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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0276.PDF
274 FLIGHT Dr. Hooker congratulates Miss Patricia Ramshaw after presenting her with a set 0/ books at the Foliand apprentices' prizegiving (see below). THE INDUSTRY Dr. Hooker on Turbojet Progress SPEAKING at the recent prizegiving to successful Folland Air-craft apprentices, Dr. S. G. Hooker, O.B.E., director and chief engineer of Bristol Aero-Engines, Ltd., and designer of theOrpheus turbojet engine fitted in the Folland Gnat, said that young men entering the aircraft industry as aeronautical engineers todayhad a dramatic future facing them. Aeroplanes were already flying faster than the speed of sound, and the next step was to fly at twicethe speed of sound—i.e., between 1,500 and 1,800 miles an hour. The turbojet had revolutionized the art and practice of aero-nautical engineering. Before the Second World War, calculations showed that to fly at 500 m.p.h. the Spitfire would have neededan engine of 5,000 h.p., which would have weighed 6,000 lb. Today, the Orpheus gave the equivalent of 8,000 h.p. for a weight of only750 1b. Civil aviation, he said, was still only in its infancy. It would notbe long before the design of supersonic airliners would begin. When they came into service it would be possible to fly fromLondon to New York in five hours. Dr. Hooker had been introduced by Mr. W. E. W. Petter,managing director and chief engineer of Folland Aircraft, who referred briefly to the progress of the Folland apprentice schemeduring the year under review. A training workshop had been set up and was in full operation under the direction of a highlyqualified instructor, Mr. W. F. Fowle. He had also been gratified by the manner in which apprentices had been able to fill vacanciesin many of the company's departments; no fewer than 12 had recently been taken on in the design office. Mr. Keiser, theeducation officer, was moulding the apprentice scheme into a sound and practical undertaking. Joe Taylor Retires from Shell /~\ NE of the true "old hands" of aviation, known to thousands of^ members of the industry and professional and private pilots throughout the world, retired from his present post on reaching theage of 60 at the end of last month. He is S/L. J. C. C. Taylor, M.B.E., A.R.Ae.S., A.I.Ae.E.,M.S.L.A.E, R.A.F.V.R., aviation sales manager of Shell-Mex andB.P., Ltd. Happily, he intends to keep in touch: he will renewmany old friendships during a world tour which he is making onbehalf of a number of aviation companies; and he has alsoacquired the Shell-Mex Proctor, in which, with his wife, he intendsto visit most of the Continental air rallies. "Joe" Taylor was apprenticedto A. V. Roe and Co. in Man- chester in 1912, and in 1914 hemoved to Supermarine at South- ampton, where he was in chargeof engine testing. When war broke out he joined the R.F.C. asan observer, and in 1916 he was wounded; after a spell as an A.I.D. inspector he rejoined in 1917,this time as a pilot of single-seat scouts. After the war he returned to Avro, now as manager of their Southport establishment,whence he operated, with Avro 504s, the first internal scheduled passenger service, between Blackpool and Manchester. In theearly 1920s he was in partnership with J. D. V. Holmes in Berk- shire Aviation, exhibition-flying and joy-riding, and it was in 1923that he entered the oil industry, joining British Petroleum as a sales representative. In the following year he was loaned to the OxfordUniversity Arctic Expedition as a pilot. In 1929 he persuaded B.P. to acquire light aircraft for the use of their aviation section,and next year he designed a vehicle to give tank service at the many flying meetings then held—the first in this country expresslyfor aircraft fuelling. He also installed static fuelling plant at Croy- don for supplying Lufthansa—again the first of its kind in Britain.S/L. Taylor's aviation record is a remarkable one. His licence, No. 262, issued in 1919, is still current. During his twenty-sevenyears as a Shell-Mex and B.P. pilot he has accumulated 4,000 hours' flying, and up to the time of his retirement he was still loggingsome 150 hours a year. During the whole of this period the com- pany received a no-claims bonus on its aircraft each year. Altogetherhe has flown 5,370 hours, 5,200 of them in powered aircraft and S/L. Taylor. 170 in gliders; he has handled 57 powered types and 23 gliders.As long ago as 1925 he founded the Jersey Branch of the Royal Air Forces Assocation, now established and recorded as the verybeginning of the R.A.F.A. In 1942 he formed and commanded, in his spare time, the first R.A.F.V.R. gliding school for the train-ing of A.T.C. instructors. He was Staff Officer 61 and 65 Groups, R.A.F., in charge of gliding training, and his service was recog-nized by appointment as M.B.E. From 1949 to 1954 he was Air Member for London Command, Territorial and Auxiliary Forces.He is chairman of the Royal Aero Club's private flying and air touring committee and a member of other R.Ae.C. committees. Link Aviation and Air Trainers TT is now possible to give further details of the arrangements,-•- briefly referred to last week, whereby Air Trainers, Ltd., of Aylesbury, Bucks, are more closely associated with Link Aviation,Inc., of Binghampton, N.Y. The American company has sub- scribed H million Ordinary shares of Is in the British companyat 2s per share, so that it now owns just over 50 per cent of the issued capital. Mr. Allan Williford, president of Link Aviation,has joined the Board of Air Trainers. The transaction, says the Aylesbury firm, marks the establish-ment of a policy of close co-operation between the two companies, particularly in design and development. It is intended that inter-change of visits shall take place regularly between members of the staffs in order to facilitate the exchange of information and toavoid duplication of design effort. Link Aviation is a member of the General Precision Equipment group of companies and, inaddition to its work in the field of aircrew training equipment, manufactures a number of other products. It is expected thatAir Trainers will manufacture some of these items. It is also announced that Mr. W. Makinson, formerly superin-tendent of the Blind Landing Experimental Unit, Martlesham Heath, and now at the Ministry of Defence, is to join Air Trainers'Board on leaving Government Service at the end of this month. Mr. Makinson will become managing director on the retirementlater in the year of Mr. A. T. Thorne, who will remain a director. Instruments on View OPEAKING at the opening of SIMA House—the new perma-^ nent display headquarters of the Scientific Instrument Manu- facturers Association—Sir Norman Kipping (director-general,F.B.I.) said that the output of the British instrument industry was valued at £60m a year, of which £15m was exported. Thefact that of 50,000 workers employed in the instrument industry 2,500 were engaged on research and development work auguredwell for the future. The object of the display—which is at 20 Queen Anne Street,London, W.I—is to provide a centre where overseas visitors can see a representative selection of instruments made by over 140member-firms in all parts of the country. i:,^'^: IN BRIEF -/••-': The technical liaison and publicity staff of Teddington Con-trols, Ltd., moved on March 1st from the Brompton Road, London, office to new premises at Colnbrook By-pass, WestDrayton, Middlesex (Colnbrook 502-3-4). This is near London Airport, and the existing office at the airport has now beenclosed. The Brompton Road office is retained. * * * In our report (February 24th) of a Helicopter Association meet- ing, Mr. L. J. Ward's post with the English Electric Co., Ltd., was owing to a typographical error, wrongly described; he is chief electronic engineer, Luton division. * * * In order to satisfy the demand in Australia for Wolf portableelectric tools, a manufacturing company, Wolf Electric Tools (Australia) Pty., Ltd., has been formed with a registered capital
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