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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0759.PDF
,LIGHT, 3 June 1960 767 THE PIAGGIO P.166 recently acquired by John Laing & SonLtd, building and civil engineering contractors, made its first busi- ness flight on May 23 when it carried executives of the company • om the aircraft's Luton base to construction sites in the Bristol i,nd Swansea areas. The Laing Piaggio, which was purchased fromlcAlpine Aviation at Luton at approximately £49,000, is equipped with airline standard radio equipment comprising two VHF sets,VOR, ILS and ADF units. THE BREAKFAST PATROL organized by the London Schoolcf Flying at Elstree on May 22 was a successful meeting, in spite of uncooperative weather. Attacking aircraft numbered 16,six of which were successful in reaching Elstree unobserved. The defending patrol comprised five Chipmunks and one Austerbelonging to the London School, together with a Gemini, Mes- senger, Tri-Pacer and two Austers from Middlesex Flying Groupand a privately owned Messenger and Moth Minor. Recently formed at Derby by the London School of Flying'sparent company is Derby Airways Flying Group, whose members have rebuilt Magister G-ANWO and are operating it under thesupervision of instructors from Derby Air Centre. CERTIFICATES OF AIRWORTHINESS in the public trans-port category (hire and reward) have now been received for the Piper Apache and Super Cub 150, as well as the Tri-Pacer andCaribbean. Vigors Aviation, the UK Piper distributors, state that the issue of similar certificates for the Comanche and the SuperCub 95 is imminent, and that the necessary data for the Aztec are being prepared. RETROSPECT From "Flight" of June 4, 1910 Mamet at Valencia: As a finish to a series of exhibition flights whichhe has been giving at Valencia, Mainet arranged to fly over a ballonet at a height of 500 metres on Monday last. After a flight of 15minhe attained the height of the ballonet, but just then his motor stopped for some reason, and he fell into the sea, from which he was rescuedby a motor boat. Nothing daunted, the aviator determined to make another attempt on his second machine, but this time the cord holdingthe ballonet broke. To compensate, the aviator gave the crowd a series of thrills by flying in a figure eight, and by planing flights. A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL COURSE for beginners was organ-ized by the British Parachute Club at Fair Oaks last month. During the five-day period a total of 105 jumps was made by the12 pupils under training. Instruction was given by John Hogg, using an Auster of Fair Oaks Aero Club. Treble jumps weremade from the Auster within a 3sec period, and the greatest number of drops by a pupil during the course was 11, five of whichwere made in one day. The club hopes to run another fulltime course for newcomers to the sport during October next. AUTOMATIC REJECTION of applicants over 55 years of agefor Student Pilots Licences and Private Pilots Licences in Australia has been replaced by a medical examination, which will have to berepeated at two-year intervals. An external view of part of cells 2 and 3 at the new NGTE engine test facility. A supersonic ramjet is running in one cell NGTE ON SHOW IN the time that has elapsed since we last visited the NationalGas Turbine Establishment at Pyestock, Hants, the Establish- ment has grown substantially; but one can also detect changesof a more fundamental kind. Five years ago propulsion engineers still tended to regard the engine as a separate entity; today theintegration of propulsion and lift is fast becoming a reality, and in retrospect one can only wonder why aeroplanes have been sowrongly designed for so long. Elaborating on this theme it seems that the way is at last opento the development of truly "optimized" aeroplanes. The jet transports which are today the pride of the world's airlines employmethods of lift and control which have not changed in principle since the dawn of powered flight; and even their propulsion iseffected by basically military engines slightly modified to improve their suitability for commercial operation. Future airline engineswill be both quieter and more efficient, and they will make avail- able supplies of compressed air which will be instrumental ineffecting a revolutionary improvement in lift and control. Such fundamental advances cannot be hurried, and it is the view otthe NGTE that their introduction must come in phase with parallel improvements in completely automatic flight-control andair traffic control. „,._„„ . , At the time of our previous visit the N°TC were in earlystages of exploring the Jet Flap (Flight, September 30, 1955). As then conceived the concept was that of a thin spanwise slitbeneath the trailing edge of the aerofoil, through which the aircraft powerplant would discharge a sheet of hot gas to provide lift andpropulsion. This would fundamentally affect the circulation:round the wing and greatly increase the available lift, me process is now being extended to provide direct control of circulation, whileemploying only very small injected flows. Tunnel testing started with a hollow cylinder, in which werecut a pair of essentially tangential axial 0.005in slots spaced 90° apart. Even with a minute flow through these slits the theoreticalmaximum lift coefficient of 4~ has been exceeded by a small margin. To translate the idea to a wing-like lifting surface inves-tigations are in hand on aerofoils having a section of a 20 per cent ellipse. Tests have been completed on a low-lift configurationand a high-lift design is now in the tunnel. A third shape, in which three tangential slits will all attempt to push the rearstagnation point around the trailing edge and as far as possible forwards along the undersurface, is expected to give lift coefficientsapproaching the theoretical maximum of 2.4^. Practical application of such systems has been rendered possibleby the advent of such engines as the Bristol Siddeley BS.75 and Rolls-Royce RB.163. Both could supply the flow required throughlightweight ducting, delivery conditions being about 60 °C and 1.9atm pressure to choke the blowing nozzles—holes, not slits,are suitable—at take-off. It is now known that the complete propulsion system can be so designed that sudden engine failurewill cause no undue adverse effect on the remaining engines or on the lift or control of the aircraft. One set of curves, drawn fora hypothetical NGTE engine installed in a four-engined aircraft at 60kt at sea level, shows that with a total bleed of 30 per centfailure of one engine will not decrease lift by more than 5 per cent. This could be immediately counteracted by the pilot pulling upthe nose of the aircraft very slightly. Most of the expansion at Pyestock is accounted for by theEngine Test Facility, now nearing completion. Representing an outlay of many millions, it will be the first plant in Britain capableof running advanced air-breathing engines under genuine flight conditions, including investigations into intakes. We saw, forexample, a free-jet test on a 16in ramjet (not a Thor) running at M2.2 at 50,000ft, with an airflow of 480ft/sec and pressureratio of 9 : 1. Change of incidence at the conventional centrebody- type intake caused rich-extinction at a nose-down incidence ofabout 10°. Other subjects covered included the design of super- sonic intakes, jet-engine noise, lifting fans and the application ofnuclear power to gas turbines (in which sphere the NGTE have little interest in aircraft applications). Most of the motive power in the new facility is provided from the Air House, wherein are located these eight 45,000 h.p. compressor sets
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