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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1543.PDF
658 FLIGHT, 21 October 1*55 BRITISH MILITARY SERIAL NUMBERS . . . the guarding of aircraft carrying them. In order to distinguishthese aircraft, it became the practice to add a diagonal stroke and a letter G to the serial. For example, a Lancaster B.3 used forflight refuelling experiments carried the serial NE147/G. Another innovation was to have the word SNAKE painted after the fuse-lage serials of aircraft which had been modified for use in tropical theatres of war. A number of Beaufighters are known to havecarried this marking, one being RD758. A symbol used to indicate prototype and experimental aircraft was introduced in June 1941.This consisted of a large, yellow-ringed letter P, and was painted on each side of the fuselage, 2in aft of the roundel. All three ofthese systems have now fallen into disuse. The end of the Second World War, as did the first, resultedin large cancellations of contracts, with the result that compara- tively few aircraft have actually appeared with serials in theSL-VK range. Many of the German machines captured at the end of the war and brought to this country were given normalR.A.F. serials, mainly in the VH-VP range. The majority of those flown experimentally, however, were given special AirMinistry serials. These ran from A.M.1 to A.M.123, then from A.M.210 to A.M.229. In some cases, both a normal R.A.F. serialand an Air Ministry serial were allotted (e.g., Bvl38B-l VK895/A.M.52). Mention must also be made of methods of painting the insigniaand serial numbers on the aircraft. The very early machines simply carried their serials, which were quite large, on the verticaltail surfaces. The advent of war brought difficulties of identifica- tion of nationality, and a Union Jack was then painted under thewings. This was found to be unsatisfactory and the markings were changed to red, white and blue roundels on the wing tipsand fuselage; and later, in addition, red, white and blue verticals on the rudder. The serial was then painted on the rear fuselageor on the vertical tail surfaces, being superimposed on the tail colours where necessary. Sometimes it was carried in both places. Soon after the end of the 1914-18 war, serials began to be carriedalso on the under-surfaces of the mainplanes, facing aft under the port wing and forward under the starboard wing. The practiceof carrying the serial on the tail surfaces gradually fell into disuse. In 1938, the wing serials were discarded, but revived in 1945,being painted in black on light-coloured undersurfaces, and white on dark surfaces. Naval aircraft carry the words ROYAL NAVYabove the fuselage serials, which are smaller than those on R.A.F. aircraft. In the original series of prefix letters, the letters G, I, M, O, Q,S, U and Y were not used. The letter M was employed, however, in a special series introduced, for instructional aircraft, in January1921. They denote aircraft no longer airworthy, or are redundant, the M serial superseding the original serial, which is usuallyobliterated. In the majority of cases the M appears as a suffix letter (e.g., 7042M), and the series is now in the 7100M region.A similar series started later by the Royal Navy commenced at Al, and is now in the A2400 region, although there appears tohave been a gap between A1000 and A2000. In principle, no serial is allotted twice, but there are exceptionsto this rule. Serials N1000-9999 were issued in 1938-39, although previously used for Naval types. A batch of R.E.8s serialledA6801-7000 was cancelled and the serials re-allocated, as were Avro 504s 8781-8830. More recently, serials TT181, 194 and 197were allocated to the first three Vikings, but were cancelled and re-allocated when these were completed in civilian guise asG-AGOK, -L and -M. Mistakes have also been made—as, for instance, the overlappingof the Vampire F.B.5 batch VZ301-359 with the Sea Fury T.20 batch VZ345-378; and, latterly, a batch of Sabre F.4s around theXD755-780 mark with Gyrodyne XD759 and a batch of Whirl- wind HAR.2s. Examples are also known of aircraft carrying thewrong serials. Expeditors FR882 and 883 appeared as FE882 and 883, whilst Harvard FS886, coded FAC-R at Cranwell in 1947-50,was repainted in the summer of 1950 as FS586. Current allocations are substantially on the same lines as thewar-time ones. One can only conjecture as to the system to be adopted when serial ZZ999 has been reached, although at thepresent rate of issue this will not be until 1960. Several possibili- ties suggest themselves. Anadditional letter or number, making six in all, wouldappear to be quite practic- able, or the series could re-vert to serial No. 1 again, since very few serials in the1-Z9999 group are still flying. Letters could be used as asuffix, instead of a prefix, starting at, say, 1000A, or100AA, or they could even be used centrally (e.g., 29A73). 7955 tailpiece: a Valiant serial. HELICOPTERS FOR THE ANTARCTIC FURTHER details are now available of the flying equipmentbeing used on Hunting Aerosurvey's expedition to Graham- land, reference to which was made in Flight of September 30th.The expedition's vessel Oluf Sven was preparing to leave London last week-end. She carries two Sikorsky S-51s, which willoperate from a flight deck constructed over the two midship cargo hatches. The foremast has been removed to allow thehelicopters a clear path to climb away over the bow. The flight deck, which has a guard and safety net along each side, measures80ft by 30ft. Because of the comparatively narrow beam—with the helicopter's rotor diameter of nearly 50ft the blades will projectoutboard—take-offs and landings will call for considerable skill from the two pilots, Capts. Greville Jacques and StanleyHoldaway. A portable canvas hangar has been provided on the after end of the flight deck, together with a workshop which willprovide servicing facilities. Trial landings by one of the helicopters, which flew from Autair'sbase at Croydon, were made last week. According to Mr. W. H. Armstrong, managing director of the company, this is the firsttime that a British helicopter operator has taken part in an Antarctic expedition, and planning for the operation has involvedthe design of many special items of equipment. Among these is the skid-landing gear—illustrated on this page—designed toprevent the aircraft sticking to ice or snow after touch-down. One of the principal duties of the helicopters will be to ferry thesurvey parties between ship and shore and to transport aerial photography equipment. While they are in the air their com-prehensive radio installations will be used as a communication link between the Oluf Sven, the ground parties and the fixed-wingaircraft—Canso Amphibians—engaged on the survey work. Installation of the radio equipment in the Oluf Sven has beenentrusted to International Aeradio, Ltd., and in the Antarctic three of their technicians will be responsible for the maintenanceand certain operational aspects of all communications and naviga- tional aid equipment in the aircraft, the base headquarters andwith the surveying parties. The equipment consists of H.F. and V.H.F. radio, radio compasses, Rebecca-Eureka system for badvisibility approaches and landings, and a radio beacon providing homing facilities at the base camp. The three technicians areM. R. Milburn, M.B.E., Frederick H. Shaw, and John Corlett. One of the "Antarctic" undercarriages fitted to the SSls. It is intended to prevent the wheels sinking into snow or freezing to ice or snow—always a serious problem in polar flying.
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