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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0605.PDF
FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD FOUNDED 1909 ^^ and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER No 2572 Vol 73 FRIDAY 9 MAY 1958 Editor-in-Chief MAURICE A. SMITH D.F.C. AND BAR Editor H. F. KING M.B.E. Technical Editor W. T. GUNSTON Production Editor ROY CASEY Iliffe and Sons Ltd. , Dorset House '" Stamford Street London, S.E.I Telephone • Waterloo 3333 Telegrams • Flightpres Sedist London BRANCH OFFICES Coventry 8-10 Corporation Street Telephone • Coventry 5210 Birmingham •:. -,-; / King Edward House, New Street, 2 Telephone • Midland 7191 (7 lines) Manchester 260 Deansgate, 2 Telephone • Blackfriars 4412 (3 lines)Deansgate 3595 (2 lines) Glasgow 26B Renfield Street, C.2 Telephone • Central 1265 (2 lines) New York, N.Y. Thomas Skinner and Co. (Publishers), Ltd. 111 Broadway, 6 Telephone • Digby 9-1197 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION Home £4 15s Od, overseas £5 0s Od. Canada and U.S.A. $15.00. Second Class Mail privileges author- ised at New York, N.Y. in this issue 624 Jets and Acceleration 627 NA.39 632 Origins of the Modern Airliner, Part 3 633 Hunter F.6 6S0 Hanover's Air Show Force and FlairM ORE than once we have detailed the merits of the manned military aeroplane compared with the most intelligent missile; but we do not recall having stressed its value as a vehicle for showing the flag. We have in mind not so much its ability to display military strength and preparedness in skies which may be clouded by international trouble (the visit of the four Canberras to British Honduras, recorded in this issue, is considered by some observers to be a topical instance). Rather we are thinking of the more overt "goodwill" type of visit, as performed at Stavanger over the weekend by the fabulous Hunters of "Treble One." These sleek black beauties have opened the season of international displays with an act which, if the picture on page 623 is evidence, will win them new rosettes. The propaganda value of such demonstrations derives not only from consum- mate flying skill and zestful presentation, but from scrupulous attention to signi- ficant details. In this regard, those responsible must be congratulated on having achieved, for instance, a really dense smoke-trail; and a new departure from standard Service markings is another manifestation of the real sense of show- manship which has marked the preparations. It has rightly been recognized that the R.A.F. is not unchallenged in the formation-aerobatic field, and that a crowd can easily be satiated—indeed, positively bored—with successive appearances by teams from the U.S.A., Great Britain, France, Italy, Sweden and other nations, even though all may be in the first league. There is an increasing recognition of the need for doing, or showing, something different from the others, though (as in any field of entertainment) this is more easily advocated than achieved. We can at least be satisfied that the R.A.F. team for 1958 takes the field well mounted, fully practised, fittingly uniformed, and with a certain little something up their sleeves; and anyone who has sensed the mood of foreign crowds hundreds of thousands strong will agree that this consideration is a weighty one. In showing the flag as much can be achieved by flair as by strength. Something for the. Middleman ?I IGHT aviation's middleman has a complaint to make. He is the prospective private owner, and he stands mid-way between the ultra-light amateur J constructor and the high-powered, expense-accounted operator of an all- metal executive aircraft. His complaint is that there are too few suitable aircraft in this country for him to buy and fly. And he was particularly interested to see, in the Royal Aero Club Gazette recently, a suggestion by A. Cdre. G. J. C. Paul for an enclosed side-by-side two-seater, costing not more than £1,300 to buy (this implied adaptation of an existing design) and thirty shillings per hour to operate. It has already been commented that, thanks to the Rollason organization and its licence-built Druine Turbulent, the number of British companies making light aircraft has been doubled. From one to two. The delightful Turbulent, factory-built at about £1,000, is an excellent thing, but the prospective private owner no more wants to fly solo all the time than he wants to buy a single-seater sports car. Neither does he forget the Jackaroo; but it is a new design that he seeks. The lead in post-war popular sporting flying has gone decisively to France, where club and private pilots enjoy effective government support. And what of Federal Germany, a country which began power flying again only diree years ago? At Hanover last week Flight saw at first-hand the impressive achievement of those three years. This (as reported on pages 650-651) included a factory-built Turbu- lent for £1,100; an indigenous two-seater for £1,800; the unique and practical RW.3 two-seater at about £2,500; and three other original 2-4 seater designs. The answer to the middleman's complaint could come in either of two ways. Firstly, the British aircraft firms who until now have concentrated on defence orders might choose to design and construct a sports aeroplane. Alternatively, they can licence-build a Continental design. And if one of them selected the Jodel D.I 17, the Druine Condor or the C.P. Emeraude, for example, how's that for three good answers to the air commodore's prayer?
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