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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0933.PDF
466 FLIGHT, 3 April 1§59 FARMING BY AIR (Continued from page 463) the pressure-level of the fluid. But with gas-turbine aircraft (theAlouette 3 in the agricultural role is highly regarded by Fisons, but the Saunders-Roe P.531 is being studied with interest and even theRotodyne has been mentioned in an agricultural application) there is a possibility that air bleed could be valved to give very closecontrol of the spray. It might also be used to advantage for spreading fertilizer; the impression gained from the demonstrationis that a hopper discharging into a large venturi is a relatively crude and only partially effective way of ensuring an even spreadof chemical. Such possibilities give rise to thoughts of utilizing advancedconcepts such as flying platforms, tilt-wings, ducted propellers or lift fans to produce an implement specifically designed for crop- spraying and general agricultural use. It must obviously be robustand simple and require the minimum skill to operate, perhaps to the extent where a farmer could hire a machine and operate ithimself. At present, agricultural spraying is offered as a service providing operators, equipment, special chemicals and expertknowledge which can be called upon whenever it is needed. But whatever the technical specification of the new equipment will be,the factor of first cost is going to mitigate against extensive special development. And for this type of flying, where operation isnearly always under quite rough conditions, it will be a consider- able time before the unsophisticated fixed-wing aeroplane, cheapto buy and easy to maintain, is superseded by more modern and productive tools. SOME COMPARATIVE DATA FOR AIRCRAFT AT DOWNHAM MARKET Aircraft Carrying capacity (Ib or gal) ... Pump or spreading gear On-off gear Cruising speed ... | speed (m.p.h.) Spraying or spreading < height (ft) ... (swath (ft) Filling time per load (sec) Acres covered per load ... Average acreage covered per hour Spraying Hiller 340 Caarie 40-50 gal gear electric 70 30-45 5-12 above crop 50-60 60 13-17 50-60 Finr 40-50 gal gear electric 70 30-45 5-12 above crop 50-60 60 13-17 50-60 Tiger Moth Coarse 60 gal centrifugal (windmill) mechanical 70 70 10-12 above crop 40 210 12-15 40 Fine 60 gal centrifugal (windmill) mechanical 70 70 5-10 above crop 40 210 12-15 50 Amter* 500-600 Ib 50-60 gal gear (windmill) manual 100 65-75 8-20 above crop 50-60 180 17 (at 3 g.p.a.) 40 Dusting EP.» 15001b gate drop or venturi 115 45-85 5-40 45 30-60 4-15 30-40 TigerMoth 600 Ib max 448 Ib normal venturi 70 70 15-40 30 60 2-4 15-40 Piper Super Cub 784 Ib venturi 100 70 30 30-45 . *5 7 50 Figures for the Auster Workmaster were quoted on page 422 of "Flight" last week. OFF TO SURABAYAW ITH deliveries of the first six Gannets for the IndonesianNavy due to start at the end of this year, the Fairey Aviation Co. Ltd. is to train Indonesian pilots (with the assistance of aRoyal Navy instructor) and is also sending out a training mission to Indonesia, headed by a Q.F.I. This mission will be based atSurabaya for approximately 18 months to two years. It is to include specialists in ground trades, and the company hasexpressed a preference for personnel recently released from the Royal Navy who have Gannet experience. NEW FROM GENERAL ELECTRIC First picture of the 764, under development for the US. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics by American CE.'s Small Aircraft Engine Department at Lynn, Mass. Rated at 2 £00 h.p., the 764-4 seen here is a free- turbine turboprop; the 764-2 is a turboshaft engine for helicopters using the same power section MR. L. W. WARNER fE regret to record that Mr. Leonard William Warner, for-merly Director-General of Aircraft Production at the war- time Ministry of Airwaf t Production, died on March 20 at the ageof 73. His association with aeroplane construction went back fifty years, to the days when he joined Short Brothers in the Isle ofSheppey, working with Horace Short as an experimental engineer; and he was concerned in the design of the engine installation andmanufacture of the transmission for the Short No. 2 biplane in which J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon won the £1,000 prize offered bythe Daily Mail for the first circular mile flown in this country by an all-British aircraft. At the beginning of the First World Warhe joined the Aircraft Inspection Directorate (later absorbed into the R.F.C. and then the Air Ministry); and thereafter, from1914 to 1928, he held progressively more important posts until (under Col. Outram) he was responsible for the technicaldirection and inspection of complete aircraft manufactured at airframe firms throughout this country. In 1929 he was respon-sible for the inspection and airworthiness of each flight of British aircraft competing in the Schneider Trophy contest; and in 1938he went to the U.S. to organize inspection of the first contract deliveries of Hudsons and Harvards. Subsequently Mr. Warnerleft the A.I.D. to become Air Ministry assistant director respon- sible for production of bomber aircraft; then he went to theM.A.P., becoming its Director-General of Aircraft Production. SERVICE "AT HOMES" CEVERAL U.S.A.F. and F.A.A. airfields will be open to the^ public this summer. The R.A.F. "at home" season does not, of course, occur until Battle of Britain week in September; but itis likely that their aircraft will appear in earlier displays. Dates when the U.S.A.F. (Third Air Force) bases are open alloccur during May, either at the beginning or end of the U.S. Armed Forces' Week. One airfield, Wethersfield (near Braintree,Essex), base of the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing, will be open on May 9; and three others will be "at home" on May 16: Bentwaters(Rendlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk), 81st Tactical Fighter Wing; Sculthorpe (Fakenham, Norfolk), 47 Bomb Group (Tactical); andAlconbury (near Huntingdon), 7560 Air Base Group. The Fleet Air Arm airfields are all open during July with oneexception, Arbroath, which is "at home" on June 12. The others which can be visited are as follows: Lossiemouth (Morayshire),July 11; Abbotsinch (Paisley), July 11; Brawdy (Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire), July 18; Yeovilton (near Yeovil, Somerset),July 20; and Culdrose (Helston, Cornwall), July 20. These last two open days, unlike all the others mentioned, occur on a Monday.
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