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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2005.PDF
FLIGHT, 16 September 1960 485 AIR COMMERCE . . . probably only a limited number of routes where all concernedwould be in agreement." Timing The earliest date of availability of a supersonic aero-plane for commercial introduction is considered to depend on the cruising speed. If the speed does not exceed about Mach 2.3,conventional light alloys could be used in the structure, and the earliest date considered technically feasible is 1967 or 1968. Forhigher cruising speeds, stainless steel or titanium alloys would have to be used and the development would take longer. Forcruising speeds of about Mach 3 the earliest date considered technically feasible is 1970. Aeroplanes with substantially highercruising speeds, or with VTOL, could probably not be made available within the period ending about 1975. But the report notes that few if any of the ground facilities andservices required could be functioning smoothly before 1970. The earliest date considered technically feasible for the actualintroduction into service of any supersonic airliner would, there- fore, be 1970. Footnote: On one point, the report notes, governments areunanimous: the supersonic airliner must be able to use existing runways. BREVITIES A repeat order for three Avro 748s was last week announced byBKS, increasing the independent's order from two to five aircraft. Value of the contract is about £750,000. By the end of 1961, estimates Sir William Hildred, director generalof IATA, there will be a surplus in the airline industry of anywhere from 1,200 to 1,800 piston-engined aircraft. Slick has signed its contract with Canadair for the purchase of twoCL-44Ds costing $11.2 million (£4 million). A deposit of about £785,000 has been paid, the balance being payable over five years afterdelivery. A DC-6 of Aerolineas Argentinas, one of five owned by the airline, crashed near Salto, Uruguay, on September 7, during a flight from Asuncion to Buenos Aires. All the occupants, 24 passengers and crew of six, lost their lives. Sabena is to increase its fleet of four Caravelle 6s (Rolls-Royce Ra.29/6Mk 531s) to six. Delivery will be made early in 1961. Price quoted is just over £1 million each. The first resale anywhere of a DC-7C is likely to be made by SASand Swissair. Riddle are negotiating for the purchase of three DC-7Cs, with an option on four others. They will be converted to passenger-cargo configuration for use on transatlantic MATS charters. Delivery would be completed by December this year. BOAC is offering 30 apprenticeships in its sales organization to boysaged 17 and over. The corporation plans to engage 15 boys now and 15 on March 1 next. Three years' paid training in London will coverBOAC sales aspects in general and passenger reservation activities in particular. Inquiries should be addressed to the personnel manager atLondon Airport. Due to arrive in London yesterday for talks with the Ministry ofAviation about the Anglo-Japanese air agreement were Sakabumi Imai, director of the Japanese CAB, and Yoichi Hayashi, head of the inter-national section of the same authority. They will be accompanied by representatives of JAL, who are expected to inaugurate services toEurope in May 1961. The Japanese delegation will also visit West Germany from September 26-October 10 to discuss the bilateral agree-ment with that country. According to a US source, Eastern Air Lines has asked Boeing forquotations on the Boeing 727 short-range jet with two alternative powerplants: the Allison ARB.963 of 12,7501b thrust (US licence-builtdevelopment of the Rolls-Royce RB.163), and the P. & W. JT3D-1 turbofan of 14,0001b (powerplant of the Boeing 720B). Boeing are saidto be prepared to undertake 727 production with orders for about 100 aircraft; United Air Lines have already signified their intention of pur-chasing 40. Take-off weight of this 68-seater (first-class) project is being quoted at 138,0001b. A DC-4 of Trek Airways made a forced landing in the desert nearEl Badari, about 190 miles south of Cairo, on September 3. Fire was reported in No 2 engine whilst the aircraft was over the Nile. Theaircraft was en route from Luxembourg to Johannesburg and had taken off from Cairo. Capt Ian Laatz, the commander, reported that theaircraft was destroyed but that none of the 64 passengers or crew of seven sustained more than cuts and bruises. (An article about Trek'svery low fare services between South Africa and Europe appeared in Flight for March 4, pages 303-305.) Missiles and Space flight NUCLEAR POWER FOR SPACE THREE nuclear-reactor space electric power units are underdevelopment by the US Atomic Energy Commission for theUS Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The electric output of these three systems extendsover the power range of 300 watts to 35kW. The three systems include the SNAP 10 power unit, which is ademonstration system that utilizes thermoelectric power-conver- sion. The system covers the sub-kilowatt region of power and hasno moving parts. Its extreme simplicity is said to provide the assurance of obtaining remote orbital start-up, high reliability, andlong endurance. The reactor is controlled by the strong inherent negative temperature and power coefficient of reactivity. The next power system is SNAP 2 which utilizes a similarcompact nuclear reactor, weighing about 2001b, which is cooled with liquid NaK alloy and coupled to a small mercury vapourturbine-alternator power-conversion system. This system has a 3,000-watt output with one turbine system; future extensionwould permit the use of two power-conversion systems with one reactor for a total power output of up to 6,000 watts. This systemwill be provided with a thermo-mechanical reactor control system for increased endurance and reliability. The power-conversionsystem utilizes only one moving part, a combined rotating shaft suspended on liquid mercury bearings and rotating at 40,000r.p.m. The SNAP 2 system at 3,000 watts will weigh about 6001b; at 6,000 watts output it will weigh about 9001b. The third system, designated SNAP 8, is a direct outgrowth ofthe SNAP 2 powerplant development and will deliver 35kW with one mercury vapour turbine-alternator system. It will deliver70kW with two power-conversion systems coupled with the same SNAP 8 reactor. The National Aeronautics and Space Adminis-tration is responsible for the development of the mercury power- conversion system for SNAP 8. This system will weigh about1,4001b at 35kW, and about 2,5001b at 70kW. Details of these three power units were described last month byJ. R. Wctch and H. M. Dieckamp of Atomics International and Lt-Col G. M. Anderson of the US Atomic Energy Commission intheir paper Practical Application of Space Nuclear Power in the 1960s before the International Astronautical Congress in Stock-holm. Dependent upon the type of payload and the spacecraft con- figuration, the paper indicated, the weight of radiation shieldingmight vary from less than 1101b for some electronic payloads to over 2,0001b for certain manned payloads. During the 1960-70 decadethese SNAP systems would become fully qualified and, according to the authors, would be the predominant and most reliable sourceof high power available for application in space satellites. "In addition to electric propulsion demonstrations and planetary probeauxiliary power, the SNAP family of nuclear powerplants can, within this decade, extend our current 'exploration of space'activity to one of 'utilization of space.' " Current estimates as to where various electrical energy sourceswere appropriate, based upon weight considerations, were pre- sented (Fig 1). The only practical energy sources for long-livedspacecraft depended upon solar radiation, nuclear fission, or radio- nuclide decay. Radio-isotopes, under development for the AECby the Martin Company, and solar cells, under development by the Air Force and by NASA, were attractive for small powerrequirements. At higher powers these systems became excessively heavy, expensive, and difficult to handle and to integrate into thespacecraft. From standpoints of weight and cost, the solar mirror collectoror the nuclear fission reactor coupled with thermoelectric, turbo- electric, or thermionic conversion systems were attractive as powersources. The solar mirror had yet to be proven feasible and practical as a power source because of the effect of micrometeoriteson reflecting optical surfaces, and because of its need for con- tinuous accurate orientation toward the sun. For the generationof powers greater than 10-30kW, the solar mirror collector became more impractical because of the difficulty in packaging such largecollectors within the spacecraft currently under development. The three specific systems under development must meet therequirements indicated in this table: — Net electrical power System weight unshielded Minimum system lifeCycle heat rejection area SNAP 10 300W 3001b 1-3 yr*10sqft 1963 SNAP 2 3.000W 600lb 1 yr110 sq ft 1964 SNAPS 35.OOOW 1,5001b 1 yr«»sqft 1965 Turning to SNAP spacecraft integration, the authors pointedout that structural scatter of nuclear radiation from the reactor could cause a high payload dose if shielding for the scatteredradiation was not used. Thus, if the reactor was located in the spacecraft nose and the nose-cone skin was jettisoned, and if the
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