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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0238.PDF
240 FLIGHT, 22 February 1957 THE AERONAUTICAL BOOKSHELF "The World's Fighting Planes," by William Green and GeraldPollinger. Macdonald and Co., Ltd., 16 Maddox Street, London, W.I. Illustrated. Price 15s. T^HIS new edition of The World's Fighting Planes is even-1- better than the first. The Russian section is particularly valuable because, although it does not include photographs ofall the new types shown in the 1956 Aviation Day fly-past, they are represented by first-class silhouette drawings. These are soarranged that the differences between the two Mikoyan fighters code-named "Faceplate" and "Fitter," and the Sukhoi deltas"Fishpot" and "Fishbed" are immediately apparent. Unfor- tunately, the names of the deltas have become transposed in theheadings; but no self-respecting compositor can be blamed for mixing such unimaginative titles; and it is to be hoped that someday the bestowers of NATO code-names will give these business- like aircraft businesslike names. In general, the mixture is as before, with the nationally pro-duced aircraft of 21 different countries arranged in alphabetical order country by country. But the individual ingredients of themixture are very different, for an incredible number of new military types have appeared in the past two years. Glancing atsome of the new shapes, such as the Starfighter, SeaMaster, J-35 Draken, P.I, Griffon and Durandal, which are emphasizedmore than usual in silhouette form, we are reminded anew of the tremendous problems of supersonic flight that designers havefaced and overcome in so many different ways, with results that are far more apparent than they were two years ago. Great care has been taken in selecting nearly 300 new photo-graphs, some of which have never before been reproduced, and this makes more regrettable the occasional pruning of a landingwheel, fin-tip, wing-tip or propeller blade to produce a standard- shape block. The authors have disposed neatly of one criticismof the original book (that training and transport aircraft were wrongly included as "fighting planes") by recalling the use ofTexan (Harvard) trainers as armed spotter aircraft in Korea, with Alcyon and S.I.P.A. S.I2 trainers currently performing inequally warlike roles in Algeria. Even the "Dak" has, in its time, degenerated into a bomber in the Middle East. "The World of Space," by Maurice F. Allward. Collins Clear- Type Press, Cathedral Street, Glasgow. Illustrated. Price 3s. SO many books are being churned out on the subjects of missiles,rockets and space travel that it seems impossible that the basic, non-technical facts of life from all of them can be dis-tilled into 186 well-printed pocket-size pages, wrapped in cloth- covered boards and sold for much less than the price of a packet of20 cigarettes. Yet here is just such an achievement. The World oj Space opens at Peenemunde on October 3, 1942,the day of the first successful firing of an A-4 (V.2) rocket, and devotes the next 29 pages to a brief review of rocket history, withreferences to Galileo's contributions to astronomy and the early science-fiction stories of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Thenfollow 44 pages devoted to the moon, planets and stars—the targets for the space-ships whose step-by-step development, viaspace-stations, forms the subject for the next section of the book. In general, all this follows the usual pattern, except that theauthor gives his third-stage ferry-ships extremely topical Draken- type "double-delta" wings. Next comes a chapter on the journey to the moon, written in areadable "running commentary" style that makes the more tech- nical aspects of the business understandable to a young reader—and his dad. Unlike many astronautical optimists, Maurice Allward does not pretend all this will happen the day aftertomorrow, nor does he overlook the tremendous problems. In Chapter 22 he tells how current missile and aviation research ishelping to solve some of them; and he ends his book with chapters on the possibility of true interplanetary flight around our ownsolar system and to other stars. . • ... ... "Aeromodeller Annual 1956-7," compiled by D. J. Laidlaw-Dickson and edited by C. S. Rushbrooke. The Model Aeronautical Press, Ltd., 38 Clarendon Road, Watford, Herts.Illustrated. Price 10s. 'T'URNING the pages of this hardy annual and thinking back toA the rubber-powered "stick" models of one's childhood makes even a thirty-year-old feel ancient, for the aeromodelling hobbyhas grown at a fantastic rate in the past ten years. Nor should its political potential be overlooked, for the 1956 competition resultslisted in this book remind us how boys and men from Russia and America, Czechoslovakia, Australia and a score of other countriesmeet regularly to match their designs against one another in true sporting spirit. Even in an age that has become accustomed to originality and unorthodoxy in full-size high-speed aircraft, the variety of types and designs is startling. Scale plans in this Annual include a variable-incidence tandem-wing glider from Canada; a radio- controlled pusher monoplane and a tail-first sailplane produced for the Palace of Modelling at Warsaw; a control-line model of the Yak-24 tandem-rotor helicopter from Russia; a semi-scale flying-boat from Sweden; and a delta-type control-line speed model from Czechoslovakia. Technical articles discuss the merits of such things, for modelapplications, as hydraulic control systems and swept-forward wings; and one of the illustrations to the latter purports to showthe Convair XB-53, an ultrasonic needle-nose tailless design with a short fuselage and very stubby swept-forward wings. At theback of the book are tabulated data on standard aerofoil sections, specifications of twelve types of model aero-engines, lists ofnational and international records and a great deal of other useful information.After studying the technical knowledge and craftsmanship that go into the modern model, one has little reason to doubt a state- ment in H. Best-Devereux's contribution on full-size amateur- built lightplanes: "Aeromodellers will not find building an ultra- light aircraft so very different from building a power model. "Weather Map. An Introduction to Weather Forecasting." 4th Edition. Published by H.M.S.O. for the Meteorological Office. Illustrated. Price 10s 6d. THIS fourth edition of Weather Map, in common with itsA predecessors of 1916, 1930 and 1939, is primarily intended for intelligent (but meteorologically uninstructed) members of thegeneral public. Large parts of the book have been re-written following changes in practice and emphasis in weather forecastingduring recent years. Greater attention than in previous editions has been paid tothe causes of weather phenomena most frequently experienced in this country, and a new set of weather maps (plotted in theup-to-date manner and showing typical pressure-distributions) has been included. Modern forecasting techniques are described, andselected actual forecasts are discussed in relation to the surface and upper-air maps on which they were based, with indicationsof the considerations which led the forecaster to his conclusions. J.W.R.T. OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED High-Speed Flight, by E. Ower and J. Nayler. Hutchinson's Scientific and Technical Publications, 178-202 Great Portland Street, London, W.I. Price 30s. Rocket Propulsion Elements, 2nd Edition, by G. P. Sutton. Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 37 Essex Street, London, W.C.2. Price 82s. Flying Scale Models, by R. G. Moulton. Model Aeronautical Press, Ltd., 38, Clarendon Road, Watford, Herts. Price 10s. The Helicopter Book, by Henry B. Lent. The Macmillan Co.,10, South Audley Street, London, W.I. Price 19s. Landbouwvliegtuigen, by Hugo Hooftman. N. V. Uitgeverij "De Kern," Hoofdkantoor, Amsterdam, Holland. Zweefvliegtuigen, by Hugo Hooftman. N. V. Uitgeverij "De Kern," Hoofdkantoor, Amsterdam, Holland. Report on the Helicopter, by Samuel C. Williams. BrundageStory and Rose, New York. Price $2.50. Against the Wind, by Cyril Rofe. Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., Warwick Square, London, E.C.4. Price 16s. Rocket, by Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferte.Hutchinson and Co. (Publishers), Ltd., 178-202, Great Portland Street, London, W.I. Price 18s. Collected Works of Theodore von Karman, Vols. I-IV. Butter-worths Scientific Publications, 4 and 5, Bell Yard, Temple Bar, London, W.C.2. Price £14 10s. Contemporary Physics, by C. F. von Weizsacker and J. Juilfs.Hutchinson's Scientific and Technical Publications, 178-202. Great Portland Street, London, W.I. Price 18s. "The Aeroplane" Pictorial Review, Temple Press Ltd.,Bowling Green Lane, London, E.C.I. Price 7s 6d. The Observer's Book of Aircraft, by William Green and Gerald Pollinger. Frederick Warne and Co., Ltd., Chandos House, Bedford Court, Bedford Street, London, W.C.2. Price 5s. Doctors in the Air,'by W/C. Robert Maycock. George Allenand Unwin, Ltd., Ruskin House, 40 Museum Street, London, W.C.I. Price 15s.
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