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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0805.PDF
FLIGHT, UJune 1957 811 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in agreement with the views expressed by correspondents in these columns; the names and addresses of the writers, not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. Up-to-date G.C.A.Y OUR correspondent Mr. J. M. Wilde ("Up-to-date G.C.A.,"May 31) may have been writing about an MPN 4 or 11C equipment, made by Gilfillan as stated in his letter (which containsa few errors—quite naturally, I hasten to add, as Mr. Wilde spent such a short time inspecting the equipment). What I would like to correct is part of his last paragraph,"integration of the search and precision elements might have the effect of slowing down the landing rate." Far from it, it can onlyspeed it up; let me explain. The new equipment has three operational bays with search andprecision, the centre one being normally used for search directions as it has a 40-mile maximum at 8,000ft, tilting the aerial for higher-altitude pick-ups; it also has a 200-mile range for I.F.F. pick-ups only. This allows the centre-bay controller, under heavy trafficconditions, to work director only, and the two outer bays to work precision at the same time at about four-mile intervals^—i.e., firstaircraft touching down, second at four miles, third at eight miles. (I have achieved a four-mile landing rate on the Decca 424 withtwo search scopes and two controllers so you do not necessarily need very expensive equipment to do it—see Flight, October 8,1954.) This landing rate can be speeded up for military traffic, but, as you can imagine, continuity is the difficulty.The cost of the new MPN.11C in dollars, as compared with the present MPN 1 used at civil airports, would not justify its employ-ment, except (in my opinion) at London Airport, where the higher altitude search and speeding up of landings under G.C.A. weathermay make it worth while. After 12 varied years of controlling aircraft, the last eight almostexclusively on radar, I am firmly convinced that the only form of control that should be used in this country of congested airwaysis radar, with I.F.F. and heightfinders combined, and with all major airport traffic under compulsory I.M.C. control. Happilythe Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation have already gone a long way towards reaching this goal under the present air-trafficcontrol system—but not enough money and equipment, or staff, seems to be coming along into the present system's expansionprogramme. Ramsden, Oxford. DENNIS COOPER. "State of the Jet Art" MAY I make some comments on your note "State of the Jet Art"on page 192 of your issue of February 8? As an inspection of the general form of the range equation v L WR= log es.f.c. D W, reveals, range is independent of the size of the aeroplane.Weight ratios, however, do have influence on the range. The total load mainly consists of fuel plus payload and is a nearlyconstant fraction of the gross weight. Hence it follows that the ratio of the weights becomes large if the useful load is kept small;then the fuel-load ratio is large—and so is the range. Therefore I see no reason why the range or stage length shouldhave such a pronounced increase with the gross weight if the payload ratio is held constant, as, for example, 10 per cent inthegraph you reproduced from The Engineer, January 11 issue. What appears there to be a correlation seems to me a pure and misleadingcasualty. The variation of the stage length may be due to different L/D ratios (or aspect ratios), engine characteristics (s.f.c. andthrust) and finally, design cruising speeds (see above formula). When comparing range performance, conditions must be setup, whether certain items should be held constant for all aero- planes, while others may vary, or vice versa. For example:constant wing loading, t.o. run, cruising altitude and variable L/D, speed and size, etc. Dallas, U.S.A. KARL L. SANDERS. Flying-boat Docksr * was with interest that I noted your photograph of the R.A.F.floating dock in Flight for April 5. I served in the unit to which this dock was attached. She was built at Sheerness dockyardand handed over to the M.A.E.E., Isle of Grain m about 1922, and was used for docking and refuelling the old F boats. Shehad tanks holding over 3,000 gal of aviation spirit, up-to-date workshops and living accommodation for officers and men (.approx.14 persons). She was fitted with a universal cradle which could take the various chocks to fit different types of flying boatsOn our move to Felixtowe the dock took aboard the Fairey Atalanta, which was then the world's largest flying-boat. She (thedock) remained at Felixtowe for many years, but the fitting of beaching wheels to flying-boats made her of little use except fordocking marine craft. She later went to Pembroke Dock, where I believe she was eventually scrapped. You may be interested in theenclosed snap [unfortunately unsuitable for publication—Ed.] of a smaller dock which we first used at the 1929 Schneider Trophyrace at Calshot for docking the three Italian seaplanes. The photo- graph shows this dock at Basra, Iraq, in 1930, with Marine SectionNo. 203 F.B. Squadron and an all-metal Southampton. North Harrow, Middx. A. S. HARDWICK (ex F/Sgt. A.S.R. and M.S., R.A.F.) R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. Memories T READ A.L.E.'s letter in your issue of January 4 with interest.••• Your correspondent, however, is a little off the beam in two of his statements. In March 1917 there were only three squadrons atVerte Galland Farm, namely, No. 56, S.E.5s; No. 19, Spads; and my own squadron, No. 66, Sopwith Pups. Later in the year we allwent to Estre Blanche, where 70 Sqn., equipped with Camels, joined us. The statement that 66 Sqn. went to Hornchurch in July 1917 fortwo weeks during the Gotha scare is also wrong. We went to Calais; the only squadron which went to England was No. 56, andthey were stationed at Bekesbourne, near Canterbury. On the only operation during that fortnight, I landed near them afterhaving run out of petrol. I would like to add that in 1916 No. 70 Sqn. with theirli-Strutter Sopwiths did a magnificent job, as their terrible casualty list proved.Melbourne, Australia. G. ROUND.I WAS interested in your article "The Sopwith Triplane," byJ. M. Bruce, M.A. (April 19 and 26). On page 556 it is stated "It is recorded in The War in the Air that the original SopwithPup and Triplane survived the war. As far as the Triplane is concerned, that statement is incorrect, for N.500 was written offat Dunkerque after fair wear and tear, on December 17, 1917." It may be of interest to you to know that I was at Petit-Sans inFrance with No. 6 Naval Squadron and at that time we were using D.H.9s. There was a squadron of Triplanes in operationin January and February of the year 1918. We also had a squadron of D.H.4s. In Mr. Bruce's article I cannot find any reference to Triplanesat Petit-Sans. (I am not absolutely sure of the spelling of the place, but it is in the Dunkerque area.) Kingswood, Surrey. F. S. SAUNDERS (ex-R.N.A.S.). IN BRIEF Mr. Charles W. Benson, of 196-49 45th Road, Flushing 58, NewYork, N.Y., is endeavouring to obtain 8 mm or 16 mm films of the Mignet H.M.16 and H.M.18 Pou-du-Ciel, or "Flying Flea." JuneJune June June June June June June June June June June June July July July July July July July July July July 9-16.15. 15-16. 15-17. 17-20. 17-29. 19. 21-24. 23. 24. 26. 27- July 1 29-30. 5. 5-8. 6-7. 6-8. 9-14. 10. 12-13. 14. 14. 27- Aug. 5. Sept. 2-8. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Western France Aero Club: Angers Gliding Week, Angers. Northampton Gliding Club: Open Day, Sywell. Lower Normandy Aero Club: 10th International Rally, Flers. Le Zoute Aviation Club: Invitation Rally. I.A.S.: National Summer Meeting, Lts Angeles. Institute of Welding: British Commonwealth Welding Con- ference, London and Saltburn-by-the-Sea. Kronfeld Club: Film Show. Palermo Aero Club: 9th International Aerial Tour of Sicily, Palermo. Northern Heights Model Aero Club: Gala, R.A.F. Halton. F.A.I. Annual Conference, Palermo. Kronfeld Club: "The R.A.F. Formation Squadron," by S/L. Topp. British Institution of Radio Engineers: "Electronics in Automation" Convention, Cambridge. Invitation Rally, La Baule. Tiger Club: Aerobatic Contest, Sywell. Swiss Aero Club: International Rally, Bienne. Aero-Club de I'Ouest: International Rally, Angers. Invitation Rally, Deauville. Pescara Aero Club: International Air Week. Kronfeld Club: Film Show. Royal Aero Club: National Air Races, King's Cup, and Lockheed Aerobatic Trophy, Baginton. Wolverhampton Aero Club: Invitation Rally. Yorkshire Aeroplane Club: At Home, Sherburn-in-Elmet. National Gliding Championships, Lasham. S.B.A.C. Show, Farnborough.
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