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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0856.PDF
856 FLIGHT THE AERONAUTICAL BOOKSHELF "The Proving Flight," by David Beaty. Martin Seeker andWarburg, Ltd., 7 John Street, London, W.C.I. Price 14s. THE author of this book was a B.O.A.C. pilot who had madesome 160 north- and mid-Atlantic crossings before leaving the Corporation in 1953. He quite obviously knows his facts (exceptthat he consistently spells Idlewild wrongly) when dealing with the technicalities of flying a large airliner, and he can make thesetechnicalities interesting and easily understandable to the layman. He takes some liberties with syntax and tends to attribute animatequalities to inanimate objects. But the whole adds up to an absorbing story of a new airliner's east-west Atlantic provingflight, and there are some genuinely exciting moments. The characters come to life, and the author has a happy flair fordescription; sky and sea, night flying and the tenseness of difficult weather conditions—all are vivid and colourful. "Aircraft Year Book, 1955," edited by Fred Hamlin andEleanor Thayer Miller. Lincoln Press, Inc., 1143 National Press Building, Washington 4, D.C., U.S.A. Illustrated. $6.00. "CCIENCE led aviation literally out of this world in 1955. Top^ story of the year was the announcement by President Eisenhower that plans had been approved to launch a small,unmanned, earth-circling satellite. Anti-gravitation studies were launched by Martin and Convair, and widespread research wentforward toward overcoming the thermal barrier by use of cermets —part metal and part non-metal—super-alloys and titanium." Earth satellites we can understand; but anti-gravitational studies—expanded in a later reference to "anti-gravity devices based on electromagnetic field physics"—have been the most illogicalstandby of second-rate science fiction writers for so long that to find them included as serious research projects in this new editionof the U.S. Aircraft Industries Association's Year Book is a little disconcerting. Here, indeed, is promise of an end to runwayproblems and of power that will remove the term "escape velocity" from the space-man's dictionary. Yet Aircraft YearBook is no crystal ball, but a serious and invaluable volume of 479 pages, packed with hard facts and figures concerning everyaspect of U.S. aviation. If you want to know the average hourly earnings of workers inthe U.S. aircraft industry over the past three years, the number of amphibians built each year since 1937, the number of civilaircraft registered in Oklahoma or the number of miles per day flown by 25 Martin 2-0-2s in service with U.S. airlines, theanswers are all here. Many figures are impressive. With 750,000 employees, U.S. aviation is second only to the automobile indus-try in size. It turned out 3,242 civil aircraft in the first eight months of 1955 to swell the total number of civil-registeredAmerican aircraft to the incredible total of 92,067, of which 22,000 are "business planes" and 200 are helicopters used mainlyfor patrol and survey work. No matter how thoroughly one absorbs the aviation news,Aircraft Year Book comes along each spring with a host of sur- prises—and this goes for the illustrations as well as the text. Apicture of a "rocket propelled research test model fired at super- sonic speed over Atlantic Ocean" shows a straight-winged inter-cepter-like aircraft, with area rule body and wing-mounted engines, that looks far from hypothetical. Even historically-minded readers are catered for, with rare views of the Le Pere biplane which set up a 1920 altitude record, the ConsolidatedPT-1 trainer which replaced the "Jenny" in 1926, and the Barling bomber. Here, in fact, is the answer to every question but one—dothe scientists working on anti-gravity devices tie themselves to the floor as protection against sudden success? "The Viking Rocket Story," by Milton W. Rosen. Faber and Faber, Ltd., 24 Russell Square, London, W.C.I. Illustrated. Price 21s. p published in the United States a year ago and now••- appearing in this British edition, Mr. Rosen's book gives a remarkably detailed account of the programme which his upper-atmosphere research group has been carrying through since early 1946, first with ex-German V-2 rockets and then with the Vikingseries made by Glenn Martin and engined by Reaction Motors. Mr. Rosen is well qualified to tell the story. A member of theU.S. Naval Research Laboratory's staff since 1940, and a director of the American Rocket Society, he was chairman of the Society'scommittee which first proposed Project Vanguard—the forthcom- ing earth-satellite experiment; he is now technical director ofthat project. In his book he has succeeded admirably in reconciling all thoseliterary qualities—historical and technical detail, character-draw- ing, descriptions of dramatic incidents—which in the hands of somany writers are mutually destructive of one another. There is no acknowledgement of collaboration in the work, and if the writing is, in fact, Mr. Rosen's own, he has very nearly mistaken his vocation. Though the tense atmosphere of the various firings—the un- spoken feeling that disaster is hovering just around the corner— is never allowed to obtrude on the objective narrative, it is inevitably this that makes the greatest impact on the reader. There was, for instance, Viking 10, which had suffered rather more than the usual share of pre-launching snags. At last all was ready for the count—down : •— " 'Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero!'"Hardin pushed the firing switch, the plug dropped from the rocket's nose, and the turbine exhaust belched forth a stream of ominous blacksmoke. Suddenly, without warning, in less than a second, a terrific blast smote the blockhouse as the rocket's tail seemed to disintegrate. Whitesteam, orange flames and gleaming metal shot out from uie tail in an explosion of unbelievable violence. Then a great ball of flame rose fromthe tail and enveloped the rocket. " 'Misfire! The rocket's on fire! No shoot, the rocket is burning.'"When he saw the explosion, Hardin, without hesitation, threw the firing switch to cut-off. Schlechter ordered the carbon dioxide and allwater sprays on. Then he turned to Pitts and said, 'The rocket is out of our control. It belongs to the firemen now.' "The four giant fog nozzles at the edge of the launching mat, eachone pointed at the base of the rocket, were turned on. The water came out with agonizing slowness, trickling toward the flaming rocket. When,finally, the full force of the spray hit the tail, a great cloud of steam obliterated the area."But half an hour later, though the 42ft missile stood whole in its launching gantry, a small fire still burned at its base; and inthe tanks above were nearly 6,000 1b of liquid oxygen, over 5,000 1b of alcohol and, to drive the turbine to pump this fuel tothe 20,990 lb-thrust motor, nearly 400 lb of hydrogen peroxide. Two courageous men left the blockhouse and, taking a hoseright up to the fire, at last extinguished it. Then it was noticed that the alcohol leak which had been feeding the fire in the tailwas slowly draining the tank and causing its thin skin to wrinkle, for the electrically controlled valves were inoperative. A fewminutes more and the tank would collapse altogether, showering two tons of alcohol over the still red-hot motor. It was decided to shoot a hole in it:—". . . but Joe had anticipated us and we met him coming out with a carbine slung over his shoulder." 'All personnel clear the launching area. Retreat to the blockhouse,' the warning came over the loud-speakers. "One-forty. Pitts, Smith, Schlechter and I were huddled behind aconcrete barricade fifty yards south-west of the rocket. Smith defined a point eight inches below the top of the tank where he wanted the bulletplaced. Pitts rested the gun barrel on a slit in the barricade, took careful aim, and fired. A small black hole appeared high on the sideof the rocket exactly where Smith had wanted it. Suddenly, the bottom half of the tank became smooth, and a few moments later the upper halfsprung out. A great cheer went up from the blockhouse—the tank had been saved." And so Viking No. 10, too. was saved, to be repaired and eventually fired to an altitude of 136 miles. Fifty-odd fine photographs and some useful diagrams illustrate Mr. Rosen's book. OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED Measurement of Responsibility, by Elliott Jaques. Tavistock Publications, Ltd., 2, Beaumont Street, London, W.I. Price 15s. Tables of Weber Parabolic Cylinder Functions, computed by Scientific Computing Service, Ltd. H.M. Stationery Office, York House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2. Price £3 3s. Geographie de la Circulation Aerienne, by Eugene Pepin.Gallimard, 5, rue Sebastien-Bottin, Paris VIHe. Let's Learn to Fly, by Arnold Warren. Sir Isaac Pitman andSons, Ltd., 39 Parker Street, London, W.C.2. Price 18s. Rockets and Guided Missiles, by John Humphries, B.Sc,A.M.I.Mech.E., A.F.R.Ae.S. Ernest Benn, Ltd., Bouverie House, Fleet Street, London, E.C.4. Price 30s. Aviation Directory of Canada, published by Aircraft Magazine,341, Church Street, Toronto 2, Ontario, Canada Price $5.0. Darn Haven, by F. T. K. Bullmore. Jonathan Cape, 30 Bedford Square, London, W.C.2. Price 15s. Born to Fly, by Georges Blond. Souvenir Press, Ltd., 81 Peters Court, London, W.2. Price 16s. Theory of Combustion Instability in Liquid Propellant Rocket Motors, by Luigi Crocco and Sin-I Cheng. Butterworth Scientific Publications, 88 Kingsway, London, W.C.2. Price 37s 6d (in U.S.A. $5.25). Fighter Pilot, by W/C. Paul Richey, D.F.C. Hutchinson and Co. (Publishers), Ltd., 178-202, Great Portland Street, London, W.I. Price 10s 6d.
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