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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0635.PDF
310 COATING NOZ&ES MS.ZR.TH.AttOY T!TANI«M SKM fUB R«8 SPAS AILERQU HIHfit AILERON HERCULEAN BLOW: Lockheed Georgia Division are working on a boundary-layer control system to confer short-field performance on the big C-130 military transport. These two diagrams, issued by the company, show broad details of the installation. Independently of the C-130's four Allison T56 turboprops, it is stated, "two turbojet engines will blow air over the ailerons, flaps, rudder and elevators" FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . J : Inertial System from Smiths? AN advertisement for design staff indicates that another British•**• company is entering the inertial navigation field. Design personnel are being sought by Smiths Aviation Division—at theBishop's Cleeve, near Cheltenham, factory of S. Smith and Sons (England), Ltd.—for work "on major projects in the field ofinertial navigation and associated systems." Sections of the project include stabilized platforms, electronic computing devices, tran-sistorized convenors and stabilized power supplies, miniature servo systems and related test equipment. Saunders-Roe Test Pilot Appointed APPOINTED chief test pilot (fixed-wing aircraft) of Saunders-Roe Ltd. is Lt-Cdr. P. M. Lamb, D.S.C., A.F.C.With 3,000 hours' experience (including 700 deck landings) on 75 aircraft types,he has had a distinguished career since he joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1941. Hegained his D.S.C. in the Korean opera- tion in 1950, and a Bar to that awardat Suez in 1956; the A.F.C. followed his work with the Naval Test Squadron atBoscombe Down. Lt-Cdr. Lamb's commands have included those ofNo. 810 Sqn (1955-57) and No. 700 (1957-58). IN BRIEF Lt-Cdr. Lamb A five-day meeting on Interference Effects in Aerodynamic TestFacilities was due to be held this week at the NATO Training Center for Experimental Aerodynamics at Rhode-Saint-Genese, Belgium, underthe sponsorship of the AGARD Wind Tunnel Panel. * * * Mr. Gwyn H. Robinson has been appointed manager of customerrelations for Northrop International, a division of Northrop Corporation. He has been assistant to the division's vice-president and generalmanager, Mr. J. Gilbert Nettleton, Jr., for the past year. * * * Among current issues of Iliffe journals are the following specialnumbers certain to be of value to readers with interests in the particular activities concerned: Amateur Photographer for March 4—OutdoorNumber; The Motor Cycle for March 5—Spring Number and Buyers' Guide (containing the first of three sections of a free 100-page practicalhandbook on maintenance, tuning and repair); Yachting World for March—annual Fitting-out Number. * * * The first issue of a quarterly bulletin, Agricultural Aviation, wasrecently published by the European Agricultural Aviation Centre, le y.d. Boschstraat 4, The Hague. Established in July 1958 under the auspicesof the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (European Productivity Agency), the centre has as its object to promote the useof aircraft in the agriculture, horticulture and forestry of European countries and to contribute to an increase in agricultural productivity.The first issue of the bulletin, which is published in English and French editions, contains articles on potato-spraying in the United Kingdomand forest spraying in Germany, descriptions of agricultural aircraft and equipment, and extracts from recent literature on the subject.Annual subscription in this country is £1 4s. ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS AND BRITISH AIRCRAFT AT a luncheon in London on February 26, Lord Caldecote,deputy managing director of English Electric Aviation Ltd., spoke of some of the factors which had influenced the investmentof £2,000,000 in the Aircraft Equipment Division at Bradford. In the past four years, he said, the work of the Division had beenconsiderably expanded and the equipment of English Electric manufacture was now used on 17 types of British aircraft. Nevertheless, they had to come to terms with the hard factthat among airlines and some of the British manufacturers of civil aircraft there was now some preference for Americanelectrical equipment. "This," said Lord Caldecote, "is a for- midable attitude and one which we naturally regret, but we arenevertheless confident of being able to deal with it. Proven reliability of electrical equipment is of paramount importance tothe aircraft constructor, and when there is available an advanced U.S. system—already proven by many years of flying, often inmilitary aircraft—he is sorely tempted to adopt it." In answer to questions, Lord Caldecote agreed that theancillary industry was having to live down the prejudice estab- lished by equipment supplied four or five years ago. EnglishElectric believed that their substantial test and development installations at Bradford, where complete systems could be proved—£500,000 had been spent on setting up system laboratories— were a positive step in this direction, but they appreciated thatit was flying hours more than sheer scientific excellence that most impressed the aircraft manufacturer and his customer. In con-sequence they had negotiated technical exchange agreements with Jack and Heintz and were building under licence the Sundstrandconstant-speed drive. The military version of this drive, supplied by English Electric for the Victor Mk 2 and Vulcan Mk 2, hadbeen run for over 12,000 hr, including some flight testing. A radical change in defence policy,. Lord Caldecote suggested,could result in orders for new military aircraft being placed early enough and in sufficient quantity to provide flight developmentopportunities for systems eventually intended for civil aircraft. As a converse example, cancellation of the Avro 730 supersonicbomber had greatly increased difficulties for proving systems for a supersonic transport. Following Lord Caldecote's remarks there was considerablediscussion on the ways in which the deadlock on British systems- development could be broken if the process is continued ofbuilding under licence from a competitor. Sweeping changes in defence policy seem unlikely, and an alternative course, Flightsuggests, is for new British systems of great technical merit to be developed by their manufacturers sufficiently in advance of newBritish (or foreign) aircraft for proven articles to be offered when equipment decisions are made. To provide the necessary flightexperience, a liberal attitude to development would be required on the part of the M.o.S., the Corporations and possibly theindependent airlines. Experience in commercial use provides the best chance of quickly accumulating flying hours. If British component- and systems-design effort is not toatrophy under pressure of competition from abroad, there seems to be a good case to be made for Government assistance—at leastwith flight development. It is clear that sufficient experience must be bought if British accessory system manufacturers are to selltheir equipment to British aircraft manufacturers or to anyone else. If it is not, there is a danger—as English Electric recognize—that all systems might as well be obtained direct from abroad. But perhaps this is an unduly pessimistic view. As Lord Caldecotesaid, "We believe that when the final designs for the next round of British civil and military aircraft are completed they will havemuch British equipment, including our electrical systems, and that we shall have proved to British designers that our electricsare as good as anything available in the U.S." English Electric have given some details of the paralleledconstant-frequency A.C. system used in the Handley Page Victor Mk 2. Weight-saving with this system can, it is claimed, amountto as much as 10 ib/kW. Electrical power is provided by English Electric eight-pole A.C. generators rotated by the licence-buil!Sundstrand drive. A frequency- and load-controller keeps alternator frequency substantially constant by monitoring thesetting of the basic drive governor and equalizing real load dis tribution between machines operating in parallel; and a carbon-pile voltage regulator maintains the busbar voltage constant, to within plus or minus 2\ per cent.
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