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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 2246.PDF
11 September 1959 217 Experimental Flight Test at Belfast and Bedford Essentially an experimental machine designed to explore the newrealm of jet-lift vertical take-off and landing, and transition to and from conventional forward flight, the Short SC.l is nowundergoing the most interesting phase of its flight-test programme. The first machine of this type, XG900, which made its first flight(as a conventional aircraft) in April 1957, is now being modified to current standard at the company's factory at Belfast; whilethe second machine, XG905, is the subject of transition trials at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford. The overall flight-test history to date has involved three seriesof tests at Boscombe Down and Bedford in which the first machine has been proved as a conventional aircraft; and a hovering-flightprogramme in which the second aircraft has been used. The free hovering trials were preceded by tethered flights in a specialgantry at Belfast. All five of the SC.l's powerplants—four vertic- ally mounted lift engines in the central bay and one propulsionengine—are Rolls-Royce RB.108 turbojets. The Short team at R.A.E. Bedford comprises a 15-man work-ing party from the company's experimental department led by servicing engineer Peter Newnham, and a flight-test group offive headed by senior flight development engineer Wilfred Monteith, a young Ulsterman with a keen spare-time interest ingliding. The flying is carried out by Tom Brooke-Smith, the company's chief test pilot, who was assisted during the gantryhovering trials by Jock Eassie. One other pilot, S/L. S. J. Hubbard of R.A.E. Bedford, has also flown the SC.l in hovering flight.Nine Hussenot recorders and an auto-observer are carried on each flight to record just about every piece of flight data there isto record. The Hussenots, for example, produce a total of almost 40 separate traces, of which two alone cover no fewer than 40temperature elements. Lift-engine intake temperatures are par- ticularly important because of hot-air recirculation effects nearthe ground. The two main aspects to be studied in the current transitionphase of the flight-test programme are the ability to light-up, sustain and obtain full power from the lift engines between zeroforward speed and conventional wing-borne flight; and the ability to handle the aircraft in that important speed band—with theaccent on control, particularly in pitch. Initial trials are devoted to ensuring that, once started, the lift engines have sufficient airto keep them running and that they handle satisfactorily across their power range.These trials began with a series of decelerating speed runs at various r.p.m. values to speeds slightly below the stall, and arebeing followed by tests to clear the engine performance at moder- ate speeds above the hover. This will be done after vertical take- Strange beasts in a flight hangar at R.A.E. Bedford: Fairey FD.2 and the second Short SC.l—both Rolls-Royce powered off in a series of runs at 10 kt intervals about 30ft above therunway. There will then be a gap of some 30 kt to be bridged in order to complete transition. Providing the general behaviourof the aircraft at low speed has been satisfactory, it will be accelerated through the gap into wing-borne flight. The initialdecelerating transition trials will be made from about 4,000ft, to ensure safe recovery in the event of difficulty, and the acceleratingtransitions will be made low over the runway. After on-the-spot analysis of results following the flights, theend-product of the work of the flight-test team at Bedford normally comes in the form of notes and reports published by the com-pany's flight development department, which is headed at Belfast by F. E. Youens, chief flight development engineer. The end-product of the programme as a whole, however, will not be simply the SC.l: it will be the new family of VTOL craft which thisflight trials programme is proving to be practicable. Production Machining at Brough Both the Beverley freighter and the NA.39 strike aircraft could be said, for different reasons, to have been built like battleships—the one because of Flight trials of the Short SC.l at R.A.E. Bedford
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