FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1095.PDF
FLIGHT, 9 August 1957 Id* The British airline dele- gation and its Aeroflot guides walks through a Tu-104 hangar at Moscow. Nearest camera is Mr. J. W. Bishop of B.O.A.C; second from right is Mr. Harry Mooney also of B.O.A.C. AEROFLOT . . . Territorial Board and the airport commandant at Vnukovo. Theprincipal described the symposium being held that week, when 10-12 papers on aeronautical subjects were being given each dayby research workers on developments within the past year. After this we went through tropical rain, slithering along unmaderoads in a Zim limousine, to see the construction site of the new College extension, where a four-storey central building was almostcomplete and two four-storey laboratory buildings were going up rapidly. One of the demonstration rooms contained sectioned samplesof the main types of piston engines together with a turbojet iden- tified as the RD 3 which "powers the Tu-104." This, they said,developed "75,000 h.p. with 8,750 kg thrust." It was ruefully added, "But there were 400 modifications to the combustionchamber. However, they were done, and the 104 can now take off and climb on one engine, although her all-up weight is morethan 70 metric tons." When we went to the room of aircraft models it was added thatthe realistic cruising speed of the Tu-104 was 830 km/hr as The Voroshilov Civil Aviation College, Kiev, which turns out Aeroflot's technicians. In the gateway (facing camera) is Mr. Alan Harris, B.E.A. duty officer, London Airport Central. compared with the Ukraina's 650 km/hr (and 3,000 km range).The 100-seater 11-18 was also discussed, but, at that stage, no data could be obtained other than it was designed by a combina-tion of Antonov and Ilyushin's separate skills and that it was scheduled to go into service at the beginning of 1959. Alongside the demonstration rooms was a drawing office with20 boards and 50 tables. During the tour I met a number of professors (all in the 11thgrade) who explained their work. Their names and responsibilities were as follows: — Kutchenko: Automation and Mechanics. In this departmentwere rooms full of computers—one at work solving problems of dynamics when an aircraft is under autopilot control. Here, theysaid, flight simulators were being designed for the Tu-104 and the Ukraina. The Il-14s already had a "young cabin" (i.e., LinkTrainer) and no further development would take place owing to the obsolescence of the type. One of the chief research activitiesof the department was into methods of "fully automatic" landings. Troitzky: Radio (aircraft and ground equipment). This pro-fessor's laboratories were well fitted with conventional short- and ultra-short wave sets, radar, navigation, V.H.F., I.L.S., radiocompasses, and telegraphic equipment. Kostetsky: Metals Technology. He showed us with pride twoelectron microscopes (one two years old and the other 12 months) being used in connection with a new theory on the "frictionstability" of metals and a new process of cold-welding metals. There was also a range of supersonic flaw-detectors. Baschta: Aerodynamics. In the old laboratory (the new one isalmost complete) the professor demonstrated a wind tunnel in miniature, but commented that "although this is useful for teach-ing, the new one—which simulates the speed of sound—will enable us to do research." Pirtk&u: Materials Strength. The professor (a correspondingMember of the Ukrainian Academy of Science) was in Czecho- slovakia on holiday; but his assistant, Luksky, explained theirwork, adding that all lectures were tape-recorded for the benefit of absent students. In addition to the professors who were introduced there are atleast a dozen other Chairs teaching and working on such problems as hydraulics, the filtration of liquids, combustion of petrol, fatigueand length of times between aircraft and component overhauls. There is also an instructor in Marxism-Leninism. In the quietfinal-preparation room dominated by busts of Lenin and Marx and a huge illustration of the Sixth Five Year Plan I asked thequestion, "Why do you study that here?" An assistant lecturer replied, "It's quite simple. It helps the students to have a deeperunderstanding of the other subjects and also" (his eye twinkled) "it helps the aeroplane to fly in a more politically intelligent way." There were no women students. "The work is too hard andheavy," we were told, "although they were at our pre-war econo- mics and planning faculty—which has been hived off." Our infor-mant added : "Now we concentrate on engineering. Our terms of reference are to meet Aeroflot's demand for technicians and assistthe airline in every way possible to fulfill its part in the Five Year Plan." (World copyright reserved. To be continued)
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
