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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0418.PDF
420 FLIGHT, 29 March 1957 THE INDUSTRY ... and 1945 he was concerned with design work on the Hannibal,Hampden and Halifax, and the early stages of the Victor. In 1947 he joined the de Havilland Aircraft Co. as a senior designdraughtsman and worked on the D.H. 110. Mr. Haynes took up his appointment with Microcell in 1952. IN BRIEF Mr. F. S. Codling, A.R.Ae.S., has been appointed managing director of Airtech, Ltd. Mr. G. Talbot Willcox, M.C., M.Inst.T., continues to hold the appointment of chairman. * * * Mr. Derek Foster has been appointed sales liaison manager forthe Owen Organization and will operate from Owen House, 11 Greenfield Crescent, Birmingham, 15 (tel. Edgbaston 4566).* * * The Champion Spark Plug Co., Toledo 1, Ohio, U.S.A., issponsoring a European aircraft spark plug and ignition conference, to be held at the Kensington Palace Hotel, De Vere Gardens,London, W.8, from May 21 to May 23. * * * Next Monday, April 1, Hepworth and Grandage, Ltd., theBradford, Yorks, makers of internal-combustion and gas-turbine engine components, celebrate their golden jubilee. Among thecompany's 4,000 employees are several who joined soon after its inception in 1907 and over 130 who have been there morethan 25 years. * * * Mr. W. R. McLachlan, president and general manager of Orenda Engines, Ltd., has announced the following executive appointments: Mr. Frank L. Trethewey has been named assistant to the president and continues as a director of Orenda Engines, Ltd.; Mr. Paul Y. Davoud has been appointed vice-president,sales and service; Mr. Kenneth R. Church has been appointed vice-president, finance and treasurer; and Mr. John H. Readyhas been appointed secretary. * -.- * Mr. F. Andrew Field, home sales manager of Black and Decker,Ltd., since 1953, is leaving to take up the appointment of managing director of Eutectic Welding Alloys Co., Ltd. * * * Heenan and Froude, Ltd., have received an order from Rover (Gas Turbines), Ltd., for 18 DPX2 dynamometers which will be incorporated in demonstration units for use in universities and technical colleges. * * * The use of aerial photography, of the airborne magnetometer and of helicopters as additional aids in the never-ending quest for new oil deposits are described in The Search for Oil, an infor- mative booklet published by the British Petroleum Co., Ltd., Britannic House, Finsbury Circus, London, E.C.2. * - * * An electronic analogue computer designed and built by ShortBrothers and Harland, Ltd., was recently installed at Brunswick Technical College. This follows the demonstration given thereby Mr. Peter Wright, Shorts' sales engineer, to representatives of West German universities and industrial concerns; and alreadyother orders have been received from Germany. * * * Three divisional directorships have been created at theMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Mr. H. B. Kosanke becomes director of the tape and electrical products divi-sion, Mr. I. R. Danielson of the graphic arts division, and Mr. A. C. Ash of the abrasives and adhesives division. Two other appoint-ments announced are of Mr. J. A. Thwaits as director of engineer- ing and Mr. J. F. Fowler as director of production staff services. 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. No Manual Reversion ON your Correspondence page for March 15 is a letter in whichMr. R. S. Stafford points out that Handley Page, Ltd., flew aircraft with fully duplicated power controls and without manualreversion before the Fairey Delta 2 began to fly. A. V. Roe and Co., Ltd., flew aircraft with such controls evenbefore Handley Page, but, to use Mr. Stafford's own words, "in the interests of accuracy," have not made any rash claims on thatscore. I am sure Mr. Stafford will find if he cares to check that there is yet another British company who can make claim to beingfirst in this field if they wish to do so. Manchester. JOHN R. GRAY, A. V. Roe and Co., Ltd.I N your issue of March 15, 1957, it is stated by Mr. R. S.Stafford, Technical Director of Handley Page, Ltd., that his company has flown aeroplanes with fully duplicated powercontrols and without manual reversion since 1952. Whilst agreeing that there may be no particular virtue in beingfirst in this field, I also think that in the interests of accuracy it should be stated that the de Havilland Comet prototype G-ALVGflew with duplicated power controls without manual reversion on July 27, 1949, and Comets have been flying with this type ofcontrol ever since. Hatfield, Herts. C. T. WILKINS, Chief Designer, the de Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd. York Accident—Malta ""THIS Association must comment on the references made on*- page 289 of Flight, March 1, to its statement on the Malta York accident. We wish to point out that the aircraft did clear the high groundon its track. Flight states ". . . the pilot was unable to clear the high ground on the track being flown."When studying the accident the Association was concerned with the performance of the aircraft, such as insufficient rate of climband the conditions which obtained at the time of the accident, which placed the pilot in an invidious position as he had no roomto manoeuvre in the vertical plane. London, W.I. L. F. E. COOMBS,Technical Secretary, British Air Line Pilots Association. "Cock-eyed World" TN publishing the photograph of the "nose-standing" airship -I (page 328, Flight, March 15), aren't you kidding us? Admittedly the camera is alleged to be a paragon of veracity—although the R.A.C., A.A., and motoring journals are trying, very successfully, to debunk the camera in connection with recent photographicactivities of the police. I am, however, very loath to accept John Toland's (or Flight's) opinion that the Los Angeles was in factstanding on its nose when the photograph was taken. I think it is just a Yankee "bull" story. If any aspect of the dirigible other than the square-on under-belly shot had been taken, I might have believed it. In actual fact, I think the dirigible was lying almost perfectly horizontallyand that the photographer was standing beneath it and behind its stern. In the first place, the definition of the tower, building andbackground is very poor, and yet the higher up the picture one gets the clearer it becomes (note the shadows from the engineblisters on the left hand [port] side and the clear lines of the ribs). If the dirigible was standing on its nose, as suggested, no part ofit could possibly be any clearer than the tower. Furthermore, the proportions of the aircraft and tower are suchthat if the dirigible was 700ft long and standing on its nose, the tower was only 150ft high and the building, to the ridge, less than15ft high. I have an idea, subject to correction, that the New Jersey tower was in the region of 600ft high. Sutton Coldfield, Warwicks. H. N. WALKER. [In consultation with photographic experts we have carefullystudied the print from which the block was made, and there is no evidence of faking of the kind our correspondent suggests. Hada wide-angle lens been used, some distortion of the outline would almost certainly have been apparent. The varying sharpness ofdetail was caused by the fact that slight retouching was necessary, in the normal way, before reproduction of a rather poor print.Mr. Walker's comparison of length defeats his own argument: a contemporary description gives the height of the U.S. Navy'sLakehurst, N.J., mast as 165ft (the world's tallest at that time), which scales well enough with the length of the airship on thephotograph. It is apparent that the Los Angeles was not quite vertical. Perhaps American readers can confirm.—Ed.J Identification Wanted ON January 13 my attention was called to an aircraft flying ina north-westerly direction over Swansea Bay. Its unusual feature was an extremely long nose which seemed to be "nippedin" just forward of the leading edges, as if area-ruled. The air- craft had four engines, which sounded as if they were turboprops,and a high curving tail fin in the Boeing style (B-17, etc.). I would welcome any information on this aircraft, however small. It wasflying at about 5,000ft and appeared to be silver overall. Swansea. R.C.W. [Parts of this description suggest the Boeing YC-97J.—Ed.]
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