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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0003.PDF
6 January 1956 3 PIONEER AMBULANCE: Equipped, as seen here, as an ambulance, the Scottish Aviation Prestwick Pioneer carries a pilot, two passengers or attendants, and a stretcher case. The stretcher door is not removable but sw'.ngs up into the fuselage roof. When a stretcher is carried the two rear seats are removed from the cabin. flying-boats. After the war, he worked as a design draughtsmanat Parnall, and he joined Supermarine on July 7th, 1930, when he was 38. He exerted much influence on many of the Supermarine designs.He was section leader in charge of the Spitfire, working in the drawing office under Joe Smith, then chief draughtsman, and R. J.Mitchell as chief designer, both of whom placed great faith in his judgment and ideas. The detail design of the Spitfire, say thecompany, was very largely his work, and had he achieved nothing else, he would be assured of his place in aeronautical history by hiscontribution to the success of that remarkable fighting aircraft. At the time of his illness, he was in charge of the detail designof the twin-engined Naval fighter Type 113, a development of the 525 which was also his work. Mr. Faddy leaves a widow, two daughters and two sons. F/L. H. M. Schofield REMEMBERED as one of theBritish winning team in the Schneider Trophy contest of1927, F/L. H. M. Schofield died in a London hospital on Decem-ber 29th. He was 56 years of age. In 1934, flying a MonosparS.T.10—he was with the makers, General Aircraft, Ltd., at thetime—he won the King's Cup Race. During his flying career,which began in the R.N.A.S. dur- ing the First World War, he hada number of lucky escapes, his crashes including a descent in thesea during the preparations for the Schneider Race at Venice,and, in 1935, an accident in an Autogiro. He had not been con-nected with aviation during recent years. F/L. Schofield—a SchneiderCup picture. Sir Frederick Looks Ahead 1WEVER did the wit of Sir Frederick Handley Page sparkle•*• ' brighter than at his company's senior staff dinner in London just before Christmas. Indeed, it seemed quite impossible thathe had already celebrated his 70th birthday (November 15th), an event marked by the presentation of an inscribed silver salver byA. Cdre. A. V. Harvey, deputy chairman. But Sir Frederick's mood was not one of levity alone. He lookedto the future in the perspective made possible by such develop- ments as laminar flow ("laminization"). Birds, he remarked, hadno turbulence; so men, by mechanical means, might reap in- calculable prizes if they could achieve true streamline flow.Introduction of laminar flow he likened to an old cart with a squeaking axle and solid wheels being fitted with ball or rollerbearings. We were, he said, on the edge of a great ocean of undiscovered truth, but we had to learn to use the untappedstores of energy around us. , Up in the Comet 3 A KEEN wind cut across Hatfield aerodrome on the morningof December 29th, but in the globe-encircling Comet 3 (see page 12) we chatted cosily with Mr. P. F. L. Hall, senior technicalassistant of de Havilland's aerodynamics department. Mr. Hall cautioned us that, the pressurizing system being alash-up (to be greatly developed for the Comet 4), air-conditioning would be a fairly noisy process—as, indeed, it proved to be; and,as the fuselage was not fully modified we should not be allowed to fly above 20,000ft, with 4 lb/sq in pressure and 8,000ft cabinaltitude. The Comet 4 would be pressurized to 81 lb. On the world tour, said Mr. Hall, the Comet 3 had settled intocruising flight at about 35,000ft, rising gradually to 40,000-42,000ft, though on the longest stage she touched 44,000ft. No demonstra-tions had been given above 20,000ft. With the Avons revving, John Cunningham positioned theaircraft for take-off and opened up against the brakes. There was a precipitous release, a mighty urge, and in seconds we were thrust-ing up from a Farnborough-style demonstration take-off, with— in our own range of vision—the port wing flexing gently in thedisturbed air and the pinion tank nodding in sympathy. As we carried on up to our appointed level at a rate of2,5OOft/min, scouting around Southern England for clear skies, a civil-registered Comet 2, which had taken off seconds ahead ofus, tucked in alongside—a rare picture of grace. We remarked to John Cunningham on the discrepancies injet-pipe temperatures, and were chastened by his polite explana- tion that, as he was having to cruise at half designed altitude andon semething like half power, he was flying mainly on two engines —the outers—with the inners idling. Indicated speed was 220 kt.Cockpit inscriptions declared the never-exceed figure as 270 kt. Such figures, however, are merely for the curious. For theoperator and passenger it is more relevant to remark that the recent world flight was made with the external configuration and dragof the Comet 4 (though the capability and economy of that mark will be superior), and that among the stages flown were: Cairo-Bombay, 5 hr 11 min (523 m.p.h.); Singapore-Darwin, 4 hr 39 min (451 m.p.h.); Sydney-Auckland, 2 hr 40 min (501 m.p.h.); Fiji-Honolulu, 6 hr 56 min (458 m.p.h.); Vancouver-Toronto, 4 hr 12 min (495 m.p.h.); Montreal-London, 6 hr 18 min (515 m.p.h.).In fact, the Comet's average speed on this last stage from set course to overhead London was nearer 550 m.p.h. SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE—: In the presence of many veteran Dutch pilots, the Fokker F.VIIA, H-NACT, was transferred to the keeping of a museum in the ceremony here recorded. Honouring the old-timer was its newest descendant—the Dart-powered Friendship prototype, PH-NIV.
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