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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0624.PDF
626FLIGHT, 10 May 1957 1 Decca plotting board. 2 Kenyon Transitometer control box. 3 Revolution indicator. 4 Manifold pressure gauge. 5 Airspeed indicator. 6 Kenyon Tronsitometer (ground speed indicator). 7 Attitude indicator. 8 Heading indicator. 9 Instantaneous rate-of-climb indica- tor, 10 I.L.S. cross-pointer indicator. 11 Absolute altimeter. 12 Red Decometer. 13 Green Decometer. 14 Barometric altimeter. 15 Oil temperature gauge. It Cylinder-head temperature gauge. 17 Groundspeed indicator. 18 Transmitter channel selector. 19 Revolution indicator. 20 Compass system indicator. 21 Load meter. 22 Oil pressure indicator. 23 Carburettor air temperature. 24 Ignition switch. 25 Fuel gauge. 24 Decca control box. 27 Co-ordinate control box. The cockpit of the experimental Bell 47H, showing the Kenyon ground- speed indicator, Decca plotting board and the flight instruments. Helicopter Blind Flying Bendix-Decca-Bell System Demonstrated THE Bell Helicopter Corporation recently publicly demon-strated their helicopter blind-flying equipment in twoBell 47Hs at their Fort Worth factory. The Pacific Division of Bendix Aviation Corporation, who have the American DeccaNavigator licence, have been working with Bell in developing the system. A Decca chain has been set up in the Fort Wortharea and, by the use of a master and two slave stations, position accuracies of the order of 20ft have been obtained. The airborneequipment carried in the helicopters weighs no more than 40 lb and includes a fixed plotting-board on which the helicopter'strack is marked by a moving pen. (On the English Decca Flight Log both pen and map move.) To go with the Decca Navigator, Bendix have developed asonic altimeter which gives height readings from ground level (or from obstructions) up to 150ft to an accuracy of six inches.Decca, the sonic altimeter and I.L.S. are stated to make it possible to accomplish blind landings in any selected place. To ease theproblem of avoiding ground obstructions, the Decca plotting- board is marked with the main hazards within the operating area;a complete map is not, apparently, used. By this means a plotting board marked with Decca position lines can be usedimmediately after a Decca chain is set up in the field. Main obstructions are surveyed and marked on the board, but specialmap projections are not required. In addition to the equipment mentioned above, the two heli-copters used in the trials carry a ground-speed measuring device developed by Kenyon Laboratories, Inc., which shows move-ment over the ground on a curiously marked screen indicator. Attitude and course information appear to be supplied by anormal artificial horizon and a gyro-magnetic compass system. It is not explained how the horizon deals with the particularattitude-indicating requirements of helicopters. Bell nevertheless claim that completely blind flying at nightor in cloud is now possible and that the equipment is available for adaptation to specific installations. They claim that a pilotcan fly "to any spot within a 100-mile area and make an instru- ment approach to within ten feet of the ground without lookingoutside the helicopter cabin." They also reaffirm that the Decca system is not limited to line-of-sight reception, is light in weight,and gives accuracies of a very high order. MILLING-MACHINE DEVELOPMENT AS a joint project under U.S.A.F. contract, the Research** Laboratories Division of Bendix Aviation and the Martin Company have produced a 50-ton milling machine designed fromthe start for use with a punched-tape numerical control system. Bendix carried out the design of the complete unit and sub-contracted the manufacture of the machine to Kearney and Trecker Corporation of Milwaukee. The completed machine is to bebrought to the Martin factory at Baltimore in June and will be used for the automatic milling of large forgings used in the TM-61Matador and the P6M SeaMaster flying-boat. Numerical control, which implies automatic punched- ormagnetic-tape control of machines, has in many cases been applied to existing drilling and milling machines, but the new Martin-Bendix machine is claimed to be the first of its size designed from the outset to utilize such a system. For this purpose the machinehas been given extra rigidity in order to take full advantage of the increased speeds and feeds which the method is able to maintain.The particular advantage of this type of automatic miller is that it greatly reduces the time required to set up the work manuallyfor each new operation. With numerical control a special com- puter is used to derive instructions from a blueprint and to imposethem on the control tape. The machine operator then only has to set up the part for cutting, load the relevant control tape andchange the cutters during operation. Rapid increases in produc- tion output are possible because new tapes can be prepared ina matter of hours and sent out to a number of controlled machines in other factories. This avoids the extensive and lengthy prepara-tions now required before a new production source can be estab- lished. To facilitate rapid expansion, certain design elements willbe standardized and coded for storage in the memory unit of the control system. Thereafter a call-out symbol or equation constantincluded in the numerical design of a given part will suffice to initiate the machining operation. DOCUMENTING THE 1957 SKY TT was an admirable idea of the Esso Petroleum Co. to make aA film tribute to all who have played a part in Britain's air defence during the last two decades, but unfortunately the result—TheDeep Blue Sky, made for Esso by Technical and Scientific Films, Ltd., and given a preview in London on April 8—is less successfulthan it might have been. A stronger theme is needed to hold together such assorted "characters" as the Hunter, Javelin, Valiant,Vulcan and Victor, especially as they are by now familiar shapes. Certainly the photography—all of it in colour, and most ofit air-to-air—is pretty good, considering occasional difficulties inposed by security; and it is of special interest to see the Valiant'srefuelling probe out in flight and Roly Falk rolling his Vulcan as if it were a Tiger Moth. But a good underlying "story" is lacking;the opening Battle of Britain Sunday sequence is rather wooden, and thereafter the film tends to become a somewhat formless pro-cession of aircraft, though each is impressive individually and as a straightforward pictorial record of the chief British military air-craft in 1957, The Deep Blue Sky forms a useful and attractive documentary. It is 16 mm sound, lasts about half an hour andis on free loan. (Applications to the Manager, Aviation Depart- ment, Esso Petroleum Co., Ltd., 101 Piccadilly, London, W.I.)
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