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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0133.PDF
NO 2655 VOLUME 77 Editor-in-Chief MAURICE A. SMITH DFC Editor M. F. KINO MBE FRIDAY 29 JANUARY 1960 AIRCRAFT, SPACECRAFT, MISSILES " Official Organ of the Royal Aero Club Fint Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded 1909 Technical Editor W. T. QUN8TON Production Editor ROY CASEY IN THI8 ISSUE From All Quarters 134 The New Look for Engines 136 Missiles and Space-flight 137 ;light System Survey 139 Rationalization Reappraised 140 CL-41 142 Sport and Business 144 Blackbushe to Bermuda 147 Based at Alconbury 150 Straight and Level 153 Oldest Aeronautical Society 154 The Industry 157 Correspondence 158 Air Commerce 159 Service Aviation 164 Iliffe & Sons Ltd, Dorset House, Stam-ford Street, London SE1; telephone Waterloo 3333. Telegrams FlightpresSedist London. Annual subscriptions: Home £4 15s. Overseas £5. Canadaand USA $15.00. Second Class Mail privileges authorized at New York, NY. Branch Offices Coventry: 8-10 Corpora-tion Street: telephone Coventry 25210. Birmingham: King Edward House, NewStreet, 2; telephone Midland 7191. Man- chester: 260 Deansgate, 3; telephoneBlackfriars 4412 or Deansgate 3595. Glasgow: 26B Renfleld Street, C2;telephone Central 1265. New York, NY: Thomas Skinner & Co(Publishers) Ltd, 111 Broadway 6; telephone Digby 9-1197. © IUffe & Sons Ltd, 1960. Permissionto reproduce illustrations and letterpress can be granted only under written agree-ment. Brief extracts or comments may be made with due acknowledgement. The New Atlantic PactT HE news that the NATO Armaments Committee has chosen the Br6guet 1150 maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft to succeed the Lockheed Neptune in NATO air forces has a manifold significance. The 1150— now called the Atlantic—is based on a specification originated at SHAPE and to which twenty-five companies and consortia, some wholly or partly British, submitted tenders. It is natural, therefore, to enquire how Britain has fared in the selection of this militarily and industrially important new aeroplane. The airframe (which in an aircraft of this class represents a relatively small proportion of the technical effort and capital outlay) will be apportioned between Breguet and Sud in France (Breguet building the centre and forward fuselage, undercarriage and other components, and Sud the outer wings); Dornier in Germany (rear fuselage and tail); Fokker in Holland (centre wing and nacelles); and a new Belgian group, working with Breguet on the components named for that company. (The Belgian group, called ABAP, embodies Avions Fairey, SABCA and FN interests.) Britain's contribution is the highly satisfying one of Rolls-Royce Tyne turbo- props (advanced Tyne 20s, delivering over 6,000 e.h.p.); de Havilland propellers; engine accessories; and a significant part of the operational equipment. The choice of the Tyne is especially gratifying because it is added proof that this peerless turboprop—unrivalled indeed, with the recent demise of the Allison T61—will establish itself in global service as did the Dart. Already the Tyne has been specified in this country for the Vanguard, Rotodyne and certain develop- ments of the Argosy; on the Continent for the Franco-German Transall; and in Canada for the CL-44. Technical Considerations The technical implications of the Atlantic order call for further comment, and this must be prefaced by reference to present maritime equipment. In succession to her own Neptunes America is ordering several hundred Lockheed P3Vs—a development of the Electra transport, retaining the Allison turboprops. Canada has chosen the Argus—a redesigned Britannia with piston engines; and Great Britain has the Shackleton, likewise piston-engined. Technically, then, it emerges that the turboprop has conquered the last stronghold of the big recipro- cating powerplant. Operationally the Atlantic order is of particular interest when related to a recent pronouncement by Sir Dermot Boyle. Writing in Air Power—evidently while he still held his post as Chief of the Air Staff—Sir Dermot remarked that in the Shackleton 3 we had one of the finest maritime aircraft in the world, and it would continue with us for the best part of ten years. It might well be, he added, that the size or complexity of any new submarine-detection equipment would demand a larger aircraft, or one of more revolutionary design. But until ±is requirement was clear Britain's maritime air forces would continue with their Shackletons. Sir Dermot also made allusion to new detection equipment for the Shackleton, and it seems clear that this type is with Coastal Command to stay, notwithstanding SHAPE'S and NATO's own ideas and policies. Our Belgian contemporary AiRevue nevertheless considers that "English interest" in the Atlantic "might materialize." If this should come to pass our national pride would have no cause for injury over a foreign aircraft that is so eminently British. i
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