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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0816.PDF
818 FLIGHT, 22 June 1956 CORRESPONDENCE... an idea came to me. After landing, I turned to my mechanic and said:'It would be far lighter and safer if we cut out parts of the wings, and had them fold down, like doors, into the airstream. I would get morelift, and would, with a lighter touch, be able to pick up a descending wing, or bank into a turn.' 'All right,' said he, 'How much do youwant cut out?' "Purely by instinct, born from feel and use of the machine in the air,I told him: 'About that much . . .', and I marked with chalk the area which was to become mobile. I must say people around me scoffedat the idea, and shouted I would kill myself instantly. Be we kept on. I tried the device. It worked. I turned easily and won the Cup." This is the story of Henry Farman, most modest of men and oneof the bravest, told me a few years ago, with a faint smile as his wonderful memories came back to him. I thought it my duty to repeat his words, if only as a testimonyand proof of deep and lasting admiration for those extraordinary pathfinders, from the Wrights to Bleriot, Farman, and others(some of them still alive) who have enabled us to see the oldest of mankind's dreams come true before our eyes. For after all, it is to this long line of people who risked theirlives, from C. S. Rolls down to John Derry, that I owe the fact that I may now go to Rome in less than three hours.Dordogne, France. HERVE LAUWICK. The D.H.9AI WAS greatly interested in Air. J. M. Bruce's article on theD.H.9A, called by all airmen the "Ninak." I joined No. 70 Sqn. in February, 1928, and our immediate neighbours in Iraq wereNo. 55 Sqn., and at the east end of the aerodrome No. 30 Sqn. were billeted. Both these squadrons did an enormous amount ofwork during the various uprisings, and no doubt their past mem- bers will have memories of some of the outlandish places wherethey operated from during those uprisings. It was 70 Squadron's job to supply these flights with food, petrol, ammunition, and notforgetting beer—the one thing that kept us going. Sheikh Mahmoud was finally forced to surrender and brought to Hinaidiin a Victoria sent by No. 70 Sqn. Darlington, Co. Durham. J. T. BENNETT. Still-secret German ReportsA S one of a group of enthusiasts actively interested in collecting• material on wartime German aviation development may I be allowed to congratulate Mr. A. R. Weyl on his most interestingaccount of the W.G.L. symposium held at Munich? I was gratified to see that he made mention of the policy,prevailing after the war, of withholding from the general public the majority of official reports condensed from captured enemydocuments, presumably on the grounds of security. At that time, this seemed an eminently sensible thing to do, as use was to bemade of this captured data in developing weapons of our own. A good example of this is the Aden gun, which is basically,a much improved Mauser MG 213C/30 cannon of 1944-45 design-vintage.Owing, however, to the German system of report distribution, NEW ZEALAND AVIATION PROGRESS TPHE idea that New Zealand aviation is a pampered baby fatten-•*• ing on hidden subsidies was combated by the Director of Civil Aviation, Mr. E. A. Gibson, in a recent speech to the New ZealandRoads Federation. Dealing with the expansion of aviation in the post-war decade, he estimated the increased wealth due toagricultural aviation as follows: Increase in capital of rural land, £20,000,000; increase in sheep population £4,000,000; increase incattle population £1,000,000; increase in annual farm income, £6,000,000. Mr. Gibson said that last year the New Zealand Governmentspent some £2,500,000 in civil aviation. Of this sum £196,000 represented the normal cost of running the portion of a Govern-ment department required for administration, but in it the cost of a large amount of research and investigation work was included.About £368,000 was used to maintain facilities overseas so that trans-Pacific air services could operate. All this meant that for an annual expenditure of some £2,500,000,the country had a full meteorological service, maintained essential overseas communications, developed "backblock" areas, ranground services without which the Air Force would be useless, maintained 70 firms in flying activity, and provided speedy trans-port for 480,000 people and some 90,000,000 lb of high-value cargo. From New Zealand, also, comes further news of the world'sfirst Agricultural Aviation Show, to be held at Palmerston North Aerodrome on November 9 and 10. Sponsored Jby the AviationIndustry Association of New Zealand, Inc., with the help of various commercial organizations and Government departments,it will display equipment and demonstrate techniques. Further information can be obtained from The Secretary, AgriculturalAviation Show, P.O. Box 614, Palmerston North, New Zealand. This highly characteristic photograph of a D.H.9A accompanied the letter (col. I) from Mr. J. T. Bennett. It shows a machine of No. 30(B) Sqn. over Hinaidi, Iraq, in 1928. this suppression of captured information may not have been sucha bright idea as it then appeared. For example, an original Z.W.B. wind-tunnel report which British troops removed from the Focke-Wulf library in Bremen probably had a sister copy sitting in a pigeon-hole at Augsburg, which the Americans appropriated whenthey overran Messerschmitts; and a third example of this report was no doubt picked up by the Russians when they examined theD.V.L. archives at Berlin/Adlershof. So in all probability, both the Russians and ourselves started off pretty parallel in the use ofbasic German data, although of course, this argument is purely hypothetical. Now we come to 1956—only to discover that this "restricted"attitude towards wartime German research still prevails. Of the many thousands of reports, on all manner of aeronautical achieve-ment in the fields of jet and rocket propulsion, guided weapons, and countless other sundry developments, not to mention literallytons of Luftwaffe staff and operational records, plus a good few roomfuls of P.O.W. interrogation reports—out of all this massof priceless documentation, there has come from Her Majesty's Stationery Office perhaps two hundred reports in the C.I.O.S.,F.I.A.T. and B.I.O.S. range. Of this pitifully small number, some are so badly presented as to be virtually unreadable, whilstinnumerable mistakes, which can only be attributed to carelessness, mar a goodly proportion of the remainder. As the Soviet Union is repatriating many of the technicians whoworked on a number of these developments, would it not be an opportune moment for the Government also to throw a little lighton this subject, by allowing interested persons to examine those official reports which have now been classified for over elevenyears? I cannot see how security can be raised as an objection, when the Russians are themselves releasing the authors of manyof the original documents from which our own official reports were prepared. London, W.4. RICHARD P. BATESON, German Aviation Research Group Of Air-Britain. June 22-24.June June 23. 23. June 23-24.June June June June 24. 28-30. 29-July 1. 29- July 13. June June July JulyJuly July July July July July July July JulyJuly JulyJuly JulyJuly Sept. 30-July 1. 30-July 2. 6-14. 7-9.14-15. 14-15. 14-25. 15. 15. 18-22. 21. 21. 21. 22. 22. 28. 28. 28-30. . 3-9. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Royal Netherlands Aero Club: Air Tour of Holland.R.N. Air Electrical School, Worthy Down, Winchester: At Home.EUtree Flying Club: At Home and Flying Display. Fiumicine Airport, Rome; Opening and Display.Royal Netherlands Aero Club: Seventh Competition for Free Balloons, Nijmegen, Holland. Aero Club of Massa Apuania: Air Rally. Pescara Aero Club: Fourth Annunzio Trophy. World Gliding Championships, St. Yan, France. Aero-Club de Basse Normandie: Ninth Air Rally. Royal Aero Club: Private Rally, La Baule.OSTIV: Sixth Congress, St. Yan. Royal Aero Club: Private Rally, Deauville.Aero Clubs of Trento and Bolzano: Eighth International Tour of the Dolomites.Dusseldorf Aero Club: Air Rally. International Gliding Competition, for the Coupe JacquesCoeu. Bourges. Royal Belgian Aero Club: International Gliding Competi-tion, Namur. R.Ae.S.: Garden Party, Wisley.Venice Aero Club: International Aeronautical Exhibition. R.Ae.C: National Air Races, Third Round (includingKing's Cup Race), Baginton, Coventry. R.N.A.S. Lossiemouth: At Home:R.N.A.S. Anthorn: At Home.: Northamptonshire Aero Club: At Home.Yorkshire Aeroplane Club: At Home. R.N.A.S. Yeovilton: At Home.R.N.A.S. Culdrose: At Home. Livorno Aero Club: Air Rally. S.B.A.C. Display, Farnborough ("Public" days, 7th,8th, 9th).
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