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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1841.PDF
PLIGHT, 9 September 1960 felt and heard on Monday. From Laffan's Plain it came rearing n out of its efBux haze like a monstrous ray out of the sea, trangely beautiful to the eye but cruel to the ear. One slow pass eemed the merest gentle brushing of the runway with its wings. Then once again the cataclysm. With queenly quiet came the Vanguard; yet with light moments on its ciimbing turns and with its regal progress a little sullied (sad ro add) with Tyne-smokc. This TCA liner looked fast in the air and with full reverse thrust, fast-stopping on the runway. Name it in the turbine helicopter line and Westland can probably produce it over the counter; and on Monday they set out their wares in the manner of people who mean business. The Skeeter with Turmo, the Sprite and the Wasp, the Belvedere, the Wessex, the Gnome-Whirlwind and the Westminster, rose in unison. Our picture conveys more than could words the extent of this unique range of helicopters and is symbolic of the new group's marketing front. The Wessex went gay as always. The Rotodyne, though programmed, was absent. The de Havilland Dove 8—that neater, cleaner, more desirable rjove flew past in the manner of an executive aeroplane going a journey. Which was seemly. In the Argosy and Avro 748 Hawker Siddeley put up a com- panion pair of Dart-powered contenders for world business. On its low runs the Argosy glinted chunkily, bespeaking capacity reconciled with performance. The 748 lined up, wound up a little shrilly (it is hardly Viscount-quiet, by reason of its larger pro- pellers) and, looking notably dainty in blue and white and silver, and even more notably so when cleaned up in the air, presented its high-aspect wing in climbing turns. Its three automatic observers, one learned, were observing away throughout the proceedings. The Vulcan B.2 may be wearing its roundels pale this year, but there is no suggestion of loitering, about this knight at arms. On Monday it astounded in everything it did: in its fantastically steep climbs, straight and corkscrew; in the breath-stopping shut oflfs of Olympic power; in the smoking, rushing, ripping, relent- lessness of its low passes. And not least by its landing— astonishingly short, though unbraked by tail-chute. If we do not dilate on the presentation of the Javelin 9 it reflects no discredit on the pilot, who indeed gave the usual rip-roaring performance, with the Javelin brandishing its four Firestreaks all round the sky. And of the Sea Vixen we shall say little more than this: that while it may still go supersonic at a touch of the stick, even with decks cluttered for action, it now displays the purity of form of the Fairey Flycatcher. Vapour-shimmy marked an extremely fast low pass, and the fluorescent Firestreaks, tanks and refuelling probe flashed luminous in the rapid rolls. A mighty fighter. 419 and sustained inversions. The structural strength of the Buccaneer is attested by a sketch on an earlier page. Low-level manoeuvrability was sensationally established over the airfield. The Lightning F.I and T.4, those sharp-winged, rectangular blocks of scarifying power, excelled again in their characteristic and hardly conceivable "square corner" turns. Incomparable? In this attribute demonstrably. Operational? No 74 Sqn from Coltishall gave answer with a tight clutch of four in runs at 360 knots—and upwards. Nothing fancy but, on the contrary, something solid, proclaiming M2 in a hitherto Ml Service. To seek new superlatives for Treble One would be futile, if only because the squadron's history-making show-team will dis- band after this display to re-equip with Lightnings. But on Monday they showed transcendent form—and gave palatable lessons in aircraft recognition. They made their entry—all eighteen of them—with what their spokesman described as a Pterodactyl loop; and we wondered how many among them were aware that the prototype of the vast tailless shape they were forming in the Farnborough sky was floating around in that self-same sky the best part of 40 years ago. Emitting smoke, they split into their component nines, one element forming the "Treble One loop." A detailed recapitulation of their routine would do scant justice to a performance having its essence in rhythm and drama; and candidly we failed to get it all noted down, so fast "was the action. But we must not fail to record the Farmer loop, wherein nine Hunters enter the loop in the Treble One formation and emerged from it in an arrow, repre- sentative of the Soviet fighter so code-named. Then came the Draken and the Voodoo, to bring in Sweden and the USAF— manoeuvres supported by the wine-glass, diamond nine, big seven, five card, and other tricks of the Farnborough fairground. The pay-off—not counting the stream landing which is thrown in as a bonus—was a double Pterodactyl loop, with a break into nines after the first, and a two-way bomb-burst, with one forma- tion breaking upwards through the downward-breaking smoke- trails of the rest. Six Hunters landed within 35 seconds; nine within 60; twelve within 90; all within 150. A lone grey Shackleton MR.3 of 201 Squadron, St Mawgan based, set out to demonstrate in absentia the Atlantic patrol capability of Coastal Command by remaining airborne for some 22 hours, before returning at the beginning of the next day's flying. Faced with an all-night vigil of its own, wherein to pound out the incalculable wordage of this Farnborough report, Flight's editorial team felt less, perhaps, than most onlookers for the lonely crew—in their snug stations, with mugs of steaming cocoa and the progress of only one aeroplane to report. But the hour is late, and we digress. Aspect of de Havilland Sea Vixen Treble One, with Lightning on approach Likewise of the Folland Gnat Trainer there is little to say anew, though still much to marvel at in respect of acceleration, rate of roll and radius of turn. Nor shall we be invidious in respect of the two Hunters, a fighter reconnaissance FR.10 this year, together with the 66A two-seater. It must be reported, however, that on Monday the 66A's spin-with-smoke (ten turns?) was rendered the more dramatic by intervening cloud. Commentator Oliver Mewart gave the thought-provoking explanation that, after the spin is established, the stick is pushed forward, which slightly increases the rate. In tractability and tactical capability alike the Hunter continues supreme in its class. . Iw° bold Buccaneers from Brough looked more like playful ?,™ffalns~-though uncommonly fast even for that species—as weydived in for a joint splash and parted company port and starboard. The piscine impression was heightened by impartially executed, extremely fast, extremely slow, and extremely low rolls,
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