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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0722.PDF
13 March 1959 359 Aeronautical Bookshelf The Air Forces of the World, by William Green and John Fricker. Macdonald & Co. Ltd., 16 Maddox Street, London, W.I. Price 60s. Illustrated. THIS superbly-produced volume of more than 300,000 words and500 photographs is by far the best book yet produced by William Green. In partnership for the first time with John Fricker, he hasrecorded a wealth of information on every known air force. The result is of value not only to the enthusiasts and collectors forwhom Mr. Green has catered so well in the past, but for all who need a reliable and up-to-the-minute reference work on militaryaviation in their daily business. Extremely readable essays cover the history and current opera-tional status of each of the air forces of 81 nations, including such rarities as the Royal Khmer Aviation (of Cambodia) and the AirForce of the Mongolian People's Republic. The length of these entries varies from about 26 lines and one picture in the case ofthe six-aircraft, eight-pilot Sudanese Air Force to 37j pages and 42 pictures for U.S. military aviation. In almost all cases (except,regrettably, the Soviet Union and Communist China) there is also a map showing the disposition of the country's air bases.It would be wrong to imply a complete absence of errors and omissions; but they are few and detract little from the overallworth of Air Forces of the World. The only justifiable complaint one can make is that the authors display a degree of inconsistency.In particular, it is a great pity that the R.N.A.S., Fleet Air Arm and Army Air Corps are immersed in the Royal Air Force section,instead of being treated separately, in common with their Cana- dian, French and U.S. counterparts. It would also have been ahelp if the current organization of each air force, as well as the types of aircraft in service, could have been tabulated for easyreference. The historical notes are comprehensive and reflect the vastamount of research that must have gone into the book, especially in the case of countries such as the Soviet Union, where noauthentic official history has ever been published. Great care has also been shown in selecting the photographs;so that instead of the endless succession of Sabres, Thunder- streaks and Vampire Trainers that might have been expected, oneis treated to the nostalgic sight of an occasional Douglas DB-8, Curtiss Hawk 75, Fiat G.55 and a few Spitfires. What is more,some of the photographs of Soviet aircraft are refreshingly new and interesting.Finally, as the piece de resistance, there is a nine-page section giving the national insignia of all the air forces in full colour.Drawn by Dennis Punnett, whose work is familiar to readers of Flight, they are far more up to date than anything that hasappeared elsewhere and emphasize how inadequate are the usual black-and-white line drawings which attempt to convey colour bycross-hatchings. J. w. R. T. Die Entwicklung der Flugzeuge, 1914-18, by Heinz Nowqrra. J. F. Lehmanns Verlag, Munchen. Price DM.21 or DM.18, according to binding. Illustrated. IN its 143 pages this small book (in German, with a preface inEnglish) contains an impressive array of data tables and 145 illustrations. What it does not contain, despite its title, is anysemblance of a history of the development of the aeroplane during the 1914-18 war. And the reader who attempts to trace thatdevelopment will have an uphill task. The impression left by this book is that it is a somewhatindiscriminately amassed hotch-potch. One finds that the aircraft type lists are not, as the author so unwisely claims, complete;moreover, the data is by no means faultless. One wonders why some—and only some—German projects are included : _ theiromission would haye made room for more illustrations of aircraft that were built. The data tables list only German, French, British, Italian,Austro-Hungarian and American aircraft. Naturally, the author is most at home with the German types; but nevertheless heperpetrates some surprising inaccuracies. The omissions from and errors kffhe British section are far too numerous: at least 80 typesare not mentioned. For instance, one wonders at the inclusion of the Siddeley Sinaia when its predecessors, the R.T.I and Siskin,are absent; the Armstrong-Whitworth Armadillo and Ara and the Austin Greyhound are all alleged to have been triplanes; allVickers types are described as Kampfflugzeuge, regardless of their true functions; the P.V.9 was not a rebuild of the P.V.2. A glance at other sections reveals that the author seems not toknow that Salmson and Canton-Unne engines were one and the same; and one looks in vain for such things as the FrenchC.E.P. 501, the Labourdette-Halbron flying-boat and Moineau biplane, and the Italian Tebaldi-Zari scout. Of the 145 illustrations, 57 are quite atrociously bad, for theyhave been retouched with a crudity that must (one fervently hopes) be unique. Tailskids, undercarriages, interplane andcentre-section struts, propellers, exhaust manifolds, cabane brac- ing and other details have apparently vanished—all have beenwashed over regardless. Many outlines are depicted as they never were, and some of the illustrations are little more than caricatures.In short, the retouched illustrations come perilously close to ruining the book. This is all very regrettable, for the format and printing areexcellent. If only more care had been taken in its preparation this little work would have been very well worthwhile. j. M. B. Flying Witness—Harry Harper and the Golden Age of Aviation, by Graham Wallace. Putnam & Co. Ltd., 42 Gt. Russell Street, London, W.C.I. Price 25s. Illustrated. ONE of the attributes of Lord Northcliffe, pioneer of popularjournalism, was his aptitude for picking the right man for the job. He certainly chose well when in 1906 Harry Harper, a young manof 26, became air reporter of the Daily Meal. Harper's claim to being the world's first air correspondent, however, might well havegone to "The Chief himself. Aviation propagandist that North- cliffe was, constantly forcing the pace in British aeronauticaldevelopment, he needed someone to be his eyes and ears in the expanding world of aviation. Harper had all the qualities thatmake a good air correspondent: an overriding enthusiasm, an inquiring and analytical mind, and, above all, a facile pen. What a story he had to tell: Man's conquest of the air. Andwhat personalities to interview: the Wright Brothers, Bleriot, Cody, C. S. Rolls, Grahame-White, A. V. Roe, Henri Farman, anda host of others. And yet the significance of the aeroplane was lost not only on Whitehall, but on Fleet Street generally. Jeeredone newspaper: — "A morning paper makes the trivial offer of £10,000 to the first aero-plane that flies from London to Manchester. Our own offer of £10 million to the flying machine of any description whatsoever that flies ten milesfrom London and back to the point of departure still holds good. One offer is as safe as the other." Selected passages from Harper's reports, and the painstakingresearch and descriptive flow of author Graham Wallace, bring vividly to mind the early adventures in the air_, the hazardouscross-country flights, the gaiety and thrill of provincial air shows. On the day in 1907 when all London was paralysed by thesudden appearance of Britain's first Army airship, the little Nulli Secundus, Harper chased it through the streets from Fleet Streetto the Crystal Palace to get his story. He covered the first aviation meeting in the world at Rheims; Britain's first aviation meetingsat Blackpool and Doncaster in 1909; and the round-Britain aero- plane race in 1913 for £10,000.Fifty years ago next July, in a competition sponsored by the Daily Mail, Bleriot made the first cross-Channel flight. Readingthe story again, the thought hits us that surely this is an anniversary that cannot be allowed just to slip by. Isn't somebody doingsomething about it? Or is the Golden Age, up to the First World War, so ably reported and recorded, already losing its lustre?A. I. w. Cone of Silence, by David Beatty. Martin Seeker & Warburg Ltd., 7 John Street, London, W.C.I. 16s. A PILOT'S mind brings life and realism to this novel about a largeairline which introduces the best jet transport in the world and suffers two accidents which are at first glibly explained at official"inquiries." David Beatty first showed his knowledge of this side of aviation in The^ Proving Flight, and his latest book is a likelystory of how the pilot can often be damned, even in the eyes of his colleagues, for errors which were not his at all, but mere reflec-tions of an unfit aeroplane. Cone of Silence centres around George Gort—a 59-year-olddoyen airline pilot who twice crashes the beautiful new Phoenix on take-off. Unknown to him, or to his seniors, other pilots hadnot been flying-off the aircraft in quite the way that the Pilot's Notes dictated; the "inquiries"—the author gives an excellentfeeling that their findings were rigged—were told that the book was right and that Gort was wrong. Beatty's characters—the fleet_ superintendent, the weak trainingofficer, the designer and the airline president—make it all credible. It is in a class quite apart from any shallow novel set amid airlinescenery. In fact, Cone of Silence could have happened. A. c. B. How to Draw Rockets and Spaceships, by Charles Sargeant. The Studio Ltd., Hulton House, Fleet Street, London, E.C.4. Price Ss. Illustrated. THERE are some intriguing flights of fancy in this little book,although its main purpose is to show an approach to rockets by an artist—not by a project engineer. Charles Sargeant shows easilyand simply just how to make sketches of these new shapes look realistic. How useful it could prove to budding designers whosketch out promising designs but get no further because the drawing is so bad and the fine points of design are lost in a massof thick, scribbled black lines which have no bearing on perspec- tive or realism! , A. L. N.
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