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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1355.PDF
FLIGHT, 19 August 1960 239 CHAIN LIGHTNING: A streak ofe and pre-production English & Lightning" F.l . all-weather Lercepters is recorded in this newly released picture from the maker's air- field at Warton, Lanes. The RAF s fist squadron of Lightnings is now being formed and should be a familiar sight before the year's end the world's largest industry in this field—is now as follows:Apan from Folland, the Westland Aircraft Group are developing through Saunders-Roe, the 68-seat SR-N2 which should becapable of cruising at 70kt. Vickers-Armstrongs are developing two vehicles both to be built at the former aircraft factory atSouth Marston. One is a 4-5 ton hovercraft launch and the other a 15-25 ton passenger and car ferry. Shipbuilders WilliamDenny & Bros Ltd are building a waterborne hovercraft with side-walls. All the above are working in collaboration with Hover-craft Development Ltd, the subsidiary formed by NRDC. The one independent experimenter is Britten-Norman, whose BN-1Cushioncraft is under development at Bembridge for Elders & Fyffes, for use at their banana plantations. Skeeter Undercarriage Tests AN investigation carried out for the Army Air Corps has resultedin the development of a skid undercarriage for the Westland Skeeter (picture below). In order to obtain the required landingcharacteristics while avoiding ground-resonance effects a con- siderable amount of research work has been necessary, includingimpedance and drop tests followed by both digital and analogue computations. At present the undercarriage is fitted with "viscous" dampersdesigned by the Saunders-Roe Division of Westland for heli- copters with fully articulated rotors. These dampers operate onthe rebound only and prevent excessive loads being imposed on the airframe. Another type of damper, known as the "turbulent,"has been designed and will shortly be evaluated. RAF "At Home" to ROC SOME 700 members of the Colchester and Watford Groups of theRoyal Observer Corps last Sunday visited RAF Duxford, Cambs, the oldest station still operational. They were welcomed by GpCapt Norman Ryder, the CO, before being conducted on a tour which included ground demonstrations and technical displays.A static display included such contrasting aircraft as a Varsity and a Valiant; also shown was the Bensen Gyrocopter built byWg Cdr K. N. Wallis. One of the most instructive events was a demonstration of an ASR Whirlwind at work, with ROCpersonnel acting as "victims." All members of the Corps, how- ever, were given more conventional flights in a Beverley orVarsity. In spite of cloudy weather, a comprehensive flying programme was carried through. Among its items were Lightnings from theAir Fighting Development Sqn, Coltishall; F-lOOs and F-lOls from USAF Bentwaters; Valiant and Victor from Honington; JetProvosts from the CFS, Little Rissington; and the "Black Arrows," who gave their usual impeccable performance. RAFColtishall, Norfolk, was similarly "at home" to the ROC—with about 1,200 members from Headquarters, Eastern Area, HorshamSt Faith, as guests. (Further main news-items will be found overleaf) IN BRIEF A five-man team from the US Special Forces in Germany won theWhitbread Cup at Hereford last weekend in the first free-fall parachute competition to be held in Britain. They scored 475 points against aSpecial Air Service Regt team, which gained 248 points. Douglas Aircraft announce that Mr M. E. Oliveau, who organizedtheir European Division in 1946 and was in charge of the Geneva HQ until recently, is to resume his post in the near future. He has beenacting as director of international sales at the Santa Monica offices since early June. AVM T. U. C. Shirley, CBE, MIEE, FRAes, is to be Deputy Controllerof Electronics at the MoA from the end of August in succession to AVM G. P. Chamberlain, CB, OBE, who is retiring from the RAF. Since earlylast year, AVM Shirley has been Senior Technical Staff Officer at Fighter Command. During Battle of Britain Week (September 12-18) an RAF exhibitionis being held on Horse Guards Parade in London, open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Its main feature will be a reproduction of a completeFighter Command sector operations room as it was during the battle. Former and current RAF aircraft will be on show, as well as Bloodhoundand Firestreak missiles. SPOT ON: A com- petitor in the World Parachuting Cham- pionships at Mous- tachevo, Sofia, which ended this week, touches down exactly on the target. Note the "blank gore" canopy favoured by competition parachu- tists. We hope to re- port the event in next week's issue SKEETER FEET: A Mk 12 Skeeter makes its first flight with a new skid undercar- riage developed dur ing investigations for the Army Air Corps The standard Skeeter undercarriage is of the tricycle type. (See news-item above)
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