FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1052.PDF
17 April 1959 511 about £4 per square foot. One firm had recently spent £215,000on an unsuccessful bid; "I don't want you British fellows to think you have all the problems" was one of many asides. Discussing materials, Mr. Douglas said: "I can't make the pointstrongly enough that the pace at which we develop materials is the pace at which we progress." Beryllium, for example, had manyadvantages; in general terms, a Mach 2.5 fighter of beryllium would weigh 16,000 lb less than if it were of steel. But theberyllium stockpile was "less than half the size of a page of this paper," and the cost was £4 per ounce. The lecturer went on todiscuss machining ("there is an almost linear relationship between machining hours per aircraft pound and Mach number"), newcasting methods, jewel bearings, sandwich-material fabrication, and the specialized design ofnew research facilities—some withsuch standards of cleanliness that "a worker with dandruff would automatically be eliminated," and by comparison with which "awatch factory would look like a locomotive repair shop." Points from the lecturer's replies to the discussion: —Supersonic Airliner: "Don't hold your breath unless someone comes along with some remarkable new manufacturing tech-niques." Cost might be $2,000m. Mach 3 offered good range: "We can't make it go far at Mach 2. Certainly between Mach 1and 2 is out." They could not get the L/D—but "maybe you are cleverer than we are." Short-range Jet: "I personally think that the short-range jetis going to put the turboprop out of business." He did not see much of a market for a new generation of bigger subsonic jets. Tim Wood Hands Over AFTER 34 years' flying Harold ("Tim") Wood is retiring at the• end of this month as chief test pilot of Blackburn and General, Aircraft Ltd. He will be succeeded by Derek Whitehead. Tim Wood—a favourite photograph in the cockpit of the veteran Blackburn B.2 trainer—and Derek Whitehead As a direct entry into the R.A.F. Reserve, Tim was taught tofly by C. F. Uwins in 1925. His flying time now exceeds 14,000 hours. For two years he was chief pilot of Hillman'sAirways, and in 1936 took the Monospar Croydon to Australia on a demonstration tour. On the return the aircraft force-landedon a coral reef in the Timor Sea. (The adventure was recounted by Mr. F. F. Crocombe, the Croydon's designer, in Flight ofDecember 10,1936.) On returning Tim became an instructor with Flying Training Ltd.; then transferred, as chief pilot, to BritishAmerican Air Services, with whom he remained until the war. He served in the R.A.F. until 1941, when he was seconded toGeneral Aircraft Ltd. On the amalgamation of the Blackburn Aircraft and General Aircraft companies he became chief test pilotat Brough, and in this capacity made the first flight of the Beverley. A married man with seven children and four grandchildren,Tim is severing his connection with Blackburn on his own initia- tive. He intends to accept various commissions of a commercial-liaison nature. His successor, Derek Whitehead, joined the Blackburn com-pany early last year from the Royal Navy. He flew the NA.39 on its maiden flight last April and last June was awarded the A.F.C.for his deck-landing trials of the Scimitar and other aircraft. Employment at Bristol QUESTIONED about redundancy at Bristol Aircraft Ltd., the2"£ Minister of Labour, Mr. Iain Macleod, said in Parliament on April 8 that he understood the net reduction in employment atthe company during 1958 was 1,300. The firm had announced that employment would be reduced by a further 1,200 in the firsthalf of 1959. Replying to further Questions on the subject, the Minister saidthat the key question was how many of those dismissed remained out of work. An inquiry covering not only Bristol but all the areasfrom which Bristol Aircraft and Bristol Aero-Engines drew their labour showed that only 46 people who lost work at eitherft™1 were now unemployed. "So far as the future is concerned," added Mr. Macleod, "this firm is a very co-operative one andworks, as all good firms should do, very closely indeed with my TALON is the new name conferred on the Northrop T-38 supersonic trainer, seen on its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base. A variant of the same twin-jet aircraft is offered for export as a fighter/bomber. The first Talon was rolled out of the Norair Division plant last August, and was held up by problems with the G.E. J85 engines DORNIER TWIN: Though flying since last December, the Dormer 29, twin-pusher experimental development of the Dornier 27, has only recently been photographed. It uses modified Do 27 components and has two Lycoming GO-480s of 275 h.p. each Ministry. In this sphere—and the cases of Saunders-Roe in theIsle of Wight and Hawkers at Blackpool come to mind—there have been some very remarkable placings even when fears wereexpressed before." He believed that the Bristol men's future, even with the further redundancies announced, was reasonably good. The First Mossie Comes Home 'THE prototype de Havilland Mosquito, W4050, came back to its•*• birthplace, Salisbury Hall, near London Colney, on April 8, after an absence of nearly 19 years. From May 15 next it will beon permanent view at Salisbury Hall, which itself has a long and varied history, dating back to Roman times. Mr. WalterGoldsmith, secretary of the Mosquito Appeal Fund established to preserve this aircraft, obtained the historic site in-1956. INfBRIEF Rolls-Royce are engaged in service-support of the MB-3 engines ofthe Thor missiles of R.A.F. Bomber Command, under sub-contract from Rocketdyne. (Other Thor news will be found in the article"U.S. Missile Tour," p. 514.) * * * Over 130 pilots are expected to take part in the National GlidingChampionships at Lasham, near Alton (May 9-18). * * * Pakistan is shortly to receive its first bomber aircraft, in the shape ofMartin B-57s, the American-built version of the Canberra. It is reported that about 25 are to be supplied by the United States, with a first deliveryof seven or eight being made late this year. * * ' * Five Blackburn NA.39s have now flown, and during recent weeksthe fifth aircraft has been seen leading a formation of three, the others being Nos. 1 and 2. Pilot of No. 5 was "Sailor" Parker; DerekWhitehead was handling No. 1 and "Bobby" Burns No. 2. The chase Meteor, which also joined in, was flown by Dick Chandler. * * * Changes have been made in some of the announced dates (Flight,April 3) when Fleet Air Arm stations will be open to the public. Abbotsinch (Paisley) is now due to be "at home" on June 20; andYeovilton (near Yeovil, Somerset) and Culdrose (Helston, Cornwall) on July 25. A new subsidiary, Lockheed Aircraft International, has been formedby the parent corporation to provide technical assistance to countries manufacturing or using Lockheed aircraft and to develop overseasmarkets. President of the new company is Mr. J. Kenneth Hull, head of Lockheed Aircraft Service since its formation in 1947. * * * A Soviet pilot, Fyodor Belushkin, has claimed a new world absoluterecord for helicopters after reaching an absolute height of 6,702 metres (21,988ft) on March 12 in an Mi-1. This is 308 metres (1,010ft) higherthan the official world record of 6,394 metres set up by Stanislaw Gajewski of Poland in an SM-1 in September 1957. * * * This week's (Thursday, April 16) issue of our associated journal The Motor Cycle is the annual Special Holiday Number, containing advice and suggestions on summer touring.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
