FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0428.PDF
Above, the main 28-seat cabin, with its heavy light-fittings and luggage racks. Note the oxygen sprays. Right, a "Flight" artist's impression of a V.I.P. saloon, notable for its ornamentation. POSTSCRIPT TO THE Tu-104 . . . radio. Use of M.F. is probable in view of its good performancein the far north. The head-on picture on p. 427 shows one sword-blade aerial at11 o'clock which is balanced by a similar one at five o'clock (not shown). These could be quarter-wave aerials for H.F. orV.H.F. communications, or connected with a lattice aid of the Gee type. Similarly the whip aerial at two o'clock could servethe same purposes. It seems likely that the two sword blades serve V.H.F. and the whip a lattice navigation system of somekind, such as a Russian version of Gee. There are two short dipoles, one behind the central panel ofthe transparent nose cap and the other beneath the fuselage abreast of the engine intakes. Their exact purpose can only be guessed,but since the unit in the nose has a feeder possibly too small for transmission, and dimensions suggest reception of frequencies inthe hundreds of Mc/s from directly in front of the aircraft it might be a glide-slope receiver of the I.L.S. type. But it alsoresembles the American wartime AYF radio altimeter aerial, and might be the receiver for the other dipole under the fuselage whichwould act as the radio altimeter transmitter. The dipole under- neath the fuselage could possibly be used as the sense aerial foran A.D.F. loop suppressed elsewhere; no loop shows externally. A reasonable combination would be glide-slope aerial in the noseand marker-beacon receiver under the fuselage, with the localizer aerial possibly in the fin-top. The plastic fin-top might house anytype of aerial or none at all. The radome under the nose suggests a forward- and downward-looking scanner. All-round scan ofthe H2S type is highly improbable and the installation is poor for weather radar work. This is probably still the Badger bomb- sight radar. The greatest enigma is the fence aerial along the side of the fuselage mounted on an impressive number of stand-off insulators. It is too long for radar and not balanced by the plastic-shielded aerial (itself of most uncertain purpose) on the other side to make it directionally sensitive. It might not be an aerial at all, but possibly some form of static discharge attachment, though dis- charge spikes are already on the control surfaces. It might pos- sibly be used to excite a large section of the fuselage to form a high-powered aerial, but the mounting is very crude. If it were a sensing aerial for A.D.F. it would more probably be mounted underneath the fuselage and aft of the wing. It seems most prob- able that this is a H.F. aerial of fairly advanced conception but fitted at the last moment specially for use over Western Europe. Though the function of the aerials is not definitely established, their detail construction suggests nothing more advanced than is already to be found on airliners in Europe. There remains the final question as to why such drag-producing aerials should have been fitted on a high-speed aircraft. Russian newspapers have been enthusiastic about the way the Tu-104 was received in London: "The English Press," said Izvestia on March 25th, "and both civil and military experts spoke of it in terms of the highest praise." The same newspaper states that the aircraft is the first fruit of the Supreme Soviet's five-year plan for 1956-1960, "for the operation of regular services by passenger aircraft on the main trunk lines of the Union." The prototype was built at the Moscow Engineering Works, and col- lective factories are now said to be building the type "in bulk quantities." 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. Fighter Nomenclature T AGREE very strongly with the feeling expressed in your*• March 23rd editorial that new fighters should be named as soon as possible. I don't, however, agree with your choice of names—at least, "Sea Devil" is, I think, as good as will be found for the D.H. 110; but English Electric "Terror" or "Storm"—I think not. My suggestions would be these: "Warrior" for the P.I, "Shark"for the N.I 13, "Rapier" for the Gloster Javelin successor, and "Striker" for the Saunders-Roe S.R.53. Let's hope the Air Ministry will adopt some names, at least,pretty quickly—leaving us with only the S.B.5, F.D.2, P.D.ll, P.74 and Types 187, 192 and 193 to worry about!Hampton Hill, Middx. P. A. TAGG. The First Aileron T AM sorry to be captious about the letter from Mr. T. R.-*• Loudon on his claim for the aileron being invented by (or first suggested by) Baldwin. The modern aileron system was firstdescribed and patented by Boulton in 1868, but this remarkable feat was overlooked, owing to its being incorporated in an other-wise worthless invention, and then completely lost to view until well into this century. The first actual use of ailerons was by Santos-Dumont on his"canard" box-kite biplane "14 bis" which made the first official powered flight in Europe in 1906. Few photos of this uglymonster show the ailerons as they were only fitted later on in die year in time for the record flight. The ailerons were hexagonal and one was fitted midway between the wings in each outer box-kite "cell." The subsequent history of the aileron is well known, viaBleriot's almost forgotten 1907 monoplane (which just flew), on to Baldwin, Curtiss and the rest. The really practical aileron wasthe type invented by that splendid ex-patriot Englishman Henri Farman in 1909. London, W.I. C. H. GIBBS-SMITH. Early Days of No. 830 SquadronP I the article "Eagle's Talons" (Flight, March 9th) it was statedthat No. 830 Sqn., F.A.A., was formed in Malta in 1942 with largely New Zealand personnel. I am sure this is not so, as Iarrived at RAF. Station Hal-Far, Malta, on May 12th, 1941, to help form 185 Sqn., and 830 were already there, operating Sword-fish—with, may I add, great success against ships on the North Africa run. In the book The Air Battle of Malta, published byH.M.S.O., the Swordfish are mentioned in early March '41, when three of them and one of the famous Gladiators, were burnt outin an air attack on Hal-Far. As for N.Z. personnel, I cannot remember any, although twoor three R.A.F. air-gunners were attached in 1941, and several ground crew for a longer period (one of them was posthumouslyawarded the M.M. for fighting a fire at the torpedo shop follow- ing an air raid). During the "blitz" aircraft losses could not be replaced, so
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
