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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1644.PDF
18 November 1955 765 r-im ^ SUPERSONIC CLIMBER: The Fairey F.D.2 is one of two types of British aircraft which have demonstrated supersonic speed on the climb (the other being the English Electric P.I). Peter Twiss was the pilot. Characteristics of the design are admirably brought out by the newly released general-arrangement drawing above; but neither this drawing, nor the excellent photograph on the right, can convey the truly "sword- edged" sharpness of the wing trailing edge. development work has gone forward steadily to the point wherecompletion of the final major tasks, which include service-accept- ance and role-equipment trials, are within sight. Cold-weathertests have been allotted to the fourth aircraft, which, bedecked in an Arctic crimson-paint scheme, is due to leave for Canada thismonth. Current civilian employment—an oilfield airlift—of the second production Beverley was described in last week's issue. Handley Page Appointment IT was announced by Handley Page, Ltd., earlier this week thatJ. W. ("Jock") Still has joined the staff as a test pilot. He is 35 years of age. Mr. Still was educated at Boroughmuir School,Edinburgh, and joined the R.A.F. in 1940. During the followingsix years he served as a fighter pilot in Britain, North-WestEurope, the Middle East and Burma. Flying Spitfires, he tookpart in "train-busting" raids over occupied Europe and, whenserving with No. 1 Sqn., shared in the defence of this countryagainst flying - bomb attacks. After the war he was a memberof No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Sqn., R.Aux.A.F., before joiningBrooklands Aviation as a test pilot in 1950. Two years laterhe went to English Electric in the same capacity. He visitedVenezuela in 1953 when that country bought Canberras andsaw them into service, and he demonstrated the Canberra atthe Farnborough displays of 1954 and 1955. During his fifteen years of flying Jock Still has completed 3,000 hours on fifty types. J. W. (Jock) Still. Titanium Fabrication^Plant u •THE construction of a titanium-fabrication works was announced-*• last week by I.C.I. Work will begin as soon as possible and it is hoped that the new factory, which will cost some £2m andemploy about 250 people, will be in production in 1958. The site is near the company's existing light-alloy works in South Wales.Research and development work by I.C.I, has culminated this year in the commissioning of two large-scale plants for the produc-tion of titanium and its alloys. One, built by the company's General Chemicals Division at Wilton in Yorkshire, is concernedwith the extraction of metallic titanium and can produce 1,500 tons of the material in a year. The other, at the Kynoch works ofthe Metals Division in Birmingham, is responsible for melting granular titanium produced at Wilton, and for forging it into slabsand bars for further fabrication. Some fabrication into wrought forms—sheet, strip, plate, rod,tube and wire—is at present being carried out at Kynoch works and in other Metals Division factories; but, says the company, thedemand for fabricated products (particularly sheet, rod and tube for the aircraft industry) is developing so rapidly that the decisionhas been taken to build the new factory. Australia's Air Prospects THE Australian Director-General Elect of Civil Aviation, Mr.Anderson, who takes over his post next January, said in Darwin recently that Comet 4s, Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s wouldbe flying into Australia regularly "by 1958"—a date, be it said, which seems improbable. He added that Darwin and Sydneyairports would be able to handle these machines satisfactorily, and that navigational aids were sufficient. It has also been announced in Australia that orders had beenplaced for an unspecified number of Vampire Trainers and for "two of the latest mark of Canberra jet bombers." The Vampireswould be made at the de Havilland factory at Bankstown, Sydney. These orders, according to Mr. Townley, Minister for Air, wereplaced on the recommendation of the mission which visited Great Britain and the U.S.A. last year to study aircraft development. The Commonwealth Advisory Aeronautical Research CouncilConference at Canberra has been told by the Minister of Supply, Mr. Beale, that Australia leads the world in air-transport usage—16.7 ton-miles per head of population. Next comes the U.S.A., with 15.5 ton-miles; then Canada, with 8 ton-miles. A. Cdre. Cobby WE regret to learn of the death, in Melbourne, of A. Cdre.Cobby, C.B.E., D.S.O., D.F.C., G.M., Director of Flying Operations in Australia's Civil Aviation Department. He was 61.A. Cdre. Cobby joined the Australian Imperial Forces in the First World War, becoming a captain and flight commander inNo. 4 Squadron of the Flying Corps. For his brilliant and daring flying he was awarded the D.S.O. and D.F.C. and two bars. Afterthe war he remained in the Service and passed through the R.A.F. Staff College, Andover. He was Director of Recruiting, R.A.A.F.,and held high office in the Civil Aviation Board of the Department of Defence. A. Cdre. Cobby returned to operational duties in the SecondWorld War, directing air operations over New Guinea in 1942-43, and was appointed C.B.E. in recognition of his services. Duringthe last year of the war he commanded the 1st Tactical Air Force of the R.A.A.F., and in 1946 he returned to the Department ofCivil Aviation in Australia. In 1944 A. Cdre. Cobby was awarded the George Medal for rescuing three companions from the wreckof a flying-boat off New Guinea.
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