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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0763.PDF
370 FLIGHT V& VICTIS!: These Victor B.ls in final assembly at the Handley Page factory at Radlett were inspected by the Minister of Supply last Friday. The event and the air- craft are described on this and other pages FROM ALL QUARTERS Black Knight No. 2L IKE its predecessor, the second Black Knight ballistic rocket* test vehicle was a complete success when it was fired at Woomera before dawn on March 12. Described in our issue ofOctober 17, 1958, Black Knight was designed by the R.A.E. in partnership with Saunders-Roe, and Bristol Siddeley make thefour-barrel rocket engine to a basic design by the R.P.E. Firings are taking place at Woomera in collaboration with the W.R.E. andthe vehicles are tracked throughout their mission and recovered. New safety techniques have been developed for these trials, andvery comprehensive instrumentation has been fitted to both the rounds so far fired. Last week's test was one of a number plannedto obtain "further scientific information," and the peak of its trajectory was at an altitude of some 350 miles. News about Engines THIS issue is Flight's fourth review of the world's aero engines.Included in the 25-page descriptive section are a number of items which are of particular news value. For the first time it ispossible to publish authentic drawings of the de Havilland Gnome P.1000 fixed-wing turboprop and Rolls-Royce RB.141 by-passengine, and provisional drawings are included of the Super Atar, the big Heinkel turbojet, J58, J85 and Solar Titan. Marcel Dassault Honoured : AT the twelfth Louis Bleriot Lecture on March 12 (see p. 380)k the Gold Medal of the Royal Aeronautical Society was pre- sented in absentia to M. Marcel Dassault by the president, SirArnold Hall. As M. Dassault was unable to attend personally, the medal was received on his behalf by his assistant, Gen.Pierre M. Gallois. The Gold Medal is the highest honour the Society can confer, given for work of distinction in aeronautics;and it goes to the well-known French designer for "his outstand- ing contributions to the design and development of aircraft." Marcel Dassault, who was born in 1892, designed a woodenpropeller during the First World War which was used on French combat aircraft (including the Spad flown by Guynemer). Oneof his first aircraft designs was the S.E.A. 4 (in 1918) and the latest is the Mirage IV (his Mirage I made its maiden flight in1955). Between the wars he designed many successful types. After France was invaded M. Dassault was in the Resistance;taken prisoner, he was sent to Buchenwald, being liberated in 1945. Since the war his company has produced the Ouragan andMystere fighters in addition to the Mirage series. The Mystere has been adopted by the French, Indian and Israeli Air Forces;and the Mirage III reached Mach 2 recently with its Nord 5103 missile in place. Victor Production on ViewT HE Minister of Supply, Mr. Aubrey Jones, visited theHandley Page factories at Radlett last Friday to inspect pro- duction of Victor B.ls for the R.A.F. and to watch a flightdemonstration of the first Victor B.2. Flown by J. W. Allam, this machine took off in a mere 410 yd using 100 per cent thrust fromtwo of its Rolls-Royce Conways and reduced thrust from the remaining two. Addressing an invited audience before the flight, the Ministersaid that the Victor B.I was already a favourite in Bomber Com- mand and that the pilots were regularly getting from the aircraft"more than they should be doing." (Rumour has it that the "more" referred particularly to high speeds.) The Victor B.2, hecontinued, would remain one of the mainstays of Bomber Com- mand for ten years. He referred also to the company's otherprojects, the private-venture Herald and boundary layer-control work, certain difficulties in which had recently been overcome.Mr. Jones went on to say that he had just received, and was about to study, the report of the industry committee on the economicsof the supersonic transport. He was also able to announce that an R.Ae.S. Gold Medal had just been conferred on Mr. R. S.Stafford, the company's technical director. Visitors to the Radlett and Cricklewood plants learned of theremarkable characteristics of the sandwich construction technique, some aspects of which are described on pp. 372-373. Mr. S. Scott-Hall for Australia AT present Scientific Adviser to the Air Ministry, Mr. Stewart• Scott-Hall has been appointed Head of the United Kingdom M.o.S. staff in Australia. He succeeds Dr. W. H. Wheeler, who isreturning to this country to take up an appointment as Director of the Ministry's Explosives Research and Development Estab-lishment at Waltham Abbey. Mr. Scott-Hall has been at Air Ministry since October 1956. The Reliable Viper IN order to demonstrate the very high standard of reliability ofthe Bristol Siddeley Viper 8 turbojet on the eve of its entry into service with R.A.F. Flying Training Command, a standardproduction engine was recently subjected to a particularly arduous 500 hr programme of intensive flying in a Hunting Jet Provost.The test started on September 30 last and was completed on March 4. No less than 22 per cent (111 hr) of the 500 were flownat take-off r.p.m., in order to simulate training duties in which an exceptional proportion of the time is at high power settings. The original schedule specified eight one-hour sorties daily,with 30 min allowed for refuelling. In the event the turn-round time was considerably reduced, and on one day nine flights were FIRST STEP into space by a pilot: on March 10 the first North American X-15 made a 69-min flight from Edwards A.F.B. attached to the B S2A mother ship throughout, Scott Cross- field was in the cockpii
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