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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1001.PDF
502 FLIGHT, 10 April 1959 CORRESPONDENCE . . . The use of Hermes by Handley Page is not mere chance. Manyof the H.P. lineage have borne the illustrious names of the classical days. The Heraclean strength of the renowned Hannibal,and its Marathon performance, show that what was sauce for the Greeks was O.K. for H.P. But hold! Here is the whisper of a star which was eclipsed—perhaps only temporarily. Mayhap it will yet Blossom again, and with what effects on our Grecian genealogy and Students thereof.After all, did not those heavenly twins Castor and Pollux, known as Gemini, reappear Reading off the Miles? Or will the newWorthing branch be more to Roman ways bent? We deviate. Among those who dabbled with the classics, as wehave already seen, are Short. Mercury and Maia we have men- tioned. But what of Scylla or Scipio? But we fear that desertionof boats has caused Short to leave the classics and search in modern terms for the ideas that take place on time.One of our few lightplanes today bears the illustrious name Auster, although why it should be a south-west wind we knownot. Perhaps the makers foresee a long life for their product, since Auster was a son of Aurora, who was a consort of Apollo. Gotaround, didn't he? We should have thought that Fairey, with their predilection forlarge greenhouse-type enclosures, would have fancied Argus the myriad-eyed rather than Fairchild! And as that last name hastransported us across the Atlantic, it will be appropriate to say how heroic Canadair were in producing the Argonaut. Lockheed,too, have explored the Grecian world but usually in a starry-eyed manner with Orion, and Sirius and Vega, but even they wereobsessed with Jupiter. So much so that twice have they wedded themselves to Electra—one assumes that they felt "her offspringDordamus would not have suited the second of these. But the Americans in general are not classically-minded, andwe must return to our own West Country and Westland to find that a two-legged dragon with a barbed tail (Wyvern) is Unkingus once again with Apollo—for see here also is the Python! Nor can we forget, too, that Lysander springs from here, as did thePterodactyl. Earlier we mentioned Jupiter's wives and offspring, and now wecan note that Avro have taken one of his offspring and are busy hammering out Vulcans!This little study of how the Greek gods keep their names alive in our memories today is far from complete, and no doubt thoseof greater classical ability than ourselves may suggest many more thoughts along this same course. We trust it has amused those not directly concerned withdreaming up names for the latest creation, and perhaps encouraeed those that are to reconsider Greek mythology as a source. Thisdoes not mean to say that we expect to see a Bacchus cavorting about the skies, but surely the lines of Juno were of sufficientlyheavenly beauty that de Havilland's could consider her for further variants of the Comet! St. Albans, Herts. J. GREENING. The Twin-jet Airliner T READ with a great deal of interest the note under the above-*• heading on p. 334 of your issue of March 6. I hope you will permit me, an expatriate, to express surprise at one or two points. First, I think you have woven the British-American "jet airlinerpattern of the future," as you call it, somewhat crazily from the British point of view. Why, for example, do you bracket theD.H.I21 with the Convair 880? I cannot see what British Euro- pean Airways would be wanting with 24 airliners of 880 calibre—unless they wished to take over B.O.A.C.'s routes! The 880 has an optimum design range of 1,500-2,000 n.m., a gross weight of180,000 lb, and seating for 130. The D.H.121 should surely be in the third column of your table, classified as a very much smaller jet. Secondly, you quote Mr. B. S. Shenstone of B.E.A. as sayingthat this kind of smaller jet ("circa 100,000 lb") is the object of "average airline" thinking. Surely this is how the D.H.121 shouldbe classified, because this is what B.E.A. need, and it is the aircraft for which the biggest potential market exists, as Douglas andBoeing (as you say) know. Thirdly, you advocate the twin jet; but to my mind the twin jetairliner is, from the design viewpoint, merely a single-engined airliner with a second engine for luck. Nebraska, U.S.A. R. J. F-T. FORTHCOMING EVENTS April 10. Helicopter Association: "French Helicopter Developments," by L. F. G. Legrond. April 14. Institute of Metals: "Scientific Use of Space Exploration," by Prof. F. Hoyle. April 15. Aircraft Recognition Society: a.g.m. April 17. Institute of Navigation: "The Dectra Trials," by Col. C. Powell. April 21. R.Ae.S.: All-day Discussion on the Structural Effects of Kinetic Heating. Apr. 21-23. international Airline Navigators Council: Ninth Annual Convention, New York. April 22. Women's Engineering Society: "Development of the Gas Turbine Engine," by A. B. McKenzie. April 23. R.Ae.S. Astronautics and Guided Flight Section: "Earth Satellites," by W. H. Stephens. April 24. Fourth Tangier Rally, Morocco. Apr. 28-30. French and British Institutes of Navigation: Symposium on Automatic Navigation, Paris. May 2. British Interplanetary Society: "Inertial Guidance and its Application to Astronautics," by D. J. Cashmore. May 2. Aerial At Home, Woburn Park. May 4-14. I.A.T.A. Technical Conference, Berkeley, Calif. May S. R.Ae.S.: "The Potential Use of Aircraft for Agricultural Purposes," by R. H. Scott. June 12-21. Paris Aero Show. Sept. 7-13. S.B.A.C. Display and Exhibition, Farnborough. R.Ae.S. Branch Fixtures (to April 14): April 13, Glasgow, a.g.m.; Halton, "Some Experiences of an Airline Pilot," by Capt. O. P. Jones. April 14, Brough, a.g.m.; Coventry, a.g.m. For Black Read Blue AS one who tries to draw aeroplanes I have long admired Flight's• presentation of Leonard Bridgman's beauties (when do we get some more?) and Dennis Punnett's three-view drawings. Inconnection with the latter, congratulations on the Boeing 707 in your March 27 issue; may I, however, point out that onAmerican Airlines' 707s the thin lines on fuselage and engines, and the lettering, are dark blue and not black as stated? London, W.14. JOHN STROUD. IN BRIEF S/L. J. F. G. Stonham, D.F.C., is compiling a pictorial historyof No. 76 Sqn. (of which he is O.C) and would like to hear from ex-members who may be able to provide photographs relevant toany stage of the squadron's history; he adds that he is particularly short of material for the periods 1937-40 and 1945-46. Lettersshould be sent to S/L. Stonham at No. 76 Squadron, Royal Air Force, British Forces Post Office, 151. * * * Mr. I. Purnell, of 9 Elmore Avenue, Lee-on-Solent, Hants, hasa 1911 book entitled The Aeroplane—an Elementary Textbook on the Principles of Aerodynamic Flight, by I. O'B. Hubbard,C. C. Turner and J. H. Ledeboer, B.A., which he wishes to give away. "In fairness to overseas readers," he writes, "I will delaymy offer for one month after this note appears and will then send it to the writer of the letter giving me the most convincing reasonsfor wanting it." He adds: "No callers, please." Two more views of the Miles deck-flying scheme referred to on the previous page. Above, the Messenger is seen about to enter the net; below is a launching system in which the aircraft is skid-mounted on the catapult trolley and lifts clear when the latter meets a stop 1
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