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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0354.PDF
356 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS The B.E.A. Viscount Accident A PUBLIC INQUIRY has been ordered by the Minister ofTransport and Civil Aviation into the accident which occurred on Thursday afternoon, March 14, to B.E.A.'s Viscount 701G-ALWE, R.M.A. Discovery. The aircraft—on flight BE 411 from Amsterdam—struck houses on die approach to Ringway Air-port, Manchester. All 15 passengers and die crew of five, and two occupants of die houses, lost dieir lives. Forty-eight hours after the accident a joint statement by B.E.A.and Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), Ltd., said: — "B.E.A. and Vickers, by agreement with the Air Registration Board,have withdrawn a number of B.E.A. Viscount 701s for special investiga- tion of the flap-operating mechanism. . . . This is a purely pre-cautionary measure and it is expected that the Viscount 701 fleet will be back in service in a few days. ..." A later statement issued onbehalf of Vickers said that the company was communicating with other operators of Viscount 700 types "with details of the precautionaryinspections deemed necessary on certain Viscounts elsewhere." Sufficient evidence already appears to have been obtained toenable Vickers and B.E.A. to feel confident that the cause of the accident has been established. Although neither the Corporationnor the manufacturer is able to comment, since the matter is sub judice pending the inquiry, two Press reports may be signifi-cant. A Sunday newspaper referred to the discovery of a small bolt among the wreckage, and quoted investigators as saying: "Wethink we have found all die parts we need for our investigation." A further newspaper report on Monday said: "First clue to thecause of the accident was given by an eye-witness who saw part of the starboard flap buckle." At the time of going to press, ten of B.E.A.'s 701s are backin service, after inspection of some aircraft at London Airport and of others at Vickers' Wisley airfield. This is the first fatal accident to B.E.A. Viscounts in passengerservice since the aircraft was introduced in April 1953. The machine concerned, G-ALWE, was the first production aircraftand die third Viscount to be built (it flew on August 20,1952). It had completed about 7,000 hours. Airship Flight Record A U.S. NAVY Goodyear ZPG-2 airship last week broke thedirigible record for a non-refuelled flight when it secured at Key West, Florida, on March 15 after a flight which had begun atSouth Weymouth, Mass, on March 4 and lasted 264 hours 14 minutes. The previous record—200 hr 12 min—was estab-lished in 1954 (by a ZPG-2), and an unofficial distance record was set up in 1929 by the Graf Zeppelin with a flight of 6,384 miles. The purpose of the flight—during which die dirigible passedover Portugal, the Canary Islands and the west coast of Africa— was described as "testing and evaluating the all-weather capabilityof airships for use in airborne early-warning and submarine- defence systems." Filled with helium, the ZPG-2 type is of 975,000 cu ft volume,measures 343ft in overall lengdi, and is powered by two 800 h.p. Wright R-1300-2A Cyclone 7s. Maximum speed is over 85m.p.h. A crew of 14 is accommodated in die two-deck control car. New Bristol Engine Ratings PROOF of die remarkable development potential inherent inBristol gas-turbine engines is provided by the announcement last week of the successful completion by the Olympus 104 of anofficial type test at 13,000 1b dry thrust (representing the BO1. 12 rating). In addition to the type test, the Olympus 104 has alsocompleted a bench run to the 150-hr type-test schedule in which both take-off running and cruising running was all carried out atthe full rating of 13,000 lb. "This," state Bristol Aero-Engines, "provides a very much more severe proof of engine reliabilitythan the official type test." The Olympus 104 is the latest member of the basic Olympus100 series. Earlier members include the 101, of 11,000 lb dry thrust, and the 102 (12,000 lb). Both these are in full production,the Olympus being die standard powerplant of the Avro Vulcan bomber. Mechanically, the Olympus 104 is virtually identicalwith the 101 and 102, and the latter can be converted to the 13,000-lb rating during normal overhauls. It is rare indeed thatan engine can be given a 2,000-lb increase in thrust by such minor modification without any sacrifice in life or reliability.(Later members of the Olympus family, such as the BO1.6, are even more powerful, and have been type-tested at 16,000 lbthrust.) Two new Orpheus ratings are those of the BOr.4 and 11. The SOON TO FLY at Boscombe Down is the Short SC.l VTOL research aircraft (five Rolls-Royce RB.108 turbojets). In this new photograph the aircraft is seen undergoing taxying trials in the hands of Mr. Tom Brooke-Smith, who will be at the controls on the first flight. former is a derated Orpheus 3 intended for trainers and smallcivilian aircraft, and has a conservative rating of 4,230 lb. The reduced rating ensures minimum specific fuel consumption and,by reducing the operating temperature and r.p.m., extends the engine life between overhauls. While the BOr.4 marks the entry of the Orpheus to training,transport and executive fields, the basic high-thrust Orpheus reaches its latest development stage at the BOr.ll rating of5,760 1b dry thrust. The military Orpheus is being developed under the Mutual Weapons Development Programme managedjointly by the U.S.A. and the United Kingdom, and is the power unit of the lightweight fighters intended for NATO service. Earlythis month bench time exceeded 6,200 hr; and flight time in the Folland Gnat, Fiat G-91 and Avro Ashton is in excess of 200 hr. Third of the Bristol engines to reach a new developmentstage is the Orion high-efficiency turboprop. The BOn.2 has the same ratings as the BOn.l, namely 5,150 maximum e.h.p.comprising 4,400 s.h.p. and 1,950 lb dirust. It does, however, incorporate a number of mechanical design advances resultingfrom extensive ground running as a complete powerplant and from flight experience in the Britannia 101. Four Orions willbe installed in the Britannia 301 when the latter aircraft becomes available. —And Some Others ALSO promulgated are the following designations and ratings:- Rolls-Royce Dart RDa.ll (2,100 s.h.p.); Napier Eland NE1.6 (3,150 s.h.p. and 915 lb thrust); Blackburn Palouste Bn.Pe.3(258 g.h.p.); Armstrong Siddeley Viper ASV.ll (2,460 lb thrust). The existence is notified of a Rolls-Royce Conway designatedR.Co.ll. A new aircraft mark revealed is the Fairey Gannet T.5. Exter-nally it is identical with the earlier T.2, but we are not permitted to describe such internal differences as may exist. Richard E. Byrd WE regret to record that Rear-Admiral Richard E. Byrd, distin-guished American airman and explorer and the first man to fly over bodi die North and South Poles, died suddenly at his homein Boston, Mass., on March 11 at the age of 68. Only last year Byrd made his third flight over the South Pole;and because of his unrivalled experience of Antarctic exploration he had been named overall head ofthe U.S. Navy's Operation Deep Freeze. Throughout its course the career ofthis Virginian of slender frame and steel-blue eyes was marked by cour-age and determination in overcoming misfortunes, aided by an occasionaldash of good luck such as all brave men deserve. Thus in 1921 when he was inEngland as one of the crew which was to fly the R38 back to America, hemissed his train so was not aboard the airship when it broke up andcaught fire; in 1927 he fractured an arm in a crash, and so was forestalledin his ambition to fly die Atlantic by the flights of Lindbergh and Chamber-lain. When he did, during 1927, in a Fokker F.VII/3m with Noville, Acosta and Bernt Balchen, they had to come down in diesea off die French coast, owing to dense fog, and rowed ashore. In 1933 Byrd was left alone in Antarctica for 4Jr months, makingmeteorological studies in a small hut near die Pole. He was poisoned by fumes from an oil stove and fell, again breaking anarm; but by a magnificent gesture had hot soup ready waidng for his rescuers. Such misfortunes only seemed to stiffen Byrd's determinationand his fame as an aerial explorer of the Polar regions became almost legendary. Admiral Byrd's flight over the North Pole was made with FloydBennett in 1926, using a Fokker F.VII; and in 1928 he flew over Rear-Admiral Byrd
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