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Aviation History
1958
1958-1- - 0926.PDF
934 FLIGHT, 19 December 1958 A NEW AGRICULTURAL PIPER The PA-2S Pawnee, seen in front of the Piper development centre at Vero Beach, will go into limited production next year. Power unit is a 150 h.p. Lycoming FIRST project of Piper Aircraft Corporation's developmentcentre at Vero Beach, Florida, is the PA-25 Pawnee, a low-wing agricultural aircraft powered by a 150 h.p. Lycoming. The new machine was designed under the direction of Fred E.Weick and is to go into production next year. The Pawnee can be used for the aerial application of eitherliquid or dry chemicals. At a gross weight of 2,300 lb it carries a useful load of 1,100 lb and its hopper capacity is 110 gal or20 cu ft. The cockpit has been placed as far aft as possible in the interests of pilot safety, and as high as possible to provide maxi-mum vision. Designed for operation from short, rough fields close to the dusting or spraying area, the PA-25 has performancecharacteristics similar to those of the agricultural PA-18A. Although the Pawnee is a completely new design it incorporatesmany components which have been proven in other Piper types. Wings, flaps and ailerons are derived directly from those of theSuper Cub, but are strengthened because of the increased gross weight. The powerplant is the same as that of the Tri-Pacer. Thelanding gear is similar to that of the Pacer, using an internal Hydrasorb shock-absorbing system. Tri-Pacer axles, Comanchewheels and brakes and Apache tyres are used. In overall configuration and design concept, however, thePawnee is entirely new. For reasons of safety, a determined effort was made in the design (a) to provide an ample field of view andsatisfactory lateral control at low speeds, (b) to ensure the mini- mum retarding or deflecting effect in flying through or past wires and (c) to protect the pilot as far as possible in a crash. These aimswere achieved by adopting the low-wing layout and placing the pilot high in the fuselage; providing a sharp leading-edge on thelanding-gear struts, together with a cable from the top of the cock- pit to the top of the rudder; and placing the pilot behind all heavyobjects or loads, supporting him with a strong harness and in a well-designed cockpit, and providing as much wing and fuselagestructure ahead of him as possible. In detail design, again, considerable effort has been devoted tominimizing the effects of a crash, and all the design recommenda- tions of the Aviation Crash Injury Research Unit for crashsurvival have been followed—with the exception that the fuel tank is located in the fuselage, for simplicity, and not in the wing. Much attention has been paid to resistance to corrosion, and thehopper/ tank, which is located approximately on the e.g. of the machine, is made of polyester plastics reinforced with glass-fibre.The spraying equipment employs a lin Simplex centrifugal pump and boom-mounted nozzles behind and above the wing trailingedge. For dry chemicals a venturi distributor has been developed. Production of the Pawnee is scheduled to get under way duringthe first quarter of 1959 at the Piper plant at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. A few deliveries are expected in the spring butproduction will be limited to a service evaluation quantity until full tooling is completed later in the year. The first machines willbe used for an evaluation of the aircraft and its chemical dispersal equipment in a variety of operating conditions and areas. YOUNG PERSONS' GUIDE TO THE INDUSTRY WHEN Mr. E. C. Bowyer, director and chief executive of theS.B.A.C. (though on this engagement expressing personal views), lectured on The Future of the British Aircraft Industry,1958, to the R.Ae.S. Graduates' and Students' Section on December 9 he wisely put his subject into historical perspectivefor the benefit of his audience; and he further stressed that it was people of their age—an age at which Newton, Faraday and SirFrank Whittle had made their first discoveries—who had the most vital contribution to make to the industry's future. Mr. Bowyer recalled two incidents in the early 1930s, when theindustry's total turnover was less than £10m a year. On one occasion he had visited an aircraft factory and been shown its latestproject—forlornly shrouded with a tarpaulin; on another, an executive had pointed to grass sprouting through the concrete inthe workshops and asked, "What are we going to do about this?" He further reminded his listeners that we might not have won theSchneider Trophy—with all that it meant in the development of the Spitfire—without the gift of £100,000 from Lady Houston.The crisis in the early 1930s had something in common ,with the present state of affairs, which was not unprecedented. Putting his subject next into a contemporary perspective, thelecturer said that the industry was one which went far beyond the manufacture of aeroplanes; and it was still in a state of growth.Moreover, it was one of the biggest employers of labour: 330,000 people were working in the industry and its ancillaries; and withthose employed on missiles, not fewer than Urn men, women and children depended for their livelihood upon it. The industry madea notable contribution to the country's exports, accounting for 11 per cent of them this year and nearly £800m worth since the war. Having thus set the scene, Mr. Bowyer came down to what wasneeded. Research and development must not be allowed to sag; they were the lifeblood of the industry. Thus the first need wasGovernment help for research. Secondly, there should be no delay in the issue by the Government of specifications for certain typesof aircraft foreshadowed in the White Paper. Thirdly, a depend- able indication was wanted of the size of Government orders. The lecturer then proceeded to deal with certain topics he had I been asked specially to mention. He said he was against national-ization of the industry. Rationalization could be "a fairly arbitrary affair"; much of the emphasis placed on it sprang from inaccurateinformation. Amalgamation was a natural process and had been going on quietly for years. The M.o.S. "blueprint" had envisagedthe shrinkage of the number of units to four major airframe and two engine concerns.Another topic was co-operation with the Corporations on civil aircraft design. This had been going on for years; but Mr. Bowyerstressed that it would be a good thing if more development flying could be done by R.A.F. Transport Command.Though Government policies "have been known to change" it would be wise to assume, he commented, that the White Papers of1957 and 1958 still meant what they said. They did not mean the end of Service requirements. There was a demand for a low-levelstrike reconnaissance aeroplane and a large freighter transport; there would be new helicopters and perhaps another M.R. aircraft.Combined with missile production, this meant that the Govern- ment would continue to be a large customer for many years.The lecturer stressed the "overriding importance" of the export trade, which would diminish on the military aircraft side, thoughthe influence of the Services on it should not diminish. On their intelligent placing of requirements a great deal could depend; hewould like to see every Service requirement studied with an emphasis on its export possibilities. In the long term, the "$64,000question" about exports was the extent to which civil air transport would develop throughout the world, and its corollary—the Britishshare in the supply of hardware. Finally, Mr. Bowyer had another word specially for his audience,whose future prospects depended on the future of the industry. He urged them, as technicians, to take an interest in commercialproblems. He reminded them that despite the "thousands of millions of dollars" poured into the U.S. aero-engine industry,British jet engines—quoting American opinion—were still ahead. Finally, our breakthrough into the air transport field, after yearsin which we had designed no transport aircraft at all, was a tremendous achievement.
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