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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1364.PDF
246 THE AMERICAN INDUSTRY. Argo D-8 Journeyman will be used this autumn for NERV (NuclearEmulsion Radiation Vehicle) measurements of the Van Allen radiation belts. Aeronutronic (Division of Ford Motor Co), Newport Bench, California.This company is developing the Shillelagh lightweight close-support missile system for the US Army under a $23m initial contract awardedin 1959. The weapon is expected to be operational in the mid-sixties. Aircooled Motors Inc, Syracuse 8, New York. During the past year,this company has added to its range of Franklin flat-six piston-engines the vertically opposed turbosupercharged Model 6VS-335 used in theBell Model 47G-3 helicopter. This engine maintains its full sea level rating of 225 b.h.p. up to 15,OOOft. Other current models, for heli-copter and fixed-wing applications, develop from 150 to 210 b.h.p. AiResearch Manufacturing Co of Arizona (Division of The GarrettCorp), Phoenix, Arizona. AiResearch has manufactured more than 9,000 small gas-turbines in the 30-850 h.p. range since 1946, and canclaim to be the world's largest producer of such equipment. Most have been used to provide ground or airborne auxiliary power for aircraftstarting and other services, but McDonnell uses three AiResearch GTC85 gas-turbine compressors in parallel to provide compressed airfor the pressure-jets of its Model 120 flying-crane helicopter. Allison Division of General Motors Corp, Indianapolis 6, Indiana.Major production items by Allison are the T56 turboprop for the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport and the Model 5O1-D13 commercialvariant which is used in the Lockheed Electra airliner and in the Allison Super Convair conversion of Convair 340 and 440 transports. TheUS Navy's P3V-1 anti-submarine version of the Electra will have 4,585 e.s.h.p. T56-A-10Ws, and the twin-engined Grumman W2F-1AEW radar picket is scheduled to have T56-A-8s. In many cases the T56 and Model 501 engines drive turbopropellers produced by GM'sAeroproducts division. First application for the new 250 s.h.p. Model 250 (T63) turboprop/shaft-turbine engine will be in the experimental Bell HUL-2 utility heli- copter. Under development to power air-launched target drones is thePD-37 Pyrodyne, a 601b-thrust supersonic ramjet burning pyrophoric fuels which ignite spontaneously on exposure to the atmosphere. Allisonalso has a USAF contract for a Stirling-cycle solar power system that will operate unattended for two years as a power source for the instru-mentation of satellites and probes. American Airmotiye Corp, Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida.As an offshoot to its main business of maintenance, overhaul and repair of aircraft and equipment, American Airmotive produces an extensivelymodified agricultural conversion of the Stearman 75 (Boeing Kaydet) biplane. Designated NA-75, this has new metal high-lift wings, quicklydetachable metal fuselage skin panels and combined dust/spray gear. Modification kits are available to Stearman operators and more than200 aircraft have been fitted with the new wings. Atlantic Research Corp, Shirley Highway at Edsall Road, Alexandria,Virginia. Since 1958, this company has developed a series of three relatively simple solid-propellant high-altitude and meteorological sound-ing rockets. Areas, supplied to all three US Services, carries a 121b payload to a height of 40 miles. Arcon carries 401b to 61 miles andIris 1001b to 188 miles. Atlantic Research also produces small control rockets, which have been us:d for spin, de-spin, stage separation, vernierand related functions in almost all US satellite and space probe launchings. Beech Aircraft Corp, Wichita, Kansas. Although Beech produced lastyear some 832 aircraft in the utility and executive category, with a combined value of $37m, the greater part of its $90m turnover camefrom products and services for military and scientific use. In current production for business use are four twin-engined types, comprisingthe eight-seat Super 18, seven-seat Queen Air, six-seat Twin-Bonanza in standard and supercharged versions and five-seat Travel Air. Single-engin;d types are the Bonanza and its low-price development, the Debonair, each with four seats. Mentor primary trainers are servingin the USA and ten foreign countries, and are licensed for production in the Argentine and Japan. In addition to manufacturing the KDB-1 piston-engined target drone Although North American Avia- tion will make only one XB-70— or possibly two—the develop- ment of this machine has already cost many millions of dollars. Its structure is largely of stainless-steel honeycomb, and here a panel is being end- milled on a large horizontal boring mill FLIGHT, 19 August \ %n for the US Army and Navy, Beech is developing the rocket-po retiM2 KD2B-1 for service in 1962. Other military contracts cover pri i ution of the L-23F variant of the Queen Air, fuselage section' and ailerons for the Republic F-105, components for the McDonnell F 1Q1Lockheed F-104 and Convair F-106, external fuel tanks for the ? orth American F-100, containers for the Polaris missile, and evaluatiY-', ofthe dependability of ICBM propellant system components. Emplov ; len,totals about 7,000 at Wichita and branch divisions in Heringtor, and Liberal, Kansas, and Boulder, Colorado. Bsll Aerospace Corp (Subsidiary of Textron Inc), Buffalo, New 'IOrkBell Aerospace Corp came into being on July 2 this year, when Te/tron Inc of Providence, R.I., acquired all the defence business of the fc merBell Aircraft Corp. It consists of three units: Bell Aerosystem. Co (formerly Bell Aircraft's Niagara Frontier Division) at Buffalo. BellHelicopter Co at Fort Worth, Texas; and Hydraulic Research and Manufacturing Co at Burbank, California. Bell Aerosystems Company is engaged on VTOL/STOL researchand design study, and is continuing production of Agena liquid- propellant rocket engines for the Discoverer satellite programme. Otherspace contracts include development and manufacture of reaction con- trols for the North American X-15 research aircraft, Mercury capsul"Centaur satellite vehicle and several classified projects, and the investiga- tion of high-energy propellants and advanced structural materials. Thecompany's Automatic All-Weather Landing System is in production for use on USN carriers and is being evaluated by the FAA and USAF.Other avionics work is concerned with radar countermeasures and visual surveillance devices. Bell Helicopter Co has in production the commercial three-seat47G-2 and 47G-3 Trooper and four-seat 47J-2 Ranger, and is develop- ing the single-seat Air Scooter ground-effect vehicle. Delivery of theH-13H military version of the 47G-2 to the US Army continues and two prototypes of the Model 47J with 250 h.p. Allison YT63 shaft-turbines are being built for the US Navy under the designation HUL-2 Already in major production for the Army are the T53 turbine-poweredsix-seat HU-1A and eight-seat HU-1B Iroquois, with the more power- ful twelve-seat HU-1D at the mock-up stage. Testing of the XV-3tilting-rotor convertiplane continues. Helicopter production by Bell exceeds 2,600 since December 1946. The Bendix Corp, Fisher Building, Detroit 2, Michigan. Through itsvarious divisions, Bendix contributes to a high proportion of US missile and space programmes. It supplies electronic, guidance or hydraulicsystems for the Atlas, Titan, Polaris, Thor and Pershing surface-to- surface weapons and Nike-Ajax, Nike-Hercules, Terrier and Tartaisurface-to-air weapons. Its Products Division at Mishawaka, Indiana, is prime contractor for the Talos surface-to-air ramjet missile, with h.e. ornuclear warhead, which is operational on US Navy cruisers. The Bendix Systems Division at Ann Arbor, Michigan, is prime contractorfor the Navy's important Eagle nuclear-warhead long-range air-to-air missile and for the communications system for the STEER communica-tions satellite. Bensen Aircraft Corp, Raleigh-Durham Airport, Raleigh, North Carolina.Complete rotorcraft of extremely simple design, and kits of parts and plans for amateur construction, are marketed by Bensen. From theoriginal Gyro-Glider unpowered rotor-kite have been evolved the Hydro- Glider on floats, Gyro-Boat with a dinghy hull and Gyro-Copter poweredautogyro. Latest products, not available for home construction, are the B-9 Little Zipster single-seat helicopter, with co-axial rotors, andB-10 Prop-Copter VTOL "flying jeep" prototype. Boeing Airplane Co, Seattle 24, Washington. Since the acquisition ofVertol in March of this year, Boeing has had five major operating divisions. Today it is the largest single aeronautical firm in the worldon most counts : its 1959 sales of $1,612,153,000 give it the 19th posi- tion among US industrial companies, its net profit of $12,436,000represented 0.8 per cent of sales (6 per cent of invested capital) and its payroll is no fewer than 90,280, included in which is a superb teamof research engineers and scientists numbering just over 10,000. Cal- culations show that Boeing have made a far greater weight of airframethan any other company, but this side of the business cannot carry on at its previous rate for more than two years at most. The Aero-Space Division at Seattle is responsible for developmentand production of the IM-99 Bomarc long-range surface-to-air missile, assembly and testing of the SM-80 Minuteman second-generationICBM and development of the Dyna-Soar manned "boost-glide" vehicle, which will have global range after being launched into orbit by a Titanbooster. The Industrial Products Division, also at Seattle, has built to datealmost 1,000 of its 502 series of small gas turbines, including four helicopter and light aircraft shaft-turbines in the 240-360 s.h.p. range,an air compressor and a 2651b-thrust turbojet. Latest applications of the 502 series are in the Radioplane RP-77D target drone and Gyro-dyne DSN-3 anti-submarine drone helicopter. Under development, with first flight trials scheduled for this autumn, is the 430 s.h.p. T60 turbo-prop/shaft-turbine. Boeing's great Transport Division at Renton, Washington, is fulfillingorders for 245 Model 707 and 720 jet transports, of which 140 had been delivered by the end of last month, and expects soon to announce acontract for the all-cargo version. In parallel production is the military KC-135A tanker-transport, with deliveries around the 400 mark andat least another 100 to come. Wichita Division is devoted to manufacture of the B-52 Stratofortressbomber, of which 704 have been ordered and at least 500 delivered. Present production version is the B-52G, armed with Hound Dog andQuail, with the turbofan B-52H scheduled to follow in 1961. The newly acquired Vertol Aircraft Division at Morton, Pennsylvania,brings to Boeing a promising rotary-wing production item in the shape of the civil Model 107 turbine-powered tandem-rotor 25-seat transporthelicopter, ordered by New York Airways, and its much larger military counterpart the YHC-I Chinook, ordered by the US Army. Nor is trusthe limit of recent diversification, for Boeing announced in Jun" tne 1
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