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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1188.PDF
334 FLIGHT, 31 August 1956 FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . and Heinkel; and 194 Piaggio trainers, under Italian licence, byFocke-Wulf at Bremen, jointly with Professor Blume. This total of 671 does not include the order placed with Dornierssix months ago for 469 Do 27s, the first of which is expected to be delivered in October. The value of these 1,140 aircraft is£76m. Orders placed with German firms are mainly for airframes only.The majority of the engines required will be bought abroad. Submarine Flying-boat Tender 'T'HE U.S. Navy submarine U.S.S. Guavina, which has been-•- converted as a flying-boat tender 5 recently completed a week-long anti-submarine exercise off the coast of Florida, during which she acted as base vessel for four Martin P5M-2 Marlins. Capable of refuelling and reloading patrol flying-boats, Guavinaalso acted as operations centre and accommodated the 12 officers and 33 enlisted men of the aircraft crews. At night the aircraftwere moored in the open sea to buoys laid by the submarine. For loading operations a platform made of inflatable sealed binswas secured to the stern of the submarine. When partially filled with water the bins provided a pontoon bridge some 18in clearof the water. An obvious advantage of this type of operation is the elementof surprise that could be achieved with a combination of submarine and flying-boats if they arrived unexpectedly in an area whereno base was known to exist. The presence of the submarine base could also remain hidden if the submarine submerged at all timesexcept when actually servicing aircraft. The group could easily be moved from place to place, and no shore facilities would berequired. Topical Treatment PUBLISHED on the eve of the Show, and intended primarilyfor the non-trade visitor, Famborough Story* begins with even more adjectives per sentence than the well-remembered Farn-borough commentator's eulogy of the Princess flying-boat. But, in general, this "thrilling saga of the greatest show on earth" issoundly written. Chapter 1 sets the scene of the Display, and is followed bydescriptions of how the week is organized on the ground and in the air. Then comes a review of some of the more outstanding cur-rent British aircraft and of the jobs they are doing throughout the world: after which Chapter 5 takes the reader back 50 years totrace the history of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, which forms the backcloth to the display, and of some of its people. Finally,there is a glimpse of "The Years Ahead," complete with bedsteads, saucers and a perhaps-too-gloomy view of helicopters. The fact that one of the co-authors is a member of an aviationaccessories company may help to explain the joyous and oh-so- true account of the trials and tribulations that precede the appear-ance of a display stand at Farnborough. Certainly it explains the identity of the only Associate Member's stand that is illustrated. Typical of the little snippets of information that indicate thecareful research that has gone into Farnborough Story is that many of the more perishable items of food served in the exhibitors' res-taurant are stored in one of the R.A.E.'s wind tunnels, which has a large refrigerating capacity. Co-operation indeed! And,obviously, one of the many details which help to ensure the success of "a spectacle compounded of daring imagination, years of tire-less research, skilful piloting and superlative showmanship." *"Farnborough Story" by Roy McLeavy and Maurice F. Allward. Fetter Publications, Ltd., 109-110 Waterloo Road, London, S.E.I. Illustrated. Price 5s. FILTON CHALLENGERS 'T'HE Bristol Britannia, which has no need for modesty, has in-•- recent weeks been going out of its way to show itself off. As recorded in Flight August 10, the first Series 300, from whicha whole new family of faster, heavier-load Britannias will spring, made its maiden flight at the end of July. Its shapely, lengthenedform is portrayed in the Flight air-to-air pictures, secured from a Britannia 100, on this and the opposite page. The smaller pictures have as their common subject the tour ofthe U.S.A. and Canada just completed by a Series 100 aircraft, specially furnished, and painted in a striking colour scheme ofwhite-top, blue cleat-line and fin with transverse bars in maroon. Some 11,800 statute air miles had been covered by last Friday atan average ground speed of 320 m.p.h., and this with a series of flights that left a residual average adverse wind component of15 m.p.h. Since leaving Vancouver (we recorded its arrival there last week) the Britannia has visited San Francisco and flown on—bywayof Denver, Chicago and New York (where it gave three demonstra- tions)—to Miami, arriving at 2220 hr (G.M.T.) on Friday. The occasion of the American tour evoked from Bristol, as wasexpected, a strong statement of the case for the turboprop. Speak- "Flight" photograph (Right) The luxurious lounge in the Britannia American- demonstrator. (Opposite page, centre) Midnight at London Airport on August 12 as the aircraft taxied out for its maiden transatlantic voyage. (Opposite, bottom right) Key men on board were Capt. A. Meagher, B.O.A.C.; Mr. Peter Masefield, managing director of Bristol Aircraft; and Bill Pegg, Bristol's chief test pilot. (Opposite, bottom left) The Filton runway races past beneath a Britannia 100 tak- ing oft to enable "Flight" to secure the fine portraits of the crimson-and-white 301 aircraft below and opposite.
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