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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1468.PDF
306 US Election-year Policies ... be awarded enough money to provide a greater small war capabi-lity. They are especially in need of close-support weapons such as anti-tank arms. The Army also hopes to obtain either betterAir Force co-operation in close-support operations, or to gain permission to man its own light strike aircraft. For its part, theNavy seeks another super carrier in addition to the&forementioned Polaris submarines. Almost certain to benefit from greater "defence" spending willbe NASA, the civilian space agency. This group recently announced its ten-year programme, which included develop-ment of a vehicle called Appollo, which is to carry several men on a circumlunar journey. Also discussed were unmanned lunar-landing vehicles and planetary probes. The NASA plans are carefully considered, but perhaps over-cautious in light of previousdevelopments. The ten-year plan calls for a lunar soft landing in 1963 and manned circumlunar flight by 1968. The 1963 dateseems quite reasonable, but the latter date may be somewhat pessimistic. If all goes well, Project Mercury will orbit a mannext year, or approximately three years after America orbited her first pint-sized satellite. It seems odd that in three years theUS can progress from a small unmanned payload to a 2,5001b satellite, and then require seven more years to progress fromorbital flight to deeper manned space penetrations. A good bet here would be that "space" is accelerated so that a manned lunarlanding can be made before the turn of the decade. Manned flights to the vicinity of Mars are not totally beyond the realmof possibility, but require much" more work. Such programmes would necessitate acceleration of the big booster programme, butone would imagine that the new administration would push the booster programme beyond current levels. On the military side of space, it would appear that reconnais-sance satellites will be given increased emphasis. Satellite inter- ;. ,,v ; . .:; ; , ,: ,,,/ FLIGHT, 26 Augur l960 cepters represent another field worthy of increased fun^neBoth candidates have urged that America stop being comr-ac™ forget past glories and set forth on a bold new path in the funEach has called for greater sacrifices in order to achi4e th' ultimate national objective which is freedom and peace tr >Qout the entire world. Heretofore, national dedication and pi were aroused mainly by external events, such as by a war 0,occurred after the orbiting of the world's first satellite bv- or thSoviets several years ago. Now, both nominees are urgin« th America take the initiative, rather than being prodded into actinnby some outside occurrence. " Which candidate will be elected is difficult to guess Muchdepends upon world conditions at the time of the election An interesting subject for speculation here in the USA is the effectthat would be created by the orbiting of a man by the Soviets just prior to the election. There is reason to believe that the Russianshave the ability to orbit a man and will do so shortly. During the AAS meeting in January (Flight, February 5) it was agreed thatthe Soviets would orbit a man this year—April was mentioned as the earliest date for such a capability. With Soviet awarenessof propaganda possibilities, it might be that they are waiting to orbit a man just prior to election time so as to throw the US intoturmoil. A further reason for such a move would be to attempt to "swing" the election to the Democrats. Many sources reportthat the Russians feel it would be to their advantage to have this party in power; the orbiting of a man by Russia wouldcertainly weigh heavily in the minds of the voting public. Many would blame the present Administration for America's secondplace position and vote accordingly. An interesting anomaly of this election year is that "Defence"is virtually the issue being discussed. Yet, both parties are notably united in both foreign policy and the means to achieve it. Thereare significantly greater differences in domestic issues; yet, defence overshadows everyone's thinking. AIRCRAFT OF 1914-18: A VALUABLE RECORD Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War, compiled by W. M. Lomberton,with drawings by J. D. Carrick and F. Yeoman; edited by E. F. Cheesman and produced by D. A. Russell, MIMechE. Harleyford Publications Ltd,Letchworth, Herts. Price 45s. TN its standard "Harborough" format of llin by 8|in, with a-*- striking yellow cloth cover and dust-jacket and frontispiece colour reproductions, this work adds another to the alreadyexcellent series of reference books from this house about aircraft of World War I, and provides yet more valuable information on thatprimary air conflict. The main part of the book is devoted to 84 aircraft—threeAmerican (none of which saw active service), three Italian, five Austro-Hungarian, 13 French, 29 British, and 31 German. Eachreceives equal editorial treatment—a half-page column of five half-tone pictures (except only the Fokker Dr.-l triplane, whichhas four photographs) alongside the column of descriptive and historical text, with, opposite, a page of three-view drawings to1:72 scale; there are also fuselage cross-sections at three indicated points and a wing section at one point. Thus the reader findseach aircraft conveniently described, illustrated and drawn on one double spread, there to be studied without turning a page. No matter how much anyone knows (or thinks he knows) aboutthe aircraft of that period, none can fail to glean many new facts from a close study of these pages. For example, here are thedetails of the little known Albatros D-XI (with its 160 h.p. rotary engine and geared down half-speed contra-clock airscrew) whichdid not go into production. Thus the book is far from being confined to the purely "popular" types of aircraft, although theseare there, too. T.ien we come to the subsidiary section of the book. There areeight pages of narrative and 70 photographs of the history of fighter armament. Camouflage and markings and engine identifi-cation receive eight pages of text with 46 photographs. Then follow 107 photographs of rare aircraft, eight most unusualpictures of captured aircraft, 16 of aero engines and 30 of engine installations, cockpit interiors, fuselage skeletons, the forwardflight deck of HMS Furious, a mechanic swinging a pusher air- screw (a particularly dangerous job), the l|-Strutter's airbrake,and Guynemer and Pliischow in their cockpits. Nostalgic to me was the picture of an observer handling his free oblique camerafrom a Nieuport 12. Altogether 703 photographs are reproduced, giving the reader this wide collection for less than a penny apiece.Five double-spreads tabulate dimensions and performance of 163 aircraft, including all in the sections with drawings. The book isarranged so that whoever studies it will scarcely need the index provided, except to find a cross-reference quickly. Perhaps one should point out that the Aldis tube sight (pag£181) was not telescopic, but the whole narrative of armament development deeply interesting. Had the contemporary intelli-gence service of each side possessed the information here Pr0][!°e° the whole conduct of the air war might have been vastly modifiedwith greater (possibly almost decisive) benefit to one or other o! the contestants. One may observe how, from 1914 to 1918, fighter time ofclimb-to-height was halved, speed and ceiling doubled, fire-power more than quadrupled, fighter bombers developed and used.cannon introduced; and one can then reflect that the relative advances in the two world wars may show the greater credit tothe earlier war. . NORMAN MACMILLAN A reduced reproduction of J. D. Carrick's colour frontispiece drawing o SI.5a pilots fighting a Fokker D-VII on June 17, 1918. This jcrap ended with the lone Leutnant Kurt Wiisthoff being shot down onfl ...... j... .,. • prisoner by the French
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