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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1098.PDF
210 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS Hunter's Unofficial Record T>Y flying a Hawker Hunter from Turnhouse (Edinburgh) to•*•* Farnborough, Hants, in 29 min 33.4 sec, S/L. R. L. Topp, A.F.C., officer commanding No. Ill Squadron, based at NorthWeald, created an unofficial record on August 5th. His average speed was about 680 m.p.h. This flight recalls the one made byS/L. J. W. Gillan, likewise CO. of 111 Squadron, from Turn- house to Northolt in 48 min. The aircraft was a Hurricane, theyear 1938, and the speed 409 m.p.h. Not content with this performance, S/L. Topp made anotherflight last Monday, again from Turnhouse to Farnborough, and this time in 27 min 46 sec., representing a speed of no less than717 m.p.h. The accuracy with which the aircraft must be flown to obtain maximum results can be seen by the fact that a reductionin flying time of just under two minutes resulted in an increase in speed of 37 m.p.h. Hunter Accidents • *. 'THE Farnborough Coroner, Mr. D. Stuart Jones, recorded, on•*• August 5th, a verdict of accidental death on F/O. C. G. Price, who was killed when the Hawker Hunter he was flying crashedduring the jubilee display at Farnborough on July 7th. The Coroner said the evidence did not enable him to arrive at anytrue final or exact cause of the accident, and in the circumstances he would leave the question open. The possibility arose, he added,of there being some defect in the powered control or mechanism of the aircraft, or that the pilot might have been in some error. S/L. L. S. Lawton, commanding No. 247 Squadron at Odiham,Hants, said that he took pan in the flight. He heard a message from F/O. Price to the effect that he had gone into manualcontrol. The usual thing was to fly the aircraft under powered control; but, if a pilot wished, he would switch to manual, thoughthat required greater physical effort. F/L. R. S. G. Poole, commanding B Flight, No. 247 Squadron,said that immediately after take-off he noticed the aircraft piloted by F/O. Price was out of formation and flying very low. Pricecalled him on the radio and said, "Have gone into manual on take-off. Leaving formation." He thought Price had automaticallygone into manual, possibly because of a technical failure. He told Price to rejoin the formation if possible or return to Odiham. Atthe time Price seemed in control of his aircraft and "quite happy." There was another Hunter accident—though happily, it seems,without serious consequences to the pilot, S/L. Neville Duke— on August 6th. Flying a Hunter F.I, Duke was engaged on a testflight along the South Coast when engine trouble developed. He made a belly landing on the grass at R.A.F. Station ThorneyIsland. The Hunter ran off the airfield and struck a sea wall. It was extensively damaged. Duke was flown back to Dunsfold inHawker's Rapide. Later it was reported that the accident had aggrevated some trouble which he had been having with his. back,and he was ordered to rest for three or four weeks. Bell X-1A Destroyed THE world's fastest aircraft, the rocket-propelled Bell X-1A,•*• is reported to have "exploded" at- a height of 30,000ft on August. 8th, while still attached to its B-29 "mother ship." Theexplosion is said to have taken place seventy seconds before the Bell was to have been launched for a test over the Mojave desert.The pilot escaped injury by climbing into the B-29, which then jettisoned the X-1A. Atom Power in 1960 THE chief engineer of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Dr.•*• Hall Hibbard, said on August 4th that a nuclear-powered air- craft will be a development of the 1960s. It would be a military type, he forecast, and not a transport, because of the problem of shield-ing the passengers from the rays of the nuclear powerplant. Dr. Hibbard said that he believed that the solution lay in divertingthese rays instead of stopping them with lead plating, and he estimated that it would be 25 years before nuclear-powered pas-senger transports were regularly flying. Mr. Strauss, chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Committee,said recently: "We have been greatly encouraged by developments during the past year in the aircraft nuclear propulsion programme.Experimental results warrant a sharp intensification of these efforts." STUDENT is the name by which the new Miles jet trainer (announced in "Flight" last week) will be known; a four-seat communications version may also appear. It is to be powered by a Blackburn Turbomeca Marobore 2 or two Palas 600s, and the Ministry of Supply is said to be examining its possibilities. Astronautics in the News "COLLOWING America's "earth satellite" announcement a•*• fortnight ago, space-exploration has been receiving more than the usual amount of publicity; and a much larger proportion thanusual has been of a well-informed kind, for a numer of pro- nouncements have been made by scientific bodies and individualswhose authority is unquestioned. Thus the Royal Society has announced details of a £100,000programme, financed by the Treasury, for sending rockets to a maximum height of 120 miles; principal research objectives willbe a study of the ionosphere, particularly in relation to long- distance radio transmissions; a search for meteoric dust below 60miles; and determination of the heights of regions in which the phenomenon of "air-glow" is strongest. The R.A.E. and fiveuniversity groups are to assist. From America comes news that a rocket is shortly to be firedto a height of 60 miles, where a few pounds of sodium will be released. If it produces a glow, perhaps comparable with that ofthe moon at twilight, it will confirm the suspected presence of a natural sodium layer. The experiment was originally suggestedby Prof. D. R. Bates, of Queen's University, Belfast, some three years ago. '; In Copenhagen, astronautic authorities from many parts of the •world have been attending the International Astronautical Con- gress. They heard Mr. Kraft Eriche, of Convair, who is closely -concerned with the U.S. earth-satellite project, describe a plan . ACCOMMODATING in both senses is this Blackburn Beverley, seen embarking a Westland Whirlwind helicopter for tropical trials at Idris Airport, North Africa. The Beyer- ley left Boscombe Down on August 4th, piloted by F/L. Stuart-Smith and with "Tim" Wood, Blackburn's chief test pilot, on board. The Whirlwind's blades and spares were stowed in the freight compartment and there was room tor 42 pas- sengers in the tail boom.
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