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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0769.PDF
374 FLIGHT Missiles and Space flight As part of the environmental-test programme of the Seaslug missile, low temperatures are produced in this climatic chamber at Armstrong Whitworth's Whitley plant. Vibration, impact, pressure and humidity checks are also included in the work of the laboratory Hall (Royal Aeronautical Society); Dr. R. L. Smith-Rose and Mr. P. D. Greenall of D.S.I.R.,; and, from the Ministry of Supply, Sir Owen Wansbrough-Jones, Sir George Gardner, Dr. R. C. Cockburn and Dr. A. W. Lines. Prof. P. A. Sheppard repre-sents the Royal Meteorological Society and the remaining members of the committee include theAstronomer Royal, Dr. R. v.d. R. Woolley, and the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Dr.H. A. Briick. Among the objectives of the newcommittee is co-operation with the Committee on Space Research (Cos-par) set up by the International Coun- cil of Scientific Unions. X-15 AIRBORNE -^ . First captive flight test of trie first North American X-15 researchaircraft was made from Edwards A.F.B., California, on Tuesday, March 10, with the X-15 attached beneath the starboard wing ofa B-52. In the cockpit of the X-15 was Scott Crossfield, North American test pilot, who is carrying out the initial trials of themachine. Captive flights were to be followed by air-launched flights of the X-15 itself, at first unpowered and afterwards underthe power of its two liquid-fuel rocket engines. BOMARC TELEMETRY !/ 1 A new type of telemetry package for the IM-99 Bomarc wasrecently developed and built by Texas Instruments Inc. The equipment is housed in a space 10inXl4inX6in in each of themissile's wings. For effective operation of the transistors used in the telemetrypackage, temperatures must be kept low. In-flight cooling is by means of a small methyl alcohol evaporator and, for extendedpre-launch periods on the ground, a Boeing-designed auxiliary cooling system is used to circulate air through the equipmentcompartments inside the wings. SPACE COMMITTEE-MEN The members of the recently formed National Committee onSpace Research, whose first meeting was briefly recorded in our issue of March 6, include representatives of the Ministry ofSupply, Royal Aeronautical Society and the universities, in addi- tion to strong representation from the Royal Society. Under thechairmanship of Professor H. S. W. Massey of University College, London the committee includes Prof. F. Hoyle, Prof. A. C. B.Lovell and Dr. L. R. Shepherd of the Royal Society; Sir Graham Sutton, Director-General of the Meteorological Office; Sir Arnold LIGHT RELIEF IN WASHINGTON— In the absence of a reasonably intelligent schoolboy to give advice,a number of U.S. Senators and Representatives became slightly entangled in affairs of outer space on March 5 at a meeting of theHouse Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration. Referring to the extension of national boundaries into space,Senator K. B. Keating said: "Because of the curved face of the earth, the extension would produce an inverted cone. At somepoint these cones would overlap and more than one State would be occupying the same airspace." Representative J. G. Fultondenied any overlap, assuming the cones were projected down to the earth's centre. "I don't project them down," replied Mr.Keating. In that case, Mr. Fulton said, if the boundaries were projected upwards like columns, not only would there not be anyoverlap, but there would be gaps. But, insisted Mr. Keating, if the earth continued to rotate onits axis, the cones or columns would get mixed up. Representative J. M. Quigley then entered the discussion. He told Mr. Keating,"I throw the whole weight of my scientific ignorance on your side." —AND AT WESTMINSTER From Hansard for Wednesday, March 11: —Mr. Ward: A pale yellow light was seen by officials at London Airport above one of the runways from 7.25 to 7.45 on the eveningof 25th February. There was no corresponding response on the airport radars or on air defence radars. The light was notidentified. Mr. de Freitas: Should not the Secretary of State's Departmenthave pointed out that there were natural conditions which could quite easily have led to this apparition, and not have given, byimplication, the idea that there was some Martian saucer hovering and waiting for permission to land? BOEING'S HOT-SHOT TUNNEL T"\ESIGNED to stimulate flight conditions from an altitude ofJ-"' 150,000ft upwards, including speeds between Mach 10 and 27, a new arc-discharge or "hot-shot" tunnel is now being builtby Boeing Airplane Company at Seattle. When the tunnel comes into operation later this year it will be the largest privately ownedhypersonic facility in the U.S.A. The Boeing installation, which incorporates a 40in test section,is patterned on facilities at the Arnold Engineering Development Center at Tullahoma, Tennessee, and is similar to the more-familiar "blow-down" tunnel. Instead of using compressed air, however, a high-voltage electric arc is employed. As illustrated in the artist's impression, the 60ft hot-shottunnel comprises an arc chamber (right) and test chamber (left), separated by a conical nozzle which has a tungsten throat. Thearc chamber is pressurized to 2,000 lb/sq in and air in the test chamber is evacuated. A charge of up to five million amps isdischarged across two electrodes in the arc chamber, increasing the pressure in the chamber to 4,000-30,000 lb/sq in and thetemperature to 5,000-25,000 deg F. This high pressure ruptures the plastic diaphram used to sealthe throat of the tunnel, and a Shockwave, followed by a brief, steady hypersonic flow, passes along the 23ft nozzle and testchamber. A typical test would take no longer than A sec, during which time 36 information channels would have been recordingmodel data. The speed of the air through the test chamber is determined by the size of the tunnel throat: for Mach 26 thediroat is a small pinhole. A pilot hot-shot tunnel of eight-inch test section has been in operation at Boeing since last August, and has been used tocheck out the components used in the larger version. The new facility will be the company's eighth wind tunnel, those in useat present comprising two transonic (up to M=1.3), two super- sonic (M=1.2 to 4.2) and three small hypersonic (above M=5)installations. Roof-mounted condenser bank has 4,000 capacitors charged at 6,000 volts. Main 40-inch hypersonic tunnel is flanked by pilot 8-inch hypersonic tunnel (foreground) and shock-tube at rear
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