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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0338.PDF
FLIGHT, 23 March 1956 337 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor of "Flight" does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents in these columns; the names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. "A British Gliding Pioneer" TN the interesting short article [March 9th] by Peter Brooks on *- the work of Pilcher, the author notes that Pilcher made many experiments with Hargrave kites. The two men corresponded for some years. I am engaged atthe moment in studying the most remarkable notebooks which Lawrence Hargrave kept for forty years. They are now in thesafe keeping of the Royal Aeronautical Society and shed much light on the years before the Wrights flew. It may be of interest to quote from a letter Pilcher wrote onJune 25th, 1896, following a suggestion from Hargrave that his cellular kites were more stable in gusty weather than Pilcher'sgliders. The letter is addressed from the experimental department of Hiram Maxim, where Pilcher was working at the time. Therelevant quotation is: — ". . . we are rather at cross purposes. With your kites you naturallyaim at stability, but with my soaring machines, stability, strange as it may appear, is a thing that I am very much afraid of. I like to have themachines practically neutral so as to be perfectly under control, or rather, more susceptible to the control movements of my body. Forinstance, if a soaring machine is stable transversely, either by having the wings at a dihedral angle, or by having the wing surface considerablyraised above the centre of weight, although stable and stiff with the wind coming directly from ahead, & the wind shifts ever so little to the oneside it must necessarily have a capsizing tendency, and this capsizing tendency will vary direcdy, and not inversely, as die transverse stability." Hargrave wrote a long letter in reply, defending his ideas onstability. I only quote, however, "In working a flying machine the fewer things a fellow has to think about the more chance hewill have of being successful. ... I cannot see what you want with susceptibility to the movement of your body. I should thinkthat was something to be avoided." I should think so, too—not being a tight-rope walker, whichso many early gliding experimenters were. Brighton, Sussex. J. LAURENCE PRITCHARD. Airline Fleet Data /CONGRATULATIONS to the Editor and staff of Flight for^ what they have accomplished in publishing "Fleet Register" (page 76, January 20th issue) together with "Order Book" (page 61,January 13th issue). No other aviation journal—to the best of my knowledge—has previously published, in such concise and"easy reference" form, such thoroughly useful airlines data tables relating to all the post-war American transports in service andthose on order for the world's airlines. I'm sure you will forgive me if I take the liberty of pointingout a very small number of minor errors in the Connie 049/749 series and also the Convair 240 series charts. The two 049 Conniesyou show as owned by Campania Cubana de Aviation were sold in October 1955 to El Al, and both are now flying with the Israeliairline as 4X-AKE and 'KF. Before being put into service by El Al both aircraft underwent extensive overhauls (including cock-pit and passenger cabin seating modifications) at the Lod engineer- ing base. I understand each airframe had logged some 25,000-plushours when sold: in fact, these two 049s were originally part of P.A.A.'s fleet of eighteen 049s back in 1946! I cannot quotetheir constructor's serial numbers, but they were undoubtedly amongst the first batch of 049s built in 1945-6. Thus the total number of 049s owned by El Al is five, because The Israel Airlines' Constellation which was shot down by two Com- mifiht fighters in July last year with the loss of all on board. Originally a Series 049 it was later converted by Lockheed to the 149 series. Built in 1944, it was the sixth production machine of its type. Acquired by El Al in 1951, it flew some 9,000 hours in their service. 4X-AKC (one of the original fleet of four) was destroyed in the tragic shooting-down of this aircraft by Bulgarian fighters and ack-ack on July 27th, 1955. An 049 operator omitted from your list is Pacific Northern Air-lines Inc. of Seattle. Since January 1955 they have operated three of these aircraft on their Alaskan network of services (plus twoDC-4s and four DC-3s). Again, these Connies are ex-P.A.A. and I understand they have been leased to P.N.A. for about three years. Although, strictly speaking, Pan-American are no longer regularoperators of Connies, they still have five 049s in their huge fleet of transports. These Connies are based at Miami and are, Iunderstand, occasionally operated as "relief aircraft" when special occasions demand. They are also made immediately availablefor leasing to P.A.A.'s many associates in South America when required during peak traffic periods. Against AVIANCA (Colombia) in your 049/749 chart should have appeared the figure "one" under the 749 column. In the Convair 240 chart you show Orient Airways of Pakistanas owning three. Early last year this airline was absorbed by Pakistan International Airways and the three 240s, together withOrient's fleet of 11 DC-3s, were taken over by PI A. In conclusion, for the benefit of other statistically mindedFlight readers, a postscript to my "Constellation Saga" notes (page 106, January 27th issue). The total number of passengerscarried by the Qantas former fleet of six 749s is 118,885—an average of just under 17,000 per annum for almost seven years.Not, perhaps, spectacular figures compared by other major inter- national airlines, but none the less a very fine show by Qantastaking all factors into consideration on two of the longest air routes in the world—Sydney/London and Sydney/Johannesburg, onwhich these aircraft were mainly employed. As a matter of historical interest I enclose the last photo taken of the ill-fated 4X-AKC (at Lod airport). Nairobi, Kenya. DENNIS M. POWELL. Canadian Pioneers TN your issue of January 20th, 1956, you gave a very interesting•*- resume of Mr. N. E. Rowe's presidential address to the Royal Aeronautical Society. On page 72 there is a list of some earlyaviators; but once again—and this is becoming increasingly notice- able—the names of two pioneer Canadians, Baldwin and McCurdy,are missing. Dr. Graham Bell's Aerial Experiment Society was formed in1907 at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, with Baldwin, McCurdy, Glen Curtiss and Lt. Selfridge. The scene of operations was later trans-ferred to Hammondsport, N.Y., to be near the Curtiss engine shop, and at this location several successful aircraft were built. F. W. (Casey) Baldwin, by his flight with the Red Bird onMarch 12th, 1908, near Hammondsport, N.Y., became the first Canadian and citizen of the then British Empire to fly. Then, inDecember, 1908, J. D. McCurdy was the second Canadian to fly; and later, at Baddeck, N.S., on February 23rd, 1909, hebecame the first Canadian to fly in Canada. The fact that some of the flights were made in the United States may account forthe oversights. I think it can also be claimed that Baldwin first suggested thepractical use of the aileron ("little wing") a name used by a French aviator in New York when McCurdy explained what they weredoing. Toronto, Ontario. " T. R. LOUDON. Dingbat VentureI AM hoping to form a small syndicate of the Popular FlyingAssociation, affiliated to the Pioneer Flying Group. It will be called the Dingbat Syndicate, as I hope to rebuild the Dingbatultra-light single-seater aeroplane, which I can acquire complete with a 55 h.p. Lycoming engine, and airscrew, for about £50. The aircraft was designed to take the 32 h.p. Carden-Fordengine, but was very underpowered; it is complete, but needs the necessary modifications to fit the Lycoming engine. The air-frame is in quite good condition and quite a lot of work has been done on the aeroplane in the past.We now require some amateur constructional members, who are keen on both construction and flying. They should contact me atthe Popular Flying Association Group No. 50, 10 Woodnook Road, Streatham, London, S.W.16 (Streatham 8615). London, S.W.16. ROGER BAILEY, JR.
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