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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1334.PDF
486 FLIGHT The outside static exhibition, SHOWGROUND . . . "Flight" photograph en looking towards the R.A.E.'s balloon sheds. will, on a single dial, indicate I.A.S. inknots and the equivalent Mach number according to the aircraft's height. Minia-ture percentage r.p.m. gauges and tacho- meters, a miniature indicating accelero-meter, low- and high-range sensitive alti- meter, part of the range of Kelvin andHughes and Smiths instruments, were all presented on the stand. A particularlyuseful development is a sensitive altimeter which displays a prominent striped flagat any height below 10,000ft, thus virtu- ally eliminating the possibility of misread-ing the instrument by 10,000ft during a controlled descent. Another developmentis the Kelvin and Hughes stall and atti- tude detector device. Several types ofdetector are already available, but work is continuing on an angle of attack indica-tor which will be suitable for use under all conditions, and particularly for assess-ment of best cruising angle of attack. The Sperry Gyroscope Company, Ltd.,long famous for their work on flight instru- ments and autopilots, showed the newH.L.9 D.C.-operated artificial horizon and the A.L.30 autopilot. This latter is anadvanced version of the well-known A.L.3, and has been specified for the HandleyPage Herald, among other aircraft. The H.L.9, being D.C.-operated, is intendedto replace air-driven units in aircraft with- out A.C. systems, or as a stand-by whenthe main instruments are A.C.-operated. It conforms to the latest performancestandards. An interesting exhibit on the Sperry stand was a rig in which a standardproduction gyroscope was being used to stabilize a mirror which reflected a lightbeam on to a scale on the wall. While illus- trating the stability of the normal Sperrygyroscope, this also recorded the rotation of the earth. A standard R.A.F. Mk 4A artificial hori-zon was shown by Ferranti, together with the new F.H.7 miniature electric horizonfor use with integrated flight systems in modern civil and military aircraft. It has a3£-in S.A.E. case. Automatic levelling is a feature now offered to facilitate fast erec-tion after starting-up in order to relieve the pilot from using the fast-erection push-button when the gyro has previously run down while indicating more than 10 degroll or pitch. Two new exhibits on the Ferranti standwere their Mk 8 gyro gunsight, suitable for use with radar ranging, and the light-fighter gunsight. The latter was designed mainly for the Gnat and features a singlesighting graticule and a miniaturized control panel. The Mk 8 sight differs fromthe older standard R.A.F. gyro sight in haying an electric servo-controlled twist-grip ranging facility and a much smaller and neater control panel. Two tiny lights next to the glass sighting screen indicate radar lock-on and minimum range. AIRCRAFT EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES IT is remarkable to note the frequencywith which wholly new forms of airborne accessory-power make their appearance.In the past few years bleed-air, bleed- and-burn and ram-air-turbine systemshave all been developed to supplement the conventional engine-driven systems. Inaddition, the largest aircraft are some- times found to employ accessory systemsenergized by separate power units. An example of such an arrangement is theA.A.P.U. exhibited by Blackburn and General Aircraft, Ltd., in which thesource of power is an Artouste single- shaft gas turbine rated at about 450 h.p.at sea level. Teamed with a large alterna- tor, this equipment may go into produc-tion for a British bomber. A possible objection to such a systemis that the shaft-power falls off with alti- tude to an extent which—in aircraft withthe altitude ability of the V-bombers—can be considerable. Re-light or starting canalso be adversely affected. To provide power independent of altitude de Havil-land Engines have produced the first units in what will certainly become a veryimportant range of peroxide-turbine acces- sory drives. Such turbines are alreadyhighly developed in rocket-propellant pumps and in the D.H. peroxide starters,and they can provide very high power, low weight and bulk and good reliability; and,of course, as air is not required for com- bustion, the. sea-level output is held toany altitude. H.T.P. is already likely to be present in several future fighters anda few gallons of it is no embarrassment to a bomber. Lockheed-Hydraulic Brake Company,Ltd., showed a quick-acting, bayonet-type, self-sealing, stainless-steel, hermetically-sealed hydraulic connector. Various sizes between iin and lin are offered and ad-vantages are that high-pressure lines can be disconnected without seepage andthat the unit has a long life, is repairable and has a low cost. It is suitable forhydraulic ground-test connections and filler orifices located underneath oiltanks. Another item was a swivel coupling designed for pressures up to3,000 lb/sq in and having a low torque —6 to 7 lb/in at 1,500 lb/sq in. Rotax, Ltd., showed a comprehensiveselection of their equipment and their latest product, a 15 kVA turbo-alterna-tor. The glass-fibre spherical pressure accumulator, shown last year, has nowsuccessfully completed 5l),00u pressure cycles at 3,000 lb/sq in. Joseph Lucas (Gas Turbine Equip-ment), Ltd., presented a hydraulic trans- mission using a shaft-driven hydraulicpump driving a hydraulic motor at a re- mote location. This provides mechanicalremote drive without a continuous shaft. Sangamo Weston, Ltd., have an entirelynew icing detector device. It consists of three small components—a detector head,resistance bulb and integral control. Two probes positioned one behind the otherrelative to the airstream are placed in a location decided by the aerodynamicist.Both probes are heated but the rearward one is effectively shielded by the first.When moisture is present, the condensa- tion on the front probe causes a tempera-ture variation which is not experienced by the rearward probe. This temperatureout-of-balance is sensed and interpreted to give warning of icing conditions. F. G. Miles, Ltd., showed in picturesthe chassis of the Viscount 802 simulator they have built for Redifon, Ltd., theSwift F.R.5 and Javelin FAW.4 procedure training cockpits, and the cockpit shellfor an Air Trainers, Ltd, Hunter simu- lator. Air Trainers themselves illustrateda model of "a representative fighter flight simulator." Miles Structural Plastics, Ltd.: Latestproject is a 100-gallon phenolic asbestos drop tank, produced in prototype form forthe M.o.S., with which they have achieved a 10:1 nesting ratio for compact storage. The Solartron Electronic Group, Ltd.,exhibited a radar-simulator aircraft target control computor console which formspart of their radar simulator. This unit, which is available in various forms, usesactual radar circuits so that it is capable of simulating on the ground not only thestandard G.C.I, exercise, but also a variety of radio counter measures andother types of research projects. Mullard, Ltd., also showed a radarsimulator for G.C.I, training in conjunc- tion with a Metropolitan Vickers filmrecorder which could feed into the simu- lator's P.P.I, display a situation which hadactually occurred elsewhere. Graviner Manufacturing Co., Ltd.,had their Fire Wire coiled in rococo patterns on the back wall of their stand,and new devices shown were the Gravin- ette overheat switch which would oper-ate at temperatures from —70 deg C to + 250 deg C with an accuracy of +1 deg;Crashtrip elements for application to ex- ternal surfaces; explosion suppressionequipment operated by light; and an inertia crash switch for helicopters. This year R.F.D. Co., Ltd., presenteda new air target container designed in conjunction with theR.A.E.,Farnborough.Undergoing. Service trials is a dart target, 15ft long, made of wood and metal. Itconsists of a steel backbone fitted with cruciform tapered fins 12ft long and 4ftwide. Ballast in the tubular nose can be shifted to alter the e.g. It is suitable forsnatching off the ground or streaming from an aircraft in flight and can be towed atspeeds up to 450 kt I.A.S. THE EQUIPMENT EXHIBI- TION OUTDOORS TO the left of the long flight of stepsleading up to the indoor exhibition was grouped, out in the open and also withintwo covered arcades, the heavy hardware. Dominating all, both by reason qf their
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