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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0883.PDF
442 FLIGHT, 27 March 1959 THE INDUSTRY Buoyancy at Weybridge TPHERE was a splendid unpompousness about the Vickers- ••• Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. speech day and presentation of awards to apprentices at Weybridge on March 17. With Sir George Edwards' dry witticisms, Maj-Gen. Sir Charles Dunphie's geniality, and a bright list of academic successes to report, all the ingredients combined to make the event just what these occasions should be but so often are not. Moreover, all the speakers seemed to have the same underlying thought, that the fact of difficult conditions in the aircraft industry should be a stimulus rather than a cause for depression. Sir George himself set this note when he said that because things were more competitive than they had ever been before there was more need for quality, standards were more important and so was the effort put in by the engineers and designers; and the managing director must subsequently have been glad to hear his education officer, Mr. E. G. Barber, say that the company's acade-nic results had been better this year (August 1957 to July 1958) than they had ever been before. For example, 15 university degrees had been gained against six in the previous annual period, and 12 Higher National Diplomas compared with eight. This despite a reduc- tion in apprentice intake decided on as a compromise between the Carr Report (which advocated more training) and the Defence White Paper, which envisaged a 40 per cent shrinkage in the aircraft industry. In an encouraging word about the future the technical director, Mr. H. H. Gardner, said that as things got more difficult each year they also became more exciting: last year, people were won- dering whether there would be any more manned aircraft; this year, they are wondering who is going to design them. The same buoyant attitude was exemplified too by Sir Charles Dunphie, who is chairman and managing director of Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. He proffered three pieces of advice to the apprentices: whatever your job, give it a hundred per cent; if you have a chance of trying a new one, it's right to have a go; and loyalty is the best quality. Sir Charles had presented the Weeks Trophy (for the year's outstanding apprentice) to R. M. W. Manning; and in turn he was presented himself—by apprentice Neville Brenchley—with a handsome Weybridge-made ashtray as a memento of the occasion. D. L. Brown Joins Smiths ONE of the few men who can claimto have flown both the Avro 504K and the Hawker Hunter is Mr. D. L. Brown, M.I.Mech.E., A.M.I.C.E., M.I.Gas.E., A.F.R.Ae.S., who has been appointed deputy manager of Smiths Aviation Division research department at Cheltenham. He joins Smiths from the School of Gas Turbine Technology, of which he was Principal. Mr. Brown learned to fly in 1931 and in 1938-39 was hon. secretary of East- bourne Flying Club. His early career was in gas engineering; he entered the Mr. Brown aircraft industry in 1942, as a member of the design staff of Miles Aircraft. He had a share in the design of the Miles Libellula tandem-wing research aircraft and, as an M.A.P.-approved test pilot, also flew it. He also worked in close collaboration with Sir Frank Whittle on the powering of the Miles M.52 supersonic project. After the war Mr. Brown became training administration officer of British South American Airways, and in 1949 joined Power Jets (Research & Development) Ltd. to take charge of their School of Gas Turbine Technology. Steel—from Furnace to Service TWO sound-and-colour 16 mm cine films, each both informativeand dramatic in its particular way, have been produced by the photographic section of the Thos. Firth & John Brown research laboratories. One (running 33 min) records a tour of the com- pany's 80-acre plant, showing methods of steel production for the aviation and other industries; and the other (15 min), made at the 1958 S.B.A.C. Display, gives action impressions of modern British aircraft, including many in which Firth-Brown steels are used. Both films are available on loan (the works picture with alternative commentaries in English, French and Spanish) to responsible organizations on application to The Sales Promotion Department, Thos. Firth & John Brown Ltd., Atlas Works, Sheffield 4. Mr. McCarthy-Jones One of the new 28/112-volt aircraft starting and servicing units recently exported to Portugal by Red Devon Ltd., of Totnes, Devon. Peak outputs are 2,000 amp at 28v and 800 amp at 112v. The units are self-propelled but can equally well be towed by a tractor West African Representation 17"NOWN as Air Stock West Africa •**• Ltd., a company has been formed to represent a number of aircraft and ancillary product manufacturers in Nigeria and the Cameroons, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Gambia. Among the firms with whom agency agreements have been concluded, state ASWA, are Piper Aircraft Corporation, and Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. The managing director of the new company is Mr. C. G. McCarthy-Jones, O.B.E., A.F.C., who is now resident at their office in Lagos, Nigeria. He was previously sales manager of Air Train- ers Link Ltd. After a distinguished war record in Fighter and Training Commands and Army Co- operation units, he joined No. 601 (County of London) Squadron, R.Aux.A.F., and was its commanding officer for four years. IN BRIEF Mr. B. T. Scott, until recently sales engineer with Kestner Evaporator & Engineering Co. Ltd., has joined Miles Structural Plastics Ltd. as sales development engineer. * * * The Sandwell Casting Co. of West Bromwich, Birmingham, recently opened a new £60,000 electronic controlled non-ferrous alloy foundry. Production in the new premises is very highly mechanized. * * * Mr. D. W. Hawkins, a former director and general manager of Dunlop Plantations Ltd., has been appointed to the main board of the Dunlop Rubber Co. Ltd. Mr. Hawkins, who joined Dunlop in 1927, has been controller of the Materials Supply Division for the past year. * * * Known as DB Toolform, a range of ready-mixed plastics for tooling purposes has been introduced by the Kenilworth Manu- facturing Co. of West Drayton, Middlesex. Each of the several grades, which are supplied colour-coded for easy identification, is designed for a specific purpose. For limited distribution to airline operators and aircraft manu- facturers, Westway Models Ltd., of 178 Brent Crescent, London, N.W.10, have produced an attractive loose-leaf folder illustrating some 30 typical aircraft scale models (for display, presentation and other purposes) from the many hundreds they have produced for the industry over the past few years. * * * Some changes have been announced in the public relations organization of the Hunting Group. G/C. A. H. S. Lucas has been appointed P.R.O. to Hunting Aircraft Ltd. and its sub- sidiaries at Luton; Mr. David Bolton takes up a similar post with Hunting Clan Air Transport Ltd. at London Airport; and Mr. David Bett continues at the Group headquarters in London. Mr. Hugh Scanlan has left to take up an appointment with Shell. * * * A new brochure from Coseley Buildings Ltd., Lanesfield, Wolverhampton, gives detailed data on the portal-frame buildings in which this firm specializes. Colour illustrations serve to emphasize a number of points, including the fact that the build- ings can be given an attractive exterior finish by the use of Colourglaze asbestos cement sheeting. Aviation users of Coseley buildings include de Havilland Propellers, Fairey Aviation, Vickers-Armstrongs, Rolls-Royce and the R.C.A.F.
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