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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1783.PDF
FLIGHT EAST MEETS WEST: On August 1 the Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrush- chev, inspected the Boeing VC-137 in which Vice - President Nixon flew to Moscow (far left); earlier, on June 28, the giant Tu-114 carried its designer and other Soviet officials to the Soviet exhibition in New York, and is seen here at Idle- wild after flying non-stop from Moscow in 17 hours FROM ALL QUARTERS^. . . The Minister of Defence, Mr. Duncan Sandys, said in the House ofCommons on July 8 that the Government had agreed to allow more U.S.A.F. squadrons to be stationed in the U.K. Nine squadrons, chieflyF-100 nuclear attack units, assigned to NATO but which France has declined to accommodate, are being re-deployed in England andGermany. Sea-level thrusts for four British aircraft rocket engines may nowbe quoted: the de Havilland Spectre DSpe. 4 and 5 are both rated at 8,000 1b; the Napier Scorpion NSc.l and Double Scorpion NScD.l arerespectively rated at 2,000 and 4,000 1b. The June exports figure for the aircraft industry, £15,102,965, broughtthe total for the first six months of 1959 to a record £87,804,776. This was an increase of 14 per cent over the previous six-monthly record(July-December 1958) and represents an annual figure of £175m, compared with last year's £154m. During June, Switzerland was theleading buyer of British aircraft and parts, spending £1,418,683. Holland's purchases totalled £1,373,453 and India spent £1,270,066. At an informal ceremony at Luton Airport in June the first HuntingJet Provost Mk 3s were handed over by the manufacturers to the R.A.F., which will now implement its policy of all-through jet training.The A.O.C-in-C. Flying Training Command, Air Marshal Sir Hugh A. Constantine, took delivery of the first aircraft from Mrs. C. P. M.Hunting and the second was presented by Mrs. L. C. Hunting to A.V-M. Colin Scragg, A.O.C. No. 23 Group. Other aircraft from thefirst production batch were accepted by A. Cdre. J. N. H. Whitworth, Commandant of the Central Flying School, and G/C. J. H. L. Blount,CO. of No. 2 F.T.S., Syerston. Mr. Sean Lemass, Deputy Prime Minister of Eire (now PrimeMinister), unveiled a 14ft limestone memorial at Clifden, Co. Galway, on June 15, fortieth anniversary of the landing there of Alcock andBrown on their pioneer non-stop crossing of the North Atlantic in a Vickers Vimy biplane (two Rolls-Royce Eagle). At a luncheon beforethe ceremony Lord Kindersley, Rolls-Royce chairman, welcomed the guests; and Sir George Edwards, managing director of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), congratulated Aer Lingus, and Capt. Kelly- Rogers in particular, on the design of the memorial. Irish aviationpioneers present included Col. James Fitzmaurice, Capt J. P. Saul and Mr. John Maher. In the early morning of July 25, fiftieth anniversary of Bleriot'sChannel crossing, the Saunders-Roe SR-N1 Hovercraft made history by skimming from Calais to Dover. Lt-Cdr. Peter Lamb, at the controls,was accompanied by Christopher Cockerell and J, B. Chaplin. The crossing was made at a fuel-conserving speed of 28-30 kt—though 38 ktwas attained at one point—and the craft was refuelled (from churns carried on board) before reaching Dover. A chined nose had been addedto reduce spray, and a long swell and a mid-Channel popple caused no difficulty. The SR-N1 is soon to be given a propulsion engine, which will increase its s^eed to 40-50 kt and free the existing engine for liftalone—enough to increase the hover height to about 18in. Studies are in hand for a 40-ton passenger version. An S.E.5A replica built by R.A.E. apprentices made its first flight,at Farnborough on August 4, in the hands of A. Cdre. A. H. Wheeler. Mr. P. A. Hufton, formerly Chief Superintendent, R.A.E. Bedford,has been appointed Head of Aerodynamics Department, R.A.E. Farn- borough, with effect from July 1. He succeeds Mr. L. F. Nicholson. The Minister of Supply, Mr. Aubrey Jones, said in a written Parlia-mentary answer on June 29 that the Britannic prototype should be flying in 1962 and enter service in 1964. The Fairey Rotodyne transported a 103ft army bridge section threemiles from White Waltham to Stanbury Park, near Maidenhead in a demonstration on July 27 for Service and M.o.S. officers. The section,10ft wide and 7ft high, is believed to be the largest structure ever air-lifted. TO ALL SUBSCRIBERS We very much regret that the prolonged dispute in the printing industry has prevented the publication of the issues of Flight for June 26, July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 and August 7. We offer our sincere regrets for this break, in circumstances which were beyond our control. All postal subscriptions will, of course, be extended to compensate for the missing issues. Brief details were released on June 11 of the Bristol Siddeley BE.53lift/thrust turbojet. A ducted fan, it has a take-off thrust similar to that of the Olympus, but its exhaust is discharged through variable outlets togive any combination of lift, forward thrust or reverse thrust. Owing to the high by-pass ratio, the s.f.c. is claimed to be better than that of apure jet, and the thrust/weight ratio is said to be "higher than that of any existing turbojet." The BE.53 could be the powerplant for theHawker P. 1127. Another of the company's range of fan engines is the commercial BE.58, which will be displayed at the forthcoming S.B.A.C.show. Having a cold flow ratio greater than 1.5 the BE.58 gives Olympus-class thrust, for lower weight, consumption and noise. At the annual meeting of Blackburn and General Aircraft Ltd., heldat Brough on August 5, the name of the company was changed to The Blackburn Group. In his annual statement to shareholders the chair-man, Mr. Eric Turner, said it was not intended to restrict future Ecti- vities to the NA.39; "two entirely different projects" were being studied.The group's net profit for the year (to March 1, 1959) contracted from the 1957-58 figure of £547,104 to £408,111. On June 17 Handley Page Ltd. gave a dinner in London to celebratethe 50th anniversary of the company's registration. The Minister of Power, Lord Mills, deputized for the Minister of Transport and CivilAviation in proposing "The oldest aircraft company," and the Secretary of State for Air, Mr. George Ward, paid his own tribute. Sir FrederickHandley Page responded in characteristic "H.P." style, and the Chief of the Air Staff, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Dermot Boyle, pro-posed "Pioneers of aviation." Lord Brabazon responded. We regret to learn of the death, on July 14, of Tony Martindale, chiefdevelopment engineer of the Motor Car Division of Rolls-Royce Ltd. After five pre-war years with the company he joined the R.A.F., inwhich he had a distinguished career, particularly as a pilot of high-speed aircraft and captured German machines. After the war he was a Rolls-Royce test pilot for five years before resuming his car-development work. RIDING ON AIR: As reported at the foot of col. 1, the SR-N1 Hovercraft crossed the Channel from Calais to Dover on the morning of July 25. Here it makes a bluff silhouette against the water of Dover Harbour
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