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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0385.PDF
186 FLIGHT, 6 February I959 Flying Fords . . . Ford activities during the war was the production of heavybombers in a specially constructed plant at Willow Run, near the Ford centre of gravity in south-east Michigan. The B-54Liberator was the product of the finest skill in aviation. It was already being produced by Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft for theRoyal Air Force and the United States Army Air Corps. It was being produced at the commendable rate of one aircraft per day;but Ford promised to make one Liberator per hour. He set out to produce it in incredible quantities, applying to a highly com-plex mechanism the mass-production methods which had been originated in the days of the Model T. Ford were given thecontract in February 1941, and they went to work with steam- roller efficiency. During the remainder of the year they built thelargest factory of its kind in the world, with hangars, main assembly building, manufacturing wing, powerplant, school andoffices. In January 1942 the first men and machines moved in, before the floor was dry. By February many parts were being fabricated, although the far end of the plant—a mile away—hadnot been roofed. On April 18 the first Lib. crept along the assembly line, gathering pans every minute; this was the first of1,140 which were produced that year. During the following year the target of one Liberator per hour was attained—enough tomake the 1959 manufacturer wince! By the middle of March 1945 production had passed the 8,000 mark, and Ford had becomethe largest builder of four-engined bombers in the world. To accomplish this superlative feat Henry Ford had revolu-tionized aircraft production. Under the duress of war, it was his company which went furthest in making complex aircraft by thequicker, more precise way of the machine. But at heart he was a pacifist. He preferred agriculture to aviation, and he wouldrather build tractors than bombers. He would have welcomed the fact that this year the pleasant Sussex airfield which bearshis name has been returned to civilian use, after serving the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy as a fighter station for the past20 years. -:-:., GEORGE LANNING. FRANK BERNARD HALFORD, 1894-1955 (continued from page 184) Ltd. was formed with Halford as its chairman and technicaldirector. He had given up his connection with D. Napier & Son Ltd. in 1943. It seemed natural that the first of the new D.H. engines shouldbe a completely redesigned range of Gipsies embodying many features common to each type. The Gipsy Major 30 of 160 h.p.was normally aspirated and had a swept volume of 6.12 litres. It was supercharged to be the Gipsy Major 50 of 200 h.p. A newsix-cylinder, the Gipsy Queen 30 replaced the earlier editions of this type. The Gipsy Queen 50 was a six-cylinder, superchargedengine of 295 h.p. and its more powerful brother (or sister?) the Gipsy Queen 70, was identical apart from the fact that its propellerwas geared. In 1947 a tremendous effort was commenced in the "civiliza-tion" of the Ghost engine for the first of the de Havilland Comet jet airliners. Halford appreciated that an entirely differentmentality was necessary in the development of this civil edition of what had been and was a military engine—longevity, reliability,safety, all of these were factors of dominating importance. Over 60 per cent of the engine had to be re-tailored to suit the require-ments of the aircraft designer. An intensive programme of work was undsrtaken which included thirteen thousand hours of benchdevelopment and over 5,200 hours of flying in two modified Lancastrian aircraft and prototype Comets. The disasters of 1954 halted the life of the Ghost in the Comet for some years though it was established that the engines couldbe completely exonerated from blame. Much interesting work was carried out to determine the effect of impact at high velocityon the sea, and of high gyroscopic loadings within the engine presumed to be due to a severe bunt of the aircraft. It is notgenerally known that the Ghost engine had almost achieved 1,000 hr between overhauls. The concluding portion of Mr. Brodie's lecture dealt with thedevelopment of the Gyron, which has been run at thrusts in excess of 29,000 lb with reheat; the Spectre and Sprite rockets; and theGyron Junior. Reference was also made to an unspecified appli- cation for a pair of Spectres of higher output than formerly.Speaking of the Blackburn NA.39 (two Gyron Juniors) Mr. Brodie said: "Although initially of subsonic performance this aircraftand engine hold the potential of considerably higher speed development and to that end the thrust of the engine is beingconstantly increased and the application of reheat will unques- tionably permit it to meet the advancing need." Of nuclear energy for aircraft propulsion the lecturer said thatHalford had tilled the ground and planted the seed. Who knew what would come forth? The many research facilities whichHalford found essential for the fulfilment of his forward thinking were established within the policies of the de Havilland companyat Hatfield and called the Halford Laboratory. Mr. Brodie's concluding sentence is quoted on page 183. GUIDED-MISSILE LIBRARIANS WHEN the Aslib Aeronautical Group (Librarians and Informa-tion Officers) holds its annual conference during the weekend of April 3-5, a paper will be read—in two parts—on the place ofthe library in a guided-missile organization. Mr. J. E. Allen, B.Sc, A.F.R.Ae.S., of A. V. Roe and Co. Ltd., will read the firstpart (on The Technical Environment); and Mr. R. A. Wall, librarian of the company's weapons research division, the secondpart The W.R.D. Library and Information Service). Other papers will be read by Mr. R. C. Wright, librarian of the R.A.E., andMr. R. A. Fairthorne, also of the R.A.E., on their experiences at the recent Washington conference. There is also to be discussionof a paper (which it is proposed to submit to an appropriate body) reviewing the present position and trends in aeronautical librarian-ship vis a vis the state of the industry and its prospects. Non-librarians and non-members of the group are welcome atthe conference, further information on which may be obtained from T. M. Aitchison, Esq., Divisional Librarian, English ElectricCo. Ltd., The Airport, Luton, Beds. Early application is advised. SOVIET TRANSLATIONS CJINCE 1949 many engineers and scientists have benefited from^ the Translated Contents Lists of Russian Periodicals which have been published by the Department of Scientific and IndustrialResearch. These have been discontinued in view of the greater scope of the Monthly Index of Russian Accessions published bythe U.S. Library of Congress at approximately £5 7s 6d per annum. Instead, the D.S.I.R. Lending i Library Unit has beenentrusted with the responsibility of developing a broader Russian translating programme, as described in the January 1959 issue ofthe L.L.U. Translations Bulletin. The Lending Library Unit has a growing collection of recentRussian scientific and technological literature and, they say, "despite its imperfections, it is already the largest in WesternEurope, and in science at least is now comparable in current material with that of the Library of Congress. At the time of writing (November 1958) more than 290 periodicals are beingregularly received from the U.S.S.R. and we have catalogued over 7,000 Russian books. Lists of Russian literature which have beenreceived are being issued, and this literature is available on loan to organizations who are approved borrowers from the ScienceMuseum Library." The L.L.U. Translations Bulletin is available from Her Majesty's Stationery Office, P.O. Box 569, London, S.E.I,at a price of 4s (postage 5d) or at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of £2 13s Od. Enquiries concerning it should beaddressed to D.S.I.R. Lending Library Unit, 20 Chester Terrace, London N.W.I. RETROSPECT From "Flight" of February 6, 1909 Stolfa Cylindrical Aeroplane: In Vienna, an engineer named Stolfahas constructed an aeroplane having cylindrical surfaces instead of the usual cambered planes. The idea is apparently to assist in maintainingconstancy of lifting effort, irrespective of balance, or to take an extreme case, the machine should fly as well upside down as the rightway up. This might, we should imagine, be very unpleasant for the pilot unless he is already an acrobat by training, and therefore used toinverted postures. The machine weighs 250 kilogs, and trials are expected to take place with it next month. The Ramel Pendulum Seat: Another ingenious idea which, curiouslyenough, seems to have an appropriate coincidence in its appearance with the above-mentioned machine, is attributed to M. Ramel, .';Frenchman, who has devised a pendulum seat for his aeroplane, so that he can always sit upright irrespective of the movements of theaeroplane itself. These two extreme cases, in the first of which the intrepid aviatorhas, so to speak, nailed his flag to the mast and intends to fly in any position, irrespective of personal discomfort, and the other inventorwhose great idea seems to disassociate himself from the antics of his machine, are, taken in conjunction, really rather humorous, althoughof course both have a serious side, as either may bring out an hitherto unsuspected point which may be of service to investigators of flight.
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