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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1213.PDF
FLIGHT, 31 August 1956 Powerplant Span ...Length Photograph Rolls-Royce Avon27ft 52ft and drawing show F.D.2. bombs. It is known, however, that the Gannet can carry the most up-to-date "A.S."weapons, including homing torpedoes. The operational trainer version of the Gannet is designated T.2 and has been developedto provide advanced training for crews in weapon and engine handling. The pupil is seated, with the instructor, in the second cockpit, wherein all controls are duplicated. As a com-munications aircraft the T.2 can be flown with a radio operator and two passengers aft. A radar early-warning version of the Gannet is under development. F.D.2. As this is written the F.D.2 delta-wing research aircraft (pilot, Peter Twiss, D.S.C.)holds the world's speed record of 1,132 m.p.h. set up on March 10 last. This figure exceeds by no less than 37 per cent the previous record established by a North American SuperSabre of the U.S.A.F. The F.D.2, two examples of which are flying, is powered by a single Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet with reheat. Appraising the F.D.2 and its astounding achieve-ment, the Technical Editor wrote in Flight of March 23: "Initial F.D.2 work came to fruition in 1950-1. The first concept of the aircraft was that it should be a transonicresearch machine, but it was deliberately given the thinnest possible wing for possible exploration beyond the 'sonic barrier.' To a great extent the company were working inthe dark, and tunnel hours went into four figures before the shape was finalized. Particularly heavy design-loads were imposed by the undercarriage stowage (solved by employing asophisticated design in very-high-tensile steel, the provision of duplicated powered controls (without manual reversion), the necessity to employ very thick skins and heavy forgings,and the need to carry fuel in the razor-like wing (which, in fact, has yet to show a leak)." The record is a tribute not only to the F.D.2's superb aerodynamic and structural designbut, in particular, to its excellence of control and the flying skill of its pilot, for the con- ditions under which the flights were observed were stringent in the extreme. Perhaps the most astonishing design feature of the F.D.2 is the hydraulic hinging of thefuselage behind the cockpit, permitting the nose to be lowered, drawbridge-wise, to provide the pilot with sufficient view on landing. The control surfaces comprise ailerons, elevatorsand rudder, all being fully powered by Fairey Hydroboosters. Rotodyne. Fairey's new helicopter, which at a gross weight of some 39,000 lb will be oneof the largest and heaviest in the world, is a new kind of air-transport vehicle. It combines the best of both fixed- and rotary-wing worlds, and its capabilities may be visualized fromthe fact that it is a machine of 3,000 cu ft unobstructed capacity and a five-ton payload, capable of rising and descending vertically as well as of flying level as fast as, or faster than,a Douglas DC-3. The essence of this remarkable aircraft is a single lifting rotor, a fixed wing and twoairscrews, driven by two Napier Eland turboprops. Each Eland is arranged to feed com- pressed fresh air to the rotor. At take-off nearly all the power is absorbed in supplying therotor with this air, which feeds kerosine-burning pressure jets at the tips of the four blades. Forward movement is then achieved by tilting the rotor axis, until, at about 100 kt, poweris gradually transferred to the airscrews. The Rotodyne is then cruising solely on the thrust of the latter, with the rotor auto-rotating. This process is reversed for landing. The 90ft four-blade rotor is worthy of special mention. Because of temperature con-siderations, it is made entirely of steel, and the design is such that its life will be at least equal to that of the rest of the airframe. Rotor speed can be varied independently of enginer.pjn., since, of course, there is no mechanical coupling, and yaw control is by differential use of airscrew pitch by means of a special rudder-pedal lirkage. Standard seat rails are provided in the cabin for 10 or 11 rows of four seats at 36in pitch,
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