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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1367.PDF
MJGHT, 13 September 1957 457 FARNBORO UGH'S FORMAL SEND-OFF Points from the Speeches at the Show-Eve Dinner MORE than 1,000 guests were present at the 1957 S.B.A.C.Flying Display dinner, which (as briefly reported last week) was held at the Dorchester Hotel, London, on the eve of the show.The president, Mr. C. F. Uwins, welcomed the guests and in a brief review of the industry's activities said that they were particu-larly proud that during 1956 our exports had reached a total of over £100m—an increase of nearly 60 per cent on the preceding year.He went on to say that the bewildering rate of technological pro- gress in aeronautics had been paralleled in the associated realmsof electronics and atomic power, and these sciences had combined to place in the hands of three countries a weapon capable ofutter and complete devastation: "Here then is the supreme achievement against which our plans for the present and the futuremust be surveyed." A change in defence policy, continued Mr. Uwins, was notunexpected. For years we had expected the era of "push-button" warfare, and the successes achieved by our guided weapons hadclearly indicated that the date must be near. Nevertheless, the scope of the changes which were to be made had left us all a littlebreathless and had speeded even more vigorously our endeavours in the field of commercial transport aircraft. And so at Farn-borough they would see increasing emphasis laid upon aircraft for civil use, embracing the widest possible range of duties. "If the policy of the White Paper is to be properly and effectivelycarried through," Mr. Uwins went on, "the Armed Services must require far larger numbers of transport aircraft than they at presentpossess. Wherever possible, their needs should be tied in with the requirements of the world's airlines, for by so doing we shouldstimulate a home market for transport aircraft sufficiently large to enable us to continue to compete for business in equippingairline fleets all over the world. "The success of British-built civil aircraft in the hands of manyoperators all over the world has already been most convincing, and during the coming year additional overseas airlines will beintroducing British transports on their routes. We acknowledge most warmly the help the industry receives in the development ofthese aircraft from the operations of our State Corporations— B.O.A.C. and B.E.A.—and we particularly congratulate both Cor-porations on the improving results they show year by year. "'But while we applaud their performance, at the same time wefeel apprehensive over the difficulties which our independent opera- tors have to face. We shall continue to press for greater freedomfor these companies to acquire aircraft of the latest and most economical types. The important recommendations by the AirLeague merit special study in the highest quarters, for the valuable work of the independent operators must in the changing aero-nautical climate claim our constant support." Mr. Uwins said that during the past year the industry hadcontinued to equip itself with all the instruments and tools of research and development. No fewer than 60 wind tunnels ofranges up to high supersonic speeds were now available. As the Minister of Supply, Mr. Aubrey Jones, had said, aircraftresearch and development in all its aspects—especially in the prob- lems of supersonic and hypersonic flight—must go on. There wasno calling a halt at any particular Mach number. Nor should we R.A.F. AIRFIELDS FOR PRIVATE PILOTS A LIST of 80 R.A.F. airfields which, subject to certain condi-tions, may be used by private aircraft is contained in the current issue of the Private Aircraft Owners' Newsletter, circulatedto private-owner members and associate members of the Royal Aero Club. The Air Ministry's action in reviewing its policy onthis subject (the new list was published in Notam 566 during July) follows suggestions at the R.Ae.C. symposium last February. JAPANESE AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION TN a Government White Faper published recently in Tokyo it-1 was claimed that Japan's aircraft industry had recovered from the war so quickly that, like Britain's, it could be turned into akey export industry. Revived in 1952 after being heavily damaged during the war and outlawed during the occupation, it now had80 acres of factory floor space and a working force of 11,000 men employed by ten aircraft manufacturers. American military orders had accounted for four-fifths ofrepair work and half of production up to the end of last year. These orders, however, are expected to drop off considerablyand the industry is in process of changing over to contracts from ignore the investigation of the pressing problems of structures,systems and materials necessary to enable unmanned as well as manned aircraft to fly ever higher and higher and faster and faster. Our interest in the unmanned, as well as in the manned, aircraftfield would be demonstrated most graphically in the show at Farnborough. There they would find what was probably themost comprehensive display of guided missiles and their appro- priate launchers that had yet been assembled in one place. Forthe first time, the result of years of effort, employing thousands of our best technical brains, would be on view. The president introduced as the Society's chief guest the FirstSea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Earl Mountbatten said that he was not himself a professionalaviator—"but I have done my best, as Chief of the Naval Staff, to get the right advice. The Vice-Chief of Staff, the Deputy Chief ofStaff and two Assistant Deputy Chiefs are all aviators wearing wings." His own qualification to speak on this occasion was thatthe Navy, having been buying aircraft for over 50 years, was the industry's oldest and most regular customer. He spoke of its earlyrealization that to control the sea a nation must control the air over it; and there was more than twice as much air over the sea as overland. "When, in April 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service and theFlying Corps amalgamated to form the Royal Air Force," con- tinued Earl Mountbatten, "the Naval contribution was 3.000aircraft, 123 air stations and 67,000 men—which showed that they took seriously this matter of the command of the air over the sea." Nowadays that command was met in two ways: by embarkedaircraft of the Fleet Air Arm and the carriers, and by the shore- based aircraft of Coastal Command. It was the Admiralty'sgreatest wish that this Command should be allowed to have an adequate number of modern aircraft with which to fulfil theirfunctions. Turning to the subject of guided missiles, the First Sea Lordcaused laughter by remarking : "It was in 1943 that the Admiralty first started on a paper on producing a guided missile—and atlightning speed, over 13 years later, we have one. It is now flying extremely well. We are very proud of Sea Slug and feel that it hasa great future in the Navy. "The Americans have a guided weapon called Regulus," hecontinued, "which will fly a distance of a few hundred miles and deliver a thermonuclear attack. The claim we have heard fromthe other side of the Iron Curtain about an intercontinental ballistic missile which will fly 600 miles and have an accuracy of12 miles at the other end is something I rather doubt. But they might follow the American lead and get a guided missile for shortrange. More than half the world's total population lives 50 miles from the coast. Of 55 cities which have a million inhabitants each,40 are on the coast and a submarine could come up and lob a missile at them at point-blank range." Earl Mountbatten concluded by remarking that, pound forpound, the exports of the aircraft industry had the greatest value, because they probably represented more pounds sterling forpounds weight exported than the products of any other industry in this country. the Japanese Defence Board. The White Paper said that bylast March a total of some 18 F-86Fs and 54 T-33As had been produced and delivered to the Board. By 1958 a total of 210T-35s and by 1959 a total of 300 F-86Fs will have been delivered to the Board under the Japanese-U.S. production agreement. CO-INCIDENTAL ARCHEOLOGY AN air-to-air photograph of a Slingsby Skylark 2, taken by a- news agency photographer during the National Gliding Championships and published in The Times of August 2, hasled to the discovery of the site of a late Iron Age ot Roman- British enclosure at Weston Patrick, Hampshire. A semicircularmarking on a field in the foreground of the photograph was noticed by Mr. O. G. S. Crawford, formerly archEEological officerto the Ordnance Survey; a later ground inspection confirmed the existence of the ancient site. For some years, aerial photography and inspection have beenused in archaeological investigations. An illustrated article describing the techniques employed and typical results obtained,entitled Archaeology From The Air, appeared in Flight for February 19, 1954.
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