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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1196.PDF
24 April 1959 Correspondence The Editor of "Flight" is not necessarily in agreement with the viewsexpressed by correspondents in these columns. Names and addresses oj writers, not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. Secret Unfrozen THE interesting letter from Mr. George Miles on arrester-nets[April 10] needs to be answered, if only to reply to the gentle implication that the officials in M.A.P. were a crowd of clots notto accept his brilliant idea and pursue it. May I shed some light on this matter—and relieve George Miles and his co-workers of whatI know has been a sore point with them for years? At the material time—and this is the most important factor—the idea was submitted to, eventually, Cdr. Stacey Colls, under whom were Lt-Cdr. Douglas Pclly and myself. We all thoughtthe idea excellent: but the fact to be faced was that the Staff at the time were considering operations in the Far North, and thisfact was Very Secret and could not be passed to George Miles, etc. Now, the Miles arrester net worked admirably in temperateclimates, but, on miniature tests we made secretly it was shown to our satisfaction (and regret) that the net iced-up and becamean impossible proposition where icing was a certainty. So, with- out saying why, this proposal was rejected. I can only add that we on the inside felt tremendous sympathywith George, but that some of this was vitiated when he wrote a long screed of complaint at the rejection; and this, again forsecurity reasons, we could not answer appropriately. May we hope we are now forgiven for our apparent clottishness? London, W.I. B. J. HURREN. Nocturnal Jet Noise WITH regard to the "waking hours" mentioned in "AirCommerce" (p. 583, Flight, April 10) I would very much like to know who decides on the limits of these so-called wakinghours. It seems obvious he does not live in the vicinity of London Airport. I'm sure parents of young children will agree with me that10.15 p.m. should be called a sleeping hour, as also should 7.15 a.m. on a Sunday. One of the jets leaves every night at 10.15 and a Boeing 707was seen to go in to land at 7.15 on a Sunday morning. Twickenham, Middx. S. A. WILKINS. Research and the LibrarianW ITH reference to your editorial "A Matter of Survival"(April 10), may I point out that the expression "Aeronautical research" should be preceded by "original"? To ensure that research is original one must make literaturesearches. To make efficient literature searches one must have men trained in the work, i.e., librarians.Many firms have librarians. Few firms realize how valuable those librarians can be. They are not a luxury. They are anindispensable necessity. There are not many employees in the aircraft industry who can save more money than they cost—whatever they cost. London, W.I. F. H. SMITH,Chairman, ASLIB Aero Group. Thunder and Lightning?A T approximately 10.35 a.m. on Friday, April 10, the grand-L daddy of all supersonic bangs smote the southern half of this island. I have heard a number, but this outclassed the lot. Theground literally shook! After the impact, a thin whine of a very fast aircraft was heardgoing out eastward. All this prompted me to put my shirt on a certain Driver Adrframe (fast), Beamont type.Port Erin, Isle of Man. D. G. DOBSON. The von Richthofen Book TN "The Aeronautical Bookshelf (p. 700, Flight, October 31,A 1958) there appeared a review of our book Von Richthofen and the Flying Circus. We are not here concerned with the opinionsof your reviewer—he is, of course, entitled to them—but we are interested in the basis for them. This review contained allegationswhich reflect on the literary integrity of the compilers, Herr H. J. Nowarra and Major K. S. Brown, U.S.A.F. Worse, your reviewergravely misrepresented his own "authority" for both his opinions and these allegations. The delay in responding some months after publication of thereview is due to exhaustive researches we have made to ascertain the real facts in regard to your reviewer's ability to review our book. This involved letters to and from America and Germany,and tracing several German fighter pilots who were personally associated with Baron von Richthofen. Necessarily this took sometime. The results of our researches follow. (1) Your reviewer said: "As aviation history or as a story of afamous fighting unit, the main text is sadly disappointing ... it soon becomes apparent that here is little more than a collector'seffort based upon careful perusal of all available literature; and much of diat literature one knows to be clearly apocryphal ... Agood deal of the text consists of combat stories—clearly not written from first-hand knowledge or war reports . . ." The facts are that the whole of the main text, and in particularthe whole of the reports of Baron von Richthofen's 80 combat victories, were written-up by our editor Mr. Bruce Robertson,drawing upon translations of the Baron's own combat reports, cross-checked with the appropriate official British combat andcasualty reports. (These are available on application to the Imperial War Museum and the Air Historical Branch of the AirMinistry, respectively.) Further additional information was, of course, provided from the really extensive records of the twocompilers. (2) Your reviewer was not present at any of these combatsinvolving 128 aircrew, of whom 99 were killed; and of the remain- ing 29, the majority were wounded and/or taken prisoner of war.Few can survive to-day; but of them, 2nd Lt. H. J. Sparks (P.o.W., wounded), having read our book, wrote in to say "I must con-gratulate all concerned on its detailed accounts. I happen to be the gunner of the machine that the Baron claimed as his 64th, andI must say that the report of the scrap is very exact." Von Richthofen's 80th victim, 2nd Lt. D. G. Lewis (P.o.W., wounded)was traced to Southern Rhodesia. Having read the book he wrote that our account of his fight was correct, adding: "What abeautiful publication it is ... I had completely forgotten the number of the machine in which I was shot down, and am pleasedto know what it was ... Congratulations on the book." Five members of the "Flying Circus" were traced and to eachwas sent a copy of our book. They replied as follows: — (a) Lt. Carl Galetschky (joined Jasta 6, 18.8.17, two victories)—"Ihave known Manfred von Richthofen personally and I think that the book is a most remarkable publication; as truthful as possible and tothe point." (b) Lt. G. W. Groos (joined Jasta 11, 26.6.17, six victories)— "The book has met with my unreserved approval both in regard to itscontents and its exemplary presentation. In my opinion the authors have succeeded in giving an unprejudiced absolutely correct and truthfulpicture of Captain von Richthofen and of the fighter pilots of the first World War." (c) V.f.w. Gabriel (joined Jasta 11, 15.4.18, eleven vic-tories)—"I liked all parts of the book very much, and indeed it agrees entirely with the historical facts." (d) Lt. F. Lubbert (Jasta 11—"I haveread some important chapters and these correspond to the facts in every way . . . Further, the book would absolutely be in conformity with thetaste of the brothers of Richthofen and I consider this to be of importance and of value." (3) Your reviewer claims: "To one who was acquainted withthe book's subject and his times . . . when the present writer last saw von Richthofen, only a day before his end ..." Your reviewer was German born on April 15, 1897. He wasthus six days past his 21st birthday on the day von Richthofen was killed. As throughout the two-year period of work involvedin compiling, writing and producing our book not once did we come across your reviewer's name; the accuracy of the aboveclaims was immediately called in question. None of the four Ger- man pilots we quote had ever heard of him. The final word comesfrom Air Force General (retired) Karl Bodenschatz, who joined Jagdgeschwader Nr. I on 2.7.17 as adjutant to von Richthofen,and who held this position without a break until after the latter's death; he says: "My enquiries so far made of several oldRichthofen pilots have shown that none of them knows the re- FORTHCOMING EVENTS April 24-26. Shackleton Sales Weekend, Kidlington. April 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 5. R.Ae.S.: "The Potential Use of Aircraft for Agricultural Purposes," by R. H. Scott. May 8. Helicopter Association: "Helicopter Noise Suppression," by H. B. Irving. May 9. U.S.A.F. At Home: Wethersfield. May 9-18. British National Gliding Championships, Lasham Gliding Centre, Hants. May 14. R.Ae.S.: 47th Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture, "Managing Aviation Technologies," by C. J. McCarthy. May 16. U.S.A.F. At Homes: Bentwater, Sculthorpe and Alconbury. May 18. S.S.A.F.A. Display, Leeds-Bradford Airport, Yeadon. June12-21. Paris Aero Show. Sept. 7-13. S.B.A.C. Display and Exhibition, Farnborough. R.Ae.S. Branch Fixtures (to April 29): April 29, Christchurch, a.g.m.; Weybr/rfge, a.g.m.
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