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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1669.PDF
FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD FOUNDED 1909 and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER No 2547 Vol 72 FRIDAY 15 NOVEMBER 1 95 7 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 Telegrams • Flightpres Sedist London BRANCH OFFICES Coventry 8-10 Corporation Street Telephone • Coventry 5210 Birmingham King Edward House, New Street, 2 Telephone • Midland 7191 (7 lines) Manchester 260 Deansgate, 2 Telephone • Blackfriars 4412 (3 lines) Deansgaie 3595 (2 lines) Glasgow . 26B Renfield Street, C.2 Telephone • Central 1265 (2 lines) Toronto, Ontario Thomas Skinner of Canada, Ltd. 67 Yonge Street, 1 Telephone • Empire 6-0873 New York, N.Y. Thomas Skinner and Co. (Publishers), Ltd. Ill Broadway, 6 Telephone • Digby 9-1197 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION Home £4 15s 0d, overseas £5 0s Od. Canada and U.S.A. $15.00. Second Class Mail privileges author- ised at New York, N.Y. in this issue 760 250 Viscounts Built 762 The Rotodyne Flies 764 Comet 4C 765 The SopwithTabloid,Schneider and Baby—Part 2 767 Control Systems Outlook ?71 Boeing B-52 779 Aircraft Electrics 781 The Industry's Dilemma 786 Portable Airborne D/F Britain's VTO AirlinerT O report that a six-engined VTO airliner is now flying in Britain is to report no more than the truth; and by so describing the Fairey Rotodyne we may hope to direct a due measure of attention to an aircraft having unique capabilities and excellent commercial prospects. News of the Rotodyne's trouble-free initial flights, after an extremely satis- factory and notably brief period of ground testing, cast a bright and steady beam through an otherwise sombre, troubled week in British aviation. Congratulations are in order jointly to the Fairey company, for their courageous venture in aero- nautical engineering, and to Napier, for having rendered that venture feasible by developing their novel "power system" (such indeed is the scheme whereby the two Elands deliver their output either to the propellers or to the auxiliary com- pressors feeding the tip-mounted Fairey pressure-jets). And while the cigars are circulating, a Churchill Special for the Minister of Supply—staunch godfather of this first Rotodyne and of the plumper brother soon to follow it. The civil and military applications of the large convertiplane—a class wherein the Rotodyne now assumes pre-eminent status—are as varied as they are manifold, and among them is one which illustrates with particular vividness the commercial prospects. We have in mind the carrying of 40 passengers on the London-Paris run—a performance which, though unlikely to be realized as soon as others in the Rotodyne repertoire, continues very much in mind. The "fixed-wing" journey time, including surface transport to and from airports, is four and a half hours—a time which the Rotodyne might reduce to an hour and three-quarters. But whatever may come about in the way of city-centre-to-city-centre or airport- to-city-centre operations (and American interest continues very lively in this regard), the "outback" and "island hopping" applications of the Rotodyne offer their own special rewards. The big island groups invite—and doubtless have already been accorded—the closest attention by the Fairey salesmen. For short-haul work a three-car ferry and a 48-seater coach version are offered. Add the built-in rear-loading facility; add, too, the ready possibility of mixed- traffic operation, and the Rotodyne must be adjudged as versatile as it is uncon- ventional. I Back in the Nuclear ClubT'S over, and can't be helped, and that's one consolation, as they always sayin Turkey, ven they cuts the wrong man's head off." Thus, like SamWeller (though avoiding, no doubt, the reference to our NATO ally), might Air Chief Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst have summed up his own feelings—and Bomber Command's—about the R.A.F. platings in the S.A.C. bombing com- petition. The Valiants and Vulcans failed to do well: not through lack of effort or skill, but mainly through a combination of adverse circumstances— malfunctioning of electronic equipment; operations at an altitude much lower than the V-bomber crews prefer; and, in the case of the Vulcans, comparative unfamiliarity of crews with their machines. Yet Sir Harry rightly stresses the benefits of the contest. The R.A.F. crews and their U.S.A.F. counterparts have become "mentally integrated to an extra- ordinary degree"; S.A.C. has been informally invited to take part in the R.A.F. competition next year; and a satisfactory exchange of information exists between the two Commands. All to the good; for what matters above all is the high standard set by the Americans and the experience gained by the V-bomber crews of working overseas. Suez gave Valiant crews a taste of this, and the tropical atmosphere of Pinecastle has provided an even stiffer lesson. Sir Harry summed up one aspect of the competition when he said, "We are back in the nuclear club." But the technical implications must now be taken to heart by his Command. Much remains to be done before it becomes a wholly effective nuclear force.
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