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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0518.PDF
518 FLIGHT, 4 May 1956 FROM ALLQUARTERS Offshore Sea HawksA N agreement was signed last week for the construction of• Hawker Sea Hawk aircraft and spares under the U.S. offshore procurement programme. Worth $6,429,000 (more than £2Jm),the order is understood to be for Holland, and it is believed that another order for the supply of Sea Hawks to Germany mayfollow. The aircraft are to be built by Armstrong Whitworth, who have been responsible for the development and production ofSea Hawks, from Sir Sydney Camm's original design, since 1953. Export Record EXPORTS of British aircraft and accessories during Marchreached an all-time high level; moreover, the figure was some 77 per cent higher than any previously recorded for a singlemonth. The March value amounted to £14,093,202—approxi- mately the same as for the first three months of 1955. The newrecord figure is £6,043,895 more than for the previous record month, February, and it brings the 1956 total to date to£29,287,505—already nearly half the total for the whole of 1955. Australia, with £5,797,478, was Great Britain's best customer,with the United States runner-up with £1,423,010, worth some $4m. Of the remaining 28 major countries who bought ouraeronautical products, Sweden (£533,785), France (£329,665), and New Zealand (£115,858) were the next best customers. Nocturnal Whirlwind LAST Friday, at Yeovil, tests were made which it was hoped' would lead to approval being given for night flying of the Westland Whirlwind helicopter. A.R.B. officials watched one ofthese aircraft make a series of engine-off landings by the light of parachute flares. The pilot, Lt-Cdr. Roy Bradley (Westlandassistant chief pilot) climbed to 1,000ft and released, from a fitting located at the rear of the fuselage, a Schermuly flare of 75 secburning duration. Simultaneously, he switched off the engine and prepared for an autorotative descent. At 500ft he releaseda 45-sec flare and continued his descent to a successful landing. This demonstration was repeated a number of times. Like fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters are—or can be—fitted withorthodox night flying equipment, consisting of navigation lights and landing lamps; the flare technique has been devised for usein the event of engine failure. "Very Good Motors" ; ~- AS shown by a picture on this page, Mr. A. N. Tupolev, thedistinguished Russian aircraft designer, visited the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton on April 24th. He arrived in ade Havilland Devon belonging to the Ministry of Supply and was accompanied by Mr. Kruschev's student son, members of hisown staff, and Foreign Office and M.o.S. officials. Lunch was taken with Sir Reginald Verdon Smith, chairman of the BristolAeroplane Company, Sir Alec Coryton, chairman and managing MARINE MONSTER: A fearsome aspect of the Supermarine N.I 13 twin-Avon naval fighter on the steam-catapult of H.M.S. "Ark Royal." Carrier trials are the subject of a news item on page 548. Note the tail-down launching attitude. (No actual launches took place.) "TU" AT BRISTOL: Mr. A. N. Tupolev, designer of some of Russia's finest civil and m'.litary aircraft, seen (centre) at Filton House with Sir Reginald Verdon Smith and Dr. Stanley Hooker during his Bristol visit on April 24th, as described on this page. director of Bristol Aero-Engines, and Dr. Stanley Hooker, directorand chief engineer of Bristol Aero-Engines, Ltd. Having visited the engine division, Mr. Tupolev said throughan interpreter, "We have seen the excellent engines made by this firm," adding, "very good motors they are, too." Before returningto London in the afternoon the party inspected a Britannia (which Mr. Tupolev had already seen at London Airport), and madea brief tour of the aircraft division. His technical questions were answered by Dr. A. E. Russell and Mr. C. F. Uwins, respectivelychief engineer and chairman of Bristol Aircraft, Ltd. Frederick B. Rentschler record with regret the death, on April 25th, of Mr.Frederick B. Rentschler, founder of the Wright and Pratt and Whitney engine companies and chairman of the United AircraftCorporation. He was 68. The creation of horsepower, itis said, absorbed his attention from boyhood. His school vaca-tions found him working in his father's plant at Hamilton, Ohio,as a puddler in the making of castings for steam and gasengines. Later he was engaged in the manufacture of cars, withspecial emphasis on their engines, and during World War 1 he wasappointed a Government repre- sentative at the Wright-Martinengine plant at New Brunswick. Soon after the Armistice Mr.Rentschler formed the Wright Aeronautical Corporation, be-came its first general manager and vice-president, and soonthereafter president. During his administration the company developed several engines of its own,took over the Lawrance radial and laid the groundwork for the near-fabulous Whirlwind. In 1924, for family reasons, he re-signed as president and returned to Hamilton. In the spring of 1925 Rentschler learned that the Navy wanteda dependable radial of 400 h.p., weighing 600 lb or less. In Hart- ford was a factory then being used as a tobacco warehouse; itsowners had money and, moreover, the Connecticut valley and New England offered the finest skills in the machine and tool-making trade. Rentschler arranged a loan of $250,000, secured the plant and with George J. Mead formed the Pratt and WhitneyAircraft Company. Then with Mead and the late Donald S. Brown (who eventually became president of P. and W. and thenof United Aircraft) Rentschler went to Hartford, and by December 1925, the new engine—the Wasp—was running. Although thefirst Wasp sales were to the Navy, the engine attracted attention elsewhere. The Boeing company, for instance, bought 24 for anew mail and passenger machine—an order which marked the entry of the young company into the commercial field. In October1928, Pratt and Whitney joined in a merger with Boeing and Boeing Airlines to form the United Aircraft and Transport Cor-poration. Rentschler became president, and out of the dissolution of the corporation came three companies—Boeing Airplane,United Airlines and United Aircraft Corporation. A United Aircraft spokesman remarks: "Mr. Rentschler, in1935, became chairman of this company, which continues today much as it was set up then. As chairman, Mr. Rentschler did not Mr. Rentschler.
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