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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1095.PDF
17 August 1956 241 Mr. Geoffrey Hall first joined the company in 1925 as a 19-year-old apprentice. In 1928 he went to Rolls-Royce, Ltd., where he became an experimental test and development engineerand was closely connected with work on the "R" type engine for the Schneider Trophy aircraft. (Twenty-seven years later he wasto lead the team which gained for Great Britain the current world's speed record of 1,132 m.p.h. with the Fairey Delta 2.) In 1932he rejoined the Fairey Aviation Company and successively held appointments as flight development engineer, assistant chiefengineer, chief development engineer, chief research engineer, and manager of the research and armament development division. In1949 he was appointed the director in charge of engineering for the whole company, and in January 1955 assistant managing director. Mr. Hall learned to fly with the London Aeroplane Club atStag Lane in 1928, and holds a current licence. In 1946 he completed a helicopter course and flew solo on the Sikorsky R-4. An S-58 in England ^ f. •• FOR the aeronautically minded visitor, if not for the generalpublic, the outstanding item at the Lee-on-Solent R.N. Air Day—reported on p. 269—was a demonstration of a SikorskyS-58, the first to come to this country. It arrived at the end of June, and has since been at Lee-on-Solent and at the Yeovil worksof Westland Aircraft, where it is to be used for trials with a Napier Gazelle free-turbine helicopter engine. This will form part of thedevelopment programme of the Westland Wessex. The company's chief test pilot, W. H. ("Slim") Sear, flew theS-58 at Lee-on-Solent. It was finished in F.A.A. helicopter colours—dark grey upper surfaces, and light grey below—andbore the Naval serial XL722. With the 1,525 h.p. Wright Cyclone (about twice the power ofa Whirlwind's usual unit) emitting a smooth, even roar—the sound was quite un-helicopter-like—Sear first demonstratedsome high speeds, steep turns and general manoeuvrability, his most spectacular evolutions being zooms at an angle that lookedsteeper than 45 deg. Then he made a vertical (fuselage horizontal) climb to about 2,000ft, the helicopter going up like a high-speedlift. From this he descended in autorotation, simultaneously side- slipping steeply to right and left.By comparison with, say, the Whirlwind, the S-58 is a shapely aircraft, and it is this, perhaps, that gives the illusion of its beingfar smaller than it actually is (fuselage overall length is 47ft 2in, and the diameter of the four-bladed rotor 56ft). At Lee-on-Solentone was suddenly made aware of its real size when, taking part in the setpiece "battle," it landed and disgorged 18 fully armedMarines. (Useful load is, we believe, over 5,000 lb.) The S-58's speed capabilities are underlined by a report fromWashington last week, which said that the U.S. Army was claim- ing three helicopter world speed records with an S-58 (Armydesignation H-34): 141.9 m.p.h. over a 100-km closed circuit (62.137 miles); 136 m.p.h. over 500 km (310.685 miles); and132.6 m.p.h. over 1,000 km (621.37 miles). World Parachuting Championship HTHE Third World Parachuting Championship took place at•*• Tushino aerodrome, Moscow, between July 29 and August 4. Altogether, ten countries including the United States competed inwhat was the most difficult competition yet held. The competition consisted of four different tests. The firstwas a jump of 600 m (1,965ft) with immediate parachute opening THE NEWEST THING in American private-owner twins is the Beech- craft Badger, which cruises at about 200 m.p.h. on the power of two 788 h.p. Lycoming engines. First deliveries should be made next year. FOR ASSAULT: In this first published view of the Fiat G.91 light ground-attack aircraft for NATO, which made its initial flight last Thursday week at Turin/Caselle, judicious airbrushing by Fiat has hidden details of panelling, armament and wing section. Jigging has been set up for a pre-production batch of 27 of these Bristol- Orpheus-powered aircraft. General layout is reminiscent of the F-86D. and a spot landing. Second was a jump from 1,500 m (4,850ft) withfree fall in a swallow-diving attitude for 20 sec followed by a spot landing. Third was a jump from 2,000 m (6,515ft) with twofigure-of-eight flat turns during the free fall, followed by parachute opening at 30 sec. The final test was a team jump in which eachteam attempted to group their landings as close as possible to the centre of the ground marker cross. The general standard of parachuting was extremely high,and many of the competitors actually landed with their feet on the cross. The parachutists were required to make two jumps ineach part of the test, and the Czechoslav girl Jozefa Maksova averaged 3.28 m (10.75ft) from the centre of the cross for herjumps from 600 m. Parachutists flew with their own pilots in Russian AN-2biplanes, and each aircraft carried a Russian pilot in the second seat. Visiting competitors reported that this aircraft—used inthe U.S.S.R. for many purposes—proved ideal for both static-line and free-fall parachuting. On the final day of the competition, Russia, which had beenleading up to this point, became the victim of a sudden change of wind direction, which landed the Soviet team outside the scoringarea. Czechoslovakia—hard on their heels—now went ahead to gain five of the first six places for the men's individual class, firstplace in the women's class and the first team position. Final results were: — World Champion, Gustav Koubek, 1701.6 points; 2nd, LeopoldOzabal, 1688.3; 3rd, Jaroslav Jehlicka, 1666.4. Women's Individual Championship.—1st, Jozefa Maksova (Czecho-slovakia), 1726.1; 2nd, Valentina Seliverstova (U.S.S.R.), 1716.7; 3rd, Galina Mouchina (U.S.S.R.), 1646.7.Women's Teams.—1st, U.S.S.R.; 2nd, Czechoslovakia; 3rd, Bulgaria. Men's Teams.—1st, Czechoslovakia; 2nd, U.S.S.R.; 3rd, Bulgaria. Hypersonics Anonymous "CROM New Orleans, in a report of a speech there by General•T D. R. Ostrander, director of development at the U.S.A.F. Air Research and Development Command, comes the first "inside"news yet given of Lockheed work on the so-called I.C.B.M. (intercontinental ballistic missile) development programme. General Ostrander mentioned a new "hypersonic" missile pro-duced by the Missile Systems Division of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, describing it as a vehicle for research into the prob-lems of bringing the I.C.B.M. back into the earth's atmosphere from outer space.Within seconds of the rocket-powered device being fired, the missile (its name has not been revealed) will pass out through theearth's atmosphere and penetrate the isnosphere. After reaching an undisclosed maximum altitude it will fall back into theatmosphere, carrying data which will help to determine the suita- bility of various types of airframe structure, and the best shapesfor the nose. FOUR OUTSTANDING ISSUES OF "FLIGHT" TWO years ago we first introduced a special numberof Flight in which the scope and achievements of the aircraft industries of the British Commonwealth werereviewed and illustrated. The issue, and another which followed it last year, was welcomed both at home andoverseas, and it will be repeated this year. This greatly enlarged number, forming a valuable means of refer-ence to aircraft and component firms in Canada, Australia and other areas, will appear next Friday,August 24. It will be appropriately followed by the annual Britain's Aircraft Industry Number (August 31)—the biggest yet published—and then by the Farn- borough Report and Farnborough Review issues.
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