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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0577.PDF
2 May 1958 593 That, as it turned out next day, was exactly how Defense Secre-tary Neil McElroy put the picture to the Senate Armed Services Committee. I watched this capable man make his case in an atmo-sphere enough to daunt even Duncan Sandys—with his inquisitors ranged in a forbidding half-circle above him and the Press tablealmost knocking against the back of his chair. Beside him sat General Nathan Twining, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—non-smoking, like McElroy, while most of us were puffing away. Opponents of the scheme believe that to put the operationaluse of the Services under one man smacks of dictatorship. But speed of decision—hopeless when three separate operational staffshave to do it—is so essential that it must come. And that part of Eisenhower's plan which would give theDefense Secretary power to divert five to ten per cent of the military financial allocation as he wishes without the consent ofCongress seems practical and wise. As I heard McElroy tell the committee, there may appear a sudden priority to proceed withone weapon while dropping another, or an urgent need of money to support operations of one Service in an emergency. I hope McElroy wins. It is a scheme for creating a real overlordfor defence which Duncan Sandys is—again I hope—watching very closely. That is my personal opinion; for it would do the veryjob which has needed urgent attention both in Britain and the United States ever since the end of the war. That is removing thepetty jealousies, the lack of co-operation and the general confusion which happens too often when each Service is responsible for itsown operational planning subject only to general policy planning by the political head of defence and his Service advisers. Memo, for the War Office : In a glass case in one of the innumer-able Pentagon corridors were some neat models of the Army's missiles. Two are shrouded like statues yet to be unveiled; theywere labelled "Sergeant" and "Pershing." Memo, for the Admiralty: Somewhere else in the Pentagon (I'dlent my compass to somebody, so I couldn't pin-point my position) there was a full-scale mock-up of the Rat, new anti-submarinemissile. It's a good idea to let those chair-borne officers and civil servants in Whitehall see exactly what's going on. Rat is impressive and will become operational with the fleetlate this year. And it is interesting to note that the system can be installed in the majority of U.S. destroyers without muchexpense, by utilizing existing five-inch gun mountings and by slight modification of the search and fire-control systems alreadyinstalled. Now off to Philadelphia—again by courtesy of MATS. Thistime in a V.I.P. C-131B—a beautifully fitted-out Convair 340. Flying time from Boiling Air Force Base to Philadelphia Inter-national, 45 minutes. Four-abreast seating—facing over large tables. Sofas and con-ference table in a rear cabin. Stewards this time—in impeccable white jackets, black bow-ties and black trousers. Both airmen, onea sergeant. It was another 75-cent lunch, which I had to bolt faster than I did on the Silver Wing on the way to Paris. We were overthe threshold at Philadelphia before I got the last of my milk down my jacket. Incidentally, about the only resemblance between MATS andTransport Command is that the aircraft do fly and that there is no liquor permitted aboard. "What," I asked one of the airwomenon the DC-6, "would you do if somebody came aboard a little tight or had a bottle of bourbon with him?" Said the petite little blonde, built beautifully to area rule;"Throw him off." EJECTION AT 56,000ft AT the R.A.F. hospital at Halton last Friday the two R.A.F.**• officers who recently ejected from a Scorpion Canberra at 56,000ft over Derbyshire gave an account of their experience. F/L. J. P. F. De Salis, the pilot, said that his stabilizing para-chute was damaged by hitting something, with the result that he "started spinning very fast." His arms were thrown above hishead and he could not get them down. He was not conscious all the time, but remembered his parachute opening at between10,000 to 13,000ft—though if it had not opened automatically he would have been too muzzy to have done it himself. When itopened, the shroud lines were "wound up." F/L. De Salis esti- mated that he was spinning for 48,000ft—more than nine miles ofthe eleven-mile drop. "Afterwards I felt I had gone many rounds with a very heavy punching boxer." Although there were 97 degof frost when the two men left the aircraft and this continued for 22,000ft of the fall, neither suffered more than minor frostbite. F/L. P. Lowe, the navigator, said that he found himself com-ing down horizontally, face downwards, until his parachute opened. "The free fall lasted four minutes, but it seemed likea day and a half." Neither officer had made a parachute jump before. Both have now been declared fully fit. THOR/VANGUARD TEST AT 7.10 p.m. on April 23, the U.S.A.F. fired from Cape Canaveral**• a test vehicle consisting of a Thor IRBM carrying a modified Vanguard second-stage surmounted by a blunt re-entry nose sec-tion. The vehicle is reported to be similar to that which the Air Force intends to launch against the moon during the comingsummer, but the firing was described as a re-entry test, the second stage being ignited after about two minutes' flight with the finalstrike aimed at a point some 6,300 statute miles away in the south Atlantic. It was later reported that the re-entry body carried amouse, which perished owing to the point of impact being appre- ciably nearer to the launching than was originally programmed. ELECTRAS FOR THE U.S. NAVY THE U.S. Navy has ordered a large number of LockheedElectras, for service as a Neptune replacement. The number ordered is not disclosed at the time of going to press, but isunofficially reported to be 80. The Electras, which will probably be designated P3V, will each carry a crew of 10 and a very widerange of electronic search and attack systems. TAON RECORD ON April 25, the first prototype Breguet 1001 Taon establisheda new world 1,000 km closed-circuit record, homologated by the F.A.I. Flown by Breguet's chief test pilot, M. BernardWitt, the Taon took off from Istres at 6.21 p.m., flew to Cazaux and returned to Istres; the flight was made at 25,000ft and thedistance took 57 min 23 sec, representing a speed of 1,045.65 km/hr (649.7 m.p.h.). This performance, representing almost sonic speed for an hour,is particularly meritorious when it is remembered that the Taon is an extremely small attack aeroplane; the aircraft was by nomeans new, and was unmodified—except for the now-standard bulges at the wing roots. It was powered, like other 1001s, bya single Bristol Orpheus BOr.3 turbojet rated at 4,850 lb thrust. The Taon has been selected for development with the morepowerful BOr.12 engine (6,810 lb dry) for use as the second- generation NATO attack aircraft. UNIQUE products of the French private industry are these two. Above left, the Breguet 940 STOL with four Turbomeca Turmo II turboprops. Now ready for flight trials, it has a double-slotted trail- ing edge, and should take off in about 200ft at some 14,000 Ib weight. Below, the first Morane Saulnier M.S.I500 fpervier light ground attack machine. It has a Turbomeca Marcadau, but the production fperv/er will have the more powerful Boston,
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