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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0273.PDF
fJJOHT, 9 March 1956 271 A BRITISH GLIDING PIONEER . . . of nearly 200 ft above the bottom of the valley was achieved. The glider's minimum rate of descent was about 5ft/sec. In June, 1896, Pilcher again visited Lilienthal and on this occa- sion was permitted to try out the latter's new biplane glider. He afterwards apparently brought back to England one of LilienthaFs monoplanes, which he purchased from the German—who was, unfortunately, to be killed soon afterwards while continuing his gliding experiments in the Rheinower Hills, near Stollen, on August 10th of that year. Soon after his return from his second visit to Germany, and inspired no doubt by Lilienthal, who had put an engine—driving flapping wing-tips for propulsion—in one of his own gliders, Pilcher turned his attention to obtaining a small oil engine which would drive a propeller. He planned to install this in a monoplane of similar construction to the Hawk. After failing to find a suit- able engine, Pilcher decided to build one of his own. This was to be of about 4 h.p.—nearly twice the power he calculated he needed for sustained flight after a towed launch had got the machine into the air. The engine was to be installed in the nose of the aircraft, in front of the pilot, and to drive a 4ft pusher propeller by means of a shaft passing above the pilot's head. Although Pilcher never completely resolved the problem of controlling a flying machine about its three axes—the solution to which was the viral ingredient in the Wright brother's final suc- cess in 1903—this might not have prevented him from achieving successful powered flight. Pilcher was, perhaps, more likely to have succeeded even than Lilienthal because his designs seem to have been more stable than the German's and because he had already practised a form of controlled powered flight during his towed launches. In the years 1898 and 1899, Pilcher spent as much of his time as he could spare from his other activities, working on the powered aeroplane project in the Great Peter Street, Westminster, premises of the engineering company, Wilson and Pilcher, Ltd., which he formed early in 1898 with a partner, Walter G. Wilson, to work out inventions and ideas for patents. This company later produced a motor-car design which was afterwards taken over by Armstrong Whitworth. In addition to building the engine for his new monoplane dur- ing 1898, Pilcher made many experiments in the first part of 1899 with some kites built and lent to him by the Australian pioneer Lawrence Hargrave. As a result of these trials, construction of a triplane was undertaken by Wilson and Pilcher in 1899. This was to be tried first as a glider for comparison with the mono- planes previously used. Pilcher was also active at this time in trying to gain support from various prominent people for the formation of a new company to exploit the many uses he foresaw for a successful powered flying machine. In the event, the experimenter did not live to achieve the ultimate triumph of powered flight. This was to go to the American Wright brothers, who were to make the first powered sustained and controlled flight in history, on December 17th, 1903 —only four years after Pilcher's death. In September, 1899, Pilcher was staying at Stanford Park near Market Harborough, Northants, on a visit to his friend, the son of the then Lord Braye. He had with him the triplane glider and the Hawk. September 30th was a gusty day and both the gliders got soaked with rain; but Pilcher was persuaded to give a gliding demonstration to some members of the Aeronautical Society who had come to see him. He attempted one towed- launch in the Hawk, but the tow-rope broke. During a second attempt, a bracing wire to the tail gave way under a gust load during the launch and Pilcher was seriously injured when the tail collapsed and the Hawk dived into the ground from a height of about 30 ft. Still only 33, he died two days later, on October 2nd, 1899, without having regained consciousness, the first Briton to be killed in a gliding accident. The remains of the Hawk were rebuilt early in 1909 by T. W. K. Clarke and Co. of Kingston for exhibition at the first British Aero Show which was held at Olympia in that year. The glider is now preserved in the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, neither Pilcher's powered aeroplane nor the triplane glider have been preserved. THE NAVY'S ESTIMATES— THE Admiralty's Explanatory Statement on the Navy Estimates,1956-57,* reports that construction of the aircraft carrier Hermes and the modernization of Victorious are proceeding satisfactorily. When completed these ships will be capable of operating the next generation of aircraft. The four front-line carriers now in the active Fleet are Ark Royal, Eagle, Albion and Centaur, and the trials and training carrier is Bulwark. All have angled decks and the Ark Royal also has steam catapults. This year Centaur will be taken in hand for the fitting of steam catapults as well as improved radar and communications, and Bulwark will replace her in the active Fleet. Another light fleet carrier, Warrior, is also about to complete a modernization which includes fining an angled deck. In subsequent years other carriers will be brought up to date in their turn. The first prototype N.I 13 is expected to carry out its first deck-landing trials very shortly; the D.H.I 10 is developing satisfactorily and has shown itself "a very good performer." The numbers of naval pilots and observers are now satisfactory, and no difficulty is expected in filling requirements during the coming financial year. —AND THE ARMY'S ISSUED by the War Office, the Memorandum Relating to theArmy Estimates, 1956-57* states that our troops in Malaya are full of praise for the support given by the Royal Navy and the R.A.F. The volume of air transport by helicopter, Pioneer and supply-dropping aircraft has steadily increased, and all calls by the Army have been met. The technique of Army/Air co-opera- tion has risen to a very high standard and gives some indication of the future scope and importance of air transport, supply- dropping and air reconnaissance in all forms of military operations. One independent infantry brigade will be in constant readiness to support the civil Government in overseas territories, and the Air Ministry have agreed to provide a flight of light aircraft to support this brigade. T . An Army/Royal Air Force Joint Experimental Helicopter Unit has been set up to collect information by practical trials, so as to enable the two Services to determine whether helicopters (and other aircraft capable of landing in confined spaces) are likely to be a practical and economical means of solving the Army s prob- lems of mobility in future war. The first flight of six helicopters is now carrying out preliminary trials and a second flight will be * Both Navy and Army statements are published, price 9d each, by H.M. Stationery Office. formed during 1956. The whole unit will take part in trials with troops during exercises in Germany this year. Air trooping has continued to be the main means of movement of Army personnel to and from the Middle East, the Mediter- ranean area and East Africa. Air trooping has also been used almost exclusively for movement to and from the Caribbean and West Africa. The service to the Far East, which has been carry- ing rather more than 1,000 passengers of the Services each way a month, has on the whole worked satisfactorily. As a result of complaints of overheating of the aircraft on the ground at inter- mediate stops east of Cyprus, arrangement was made during the summer to hire mobile air conditioning apparatus from British Overseas Airways Corporation at these stops. Anodier development in air trooping has been the movement of Gurkha personnel and their families to and from leave in Nepal, by air between Singapore and Calcutta in two six-week pro- grammes in the spring and autumn. Travel by air instead of sea results in a considerable saving in journey time and thus increases die operational strength of Gurkha units. DIGITAL-COMPUTOR PROBLEMS THE Technical Section of the Society of British Aircraft Con-structors has published a manual of problems arranged for digital computation. In 1952, says the Society, it became clear that, although aircraft and engine companies were obtaining their own digital computors, members would still make use of machines available elsewhere in industry. On investigation, it was found that problems of similar character were being presented to the computors in different forms, this duplication leading to delay and increased cost. It was evident that the problems could be arranged in a standard form, and accordingly the Society set up their Electronic Com- putors Panel, whose major function was to standardize the arrange- ment of problems. The standard forms in the manual relate to those problems which in die first place involve a considerable amount of com- putation and which occur frequendy in aircraft design. The presentation involves a mathematical statement of the problem, together with a typical example the solution of which is known. The data sheets give no information on how to set up the prob- lems; die necessary data can be found in die referenced reports quoted. The price of the manual is 25s, and additional standard forms will be available, price Is per page, when cleared for issue. Inquiries should be made to the Technical Section, Society of British Aircraft Constructors, 29 King Street, St. James's, London, S.W.I.
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