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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1886.PDF
974 FLIGHT SHARP CUSTOMER: A newly released photo- graph of the North American F~]Q7A; capable of about Mach 2.1, the aircraft did not go into production, only six being built. FROM ALL QUARTERS Ballistic Progress T~\URING the past few days all the major U.S. ballistic-missile•*-' programmes have made exceptional progress. Most spec- tacular single advance was the successful firing of the thirdXSM-65A Atlas from Patrick A.F.B. on December 17. As far as can be ascertained, this Atlas was fitted with the two boost .motorsonly; photographs of the firing do not reveal a central flame from the sustainer motor. The firing was described as a "limited-range" test of some hundreds of miles and was completely success- ful. A re-entry nose cone was fitted. The other ICBM, the SM-68 Titan, is now in preliminaryproduction at Denver and the first prototype is scheduled to go on to the test-stand there in February. Thor, the U.S.A.F. IRBM,continues with successful firings and satisfactory results have been obtained with a prototype fitted with a completely representativeguidance system. The latter will now be of the A.C. pure-inertial type, the Bell Telephone Laboratories "back-stop" system havingbeen eliminated owing to the proven reliability of low-drift float- ing gyros. JetStar for U.S.A.F.E VALUATION of the Lockheed CL-329 JetStar prototype bythe U.S. Air Force will begin early next month. Flight trials, which began at Edwards A.F.B. in September, have been mostsuccessful and the prototype has already logged more than 80 hours. Field performance has been better than predicted, levelspeed has exceeded 600 m.p.h. and rates of climb are unofficially reported to have reached 16,000 ft/min. The JetStar is a company-financed venture to meet theU.S.A.F. "off the shelf" UCX utility transport competition. Although originally scheduled to have four General Electric J85engines, the prototype is flying with two Wright TJ-37s each of approximately 4,500 lb thrust. These engines, which are importedBristol Orpheus, will be available as an alternative powerplant for production JetStars. Twiss Portrait for R.Ae.C. TQORTRAYED in the picture below is a pleasant occasion at the•*• Royal Aero Club, when, last week, the Fairey Aviation Com- pany presented to the Club a portrait of Peter Twiss, who raisedthe world's air speed record to 1,132 m.p.h. in the Fairey Delta 2 on March 10, 1956. The painting—from a photograph takenimmediately after the flight—is by Mary Eastman, whose father painted the portrait of the late Sir Richard Fairey which hangs inthe Club. Making the presentation on behalf of Faireys, Mr. G. W. Hall(chairman) said that despite the fact that every effort had been made it was only recently that the speed had been exceeded by75 m.p.h. "I congratulate the Americans," he added. "The fact that we do not now hold the record in no way diminishes Peter Twiss's achievement, for he raised the existing record by 310m.p.h." Paying a tribute to all those concerned with the Fairey record,Mr. Hall made particular mention of Rolls-Royce, Ltd. Their deputy chairman, Mr. J. D. Pearson, was among those whoattended the presentation. "Bedstead" Inquest Verdict AFTER seeing a film of the last moments of the second Rolls-L Royce "flying bedstead" test rig, in which W/C. H. G. F. Larsen lost his life on November 28, a coroner's jury at Hucknallon December 16 returned a verdict of accidental death. Mr. C. A. Mack, Nottingham District Coroner, told the resumedinquest that there had been a very searching inquiry into the possible cause of the disaster and "any question of mechanicalfault" had been entirely ruled out. Sopwith Apprentices United ONE-TIME apprentices of the Sopwith Aviation Co.—WorldWar 1 forerunner of the Hawker Siddeley Group—met for the third annual reunion dinner of their association at the UnitedService Club in London on December 11, with Mr. R. W. Sutton in the chair. It was a very pleasant, reminiscent occasion, andsome early photographs and lantern slides lent by Sir Thomas Sopwith were of exceptional interest. A. Cdre C. B. Wincott toasted the new president (succeedingthe late Mr. Fred Sigrist), Sir Thomas Sopwith, who in his reply also proposed the association. To this toast A.V-M. L. T.Pankhurst responded. Sir Frank Spriggs replied to the toast of Hawker Aircraft, which had been proposed by Mr. J. H. Williams;his comments on the state of the industry and aircraft orders were of a confidential nature. The final toast on the list was that of"our guests," proposed by Mr. Frank Buckle, to which the editor of Flight responded. The hon. secretary of the Sopwith Apprentices Association isMr. V. W. Derrington, of 159 London Road, Kingston-on- Thames. He reported on activities, mentioning particularly avisit to the Shuttleworth Collection. During the latter part of the evening Mr. Thomas Sopwith, Jnr., who was among theguests, was unanimously elected an extra-ordinary member. Among others who spoke during the evening were G/C."Jimmy" Jeffs, Commandant of London Airport and S/L. "Joe" Taylor, representing the Avro 504 Club, which is closelyassociated with the Sopwith apprentices. IN BRIEF Elected president of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciencesfor 1958, Mr. Edward C. Wells, vice-president engineering of the Boeing Airplane Company, succeeds Mr. Mundy I. Peak, presi-dent of Republic Aviation Corporation. Mr. Wells will take office at the I.A.S. Honors Night Dinner on January 28. * * * Sud Aviation announced recently that a contract had beenconcluded with Republic Aviation Corporation for the manufac- ture of Alouette 2 helicopters in the U.S. The value of thiscontract has not been revealed, but according to the French Air Minister it is for 60 machines. * * * Authorization is to be sought from Congress by the DefenseDepartment for the installation, at a cost of $500m, of a new type of long-range radar—probably that developed by ColumbiaUniversity and the U.S.A.F. Rome Air Development Center, using the "fine-structure analysis" technique—in the Distant.Early Warning line across Alaska and Canada. Said to have :*•" range of at least 2,500 miles, the new equipment is expected togive more than 15 minutes' warning of ICBMs. THE FACE OF SPEED: As recorded on this page, a portrait of Peta Twiss, who until recently held the world's air speed record, has bet presented to the Royal Aero Club by the Fairey Aviation Company. Ti presentation was made by Mr. G. W. Hall (right) and the picture (set here with the subject) was received on behalf of the club by Col. R. Preston (left), the secretary-general.
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