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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0966.PDF
66 FLIGHl HONOURABLE RETIREMENT: In this line-up of old and new at Biggin Hill are the three Spitfires flown in there last week by G/C.s J. E. Johnson and J. Rank-in and W/C. P. D. Thompson; they will be kept serviceable, with the historic Hurricane (extreme left) for Battle of Britain and other fly-pasts. At the far end of the line are some of Fighter Command's present equipment, Hunters of No. 41 Sqn. and Javelins of No. 46. FROM ALL QUARTERS Snark in, Navaho Out A CONTRACT valued at $73m has beenawarded to Northrop Aircraft for quantity pro- duction of the Snark SM-62 inter-continentalmissile. Deliveries are likely to begin in the second half of the fiscal year 1958, and Northrop have assigned nearly 8,000 employees tothe project. It was announced in Washington last week that work on theNorth American Navaho intercontinental missile has been can- celled. Mr. James Douglas, Secretary of the Air Force, gave"a limited budget" as the reason. New Hawker Siddeley Directors 'T'WO new directors have been elected to the Board of the•*• Hawker Siddeley Group: they are Mr. H. G. Herrington, C.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., and Mr. G. C R. Eley, C.B.E. This newscomes as we go to press; further details will be given next week. Widgeons for Brazil AN order for two Widgeons, with spares and special equipment,• has been placed by the Government of Brazil with Westland Aircraft, Ltd. This is the first export order to have been obtainedfor the Widgeon, and the aircraft—intended for use by the Brazilian Navy for rescue, communications and general duties—are the first helicopters to be ordered by Brazil from Britain. Navaid Developments '"THE Jet Operations Requirements Panel, meeting recently in-"• Montreal, has stated categorically (after considering all avail- able types of navigation aid) a requirement for "an accurate andreliable short-range navigational aid based on the area-coverage system and designed to provide pictorial presentation to the pilotin the cockpit." It has also recommended that the forthcoming sixth session of the Communications Division should considerthis recommendation "as a matter of urgency." The Decca Navigator, more than any other operational system, SMOKING ARROW: The five Hunters of No. Ill Sqn. aerobatic team (at the recent Milan display) stream twin trails of smoke as they arch over a loop preparatory to the bomb-burst evolu- tion. A formation change is traced by the smoke further back. Italian, French, Turkish, Greek and Spanish teams also performed. fulfils this requirement; and it has been in use for some years. For the long-range navigation system, Dectra is at present beingevaluated and is giving very good results. It has a number of features which make it attractive for this type of coverage. TheDoppler equipment, described in Flight last week, has a particular advantage where ground-based aids are lacking, but it cannot byitself provide the complete navigation service—nor is it claimed that it should. Incidentally, the weight of the complete MarconiAD.2100 was quoted in error as 70 lb instead of 170 lb. The inherent weaknesses of Doppler make it desirable that itshould be combined with a system like Decca/Dectra; and such a combination is at present being developed by the Decca Navi-gator Company. Swedish Vertol Order A N order for four Vertol helicopters—specified by the company**• designation Model 44—has been announced by the Com- mander-in-Chief of the Swedish Navy. This follows a year's studyof different types by the Swedish helicopter committee. The Hustler's Speed C PEAKING at Fort Worth, Texas, last week, Mr. Frank Davis^ (chief engineer of Convair's Fort Worth Division of General Dynamics) quoted the B-58 Hustler as having achieved 1,290m.p.h., "though its maximum speed is not known." The same occasion brought a rather surprising statement fromLt-Gen. Irvine, U.S.A.F. Deputy C-in-C. for Materiel. "I'm convinced," he is quoted as saying, "that the B-58 is the fastest jetplane in the world. I know we don't have one to match its speed, and from what I've read and seen I'm sure the Russians don'teither." F.A.I. Sports-flying Proposals ^EN the Federation Aeronautique Internationale held its50th general conference last month, delegates from 25 coun- tries assembled at Palermo to take part. Three days were spent inbusiness and one of the subjects discussed was the organization— which the F.A.I, has had under consideration for some time past—of "gatherings of sport" once every four years. As yet, no complete answer has been found to the difficulties involved; but the Aero-nautical Union of Yugoslavia and the Aero-Club de France intend to organize extensive air tours, one in south-east Europe and theother in the west and north-west. The tours would be divided into two pans—one for profes-sional pilots and for aircraft entered by manufacturers, the other for private pilots with their own aeroplanes. During the formerthere will be no limits on speed, so that manufacturers will be able to show off the paces of their aircraft; the latter will be for bomfide pilots and owners flying for pleasure and not wishing to drive their machines too hard. It is possible that France or Yugoslavia (or other countries)would organize extra air events round about the same time, so gradually building up towards the original idea of a bigsports-flying gathering once every four years. When the F.A.I, election of officers was held, Gen. CharlesSillevaerts (Belgium) was re-elected president, Miss Jacqueline Cochran (U.S.A.) first vice-president, and M. Jean Bleriot (France)treasurer-general. Members of the Board for 1957-8 are M. Jacques Allez (France); Dr. W. Muri (Switzerland); Mr. C. Kolff(Holland); Capt. K. J. G. Bartlett (G.B.); Sr. Jos6 M. M. y Coll (Spain); Mr. S. Staritchevski (U.S.S.R.); and Mr. S. Sakota(Yugoslavia).
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