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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1395.PDF
PLIGHT, 19 August 1960 , : ; -,, Correspondence Fiilor of "Flight" is not necessarily in agreement with the views-t-d by correspondents in these columns. Names and addresses of e*ers~not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. "Record" Passenger Loads C\N anybody tell me the largest number of adult people evercarried in an aircraft? This question is prompted by the claimmade for Sabena that the recent load of 303 "souls" (including, no in doubt, a high proportion of infants) uplifted from Leopoldville the Congo Republic by a Boeing 707 is a record. This statement is'no" qualified in your "Brevities" column of July 22, so it is not clear exactly what form of record is being put forward. Does it mean a record for a single flight by a civil operator, the largest number of passengers ever carried in a Boeing 707, or a world record for any type of heavier-than-air operation, military or civil? I have no documentary evidence to back the following story, but as it was repeated to Allied investigators by Dr Waldemar Voigt, chief designer of Messerschmitt AG, whilst undergoing interrogation at Oberammergau in June 1945, it probably did Dr Voigt stated that during the final collapse of the German forces in North Africa in the spring of 1943, one Messerschmitt Me323 Gigant evacuated a total of 340 Afrika Korps and Luftwaffe personnel in a single mission—120 of them lying side by side in the cavernous wing-spar of this six-engined machine. This number of men must have resulted in a prodigious take-off weight. The normal capacity of a standard Me323D-6 (just entering service at this time) was in the region of 37,0001b, from which the weight of fuel, etc, was deducted, although the amount of petrol required for the hundred or so miles separating Tunisia from Sicily—the nearest Axis-held territory—would not have been great. Assuming the average weight of those carried to be 1401b, the resulting over- load must have been in the order of at least 10,6001b! In all probability, not only were ATO rockets used on this epic flight, but the "Troika" method of towing the Me323 behind a team of three BfllOs would almost certainly have been needed to get the contraption into the air. This really amazing feat has to my knowledge so far gone un- recorded in the aviation Press, and it would be most interesting to see if any of the captured German documents held in the USA and this country can throw additional light on this truly record flight. London W6 RICHARD P. BATESON German Aviation Research Group of Air-Britain Inside the 11-18 YX7ITH reference to the excellent report "inside the 11-18," pub- *" lished in your July 1 issue, may I voice a few friendly comments? Firstly, under the heading of "Systems," I'm surprised to note that no reference is made to the first 11-18 which flew to London on October 14, 1959, operating the scheduled Aeroflot flight SU-031 from Moscow. When it arrived the Shell-Mex & BP refuelling men were puzzled to find no obvious refuelling points on the wing. On this particular 11-18, registered CCCP-75768, it seems that the refuelling points were located inside the main wheel doors, which, I'm given to understand, are normally closed when the aeroplane is stationary. Again, I understand, the doors can easily be opened by releasing a manually operated lock. This was explained to the gentlemen referred to above, and no further difficulties were encountered. Secondly, "Development and Record Flying" makes no men- tion of the fact that (if it is a fact!) considerable numbers of military transport versions of the 11-18 were put into service by the Soviet Air Force from early 1958 onwards. A photo caption, facing page 152 of the excellent book The Soviet Air and Rocket Forces, edited by Wg Cdr Asher Lee, and published only last year, reads: "the Ilyushin 18 four-jet turboprop, in regular ser- vice in military air transport units." Otherwise I've nothing to add to yet another Flight masterpiece of information on another Soviet-built transport which is currently making a great name for itself. Nairobi, Kenya DENNIS POWELL Britain's Space Dilemma T AM grateful for the references to the British Interplanetary Society which appeared in your August 5 issue [Britain's Space Dilemma, by Kenneth Owen] but feel that these may have given the impression that this Society has a large number of sc.ioolboy-type members." In point of fact, the minimum age «mit of 16 years rules out automatically a large number of school- boys, but we Pre particularly keen to attract technical students trom the 17-22 years age limit and see no reason why this should - r^rded as detracting in any way from the opinions put for-ward by the Society's governing council. '"••.-•• . • : ••...••- 267 It is fairly obvious that all technical societies rely to a substantial extent upon the introduction of new blood from the following generations of students, and any society which does not have a certain proportion of members of this category might well soon find itself in a difficult position. This is not to argue, of course, that there is a straight compari- son between a society which has students, including many who are studying for its own examinations, as compared with, say, the august Fellows of the Royal Society. On the other hand, the constant influx of new blood does have the effect of ensuring that the organization in question is constantly making endeavours, rather than resting upon past prowess. As a final matter of interest, the British Interplanetary Society has been undergoing a rapid transformation during the past few years and the technical content of its members now predominates in the ratio of 75 :25 per cent. As one final comment, surely validity of the points we have made in our memoranda rests ultimately on the points themselves, and not on the possibility that we may include 20 student members of the age 16-17 years? London SW1 L. J. CARTER, Secretary, The British Interplanetary Society. [Kenneth Owen writes: "The point made in the original article wasthat the British Interplanetary Society loses in effectiveness because of the general, non-technical part of its membership, whatever the age ofthese members. This is a valid criticism which has been expressed privately to Flight by scientific and technical leaders of this country'sspace effort and by rocket specialists from the USA: for the BIS to ignore this and to claim to be a technical or professional society within thenormal meaning of the term will not encourage the outside support which it seeks."—Ed.] The Attentive Ear T WAS most interested in Air Cdre A. H. Wheeler's letter con- *- cerning "Noise for Posterity." I was always puzzled by those really keen types, who, though members of the ROC, frankly admitted that they couldn't distinguish one type of engine from another. Those that could not were just as puzzled by those who could. We had both types on our post during the war. Some years ago I was fortunate in being able to watch (and hear) "50 Years of Flying" at Hendon, and again at Baginton; and the sound of those old engines, so well described by Air Cdre Wheeler, brought back many pleasant memories—like hearing a beautiful song such as Down at the Old Bull and Bush. To be more serious, however, the engines that left the deepest impression on me were the Rolls-Royce Condor engines installed in the Vickers Virginias—which resembled the distinct beat of a single-cylinder side-valve long-stroke Sunbeam motor cycle engine. Curiously enough, I heard this distinct beat when five ten-engined (four jets) Convair B-36s flew over Billesley Common during the summer of 1952. Easy to distinguish are the healthy note of aircraft powered with Alvis Leonides radials, and the organ note of turboprop installations. With jets, as far as I am concerned, it is different. The tiny Turbomeca Palas installed in the SIPA 200 Minije: sounds just the same as the note of a Hawker Hunter or any other pure-jet aeroplane. Finally, a nature note from Farnborough Air Display 1951. While hanging on the railings watching and listening to the blast of the Avro Ashton's four Rolls-Royce Nenes I noticed the suffer- ing of some of the people around me. Out on the grass between the Ashton and the crowd were a party of sparrows feeding; they just couldn't care less! Birmingham 14 MAURICE AUSTIN FORTHCOMING EVENTS Aug. 20-21. Pescaro Aero Ckib Rally. Aug. 21. Colmar Aero Club: Alsace Wine Rally. Aug. 27. Luton Flying Club Display, Luton Airport. Aug. 28. Oxford Aeroplane Club At Home, Kidlington. Aug. 28- Sept. 4. Czech Aero Club: World Aerobotic Championships. Aug. 31. Kronfeld Club: Lectures on the Coventry and London National Gliding Weeks. Sept. 3-5. French and Savoy Aero Clubs: International Centenary Rally, Aix-les-Bains. Sept 4. Wolverhampton Aero Club At Home. Sept. 5-11. SBAC Disoloy and Exhibition, Farnborough. Sept 7 Kronfeld Club: "To over 25,000ft," by Fit Lt G. Rondel and Pit Off I. Strachan. Sept 8-12. AGARD and Instituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere: Seminar on Propulsion for Astronautics, Varenna. Sept. 9-12. Popular Flying Association Rally, Cranfield. Sept. 11. International Landing Contest. St Nicholas Maes. Sept. 12-16. Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences: Secona International Congress, Zurich. Sept. 12-18. Battle of Britain Week. , Sept. 14. Kronfeld Club: Film of German World Championships, by Sept 21 Kronfeld' Club: "Flying in the US Nationals," by Philip Wills. Seot 25. Milan Aero Club: Helicopter Rally. Sept.' 28. Kronfeld Club: Meteorological Discussion. eP Oct. 1. AGARD Structures and Materials Panel Meeting, Athens.
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