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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0478.PDF
494 FLIGHT, 11 April 1958 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor of "Flight" is not necessarily in agreement with the views expressed by correspondents in these columns. The names and addresses of the writers, not or publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. The First Briton to Fly TN the course of diverse investigations into the various flying-*• claims of 1907-08,1 have naturally come up against the question of Henri Farman's nationality, a matter of long-standing doubtamong historians. As Monsieur Farman is now aged and ailing, I have been in touch with Monsieur J. Lycett, his life-long friendand the former manager of the Societe Anonyme des Usines Farrnan M. Lycett has informed me categorically that Farmanwas a British subject until 1937, when he became a naturalized Frenchman. Furthermore, if your readers will refer to The Timesfor September 7,1909 (page 6, col. 2) they will find the following:— "In view of the misapprehension which apparently continues toexist with regard to Mr. Henry Farman's nationality, jt may be repeated that he is the son of British parents and has remained a British subject." On September 18, The Times also announced that:— ". . . the King has been pleased to grant to Mr. Henry Farman hisMajesty's Royal licence and authority to accept and wear the.Cross of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour." The periodicals of the time went out of their way to mention hisBritish nationality, one of them even announcing "Britannia rules the air. . . ." So we must now happily accept the curious fact that HenriFarman was the first Briton to fly in a powered aeroplane and the first Briton to become a powered-aeroplane pilot—in fact the firstBritish aviator (excluding gliding). If we pass over his tentative hops during September 1907, we can mark October 1907 as themonth of his first powered and sustained flights (including one at Issy of 2,530ft on October 26), and January 1908 as the month ofhis first powered, sustained and controlled flying, in that he made the first officially observed kilometre circuit on January 13, and sowon the Prix Deutsch-Archdeacon. Henri Farman was also the first true and proper powered aero-plane pilot of Europe. Santos Dumont's best "flight" in 1906— when he was adjudged to have made the first powered flights inEurope—was only some 720ft, after which he speedily abandoned his ingenious but unpractical and virtually uncontrollable aircraft,and did not make a significant aeroplane flight of any kind until 1909. Furthermore, neither Delagrange nor Bleriot, despite theirgood efforts in 1907, were able to fly properly until well into 1908. For the academic, it should be said that one finds Farman'sChristian name spelt both "Henry" and "Henri" during 1907 and 1908, with "Henri" appearing on the tail-unit side-curtains of hisVoisin biplane, and on his own designed machines of 1909. London, W.I. CHARLES H. GIBBS-SMITH. "Timing—the Lack of a Sense of Urgency" COME years ago, when the late Dr. Ernst Heinkel inspected•^ the then expanding British aircraft industry, his one (to me) remembered impression was of a "lack of a sense of urgency."Today, when that same aircraft industry faces what we all realize must be a period of contraction, it would seem that this atmo-sphere still pervades, for nothing else can explain the leisureliness with which the production of the short-range jet transport isbeing faced. The turbojet v, turboprop controversy has raged fiercely forsome time, and masses of statistics pro and con both factions have been compiled, so I will content myself by saying that a 55 percent break-even turboprop will lose money on 50 per cent payloads and a 65 per cent turbojet will make it, if it can achieve 70 per centpayloads. Therefore the key to the question is neither technics nor accountants' cross-word puzzles, but passenger appeal. On the grounds of quietness and smoothness the turbojet scoresover the turboprop by at least as great a margin as that with which the latter scored over the piston-engined aeroplanes, andwhile the block-speed margin on the 200/300-mile stages will not be very great, hard-driving in the 600-650 m.p.h. region willshow some advantage for the jet, and the elimination of the pro- peller will tend to be on the side of greater, and not lesser, safety. My opinion is that in ordering a second-generation turboprop,the Vanguard, B.E.A. blundered very badly, especially as I really cannot see how this is considered to be a short-range aeroplane.It seems to me that it is a medium-range large-capacity aeroplane whose characteristics fall nearly into the same class as the Britannia. The result for the industry is that Vickers are committed to thisand the VC.I0 and thus have no design or production capacity to spare for an entry into the short-range turbojet field—much totheir chagrin, no doubt, when the potential market is examined. Now there remains one gleam of hope. It is that a really intensiveeffort could be made to retrieve the lost two years by mobilizing really substantial resources to producing such a machine for ser- vice in 1961. Five hundred days to get the first prototype airborneand 500 days for certification and the first eight or ten ready for airline service. It could be done; if the venture is to succeed itwill have to be done! No one, B.E.A. apart, is going to be interested in an aeroplane which will only be ready in 1964. I hope that the Bristol/Hawker Siddeley combine will go aheadon this basis, laying down a batch of ten as with the Freighter- coach, for service delivery in 1961, and, incidentally, designedinitially to American standards, as, whether we like it or not, these are the world standards. Probably this "consortium" is the onlyone with adequate financial and technical resources sufficient to make up the lost time. One other point; the Government's aim of using the B.E.A.order to strengthen the aircraft industry by creating fewer but larger firms is hardly implemented by, in fact, superimposingfresh units upon, and additional to, the old ones. Southport, Lanes. . ALAN MOORCROFT. Bolt Failures report of the official inquiry into the Ringway accidentwhich your interesting journal published on March 21 draws renewed attention on an old but ever-vital engineering subject—that of structural failures due to metal fatigue. The final recommendations a, b and c of the report relate tothe number and strength of die bolts and how they should be fitted. No recommendation, however, appears to deal with theequally important design of the bolts to be used in future. It seems to me that the waisted type of bolt might have beenconsidered. This well known design has a thread larger than its shank andthe latter can therefore be joined by a good radius to its head at one end and to the threaded part at the other or to any inter-mediate smooth portion designed to fit the hole. Thus the stress imposed upon such a bolt is spread more evenlyalong its length instead of being concentrated sharply at the first thread and under the head as on the ordinary broken boltsillustrated and referred to in the article. London, N.W.ll. GEORGES ROESCH,M.I.Mech.E., M.S.I.A., M.S.A.E. On Idealists T WAS keenly interested in the letter from Mr. Edward Leslie-•- Flight, March 21) concerning the views of your contributor Roger Bacon on "idealists." I feel strongly as your contributordoes that one must keep both feet firmly on the ground and, while recognizing that one must strive for an ideal, one has to call a haltevery now and then and make something imperfect and sell it. And I am sorry Mr. Leslie takes a poor view of your contributor's"meaningless, homespun philosophy." I think it has so far pro- vided a great many worthwhile talking points; I know I and mycolleagues look for Bacon's column to appear each week, even if we don't always agree with what it says. Coventry, Warwicks. J. STUART. FORTHCOMING EVENTS April 11. Helicopter Association: "Powered Lift Systems," by Charles H. Zimmerman. April 14-17. 15th Radio and Electronic Component Exhibition, Grosvenor House and Park Lane House, London. April 15. British Institution of Radio Engineers: "Factors in the Design of Airborne Doppler Navigation Equipment," by E. G. Walker. April 15. R.Ae.S.: Section Lecture: "The Problems of Vertical Take- off," by Dr. C. T. Hewson. April 16-25. Instruments, Electronics and Automation Exhibition, Olympia, London. April 21. Women's Engineering Society: "Philosophy of Guided Missile Design," by W/C. P. M. Chettle. April 25. Institute of Navigation: "Use of Simulators for Training Navigators to Use Radar Equipment." April28-30. Institute of Aeronautical Sciences: Astronautics Symposium: Denver, Col. April 28- May 2. Institute of Metals: Golden Jubilee Meeting, R.Ae.S. Branch Fixtures (to April 30):— April 11, Hatfield, Annual Dinner. April 14, Holton, "Aircroft Photography," by John Yoxall. April 16, Brough, A.G.M.; Christchurch, Joint Meeting with Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Lecture by G. W. H. Gardner; London Airport, "Titanium," by H. W. Shaw; Preston, A.G.M. and Film Show. April 18, Birmingham, "Reduxed Aircraft Structures." April 21, Halton, Film Night and Committee Meeting. April 23, Christchurch, A.G.M. and Film Show; Hatfield, Discussion Evening; Leicester, A.G.M. and Film Show. April 30, Reading, A.G.M. and Film Show; Weybridge, A.G.M.
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