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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1866.PDF
434 Looking-in on the Industry FLIGHT9 September 1%Q D.H. Gyron Junior engine, with after- burner, being installed into a modified Javelin at Hatfield. It had previously been test-flown under an Avro Ashton flight testing. In the assembly hangar I saw FR.lOs, the latestmark for the Royal Air Force, and Mk 56s and 66s for the Indian Air Force. There were also various Hunters in for Cat 4 repair,such as an F.6 and a T.7, and a Fury (G-9-38); while nine Furies with similar markings parked some distance away. One attractive stranger in the assembly hangar was a SopwithTriplane (N5912), which looked complete but does not in fact possess a working engine. Nearby stood the Hart J9933, which isin flying condition, and outside on the tarmac was the Hurricane PZ865 which still delights the public on its appearances at flyingdisplays. In the paint shop which adjoins the assembly hangar the Hawker Hunter Two-seater G-APUX was being readied forits Farnborough demonstrations, with nearby one of the 350- gallon drop-tanks which it may be wearing during the week ofthe display. Dunsfold airfield lies on the very edge of the London TerminalControl Zone, and only a couple of miles to the west of Gatwick Control Zone, so exceptional care is required of the test pilotsand controllers in flying operations. The airfield lies below Airway Red One, which leads into the Southampton Control Zone, but tothe south and north of the airway there are relatively clear areas Danger! artist at work: the industry looking-in on Gordon Horner for test-flying. Dunsfold, like Woodford, is equipped with Cossor21 radar, and it is planned in the near future to modify this to 704- type equipment. In addition to VHF, there is a UHF installation,and some of the Hunters being test-flown are fitted with DME which can be used in co-operation with RAF stations like Tang-mere and Chivenor. The point was made to me by the airfield controllers that the equipment in the aircraft is not of their choos-ing, but depends upon the requirements of Hawker customers. They paid tribute to the test pilots for their intelligent use ofthe equipment. Normally, take-offs are made towards the west on the 2,300yd main runway (the other two runways are usedmainly for light aircraft, and are not kept in a full state of repair). When take-offs are made towards the east, aircraft usually makea smart turn to port to avoid entering the Gatwick Control Zone. A new stage in Dunsfold's history is shortly to begin, whenthe first flights of the Hawker P. 1127 are made from there— probably before the end of the year. This VTOL tactical machineimplies an entirely new development in the great tradition of Hawker military aircraft.Flying it will impose some special problems on the company test pilots who are to undertake the work. Instead of the normalaileron and elevator movements which have been accepted as standard in half a century of aviation, the new techniques to belearned include hovering flight and the judgment of rates of ascent and descent without the normal points of reference whichpilots have come to accept almost instinctively. Further, ground erosion problems have to be studied, as has already been seen iJthe case in Rolls-Royce research at Hucknall—although the speaal character of the Bristol Siddeley engine should minimize thisproblem. The Hawker chief test pilot, A. W. (Bill) Bedford, and hisdeputy H. C. H. Merewether have already made some study of VTOL problems by looking at the Viper-powered Bell X-14VTOL swiyelling-nozzle research aircraft in California and by taking a helicopter course in this country. During the early stagesof P. 1127 flying they are going to continue gaining helicopter experience. But the new problems they face will have to be solvedas they arise; even an aircraft which has been going for ten years, like the Hunter, still poses some new questions. There is nodoubt, however, that the research and engineering skill at Kingston and the flying skill at Dunsfold will combine to find satisfactoryanswers with the P.I 127. f ,Dunsfold, the former wartime airfield situated in one oi tnc most beautiful parts of Surrey (its grass areas, I was told, P1**a handsome crop of mushrooms), is one of the thresholds developments in British aviation. It was by chance that myto the British aircraft industry ended there, though the chance was significant. Though I was not allowed to see anything ortncP.1127 programme I could sense an excitement in the ai>. *« Hunter generation is now ending, and the line of Furie^ol^kerthe Hurricane and Hart looking still farther back) gave rta^ history at Dunsfold a further perspective. The future isnow wnthe P.1127, as with the TSR.2 at Warton, the VC10 at Wejbndge and the Trident at Hatfield. new
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