FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1770.PDF
860 FLIGHT Portrayed here in the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh, are (I. to r.) Lord Brabazon, Sir Fred- erick Handley Page, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, Claude Grahame-White and Sir Thomas Sopwith. The occasion was the Royal Aero Club dinner reported on this page. The Pioneers Remember IN all the years since the Royal Aero Club was founded in1901 there can have been no more splendid and enjoyableoccasion than that of the Dinner to the Pioneers of Aviation, held (as briefly reported last week) on November 26th. The chairwas taken by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh. It was a private and domestic occasion at 119 Piccadilly, for the pioneers in question—the guests of honour—are all members of the club. The 90-odd others present—all who could be accommodated—were treatedto a rare selection of reminiscences and anecdotes in the course of the six brief speeches from the guests of honour, who wereintroduced in turn by Mr. S. Kenneth Davies, chairman of the R.Ae.C. He began by reading a telegram of good wishes from theQueen, who is patron of the club, and went on to say: "Tonight we are honouring certain outstanding pioneers, but in this roomthere are also many other such pioneers; some are ancient and some are modern, for in aviation we are still pioneering." ToLord Brabazon he said: "No man has given greater service to the club . . . your life gives members a human example of the objectof our club." Mr. Davies expressed regret at the absence through illness of Sir Alliott Verdon Roe and Sir Oswald Short, and readmessages received from them. First to speak was Prince Philip, who remarked that the occa-sion reminded him of a court martial, in which the junior officer got up first. But, he said, he prided himself on his R/T discip-line and brevity in the air and he saw no reason not to continue it on the ground.On this note the chairman sat down and prepared to listen to Lord Brabazon, president of the club and the first pioneer. Thedinner, said "Brab," was a high-water mark in the history of the club, which had started_ in a pear-drop balloon. He continued:"If there is one person in the world that we old fogies would like to see in the chair, it is the present occupant." Had Prince Philipbeen born when die pioneers were born, Lord Brabazon felt sure he would have worked in early aviation and would have beenamong the "old exhibits" at this dinner. In the course of his speech Lord Brabazon referred to the truth of his own earlydescription of flying as being "like sitting on a blancmange in a strong draught." Sir Geoffrey de Hayilland recalled the dictum that "one doesn'thave to be mad to build aeroplanes—but it helps." He remem- bered buying his first sheds from Lord Brabazon and being allowedto show his engine on Sir Frederick Handley Page's stand at an aero show in 1910 (and not being charged a penny). Healso remembered seeing Claude Grahame-White trying to get out of Wormwood Scrubs! Today he thought one mightattempt to build a new light aircraft and engine with £50,000- £100.000; in those days he could design an engine and two lightaeroplanes for £1,000. One seldom did much stress-work; if something was not strong enough, it broke. Sir Frederick Handley Page, the third speaker, recalled inter aliathe early opportunities in aviation. Pioneers could not get a job in anything else; it was gaol or the aircraft industry. He men-tioned "extra aerodynamical activities" by which they had since achieved fame and distinction. Speaking more seriously, he saidthat some thought there was nothing to be done in the future; but we should let people see that there were as great opportunitiestoday as ever. He instanced the spirit of adventure which still attracted young people, as demonstrated by the greater keennessshown by boys for units such as the Parachute Regiment and the Commandos. Sir Thomas Sopwith (who described himself as "the baby of theparty") paid tributes to those pioneers who could not be present. He spoke affectionately of Charlie Rolls (and his balloons andcars), Frank Hedges Butler (a founder of the Aero Club), Frank McClean ("virtual founder of the R.N.A.S."), Fred Sigrist (SirThomas's old partner) and Harold Perrin (of the Aero Club) and he went on to speak of others with whom he had been asso-ciated, naming W. O. Manning, who with Howard Wright had been responsible for his first two aircraft, and Cecil Malone, theonly surviving member of the team of the Air Department at the Admiralty. He regretted the absence, due to ill-health, of OswaldShort and recalled an order he gave to the Short brothers in 1906 to build a balloon. This was probably the first example of sub-contract in the aviation business. At this point Sir Thomas recalled "a very silly" balloon flighthe made from Battersea gasworks. A gale was blowing and he was not prepared to waste the great expense of having filled theballoon with gas. He reached a point half-way between Bristol and Bath in an hour and five minutes—an average speed of nearly60 m.p.h. He contrasted the procedure of today with that of the quick-starting competition on the programme of one of the early meet- ings. With the pilot at the wing-tip, a gun was fired and awatch started; the propeller had to be swung and the aircraft got off in nine seconds. One could not do that today. Claude Grahame-White was the final speaker. He believedhimself to be "the senior pioneer," though had Sir Alliott Verdon Roe been present he would have been two years senior.Mr. Grahame-White recalled in detail the occasion of the tragedy in which Rolls lost his life at Bournemouth in 1910, in the courseof the second day's landing competition, and mentioned others— Cecil Grace and Cody—before proposing that the company shoulddrink to "the lost pioneers." The official part of the evening was rounded off by briefthanks from Colonel Preston (secretary-general of the Royal Aero Club) to Prince Philip—"a younger pioneer amongst theolder ones." CONWAY TYPE-TEST "pEW aero engines are as powerful—and possibly none as econo-*- mical for high-speed flight—as the Rolls-Royce Conway. The following statement by the manufacturer is therefore givenvirtually in full: — "Rolls-Royce, Ltd., announce that the Rolls-Royce Conway RCo.llby-pass turbojet has completed a Ministry of Supply type-test in accord- ance with the combined U.S./U.K. schedule at a declared dry rating of17,250 lb thrust. An official Ministry of Supply letter of approval is in course of preparation. A large part of the type-test was actually run at asubstantially higner thrust figure, and at a specific fuel consumption believed to be lower than that of any type-tested military jet engine inthe world. "As previously announced, the rating of the Conway for civil airlinersis 16,500 lb thrust, and the military test exceeds this by a satisfactory margin. The civil and military engines are basically the same; there aredifferences in features to suit individual installations. The military Conway will power the Handley Page Victor B-2, "Last month, the Air Registration Board confirmed that the Rolls-Royce Conway had successfully completed a 150-hour test run in accordance with the combined U.S./U.K. civil type-test schedule, at adry take-off rating of 16,500 lb thrust. "The Conway is lighter in weight, has a lower fuel consumption and ismore economic to operate than competing jet engines. Conway engines are already undergoing an intensive flight development programme.Development of the Conway continues and later versions will have more thrust and improved fuel consumption. For operators serving tropicalareas, liquid injection is an optional feature for the purpose of restoring take-off thrust under high temperature conditions. "The first military Conwavs are in production, and civil Conways wi!be delivered to Boeing and Douglas in the summer of 1958. For civ: operation the Conway has been ordered by Trans-Canada Air Lines fortheir Douglas DC-8s and by Air India International, B.O.A.C. and Lufthansa fand Vans—Ed.1 for their Boeing 707-420s. The 35 VicfcwsVC-10* ordered by B.O.A.C. will also be Conway-powered."
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
