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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1194.PDF
340 FLIGHT, 31 August 1956 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor of "Flight" is not necessarily in agreement with the views expressed by correspondents in these columns; the names and addresses of the writers, not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. Rotodyne Performance I WAS interested in the report on the Fairey Rotodyne in yourissue dated August 17, but I cannot accept without comment some of the statements in your leader regarding this interesting machine. You write that ". . . its direct operating costs should match those of the best fixed-wing aircraft." May I point out that a properly designed short-range fixed-wing aircraft can achieve direct operating costs in the region of Id per seat-mile on ranges in the region of 300-400 miles, rising to lid at 100 miles? Faireys themselves, according to the descriptive article, claim 2.8d at 100 miles and 2.4d at 300 miles for the Rotodyne. I do not know, of course, what utilization Faireys are using in their sums, but my own calculations are based upon 3,000 hours per year. Later you state that "Four such vehicles could handle all present traffic carried by public transport between London a,nd Edin- burgh." If this is true, so, surely, could the existing Viscount or Ambassador series. The difficulty is to persuade people to fly and, by and large, the only sure way to do this is to reduce the fares. You continue, "They could do startling things on the cross- channel routes with either passengers or vehicles." So far as I can see, the Bristol Freighter carries about the same payload at the same speed with about half the power and fuel and with con- siderably less complicated engineering to maintain. For your "airfield-starved islands," I agree that the Rotodyne could be very useful but, if it is merely vertical take-off and landing that are wanted as opposed to fairly prolonged hovering, I wonder whether a simple, fast aeroplane fitted with jet lift (d la bedstead) might not prove to be a lot less complicated and expensive. Faireys' idea for a rotor having the same life as the rest of the airframe is highly commendable; it touches the rawest spot in the helicopter's hide. I wonder, however, if it can really be done without a hideous weight-penalty. This would not matter, of course, on the sort of job for which the helicopter is ideally suited, but it might be economically disastrous for commercial transport work. Belfast. SLIPSTICK. [The author of our Rotodyne description comments: "Slip- stick" is overlooking the fact that this aircraft promises to offer an exceptional combination of virtues. His figure of l^d per seat- mile has not yet been achieved by any operator of 100-mile stages, even with Dakotas purchased at knock-down prices; it certainly would not be achieved by a jet-lift machine. With regard to the Edinburgh and Channel operations, an advantage of the Rotodyne would be its ability to fly direct from city centres or, if need be, from fields (as distinct from airfields) on the coast. Another point is that a steel rotor need not carry any weight penalty.—ED.] Numerical Superiority ^ British are noted, among other things, for our illogical system of weights and measures, and for the complexities of our coinage. Being a tolerant race we do not object when more enlightened peoples point out these and other anomalies in our way of life, but secretly we feel £ s d, in ft yd, oz lb cwt have an antique respectability that these jumped-up metrics lack. In any case, there are 10 florins to the pound and 100 pounds to a hundred- weight (near enough anyway), so why the fuss? We like our weights and measures as they are. Cumbrous, perhaps, but—like the nomenclature of our aircraft—somehow in keeping with the best national traditions. Take, for example, the Viscount. The multiplicity of its type-numbers (there are now about 50 to be memorized) is as truly impressive as the aircraft's order-book. For instance, the 77 ID and the 745D are not the designations allotted to the aircraft of the 71st and 45th purchasers of the 700D, which previous practice might imply, but are basic- ally 77ODs, which in turn is basically a 700D. Again, the Britannia 314 is the designation allotted to the aircraft bought by the third purchaser of the 310 (nee 300L.R.), although the Britannia 320 is the medium-range variant of the 310 and not the ninth customer-allocation of that type. And the 305 is not the fifrh allocation of the 300, but a 302 converted more or less to 310-standard. Let it not be forgotten, however, that Britain's first export to the U.S.A., shipped over by Mayflower in 1620, was our system of weights and measures. Admittedly the tons and gallons d;d not arrive in exactly the same condition as they were despatched; but, nevertheless, this export may have accounted for the attitude of mind which today manifests itself in a strong challenge to Britain's lead in the sphere of esoteric aeronautical nomenclature. We would do well to take careful account, for example, of America's Boeing 707, which has had a formidable array of type-numbers and names allotted to its variants—among them 717, 367-80, 120, 220, 320, KC-135, Stratoliner, and Inter- continental. Similarly, Convair's jet airliner has in turn been designated Model 22, Skylark 600, and Golden Arrow. [It is now the Convair 880—see p. 337—ED.J. The only people who do not seem to be playing the game are de Havilland. They just use 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., for each type-develop- ment, perhaps sticking on an A for each variant. Such simplicity makes things rather difficult for everyone. Ramsgate, Kent. A. BACUS. Sir Hazelton Nicholl: An Appreciation From A.V-M. Sir John W. Cordingley, K.C.B., C.B.B., R.A.F. (Retd.) 'T'HE recent death of A.V-M. Sir Hazelton Nicholl has saddened ••- the legion of his friends in and out of the Service. No R.A.F. officer was better loved by his fellows and by his men than Sir Hazelton during his long years of duty. How fitting that almost his last public service should have been the Controllership of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, from which he retired in 1947. In that post, Sir Hazelton was able to devote himself officially to the welfare of those of whom he had been ever mindful during his life as an officer on the active list. His term of office as Controller coincided with the end of hostilities and with the beginning of the expansion of this Fund's work. In retirement in Scotland, Sir Hazelton served as an Honorary County Representative and watched the Fund's annual expendi- ture on relief of distress rise to over £600,000 a year. Before he died more than £7,000,000 had been thus spent since the late Lord Trenchard founded the charity in 1919. If a memorial be needed to the kindest of men, this Fund can in some measure supply it. London, W.I. J. W. CORDINGLEY, Controller, The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. Fine Figure of a Woman TT is with some reluctance that I introduce sex into the en- -•- lightened field of technical journalism, but in your issue dated August 17, page 242, the sub-title reads "Blackburn's 'Gentle Giant' flexes his limbs." Now, by everything that is anatomical and nominal our Beverley is a girl, her limbs being long and slender, even if she displays a certain embonpoint elsewhere. Your report refers to the aircraft flying "a body of troops plus a Centurion." As a Centurion of today weighs some 45 tons I assume that the writer was employing the Roman usage— a leader of one hundred men. Or perhaps he meant "Centaurus, spare, Beverleys for the use of." Finally, on page 264 of the same issue, the author of "Talking Points" queries the weight of a helicopter hovering inside the freight compartment of a Beverley. We have proved in theory and established in practice that the rotor downwash on the freight floor imposes a load equal to \p V', where V is the component of combined vertical velocity relative to the tangential axis of horizontal rotation and p is the technical director. Brough, E. Yorks. M. G. K. BYRNE, Blackburn and General Aircraft, Ltd. Sent.Sept. Sept. Sept. Sept. Sept. Sept. Sept. Sept. Sept. Sept. Sept. SeDt. Sept. Sept. 1.3. 3-9, 5. 7-12. 8.10-16 15. 16. 17. 18-23 19-21 23. 25-29. 25. FORTHCOMING EVENTS * A.B.A.C.: "Summer Convention, Elstree.S.L.A.E.: "Protection Against Radiation Hazards in Aviation," by W/C. G. H. Dhenin, A.F.C., G.M., B.A.,M.B., B.Chir., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. S.B.A.C. Display, Farnborough ("Public" days, 7th,8th, 9th). Kronfeld Club: "Vrsac Gliding Centre, Yugoslavia," talkby members of the Surrey Gliding Club. French Grand Prix, France.R.A.F. Station, Silloth: At Home. ; - ; . I Battle of Britain Week.Battle of Britain Day. All Britain Model Aircraft Rally, Radlett.Aircraft Recognition Society: Lecture by Capt. O. P. Jones, O.B.E.. M.V.O. Aero Club of Italy: International Air Week. R.Ae.S. and Institute of Physics: Conference, Cranfield. Air Disptoy, Frankfurt. 2nd European Aeronautical Congress, Scheveningen. Society of Instrument Technology: "Accurate Calibration of Flowmeters," by E. A. Spencer, B.Sc.(Eng.), Ph.D., A.M.I.Mech.E., and A. T. J. Hayword.
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