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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1809.PDF
FLIGHT, 21 December 1956 , 973 CROYDON TO CAPRI ... > are so near the airport that to climb them on course was not \ c£?Jtm^1?r?Posltlon' and I had t0 reso« to circling to reach4,500ft. The Rhone Valley is synonymous with the Mistral, which is a winter wind; but I was reminded of it because we had acracking headwind all the way up. We cleared the tops safely and left the river for a course that would lead us over Nevers andParis, for our next stop was Le Touquet. We identified two aerodromes en route, Cosne and Nevers. At the latter one wechanged course to port, but therein lies a story. We knew we must be near Nevers, but we could not see anything resemblingan aerodrome. I was becoming convinced that we must have overshot it, and that I should turn on to the new course straightaway. Imagine my feelings when, on looking immediately down past the front of the wing, I saw the edge of an aerodrome flit-ting past. I turned so that we could identify it, and from there on we had the mixture representative of many parts of France—fewgood landmarks for miles, chiefly open country scorned, except for aerodromes, by the half-million map. We went boring on until the Eiffel Tower came into view; weseemed to fly for ages before it grew bigger. I diverted to the west to look for Toussus, and to look for Toussus with certaintyone must find the Palace of Versailles; we did. Toussus informed us that conditions at Le Touquet were "fair," but after the Italianweather it looked grim, with clouds whipping past at 1,000ft. The wind at Toussus was 18 kt, and 25 kt at Le Touquet. I knew therun from Toussus to the west, and it seemed like home. After Abbeville we were soon over our destination, where they informedus that the short runway was in use, and that the wind was gusting to over 30 kt. The Messenger fooled the wind by demonstratingits helicopterlike qualities over the runway, and before we touched down daintily much throttle had to be used. Our problem now was one of daylight. We had less than anhour left, and our pecuniary embarrassment could not face another night away from home. I warned the lads to stay near the aircraftin anticipation of a scalded-cat performance if met. gave anything Mr. Norman Bennett, one of the author's three passengers, seen with the aircraft at Cannes. reasonable. They did, and we made record time in getting offagain. We headed straight across the Channel after circling to 2,000ft—the cloud-base—but the haze plus the setting sun madeit difficult to see the compass, which in the Messenger lies in a little cubby hole in the dashboard. Together with a fair-sizedair bubble in the compass the needle seemed determined to swing, and I set the gyro-compass, only to find what I knew—after avery short time it revolved rapidly (Bell had pinpointed this early on, as a blockage in the pipelines). At this juncture we spied aFreighter overhead on course from Le Touquet to Dungeness, and it needed little deduction to figure out that it was going to Lydd.We crossed the 48 miles of sea in 25 minutes, and I was more than happy to see quite good visibility inland. I contacted Croydon at five miles' range to find that the windwas only 4 kt. We landed at 8.25 p.m. after a day of eight-and-a- half hours' flying. We had flown for a total of 29 hours in the twelve days, coveringjust over 3,000 miles. At five pounds an hour for flying time only, the cost was £36 each. In conclusion, given a reliable aeroplanewith a good range and suitable maps—which, if the Alps are envisaged, must be four miles to the inch or less-—no ordinary clubpilot need feel chary about aiming at destinations beyond Paris. 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. Early GuidanceY OUR special Guided Missiles issue of December 7 was anotherFlight winner, and even though the latest British weapons were debarred by "security" your review was reassuring in that itshowed that somebody in this country is keeping track of foreign techniques. Your reference to Professor A. M. Low's 1915-18 effort as "thefirst guided missile" is no doubt correct; but I recall that a short story of H. G. Wells, published before the turn of the century,described a model flying machine which was directed (if my memory serves) "by Marconi waves." It was not intended asa weapon; the inventor was playing safe before constructing and flying a full-scale version. London, W.I. W. H. JONES. Varsity VariantI WAS most interested to read the letter from Ch. H. Paris(Flight, November 16) relating to the Vickers Varsity VK 501 which we recently converted to full passenger and airline standardfor King Hussein of Jordan. As your correspondent rightly points out, the conception of theV.C.3 was taken from the basic Varsity design, which was just coming into production at the time the V.C.3 was considered.The main structural difference between the V.C.3 conception and the Varsity appears to us to have been in respect of the under-fuselage pannier and bomb aimer's position, and during the con- version of VK 501 we removed this and inserted in the mainfuselage a further two freight holds and an additional freight- loading door. Comparison of the artist's impression of the V.C.3and a photograph of VK 501 in flight, with the pannier removed, shows that structurally the aeroplanes are now practically identical,apart from the positioning of the main cabin door and emergency exits. By removing the pannier we were able to improve thecruising speed of VK 501 by some three knots. It is interesting to compare the performance figures of thisaircraft with similar types in service today, such as the Viking, Dakota and Convair, and newer types, such as the Herald and theFokker Friendship. As a result of exhaustive trials which we carried out on VK 501 we established the following facts: (1) Itmeets the latest I.C.A.O. requirements, and it would take off and land in a field length less than that normally used for a Dakota—both at all-up weight. (2) It cruises at over 200 m.p.h. and records a nautical air miles per gallon figure of 1.75, cruising at36,500 lb. (3) The general performance characteristics suggest that the present all-up weight of 37,500 lb, as approved for theR.A.F., could well stand a considerable increase and still comply with the latest I.C.A.O. requirements. (4) With 36 passengersand full baggage allowance, the aircraft should have a comfortable range of 600 n.m., with reserves. (5) Given a fuel tankage of1,100 Imp. gal, with a reasonable payload, it would have a range of some 2,000 miles. (6) Stalling speed, with the aircraft handlingvery satisfactorily, and with 47 per cent flap, undercarriage down and 2,400 r.p.m., at zero lb boost, was as low as 53 kt—a remarkableachievement for an aircraft of this weight and speed. Since the work was carried out we have seen a copy of theV.C.3 civil-transport specification (dated March 1950), and find that our conversion almost exactly conforms to it. It seems unfor-tunate that the original conception could not have been carried through and thus, at the appropriate time, have met the world-wideneed for a suitable Dakota/Viking replacement. Camberley, Surrey. P. C. F. MORGAN,Managing Director, Eagle Aircraft Services, Ltd. Fate of a Lancasterr was interesting to read about the Lancaster B.7 RT690 incorrespondence from R. Newton in the issue dated December 7, and that it was being dismantled at R.A.F. Wroughton for trans-port to Weedon. However, on the morning of the 7th, while en route from Bovingdon to Blackbushe by road, I saw a QueenMary with the outer wing sections of RT690 on board, passing through Slough, heading towards London and presumablyWeedon. Hemel Hempstead, Herts. A. PEARCY. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Jan. 3. R.Ae.S.: Young Peoole's Lecture: "Experiences of on Air- line Pilot," by Capt. 0. P. Jones, C.V.O., O.B.E., A.F.R.Ae.S. 5. British Interplanetary Society: "Astronomy and Earth Satellites," by M. W. Ovenden, M.A., B.Sc, Ph.D., F.R.A.S. 8. R.Ae.S.: Section Lecture: "Significance of Flow Separation in Three Dimensions," by E. C. Masked, A.F.R.Ac.S. TO. R.Ae.S.: Presidential Address by E. T. Jones, C.B., O.B.E., F.R.A* V R.Ae.S. Branch Fixtures (to Jan. 10):— Jan. 8, Boscombe Down, "Defence Policy," by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John C. Slessor. Jan. 9, iufon, Debate; Weybridqe, Brains Trust Jan. 10, Bristol, "Design Problems of Modern Wind Tunnels," by R. Hills. Jan. Jan. Jan.
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