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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0426.PDF
FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS The New Chiefs of Staff Chairman by President Eisenhower on March 26 to suc-ceed Admiral Radford as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Nathan Twining becomes the first U.S.A.F. officerto occupy this position. During the war he commanded the 13th Air Force, which operated in the Pacific; and he has longbeen an advocate of the view that the Air Force must decide any big future war. His appointment to the Chiefs of Staff chairmanship—whichtakes effect on August 15—means that the two highest Western military posts (the other being the NATO supreme commandheld by Gen. Lauris Norstad) are both held by Air Force officers. Bristol to Form U.S.A. Subsidiary A NEW company, to be known as the Bristol AeroplaneCompany (U.S.A.), Inc., is to be formed in New York as a subsidiary of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Its principalactivity will be the co-ordination of sales and allied matters for the Bristol Group companies. The chairman will be A. Cdre. F. R. Banks, a director of theparent company, and initially the president and chief executive will be Mr. Stanley Haggett, who is vice-president of BristolAircraft (Western), Ltd., in Canada, and was formerly general manager of the company's Winnipeg factory. Later in the yearMr. Haggett will be succeeded by Mr. David E. Proudlove, who is being released from his present appointment as British CivilAir Attache, Washington, in order to join Bristol. S.6B for L.A.P. SOUTHAMPTON Borough Council has agreed to lend theMinistry of Transport and Civil Aviation a Supermarine S.6B racing seaplane (Rolls-Royce R engine) for exhibition atLondon Airport. The machine was presented to Soudiampton by Supermarine in 1937, and originated, in 1929, as an S.6. It wasflown in the 1929 Schneider Trophy Race by F/O. (now Air Marshal Sir Richard) Atcherley, who, although disqualified formissing a turning point, completed the course and, incidentally, set up world records over the 50-km and 100-km distances at332.49 and 331.75 m.p.h. Reconditioned and modified as an S.6B, the same aircraft was the British team's number three inthe final contest in 1931; and it appeared in the film The First of the Few, starring Leslie Howard as R. J. Mitchell. U.S. Navy Flying Boats PROPOSALS for a flying-boat of exceedingly advanced designcapable of being employed as an integral member of air, surface and underwater anti-submarine teams for the U.S. Navyrecently led to a design competition to which tenders were sub- mitted by Grumman, Martin and Convair. The last-namedconcern has now emerged as winner of the competition. It is expected that the resulting flying-boat will have very great rangeand endurance and will be able to operate in almost any sea state. Martin's production of the P6M SeaMaster has been stretchedout to allow a completely new design of empennage to be incor- porated (faults in the tail, and the tailplane-actuating mechanismin particular, caused the loss of the first two prototypes). At present, Martin are to build six YP6M-1 aircraft powered by HELICARRIER: In peace-time this striking craft will be a training ship for French cadets. In war-time she would serve as a helicopter- carrier for the French Navy- A 10,000-tonner, designed for a speed of 26.25 kt, she would carry twelve "heavy helicopters." Other details were given in "Flight" of March 21 (p. 361). afterburning Allison J71 turbojets. The first pre-productionmachine was to have flown before May but is now unlikely to take the air until September. Martin also hold a £36.5m contract forthe manufacture of 24 production P6M-2s powered by the larger Pratt and Whitney J75 engine. Braking Bobbin TAST week we published details and illustrations of Bristol's•*—' Bobbin supersonic test vehicle for research into ramjet-pro- pelled anti-aircraft missiles. One of the photographs showed aBobbin after recovery by parachute; and the Irvin Air Chute Company of Great Britain, Ltd., announce that they were thesuppliers of the parachute system employed. The system used consists of a small extractor parachute deploy-ing a cluster of six ribbon parachutes while the missile is travelling at supersonic speed. After a delay controlled by a sequence switchthe main canopy is deployed with its lines reefed. Then, after a further prescribed interval the reef tie is cut by Irvin twin elec-trically operated cutters designed for this purpose, allowing the main canopy to develop fully. East African Surveys COME 38,000 square miles of East Africa—partly in Tanganyika,^ partly in Bechuanaland—will be surveyed from the air for the first time under a contract recently awarded by the Directorateof Colonial Surveys to Fairey Air Surveys, Ltd. These East Afrfcan surveys form part of the British Govern-ment's colonial development scheme. They are due to start in mid-April and should be complete by the end of July. For bothoperations a Douglas DC-3 with highly supercharged engines, allowing it to operate at heights up to 28,000ft, will be employed,though the surveys will be carried out at 20,000ft. In Bechuanaland, with the aircraft operating from Bulawayo,Southern Rhodesia, 18,000 square miles will be photographed and FISH OUT OF WATER: The Martin flying-boat below is docked in a U.S. Navy L.S.D. (landing ship dock) in Chesapeake Bay. In a recent announcement the makers (Martin) claim this technique to be new, but we believe they will be edified by the "Flight" photograph also repro- duced. This dates from 1934, and shows a Short Singapore III of No. 210 Squadron, R.A.F., under similar circumstances. The R.A.F. dock was able to accept two Singapores simultaneously. It would be interesting to know the fate of this curious craft.
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