FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0576.PDF
NO. 2614 VOLUME 75 Editor-in-Chief MAURICE A. 8MITH D.F.C FRIDAY 27 FEBRUARY 1959 AIRCRAFT, SPACECRAFT, MISSILES - Official Organ of tke Royal Aero Club First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded 1909 Editor H . F . KING M.B.E. Technical Editor W. T. GU NSTON , Production Editor ROY CASEY IN THIS ISSUE Canada's Golden Anniversary 280 Getting: to Grips with the Stick 284 Tour d'Horizon 286 Jackaroo Paragon 288 Antonov An-10 289 Argosy g.a. drawing: 293 New from Bendix 296 Programme- controlled Altitude Chamber 298 Ilifle & Sons Ltd., Dorset House. Stam-ford Street, London, S.E.I; telephone Waterloo 3333. Telegrams FlightpresSedist London. Annual subscriptions: Home £4 15s, Overseas £5. Canadaand U.S.A. $15.00. Second Class Mail privileges authorized at New York, N.Y. Branch Offices Coventry: 8-10 Corpora-tion Street; telephone Coventry 25210. Birmingham: King Edward House, NewStreet, 2; telephone Midland 7191. Man- chester: 280 Deansgate, 3; telephoneBlackfriars 4412 or Deansgate 3595. Wlasgow: 26B Renfield Street, C.2;telephone Central 1265. flew York, N.Y.: Thomas Skinner & Co.(Publishers) Ltd., Ill Broadway, 6; telephone Digby 9-1197. © Iliffe <fc Sons Ltd.. 1959. Permission» reproduce illustrations and letterpress can be granted only under written agree-ment. Brief extracts or comments may be made with due acknowledgement. Below LimitsT WENTY years ago weather delays were common enough to be regarded philosophically; but now, with more frequent schedules and a painstakingly achieved standard of operational regularity, the spectres of mist and fog loom large among seasonal airline problems. While the reasons for the imposition of strict limits on landing weather are clear enough, it may sometimes be asked why, when take-off in practically nil visibility is possible, restrictions must be imposed upon departing aircraft. At London Airport, B.O.A.C.'s and B.E.A.'s Comets, Britannias, DC-7Cs and Viscounts continue to take-off in visibility down to 150 yards. These distances —covered at the unstick speed in roughly three seconds—are the practical minima below which experience dictates that it is not safe consistently to fly. Taking off into the murk on instruments subject to acceleration errors and without a full automatic aid can never be absolutely safe; and each airline must decide the take-off and landing limits at each airfield on its routes. B.E.A., in particular, are again considering a reduction in their landing minima, and, as European operators, are looking forward to fully automatic blind landing to improve their winter punctuality. Little has yet been said about an automatic take-off aid (which must include provision for taxying), but it is clear that it is a necessary adjunct to automatic blind landing. If a reliable visual or electronic aid can be developed in advance of an automatic landing system, frustrating airport delays should be much reduced. Sir Dermot and Sir Dick IN John W. R. Taylor's book C.F.S.: Birthplace of Air Power there is a photo-graph of the aerobatic team for the 1928 Hendon Display, and flanking the group are F/O. Dermot Boyle and F/L. R. L. R. Atcherley. These two young officers typified all that was (and is) best in the R.A.F. They were dashing pilots and accomplished leg-pullers; and, being that sort, they would have been woe- fully embarrassed if it had become known to them that they would one day be numbered among the greatest leaders of the Service. As the rings and gongs clustered and the scrambled egg encrusted, so their reputations increasingly inspired the young idea. And they remained utterly unspoiled. Years after they had become important as well as famous Sir Dermot had occasion to specify why a certain Genet Moth in an old photograph could not possibly have been flown by Atcherley. "He is flying level (although admittedly inverted)," he commented. "He is looking where he is going . . . and there are no marks on the aircraft to indicate that it has recently been in collision with its fellows. .. " Now Air Marshal Sir Richard Atcherley, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, R.A.F. Flying Training Command, is retiring, and his erstwhile C.F.S. team- mate, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Dermot Boyle, Chief of the Air Staff, pays him public tribute. Again Sir Dermot rises to the occasion. "Dick Atcherley," he pronounces, "was always known as a man prepared to fly anything anywhere, and—if I may say so—anyhow." Into that smiling salute the C.A.S. distils the essence of C.F.S.—that is, R.A.F. —tradition, and something that will remain long after Sir Dermot has followed his old comrade into the bleakness of Civvy Street.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
