953. A new Master is installed eachyear; Capt. J. C/Harrington currently occupies the post. "The Guild will be remarkable in that it is a guild of employeesrather than of independent business men," comments The City Press, adding, "but the independence and authority of the highlytrained and courageous pilots and navigators are only equalled by the Master Mariners, who became a Livery Company in 1932." Britannia Tank Tests Progress T'HE test airfrarne of the Bristol Britannia 100 completed the-*- first phase of its tank tests at Farnborough last week. It had been subjected to 5,000 complete simulated flight operations,involving complete pressurization cycles and air-turbulence effects, without any signs of failure. For a Britannia 100 this would beequivalent to some 20,000 operational hours. A further series of tank tests is to begin in the near future,but at the moment the first evaluations are being made, and strain- gauges and lacquers are being used to check some regions ofstress concentration on various airframe components. The National Gliding Championships THIS year's national gliding championship meeting is due tostart at the Surrey Gliding Club's site at Lasham Airfield, Hants, tomorrow—July 23rd. It will last for ten days, untilAugust 1st. As reported in Flight last week, a number of new sailplanesare to take part, including the Slingsby T.42 and the Skylark III; but, since the second Army Gliding Club Skylark II has beenwithdrawn, the entries now number 40. Because this aircraft will not be completed in time to take part, Maj. C. G. Dormanand Capt. E. G. Shepherd will join the team for the other Skylark II, flown by D. Macey and P. W. Ball. If conditions experienced during the last week continue, someexcellent results can be expected, albeit at the expense of some damage to aircraft. An indication of the possibilities was givenby the two record flights made on Thursday last week and referred to elsewhere on this page. Admission for spectators at Lasham will be 2s 6d, and forchildren Is. Car charges will be 2s 6d, or £1 in the special enclosure. Motor-cycle parking will cost Is. A recommendedroute from London is along A.30, turning left at Hartley Wintney on to B.3016, joining A.32 at Odiham and turning right at theGolden Pot. There will be A.A. signposting. Unexpected Glider Records rf"\N Thursday of last week abnormally unstable atmospheric con-^-' ditions led to the establishment of four new United King- dom glider records. F/L. Alan Piggott, flying a Skylark II belong-ing to Imperial College G. C, was towed to 1,800ft and immedi- ately found strong lift which took him up into a large cu-nimcloud. He reached a height which he estimates at 25,000ft— well past the 23,000ft which was the maximum reading his baro-graph could give. Carrying no oxygen, Piggott suffered to some extent fromanoxia; and his aircraft was severely battered and struck several times by lightning. The fabric was stripped off the nose, leavingthe Fibreglass cone bare, and the tips of all surfaces were badly dented. Wings and tail were badly punctured, and the canopywas cracked. The top of the cloud is estimated to have been near to 40,000ft. With this flight F/L. Piggott can claim theU.K. national absolute height and gain-of-height records for single-seaters. On die same day Stuart Morison and W/C. A. A. J. Sanders,in a Slingsby T.42, made a flight which enables them to claim the British national absolute height and gain-of-height recordsfor two-seaters. Altogether seven pilots climbed to over 10,000ft and four of them exceeded 15,000ft. : , .. M.o.S. Electronics Appointment 'X'HE Ministry of Supply announces that Dr. R. Cockburn, C.B.,•*• O.B.E., has been appointed Deputy Controller of Electronics in succession to Rear Admiral G. Burghard, C.B., D.S.O.(retd.),whose tour of duty has expired. Dr. Cockburn, who is 44 years of age, has held the post ofPrincipal Director of Scientific Research, Guided Weapons and Electronics, since March 1st last year. Before that he was ScientificAdviser to the Air Ministry. The Somers-Kendall RacerT HE butterfly-tailed light jet aircraft designed and built by H.Kendall and J. N. Somers is now nearing completion at Wood- ley and should make its first flight in about a month. The Turbo-meca Palas, of 330 lb thrust, has been installed, a series of ground runs made and the aircraft taxied. A number of details stillremain to be completed. Some delay was caused when a rag was sucked into the intake,but the engine was flown back to the factory in France and the damage rectified in a few days. It has not yet been decided whowill make the first flight. NEW WHINE: As reported above, the Somers-Kendall machine should make its first flight in about a month. These "Flight" pictures show a Turbomeca representative, M. Peru, supervising engine runs last week, together with Nat Somers (left) and Mr. W. Megalow (right) who has a financial interest in the design. Training and sports flying are foreseen as applications in addition to racing.
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