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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0520.PDF
520 flight. !5 &Or,i INTENSIVE SERVICE TRIALS of Westland Wessex anti-submarine helicopters are now beginning (see item on page 548). This picture s/iows production Wessex hovering over a line-up of some of the pre-production and production machines. All have the Napier Gazelle turbine FROM ALL QUARTERS SC.l Completes Transition ON Wednesday, April 6, Tom Brooke-Smith, chief test pilot ofShort Bros & Harland Ltd, took the SC.l over its greatest hurdle of all, with a flight which included a full transition to hover and,after some seconds, a transition back into level flight. Initial take-off and final landing from the RAE, Bedford, were made inwinged flight. This completes the full flight envelope of the SCI, leaving the way clear for adoption of the system for othertypes, notably VTOL strike aircraft projects and supersonic air- liners of Griffith concept.The SC.l is unique in having separate lifting and propulsion engines, and the full safety of triplicated stabilization controls.It first flew, as a conventional aeroplane, on April 2, 1957, and hovered in a gantry at Belfast on October 25, 1958. Its recent test programme involved closing the gap betweenslow translation and the lg stall in winged flight which occurs at 134kt. First, translational speed was increased by lOkt incrementsto 80kt, checking at each stage that compressor pressure in the lift engines was outside the surge boundary. The Rolls-Royce RB.108engines have, in fact, behaved extremely well, and respond imme- diately to pilot demand. Then, at a height giving adequate safetybut sufficient lifting thrust, speed was progressively reduced from 140 to 75kt in a large number of steps. The final flight bridgedthe gap. Lift-engine thrust is controlled by a lever like the collective-pitch control of a helicopter, and propulsion-engine thrust from a twist-grip on the end of the same lever. Lift-engine tilt iscontrolled by an electric trimming switch. Attitude change in forward and hovering flight is regulated by the normal controlcolumn and autostabilization, the latter being triplicated in roll and pitch. In winged flight the SC.l is a vehicle rather thana true aircraft, but in transition and hover, according to Brooke- Smith, it is "the sort of aircraft to play with on a Sunday after-noon." Vertical take-off, he said, was straightforward, using the lever. Twist-grip was then operated to apply full forward thrustand the lift engines were also tilted. Smooth acceleration for about 25 sec with the nose slightly down produced winged flightspeed, after which the lift engines could be throttled back or switched off. Air starting was quick and simple. For transitionto hover at about 50ft, speed was reduced at around 1,500ft and lift power applied as sink developed. Speed fell off to zero in about30sec. Nose-up pitch at below 130kt in earlier tests had been overcomeby increasing pitch control. Ingestion of foreign matter overloose surfaces during hovering was a problem, but only at heights below30ft. The take-off platform now had perforations beneath the lift enginesonly, so that hot gases were led away from the wing and ground suctionalleviated. One of the two SC.ls (XG 900 and 905) is now to behanded over to the RAE; the other will be used for further trials byShort & Harland. CONVERT: As noted above, the Short SC.l has now accomplished full transition from wing-supported flight to hovering and back to forward flight. No other pure-jet machine in the world has done as much. The powerplants are five Rolls-Royce RB.108 turbo jets, one of which is fixed horizontally for pro- pulsion. The pilot is Tom Brooke-Smith DMET Confirmed as ICAO Standard IN the ICAO Council last Friday, the USA marshalled the baretwo-thirds majority needed to confirm DMET as an international standard navaid to supplement VOR. Those voting with the USAwere Venezuela, Spain, Philippines, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, West Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Lebanon, Holland, Portugal,and the UAR. Britain, France, Denmark, India, Australia^ Canada and South Africa voted against. France has thus ceasedto support DMET. The UK representative to ICAO has called VOR/DMET "inflexible, semi-obsolete, basically inaccurate andnot efficient." Britain will undoubtedly react strongly, having already refused to implement DMET, and a major split in ICAOmight result. Mr Sandys on the Continent ON visits to France and Germany this month the Minister ofAviation, Duncan Sandys, is renewing discussions with the French Government about possible collaboration in aviation and guidedweapons and electronics. After his French visit (April 11-14) Mr Sandys is going to Germany from April 21 to 25. While there hewill visit the Hanover Trade Fair, concurrently with which the Hanover Air Show is being held, with about a score of Britishaircraft, engine and equipment firms exhibiting. SBAC's 21st Show ^ ~ -** r y-^-s^i ^ •• : THIS year's SB AC Show at Farnborough, from September 5 to 11(with public admission on the 9th, 10th and 11th), will be the 21st to be staged since the first was held in 1932. In spite of a con-siderable increase in the available area, applications for stand space in the exhibition building and for enclosures have for the firsttime had to be turned down. Though the floor space at the exhibition building will be the same as last year the actual standspace will be greater, and the missile park may be enlarged. Westland Aircraft Changes - ^ -' » ORGANIZATION changes have been announced by WestlandAircraft Ltd following their acquisition of other companies and integration into a single specialist helicopter group. Sir Reginald Verdon Smith and C. N. Chichester Smith havebeen elected to the board; E. C. Wheeldon, managing director, has also been appointed a joint deputy chairman; D. L. Hollis Williamsand W. Oppenheimer have been made assistant managing direc- tors; and A. R. B. Hobbs has been appointed secretary. The following special directors have been appointed. In theYeovil division, E. J. Boulger (group contracts manager), O. L. L. Fitzwilliams (chief engineer), E. J. Frost (works manager),C. T. Jones (group insurance manager) and H. J. Penrose (group sales manager); in the Saunders-Roe division, M. W. C. Gordon
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