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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0751.PDF
FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD FOUNDED 1909 ^ and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER No 2524 Vol71 FRIDAY 7 JUNE 1 9 57 Editor MAURICE A. SMITH D.F.C. and BAR Associate Editor H. F. KING M.B.E. Technical Editor W. T. GUNSTON Production Editor ROY CASEY Iliffe and Sons Ltd Dorset House Stamford Street London, S.E.1 Telephone • Waterloo 3333 (60 lines) BRANCH OFFICES Coventry 8-10 Corporation Street Telephone • Coventry 5210 Birmingham 2 King Edward House. New Street Telephone • Midland 7191 (7 lines) Manchester 3 260 Deansgate Telephone • Blackfriars 4412 (3 lines) Deansgate 3595 (2 lines) Glasgow C.2 26B Renfield Street Telephone • Central 1265 (2 lines) Toronto 1, Ontario Thomas Skinner of Canada, Ltd. 67 Yonge Street Telephone • Empire 6-0873 New York 6, N.Y. Thomas Skinner and Co. (Publishers), Ltd. Ill Broadway Telephone • Digby 9-1197 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Home and Overseas • Twelve Months. £4 10s. U.S.A. and Canada $14.00 In this issue 762 Evaluating Dectra 763 More About Bristol's Low- Speed Tunnel 765 Bush Pilot's Season 767 The Paris Show:— One Man's Week Presentation en Vol The Great Indoors 777 Aeronautics at Imperial Col- lege 778 Slipstreams and Cage Birds 779 Asked . . . and Answered Aeronautical Paris FashionsW E have often wondered how justifiable is the word insular when applied to a nation which in the course of centuries has spread the English language and customs over a quarter of the world. But Europeans, and particularly our French allies, sometimes think of us in this way. Yet quite subtly, as commerce and industry on the Continent have approached the boom proportions we witness there today, Britons have come to examine their economy more and more as Europeans. Those who cry Empire! at the mere mention of a common market do not go unheeded, but they do not fully echo the mood of the times. To become more European is not necessarily to become less British. Last week there was an opportunity for the British aircraft industry, potentially one of the nation's strongest export assets, to measure its progress against that of Europe, and of France in particular. Always in the past we have compared our accomplishments with those of the Americans. Today we would do well more frequently and attentively to divert our eyes from their transatlantic vigil and turn them towards France. For if we find that the battle for markets is a hard one in the face of American might and resource, we may yet have a surprise or two in store from the talented French industry—even though, in terms of people employed, it is only one-third the size of ours. The XXIInd Paris Salon was presented with the usual panache; but there was more than spectacle at Le Bourget. Nothing in any department of aeronautical endeavour—and our scrutiny of the static exhibition was intentionally more com- prehensive than ever before—gave cause for complacency. Only a few years ago it seemed that the French no sooner had an idea than they had a prototype, be it an aeroplane or an article of equipment. The fecundity of prototypery and "cardboard" exhibits was becoming a joke even in France, and we can think of half-a-dozen aeroplanes which were as brilliant but as transient as butterflies. The tenor of France's industry is different today. The brilliance is there, but so is realism, and above all there is a determination—not particularly noticeable in the past—to sell in foreign markets. There were many surprises in the static display, where one could, as it were, look beneath the skins of the advanced aeroplanes displayed outside. We admired the radar, radio and electronics for their high standard of design and fabrication. The freshness and originality of the French approach to common problems was well exhibited in this type of equipment. There was a particularly good hyperbolic navigation system which appeared just what the world's traffic controllers and pilots are crying out for: a system which shows the position of the aircraft to the controllers in the tower, as well as the position of all other aircraft to the pilot in the cockpit. One company claimed to have produced a successful inertial navigation system. And there were excellent powered controls, which again— particularly from the point of view of stability augmentation—exhibited a compre- hensive and original approach to the regime of supersonic flight control. The flying display drove home hard the fact that the French now concede little to anyone in their achievements. There were the Djinn and Alouette, reminders that the French are still the only nation with turbine-powered helicopters in service —and in quantity service—anywhere. And the beautiful Caravelle, now being demonstrated in the flesh to the richest market in the world. This jet transport is being promoted hard by a firm very much awake to the turbojet-conscious mood of American operators. Technically it is outstanding, and its impact on European routes will be keenly felt in 1958 by Air France's competitors. The Caravelle is a specialized short-haul jet transport which will present a challenge of its own, and it will not be seriously threatened until the elusive "new plateau" short-haul jet of the mid-sixties is realized. And there was demonstrated a machine which seemed more than any other to enshrine the vigour, challenge and purpose of France's industry—the truly brilliant Atar Volant. ,.,.-.-•> - -^
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