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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2388.PDF
652 FLIGHT, 21 October 196? AIRCOMMERCE ... Various seating ar- rangements for the Westland 792C heli- copter, civil version of the Belvedere, are be- ing tried in a mock-up at Weston. Here the in- ward-facing high-den- sity seats are occupied by Mr A. McClements (right), deputy chief engineer, Bristol Divi- sion; Mr J. D. Sibley (centre), chief aero- dynamicist; and Mark Lambert of "Flight." The high-density seat- ing will allow for 23 occupants, and either inward-facing or for- ward-facing seats can be provided for 17 first-class passengers. Headroom is 6ft Tin and width is 4in more than that of the RAF Belvedere. See below "Flight" photograph WESTLAND 192C DEVELOPMENTS THE civil version of the Westland (Bristol) 192C will have thesame rotor, controls and twin Napier Gazelle turbines as its military counterpart and will thus have single-engined and altitudeperformance somewhat better than that of the Vertol 107 powered by General Electric T58s. The 1,650 h.p. contingency and 1,450h.p. intermediate-contingency ratings of the Napier Gazelle are features of standard production engines now going into service inboth the Belvedere and the Wessex and give the former power- restoration to maintain sea-level performance at up to 7,000ft. Atgross weight the Belvedere can hover in the ground cushion on one engine and can be translated to climbing speed from the hover,after failure of one engine, with a height loss of less than 50ft. The "good" engine automatically provides the full transmission powerafter an engine failure, leaving the pilot without asymmetric handling and with no control adjustments to make. VC11 GO AHEAD? A EUROPEAN source last week reported that the British Air-craft Corporation "is now expected to go ahead with develop- ment and production of the 100-138 seater VC11." Though it isunderstood that BAG have as yet made no decision to go ahead with this project, which for the past year has been shown tointerested airlines (one of the most interested being TCA), it is still believed to be very much to the fore in BAC's thoughts aboutfuture projects. An order from TCA is believed to be in the "probable" ratherthan, as hitherto, the "possible" category. MORE BABY JETSI T is reported that Piaggio have signed a tentative agreementwith Douglas for the manufacture of two "DC-8/108" twin-jet executive aircraft, followed by a possible production run of 90.The project is said to depend on whether the Italian Air Force will finance the two prototypes. Meanwhile, it is reported that SAAC 23 is the designation of aproposed US/Swiss twin-jet 6/7-passenger executive project (two GE J85s of 2,0001b thrust or two Continental J69s of 1,7001b)being financed by Mr William Lear (of Lear Inc). Production would be subcontracted to a number of European manufacturersand production airframes shipped to the US for installation of engines, instrumentation and interior furnishings, though the twoprototypes would be assembled, flight-tested and FAA-certificated in Switzerland by Flug-und-Fahrzeugwerke. Deliveries areplanned for 1963, and price would be about $250,000. First flight would be in December 1961. The SAAC 23 was designed by Dr Hans Studer, formerly ofFlug-und-Fahrzeugwerke, and it is to have a cruising speed of 535 m.p.h. at 30,000ft and a range of 1,500 miles with allowances. At Belfast two members of the design office of Short's Light Aircraft Division have just built and flown this evidently high-fidelity l/10th scale model of the SC.7 Skyvan. It flies very well on its two Fox 75 engines, and control-line trials indicate "remarkable dynamic similarity" to the real thing—which is due to fly next June. The builders are Robert Carlisle, left, and Paul Stafford SUPERSONIC STUDY ACCORDING to a story in the Daily Express last Monday the• Minister of Aviation was expected this week to announce thrt the long-awaited supersonic airliner design study contract—valuedby the newspaper at about £500,000—is to be awarded to th British Aircraft Corporation. There was no indication as Flightwent to press that the Minister of Aviation would, in fact, mak= such an announcement. The report suggests that the desigrstudy will, as expected, relate to a Mach 2.2 light alloy narrow- delta airliner seating about 100. The British Aircraft Corporation, says the report, "wouldguarantee to have the airliner for transatlantic service with BOAC by 1970 and believes it might be done by 1968 if necessary." At thesame time it would pay five to ten per cent of the total development costs which are estimated at about £50 million. The Governmentwould find the rest and would give a guarantee against cancellation for reasons other than the company's technical failure. The Express refers to "scepticism"—presumably in the industry—over the Government's insistence on efforts to seek international co-operation with France and the US. BALPA AND MUNICH r ', '-Z ... \, COMMENTING on the Fay Commission's report on theMunich accident (pages 651 and 653), BALPA say that the criticisms of the German report made by the Association havebeen justified. "The German inquiry employed an assumption that drag caused by slush decreased with the speed of the aeroplane.The Fay commission reports that it is now known as a result of research initiated, partly at least, as a result of the Munichaccident that the drag caused by slush increases with speed- probably as the square of the speed. "The Association submits that conclusions should never havebeen attempted until research had been undertaken. It is for these reasons that the Association has pressed throughout for a re-open-ing of the inquiry or a review of the available evidence by a body fully qualified to determine the true cause of the accident. Thefact that the Fay Commission is unable to say with any degree of certainty that the accident occurred either as a result of wingicing or as a result of the retarding effect of slush even when it has been able to consider a large amount of evidence not available tothe German authorities indicates that the cause of the accident is still not established." BALPA has this to say on the question of the withdrawal ofCapt Thain's licence: "The responsibility of a pilot for an acci- dent must be established with a much greater degree of prob-ability before his licence to practise his profession is withdrawn." And of "criticisms that the Association has failed to maintain anobjective position in this matter" [probably a reference to criti- cisms by Capt S. J. L. Key—see Flight, September 30, page 551],BALPA says: "It is apparent from the report of the Commission that this criticism cannot be upheld and that all the facts, eventhose which argued against the case put forward by the Associa- tion, were laid before the Commission, an action to which theCommission pays specific tribute." IAL AND DUBAI A NEW international civil airport in the Arabian Gulf, planned**• and managed by International Aeradio on behalf of the Ruler of Dubai, was officially opened on September 30. Dubai is oneof the seven Sheikhdoms of the Trucial Oman which has a long history of friendly association with Great Britain.The opening ceremony was performed by HE Sheikh
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