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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0165.PDF
8 February 1957 167 SHIPS OF THE LINE: Only lately released by the Admiralty, though taken about a year ago, this official photograph shows a faultless echelon by Hawker (Armstrong Whit- worth) Sea Hawks of No. 811 Squadron, H.M.S. "Centaur." The carrier visible in the picture is H.M.S. "Albion." director and general manager of Hawker (Blackpool), Ltd., toldemployees that unless the Government could place a major project at Blackpool almost immediately the factory would have to be rundown. In the company statement, which described the Squires Gatepremises as "the biggest single aircraft production unit in Europe, employing nearly 4,000 people," it was said that withdrawal ofwork to Kingston would result in "heavy progressive redundancy" at Blackpool, beginning almost at once and building up over thenext few months. Questioned in the House of Commons about redundancy in theaircraft industry following defence cuts, the Minister of Labour said he recognized that the position had deteriorated recently andhe was watching it carefully. An all-party deputation from Black- pool Town Council has been formed to meet the Minister ofSupply for discussions on how to avert redundancy at Squires Gate. The Swedish Government order for 96 Hunters, of which about74 have been built, is to be completed at Blackpool. The Gloster Aircraft Co., Ltd., are to dismiss 700 employees byJune this year—not 1,300 as originally estimated—because no further orders for the Javelin have been received. New American Missiles T>ROBABLY no other field of endeavour is developing more-"- rapidly than that which includes guided weapons, automatic control, research test vehicles and kindred devices. SeveralAmerican developments have been cleared from "security" during the past week, and the following notes can be regarded as asupplement to the special missile issue published by us on December 7 last. One of the oldest American weapon programmes still activeis that for the Rascal, by the Bell Aircraft Corporation, of Buffalo. Originally styled pilotless bomber XB-63, it is now designatedGAM-63, or guided air missile. It consists essentially of a simple Mach 1.5 airframe driven by a Bell triple-barrel (aluminium-alloy chambers) rocket, and filled with propellants, inertial and star-tracking guidance and a nuclear warhead. A picture (p. 177)shows the forward control surfaces and rear wings and trimmers, all of which are double-wedge sections of trapezoidal plan-form.The fuselage is fat for a supersonic vehicle. Rascal has been launched from B-47s since 1953 and is nowin full Strategic Air Command service with that aircraft and the B-36 and 52. Range is up to 100 miles and reliability and generalbehaviour are good. This is to be expected from a weapon whose roots go right back to the original Bell X-l. Also shown on page 177 is a fearsome-looking aircraft-like vehicledesignated X-10 which North American Aviation built in 1952-3 to gather data for Navaho. The latter is now emerging as a100,000ft-cruise, Mach-4, intercontinental bombardment weapon driven by two 48in ramjets. The X-10 was less ambitious andin its original form, as shown, was powered by nothing better than a pair of afterburning Westinghouse J40 turbojets. Curious features include the 60-deg delta foreplane and rear-mounted wing, the kinked vee-tail surfaces with enlarged root sections and the unexpected post (probably an aerial) above thefuselage. Even X-10 could reach well above 55,000ft and so the engineintakes were inclined downwards from the fuselage axis in order to recover maximum pressure at high angles of attack. ON TEST by the U.S. Navy at Point Mugu, Cal, is the Radioplane XKD4R-1 drone, powered by a rocket motor with nozzles at the wing trailing-edges. The whole rear end houses guidance and controls, and tracking and scorina gear fills the nose. The airframe, of moulded plastic, is small enough to be carried by a fighter. Some 25 of these airframes were flown from Edwards A.F.B.and the Missile Test Center at Patrick A.F.B. since 1954. Most were successfully recovered for re-use, since a conventionalundercarriage and brake 'chute were fitted for this purpose. Suffice to say that the true SM-64 Navaho bears littleresemblance to X-10. Fulfilling a similar function (data gathering), but for a moreadvanced weapon, is the Lockheed X-17. One of the first major products of Lockheed's Missile Systems Division, the X-17 is athree-stage, 12,000-lb research vehicle designed to reach to more than 300 miles' altitude. The third stage is a blunt-nosedassembly which simulates the warhead of an intercontinental ballistic missile on its re-entry to the atmosphere. Several X-17shave been successfully fired from Patrick A.F.B. Quite unlike the foregoing in technical character is Martin'sLacrosse (sometimes spelt La Crosse), a tactical weapon now being delivered in test-quantity to the U.S. Army. Developedby the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, Lacrosse has a solid rocket motor and can be fired in any weather from the vehicleillustrated. The all-weather capability is unusual in front-line missiles, and Lacrosse has demonstrated its ability to hitarmoured vehicles, strong points and the like with uncommon pre- cision. Further details were published in our December 7 issue. Italians at Paris IN the news again are two projects by the Italian Agusta companyof Cascina Costa, Gallarate—projects of which very little has been heard since the 1955 Paris Show. The two machines area large (14-passenger) helicopter and the Agusta-Zappata AZ-8L —a 22/26-passenger low-wing monoplane feeder-liner, poweredalternatively by four Alvis Leonides or four S.N.E.C.M.A. 12S inverted vee-twelve air-cooled engines. Maximum weight andcruising speed were given respectively as 23,810 lb and 252 m.p.h. Neither of these machines has yet flown, but now it is reportedthat "every effort" is being made to have them ready for the Paris Show (May 24-June 2). The Agusta company has now completed the first Bell 47J heli-copter made under licence. It will almost certainly be in the show.
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