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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1167.PDF
562 FLIGHT, 24 April 1959 FROM ALL QUARTERS Britain's Space Programme THE following statement was made by the Minister of Supply,Mr. Aubrey Jones, in the House of Commons on April 20, in answer to Members' questions: "The United Kingdom missile programme could, with someadaptation, give an initial launcher in aid of a space research pro- gramme, but of itself could provide neither the satellites nor theinstruments needed to attack the important scientific problems involved in space research. The Government are at present con-sidering the question of a British space research project using earth satellites in the light of advice from the Advisory Councilon Scientific Policy [whose report was submitted last month— Ed.]. A statement will be made as soon as possible. The Govern-ment have in mind the scope which such a project would provide for co-operation with appropriate Commonwealth countries, butdiscussions can most profitably take place when the scale and nature of any British effort have been decided on." The AvrocarF OR at least six years rumours have been rife concerning the"saucer" known to be under development by Avro Aircraft at Malton, Ontario. In 1955 it was stated that this programme hadbeen purchased outright by the U.S.A.F. as Weapon System 606A; last week the Space Committee of the House of Representa-tives in Washington was given a classified briefing on the project, which now appears to be managed by the U.S. Army and AirForce jointly. Brig. Gen. Frank Britton, Army Director of R. and D., statedthat the vehicle was known as the Avrocar, made use of "the ground-cushion phenomena" [sic] involving extremely high-pres-sure jets at the sides and underside of the vehicle, had hovering capability combined with high performance, and appeared to offer"a great potential to the United States Army for increasing its mobility in the combat area." Further testimony by Mr. J. B.Macauley, deputy director of research and engineering, Depart- ment of Defense, stated that his department had spent $5.5m onthe project under contract with Avro Aircraft since 1955. It is reported that the testimony mentioned a maximum speed of300 m.pii. and a range of 1,000 miles. Hawker Board Strengthened IN line with the recent consolidation of Hawker Siddeley avia-tion interests under Hawker Siddeley Aviation Ltd., and subsequent reorganization within the operating companies, thefollowing appointments are announced at Hawker Aircraft Ltd., Kingston-on-Thames: J. T. Lidbury, appointed managingdirector; J. A. R. Kay, director; Sir Sydney Camm, director and chief engineer; S. D. Davies, director; R. H. Chaplin, executivedirector and chief designer; and E. G. Rubython, executive director. The Hovercraft SPONSORS of the revolutionary Hovercraft being constructedby Saunders-Roe Ltd., the National Research Development Corporation have decided to release preliminary details in order to stem the flood of inaccurate reports about this project. They state: — "The prototype of the Hovercraft, which is supported on a 'cushion'of air and skims across the surface of the sea, is due to commence its operational trials during the next few weeks. The first operational craftwill probably weigh less than 100 tons; but the efficiency of the Hover- craft increases with its size, and experiments carried out in the Isle SKIMMER: This artist's impression of the SR. N.I Hovercraft (see below) has been issued by the N.R.D.C. The ducted *an is within the central pylon, from which emerge T-shaped propulsion ducts with control surfaces at their extremities of Wight show that craft weighing thousands of tons and travellingat speeds of about 100 kt are possible. An important feature of the Hovercraft is that it can be loaded and serviced on land, making har-bours and expensive port facilities unnecessary. This means that it could operate in many parts of the world at present inaccessible to moderntransport. "The principle was invented by Mr. C. S. Cockerell, who started workon the project in 1953. His experiments proved the possibility of sup- porting a craft on a cushion of air. Tests with models showed that it wasfeasible to build a full-sized craft and that, by bleeding off some of the air to suitable nozzles, it could be propelled and controlled horizontally.It was decided to build a man-carrying experimental craft, and the N.R.D.C., through its subsidiary, Hovercraft Development Ltd., placeda contract with Saunders-Roe Ltd. to undertake the research, design and development of such a craft. "The first Hovercraft made by Saunders-Roe has been designated theSR. N.I. It is 30ft long and 24ft wide and is powered by a 450 h.p. Alvis Leonides Mk 70 which drives a ducted fan to provide the supplyof air for lift and propulsion. It has a crew of two and will be "flown" by Peter Lamb, Saunders-Roe test pilot. The N.I is nearing completionand its first tethered trials will take place during June. These will be followed by free trials on the Solent." Supplementing this information is a statement by The AirscrewCompany & Jicwood Ltd., who have designed and built the fan blades which provide the lifting force and enable the Hovercraft"to ride at anything from 3ft to 7ft above the surface of the water." The four fan blades are constructed from resin-bonded mahoganylaminations, covered with a special plastic material and with metal- sheathed leading edges. The company also supply the pre-rota-tional vanes of resin-bonded birch veneers, which are built into the intake nose fairing. The tips of these vanes are dowled andbonded to a section of double-skinned birch-ply ducting. The entire assembly is finished with aluminium bituminous paint. Royal President IT was announced last week that the Duke of Edinburgh hadconsented to become president of the College of Aeronautical and Automobile Engineering, Chelsea, for one year fromNovember 1959. He succeeds Lord Brabazon of Tara, who is retiring after having been president since 1950. There are morethan 500 students, from about fifty countries, at the College. Corridor Politics A THIRD high altitude flight along one of the air corridors intoBerlin was made on Wednesday last week (April 15) by a C-130 Hercules of the U.S.A.F. As on a former occasion [Flight,April 10] the aircraft was "buzzed" by Soviet fighters, and the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. exchanged protests, the former about thebuzzing and the latter about the altitude. The American embassy in Bonn said on April 16 that the C-130, which was flying atabout 20,000ft, had been "severely harassed" by Mig aircraft and that the latter had "performed dangerous manoeuvres." MIRAGE IV, Das- sault's new Mach 2 bomber prototype, with two SNECMA Atar 9 turbojets, bears a most strik- ing resemblance to the Mirage III in- tercepter, except for its bogie under- carriage. It is a two-seater
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