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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1704.PDF
792 FLIGHT, 22 November 1957 FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . Sir Frank and Sir Roy Hold Court ON Wednesday of last week Sir Frank Spriggs, managingdirector of the Hawker Siddeley Group, answered questions in London about the aviation interests of his Group. With SirRoy Dobson, chairman of A. V. Roe Canada, he had just returned from a visit to the U.S.A. and to Canada (where they had com-pleted the 76 per cent purchase of the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation). Sir Frank explained how the Group was steadily broadening itsnon-aviation industrial interests: whereas two years ago aviation accounted for 85 per cent of the activity, it was now only 30 percent. "I think that change is the measure of the success of our expansion and diversification programme." But he remarkedthat if the aviation interest were "allowed to melt away" it would be "the biggest crime the government has ever committed to thiscountry." The big surprise was Sir Frank's reply to a question aboutHawker's private venture strike aircraft, the P.I 121. It had, he said, been "put in mothballs until someone sends a telegram tellingus to build a lot of them." It had reached a development stage with which they were "more than satisfied." Production jigs were built,but there was as yet no customer, although there was NATO inter- est in the project. The 1121 was to be powered by a D.H. Gyron.The Hawker order-book was, Sir Frank said, filled for four years, and Gloster's tor three and a half. The Avro 740 project competing for the B.E.A. jet transportorder is still in the running: Sir Roy Dobson said that the decision had been "coming in a fortnight for months now." Avro's offer tofinance the development of the project still stood: in other words, the £17m to £20m required would be recouped by export orders.Sir Frank mentioned interest in an executive aircraft, saying that it was not intended to buy a certain project in which they hadbeen interested at one time. The interest in the licence-construc- tion of a helicopter was being contemplated; and the supersonictransport project was by no means dead. The Government had had the design study submitted to them some time ago. Interestin the AW.650 had, he said, been "beyond expectations," but no options had yet been placed. Of the Arrow, Sir Roy remarked that it was "half an era" aheadof anything else in the western world. The Orenda Iroquois turbojet was being contemplated for several U.S. aircraft, throughCurtiss-Wright. Skylark Progress ASKYLARK high-altitude research rocket fired on November 13from the Woomera range, South Australia, achieved a height of 83 miles carrying equipment for four types of high-altitudeinvestigation. This launching was the fourth of six preliminary firings scheduled to precede the joint programme of upper-atmosphere research, by the Royal Society and the Royal Aircraft Establishment, for the International Geophysical Year. The Ministry of Supply stated that the first three firings hadshown the performance of the rocket vehicle and its Raven solid-propellant motor to be "very satisfactory," and that atten-tion had now been turned to trials of the equipment and instru- mentation carried by the rocket, and of special ground equipment.The equipment carried by the fourth Skylark was under test during the flight. The four special installations were: —(1) To measure atmospheric temperatures and high-altitude wind velocities: a series of 18 explosive grenades, ejected from the rocket atintervals above 100,000ft. Ground equipment included microphones to IN THE DOGHOUSE: First photographs of the second Russian satellite were released last week. Below, the dog Laika in her compartment; right, photograph and diagram of the interior layout. 1, nose-cap; 2, apparatus for registering ultra-violet rays and X-rays; 3, spherical container for instruments and radio transmitters; 4, protective frame- work; 5, hermetically sealed compartment for dog. (See page 791.) record the arrival of the sound-waves, ballistic cameras to record theposition of the explosive flashes, and a detector to record the instant of each flash. This experiment was by University College, London. (2) To measure winds at altitudes up to 50 miles : fourteen cartridgesof "window" foil, released explosively in two clouds at heights above 100,000ft. These clouds were tracked by ground r?dar, and the experi-ment was devised by Imperial College, London. (3) To measure ionospheric electron densities: a section of therocket nose, insulated to form a fixed-capacity condenser and included in a 5 Mc/s oscillatory circuit able to detect the presence of electronsin the ionosphere. The results in this experiment, which was devised by the University of Birmingham, were telemetered to the ground. (4) To determine the undisturbed ambient pressure at variousaltitudes: three Pirani pressure gauges carried in the rocket cone, one measuring ram pressures at the tip, and the other two measuring conewall pressures. (An R.A.E. investigation.) Other equipment carried included timing gear and switches,telemetry transmitter, power supplies, Doppler transponder and microwave beacon, the last two units giving velocity and posi-tion for tracking purposes. Nuclear Talk at NATO |T\URING last week's parliamentary conference of the fifteen•*-' NATO countries many proposals were advanced—no doubt under the impetus provided by Russia's recent satellite achieve-ments—in an effort to accelerate the scientific ability of the Western nations.Senator Jackson of the U.S.A. suggested that the NATO countries should establish a missile training centre, and that atleast 500 doctorates should be awarded annually "in the sphere of maximum importance for the defence and economic well-beingof the Atlantic community." General Thomas S. Power made it clear that the impressive standard established by Strategic AirCommand has in no way diminished since he took over from General Le May earlier this year; a 15-min alert was orderedthroughout the Command on October 1 and this state of readiness "will soon be operative throughout one-third" of S.A.C. Senator Kefauver, chairman of the NATO political committee,is quoted as saying "we are very interested in Firestreak; we think it one of the best weapons of its kind available." D.H. Old Boys Dine TN London on November 9, some 60 old boys of the de Havilland-*- Aeronautical Technical School and their ladies gathered for the annual dinner at Simpson's-in-the-Strand. It is the customon these occasions for the guest speaker to have, or to have had, associations with de Havilland during his career, and the guest ofhonour last Saturday, A. Cdre. Sir Vernon Brown (best known as a former Chief Inspector of Accidents at the Air Ministry andlater the M.C.A.) reminisced about the earliest de Havilland air- craft, many of which he had flown. There are now 567 members of the Old Boys' Association, 163of them with de Havilland companies, and 87 in the North American branch.
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