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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0224.PDF
226 FLIGHT CIVIL AVIATION . .* 5,9OOft to 7,000ft, and of erecting a modern new terminal build-ing. Should it, however, be found necessary to extend the run- way further to 10,000ft in 1^62, when the big jets will be in fulloperation, a deficit in 1963-4 of up to £52,000 may be expected. Some 75 per cent of the cost of the present 7,000ft runway-extension-work is being borne by the Ministry, who are contributing also to the new terminal building. All the airport'scommunications and A.T.C. services are provided by the Minis- try. It is thus unfair to suggest that Manchester makes no callon the national taxpayer; nevertheless this airport appears to be moving from the red into the black by careful accounting and bytight control of expenditure. NEW CHAIRMAN FOR T.A.A. IT is announced that Brigadier Warren d'Arcy McDonald hasbeen appointed chairman of Trans-Australia Airlines in succes- sion to Mr. C. P. N. Watt, C.B.E., who retired on February 11.The new chairman is a businessman with a distinguished soldiering record—during the last war he rose from private tobrigadier in six years. He is also chairman of McDonald Con- structions, Ltd. (one of Australia's largest engineering concerns)and on the Commission of the Australian National University. RECOMMENDED FOR IMPLEMENTATION A RESULT of the Caracas meeting last June was the formationof an I.C.A.O. "implementation" panel to consider the adequacy of existing aerodromes, communications and meteoro-logical services. At the completion of their January meeting in Paris the panel concluded that (a) services are generally satis-factory in most of northern and western Europe; (b) in southern Europe and eastern Mediterranean areas, the provision of faci-lities is not so complete, and in some countries "special efforts" may be necessary; (c) in the European-Mediterranean Regionground-to-ground communications require speeding-up—the panel have recommended measures to improve communications stationsand the training of personnel; (d) in the same regions, a more complete network of upper-air observation stations is required;and (e) a uniformly high standard of personnel training is needed for the maintenance and operation of air traffic control and com-munications services in Europe. GLOWING SIGNS AT L.A.P. ALL 228 boards marking the 100-odd numbered areas on Lon-- don Airport's concrete have been faced with Scotchlite, which by night strongly reflects even very weak and diffused light. Theboards assist both aircraft and radio-equipped vehicles to report their positions. Being made of sheet plastic they break easily ifstruck by aircraft, thus minimizing the risk of damage to the latter and they give no radar reflection. Scotchlite is made by theMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. BREVITIES AT the annual general meeting of the Guild of Air Traffic Con-• trol Officers held in London on February 9, Mr. Bernard F. Collins, M.B.E., was installed as Master of the Guild.* * * Manx Airlines are to operate this summer coach/air services between Glasgow and Belfast and Glasgow and the Isle of Man. * * * An American source gives the scheduled date for the first flight of the DC-8 as March 14, 1958. * * * All Capital Airlines' 40 daily flights out of New York will henceforth be operated with Viscounts. * * * Allegheny and Mohawk Airlines, U.S. local service carriers, are reported to be considering a merger. * * * Bristol's new airport at Lulsgate Bottom will be opened by the Duchess of Kent in April. * * * V.O.R. is to be installed at Ratmalana Airport, Ceylon, by the United States Government. * * * T.W.A. has announced a new contract to give its pilots morepay, increased expenses and longer holidays. * * * Ferry Airports, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of BritishAviation Services, is to be renamed British Aviation Services (Engineering), Ltd. The company is based at Blackbushe. * * * B.E.A. and J.A.T. have signed an agreement under which B.E.A.will operate a once-weekly Viscount service between London and Belgrade in June. * * * Lufthansa have bought three more Metropolitans, bringing theirConvair 440 fleet to a total of nine, and—as expected—have increased their Viscount order from seven to nine. * * * The A.R.B. has issued the following Notices: January 1: No. 4,issue 20; February 1: Contents, issue 19; No. 1, issue 4; No. 7, issue 20; and No. 10, issue 8. * * * Aer Lingus will extend their services to Dusseldorf, Frankfurt,Zurich and Rome this year. The new services will increase their route mileage from 4,156 miles to 5,853.* * * United are to apply to C.A.B. for a 6 per cent fare increase ontheir domestic and Hawaiian routes. Capital will ask for a similar increase and for an additional "terminal factor" increase of adollar per ticket. NEW ANGLES ON ENGINE TESTING TILTING is nothing new for Coventry, with its long historyand chivalric associations. It was there, indeed, that whatpromised to be one of the most famous jousts of mediaeval times—between the Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk—was calledoff at the last minute by Richard II, who exiled both would-be combatants. So it was no surprise to learn that Alvis, Ltd., hadstarted some 20th century tilting in the Warwickshire countryside not far from Coventry. Along the western perimeter of the city's municipal airfield atBaginton are several small buildings discreet enough in style not to rouse the ire of either Mr. R. Furneaux Jordan or the Councilfor the Preservation of Rural England. In them Alvis carry out poduction testing of their Leonides and Leonides Major engines. Since Alvis are confident that the shaft-driven helicopter has along future; since many of the Leonides Majors are destined for Westland Whirlwinds and Bristol twin-rotor machines; and sincemost helicopter power-units are more often than not installed at an angle, a test-bed has been built at Baginton in which an enginecan be tilted through 120 deg, from the horizontal through the vertical to 30 deg in the opposite direction. Costing about £100,000 and bringing to £jm the total spenton this test-site, the new installation is claimed to be the first of its kind in the world; and for that reason, as well as because ofpride in it, Alvis provided an opportunity last week to see the apparatus in its first working days after several months of pre-acceptance testing. The visit provided not only visible proof of tilting but alsfi ofprogress made over twenty years in the design of engine, propeller and dynamometer test-beds. Conditions varied from compara-tively primitive ones in the oldest installation (which is being modernized) to near-luxurious in the latest; for Alvis, with theco-operation of Heenan and Froude, Ltd., the Worcester engineers, and twenty years' joint experience to guide them, have erecteda test-bed which has all possible mod con. Basically, the equipment consists of a fabricated steel frameworkin the form of two intersecting cylinders, each about 8ft in diameter and situated at right angles. The dynamometer (a Froude HydraulicDPYR. 645 special, capable of absorbing and measuring power up to 1,000 b.h.p.) and the engine under test are mounted at oppositeends of one of the cylinders and coupled together by a transmission shaft. The other cylinder is positioned horizontally, with its axis inthe transverse plane, and at each end has a bearing track round the circumference, the drum assembly resting on rollers carriedon supporting frameworks at either side of the engine room. A circular toothed rack is fixed to one end and engaged by a pinion,driven through reduction gears by an electric motor. This central part of the test-house mechanism, carrying the engine and thedynamometer which absorbs its power, can be rotated through the 120 deg range already mentioned and fixed at any angle. An engine due for test is brought in with the propeller shaftvertical and bolted into a tubular mounting frame, then wheeled on to a pneumatically operated elevator beneath the drum andpositioned so that the transmission shaft is vertical to the dyna- mometer. The elevator raises the engine until the frame can beconnected to four steel-wire ropes suspended from the drum. The ropes are raised by a hand-winch and, when close enough, theengine is connected to the cardan shaft on the end of the dynamometer transmission shaft. For starting and running-in there is a 100 h.p. electric motor,
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