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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0634.PDF
109 THREE GENERATIONS of Avro aircraft are represented in this recent picture of a Vulcan, a Lincoln and a 504K. Equivalent horse-powers (approximate): 100,000; 7,000; 110 Colombia, Ecuador, South Korea, Nicaragua, Peru, the Philippinesand Thailand, none of whom can be said to have any sizeable stake in air transport. They certainly have no high-density airtraffic. Among the 15 who abstained, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the United Arab Republic could not be expected to vote for eithersystem, while Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Switzer- land took a moderate line at the meeting and appear to haveremained unconvinced in either direction. Unexpected absten- tions were those of Italy, Japan, Mexico and Venezuela, who mighthave supported America. Some definite counter-move appears inevitable, particularly inview of two recent instances in which "buy-American" policy has been or is being applied to prevent British exports to America.One form of opposition is mentioned in our leading article this week. Other steps, within or outside I.C.A.O., can certainly beexpected. Ejection Francaise IN conjunction with the Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. Ltd., theSociety d'Exploitation des Materiels Hispano-Suiza has founded a French company—Societe d'Exploitation des MaterielsMartin-Baker—to produce Martin-Baker ejector seats in France under licence. The head office will be at 26 Rue de Villiers,Leyallois-Perret, and the seats are to be constructed in the Hispano- Suiza factory at Bois-Colombes. Its first products have beenordered for the Dassault Mirage III. Three Losses to Aviation T^E greatly regret to record the deaths last week—in this country" and in America—of three men well known in aeronautical circles. In each case death occurred at a comparatively early age.Fred Rowarth, F.R.Ae.S., passed away last Friday at the age of 59 after a short illness. He will be chiefly and affectionatelyremembered by sporting pilots as an R.Ae.C. official—he was a Club handicapper for 25 years, from 1928 to 1953—but in latteryears also became known as a prominent member of the industry. He was executive director and general sales manager of Auto-motive Products Co. Ltd., Borg & Beck Co. Ltd, Lockheed Hydraulic Brake Co. Ltd. and Lockheed Precision Products. Educated at Christ's Hospital, he held various Governmentaeronautical technical posts in the inter-war years, and was chief engineer of the A. and A.E.E. from 1936 to 1942. During the nextthree years he was Deputy Director of Installation Research. He joined Automotive Products in 1945 as general sales manager andwas appointed an executive director in January 1946. Mr. Rowarth leaves a widow and two sons.* * * Alfred Richard Oscar Weyl, A.F.RAe.S., A.F.I.A.S., F.B.I.S.,died on February 23. Born in Berlin 61 years ago, he came to this country in 1935 and acquired British nationality. In Germanyhe had held a number of responsible technical posts following active service in the Royal Prussian Air Corps in the First WorldWar. He was a senior staff officer in the D.V.L. (Research Insti- tute for Aeronautics) and was subsequently principal assistant tothe professor of the aeronautical engineering department at Berlin university. At other periods he was in charge of special projectsand did a considerable amount of test flying of prototypes. After the war he turned to design work and was responsiblefor a light sporting monoplane built by Udet-Flugzeugbau at Munich (later the Messerschmitt works). Soon after coming toEngland he founded the firm of Zander & Weyl in partnership with E. P. Zander. Later, as Dan Aircraft Ltd., the companyproduced the ultra-light Dart Kitten, two examples of which are still Py'.jg. Alfred Weyl was also an authority on armament (on whichsubject he contributed some important articles to Flight) and self-sealing fuel tanks, and his researches included tailless aircraftdevelopment, guided-missile design and aircraft plastics techno- logy. A man of original and inventive turn of mind, he wasextremely forthright in his opinions and his impatience with WIND TUNNEL MODEL of a projected Vertol six-turboprop tilt-wing transport. The model has a span of 35ft and weighs about 14,000 Ib. Propulsion is by a lfiOO-h.p. variable-frequency electric motor official policies on occasions brought repercussions which would have subdued a less fiery spirit. Mr. Weyl leaves a widow and a son. * * * Robert B. C. Noorduyn, designer of the Noorduyn Norsemanand other aircraft, died early last week at Burlington, Vermont, at the age of 66.Mr. Noorduyn was by birth a Dutchman and went to the U.S. in 1920 as an official of the Fokker Aircraft Corporation. From1932 to 1934 he was with Pitcairn Aircraft Inc., designing a four-seat autogyro which was a forerunner of the helicopter.He designed the Norseman while he lived in Montreal (from 1934 to 1939), where he founded his own company, NoorduynAviation Ltd. He retired in 1946 but returned to business six years ago to establish Noorduyn Norseman Aircraft Ltd., withheadquarters in Montreal. The Dowty-Rotol Deal FOLLOWING the Dowty Group's acquisition of Rotol Ltd.(Flight, December 26, 1958) the Group last week issued a statement to its shareholders setting out the advantages. Animportant consideration, it says, is the combining of two under- takings developing and manufacturing similar and, in some cases,identical products in factories only two miles apart. Rotol are self-sufficient in their production facilities, whereas Dowty sub-contract much of their work; they will now be able to use the capacity of Rotol's large and well-equipped factory. Dowty havealso gained a first-class team of technicians well versed in the design and development of hydraulic equipment. This team,combined with their own, may well constitute the largest and strongest team of hydraulic engineers in the country. The Group'stotal payroll has increased to ten thousand. The purchase price of Rotol's share capital was £2,235,000 anda further £1,265,000 was required to repay loans to Rotol from Rolls-Royce and Bristol. [These two companies, the previousjoint owners of Rotol, have said that they will continue their commercial relationship with that company.] Of the total of£3,500,000 that is therefore needed to be found, £3,425,000 is being financed by a rights issue to Dowty shareholders of two new10s Ordinary shares at 36s 6d each for every five existing shares held on February 13 last, fractions being disregarded. Theremaining £75,000 and all costs of the issue and underwriting expenses are being met from the Group's own resources. The accountants' report on RotoPs financial position is basedon figures for the year ended December 31, 1957, and shows the book value of net tangible assets (before deducting £322,710 forfuture taxation) at £3.239,810. Profits before taxation for 1955, 1956 and 1957 were £527,254, £442,266 and £601,583 respec-tively. Although final figures for 1958 are not yet available, adds the Dowty Group, the profit is estimated at £735,000, ?& ^
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