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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1448.PDF
558 FLIGHT, 30 September 1955 ENTHUSIASMAT PAU . . . M. Clochez wags an admonitory forefinger over his prize-winning Druine Turbulent. Centre d'Essais en Vol, it was obvious that the Turbulent wasregarded very highly. It is hoped to have this example in England in the immediate future, and construction of several has alreadybegun over here. This year's hors concours aircraft was a Brochet 81 built bythe aero-club of the Renault motor works. Such is the amateur status of the R.S.A. that this aircraft could not win the prizebecause a professional paint-sprayer had been involved in apply- ing the finish. The Brochet is a conventional looking tandem-seat high-wing monoplane powered with a Hirth engine of 105 h.p. It has several features in common with the Piper Cuband Auster from an external appearance, but is of wooden con- struction. The cabin is very wide and comfortable, with every-thing well placed. The flying characteristics arc very good and, while not in the "snappy" class, are pleasant. The trimming, inparticular, is perfect; instruments are very complete and the basic instruments are duplicated in the rear seat. This air-craft seems excellent as a club trainer. A good feature is the door opening vertically on each side in one piece (just thething for hot weather flying or photography). Although the Volkswagen and Continental flat-four enginesare now well established, development is proceeding to produce new motors. The news of the successful tests of the BritishCoventry Victor Flying Neptune was very well received. In France the latest motor is the vee-four two-stroke Lutetia of44 h.p., which has been fully type tested and is very neat and compact. For the show it was present in a B6be Jodel and cer-tainly gave the little single-seater a sprightly climb. As at each rassemblement there was, in addition to the flyingprogramme, a banquet dinner, which this year was held in the municipal casino at Pau. Among the guests were M. RogerPellevoizin, the president of the Federation Nationale Aero- nautique, M. Agesilas, the director of the S.A.L.S., accompaniedby his deputy, M. Melchior; M. Bourlanges of the Bureau Veritas, himself a constructor of a B£be Jodel; Albert Rebillon,surely the most active of French rallyists, and M. Bonneau, test pilot of the French flight-test centre. Additionally Aere were repre-sentatives of the A.R.B., Popular Flying Association, and the S.G.A.CC. The R.S.A.'s president, M. Beraud, madean eloquent appeal for realistic official support for a nationwide programme of simple landing strips which the increasing num-ber of light aircraft could use without difficulty and formality. It is an unfortunate fact that, for example, in the region ofTours (one of France's greatest provincial and tourist towns) Ineligible for the R.S.A. Cup because its paint was professionally sprayed: the Brochet 81 (105 h.p. Hirth). there is no facility for the air tourist or airborne business manwithin about 45 miles, yet there are numerous spots where a 600-yard strip could be laid down without difficulty. At thebanquet there were few speeches, but plenty of applause for the winners of the various cups and awards.For the day following, two delightful programmes were arranged, the first being an aerial picnic to Biarritz, while thosewho preferred could go by car to a picnic in the Pyrenees. Monsieur Laure, the president of the Aero-Club de Bearn, cer-tainly had every reason to be proud of the excellent organization of the meeting, which proved a resounding success. In passingit might be mentioned that this national meeting was held only one month after a regional meeting of ultra-light aircraft hadbeen held, at which 21 amateur-built aircraft had been present. This was at Yvrac aerodrome, at nearby Bordeaux. It was noticeable at the rally that there was no attempt to"milk the public" and that the whole show was arranged solely for the fun of enjoying a weekend of amateur flying. Someparticipants camped on the airfield, others in dormitories and some in hotels, depending on choice, but all were there for onething only—as the technical discussions around each aircraft showed.A particular feature of R.S.A. meetings is the flying discipline, all the members taking their president's exhortation to prudencevery much to heart. The only real clanger dropped was by an Englishman (his anonymity is safe with Flight) who blissfullyand in serene loneliness was carrying out left-hand circuits in the Turbulent after the landing tee had been changed and everyoneelse was doing right-hand circuits. An encouraging feature of this programme of prudence hasbeen a reduction of 50 per cent in the number of accidents, and the trend is now very much in the right direction. Unfortunately,until results showed otherwise, there had previously been a wide- spread tendency to treat the lktie aeroplanes with contempt inrespect to good flying technique, and several pilots were victims of the "girl-friend's house circling trick," which in France iscalled "Bonjour-Bonjour." During the long flight back it was possible to reflect at lengthon the whole business of light aircraft and their operation. While, in the United Kingdom, light aviation has taken a mostundeserved beating, there is still the hard core which can be developed again into something useful. Perhaps the shortage ofair crew of the "right type," so recently bemoaned in high quarters, could be rectified if a similar spirit with little aeroplaneswas allowed to develop, as has happened with small boats and those who "mess about in them." It is very easy to find reasonswhy it apparently cannot be done, but it can be done if the exhortation which was written on the side of a Grahame Whiteseaplane of many years ago—Wake Up, England!—is followed. H.B-D. THE JET FLAP (continued from page 546) So much for the jet flap. The N.G.T.E. stress the fact that itrequires a wholly new sort of flying machine, and should not be considered as an adjunct to existing fixed-wing aircraft. No oneyet knows the best arrangement for stability and control, and the knowledge of jet-flap wings can be compared with our pre-Prandtl/Lanchester knowledge of ordinary wings at the turn of the century. Obviously there are drawbacks, one of which is themechanical difficulty of making such a wing, and another is the inevitable loss in the ducting. Anyone criticizing the idea could certainly pick on specificfeatures which, on balance, are bad. On the other hand, it has never before been possible to achieve anything like so muchlift from a given size of wing, and the chances are that the arrangement will become tremendously important and widelyused in the future. At a rough guess, it seems that the overall efficiency of such a wing should be roughly the same as that ofcurrent fixed wings, but there will be the added feature of enormous lift coefficients for low-speed flight. One might askwhat the result of such a lift coefficient would be on a present aircraft; at a rough guess, it could have a DC-3 airborne aftera 40ft run. Naturally enough, a propulsion system of the type proposedwould probably require a new form of powerplant for optimum efficiency. One solution might be the use of literally dozens ofminiature turbojets, of the type so long propounded by Dr. A. A. Griffith, of Rolls-Royce. Alternatively,- it "is not beyond thebounds of possibility that some new (and perhaps flat) engine may materialize by the time the jet flap becomes fully developed.The N.G.T.E. developments are, of course, covered in Britain by patents held by Power Jets (R and D), Ltd. A Royal Aero-nautical Society Main Lecture on, the subject is scheduled to be given on October 20th by Mr. I. M. Davidson, one of theN.G.T.E. aerodynamicists responsible for its development. W.T.G.
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