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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0188.PDF
188 FLIGHT, 10 February Sport and Business NEW HEADQUARTERS for McAlpine Aviation are being con- structed at Luton Airport. They will comprise a hangar (240ft X 120ft), offices, crew rooms, workshops and rest rooms. Foundations have been laid and the premises are expected to be completed by the end of April. The company is applying for an air operator's certificate to carry out charter flights with Cessna 310 and Piaggio P. 166 aircraft. RAFGSA MEMBERS will compete this year at Lasham in boththe National Gliding Championships and the annual inter-Service contest. A team of eight pilots plus reserves will go to Bicesterduring March and April for practice in contest flying, and later will go to Lasham for a further practice week before the nationals. CONSIDERABLE RETICENCE has surrounded the extensivedevelopment flying carried out by Dornier on the Do 29 research prototypes, two of which have now flown. It is well-known thatthe airftames Me based on the Do 27 5 in the interests of ecOnOiiiy,but that span has been increased to 43ft 4in, a new Messier under- carriage with strengthened tailwheel fitted; and the cockpit locatedin the nose and provided with a Martin-Baker lightweight, zero- height, zero-speed ejection seat. Further information on the mechanical and operating tech-niques now employed has recently appeared. Each of the under- slung Lycoming GO-480 270 h.p. engines drives rearwards througha freewheel clutch into a transverse shaft coupling the two Ratier Fiegeac pusher propellers, which turn in opposite directions andhave a special tilting and pitch control. The gearboxes were made by Zahnradfabriek Friedrichshafen. The hydraulic system forpropeller tilting, flap actuation and tailplane incidence changing was provided by Hispano-Suiza. Particular care was taken toensure that the propellers remained synchronized at all times. During early flight tests at heights up to 3,200ft the aircraftwas flown level at 43kt with 57° propeller deflection. When the angle was increased to 90°, the aircraft descended at 15° andl,180ft/min. The take-off is normally begun with the thrust line horizontal and the propellers are deflected to 30° after about260ft run. The aircraft unsticks after 390ft and clears 50ft after 590ft. The approach is made at rated power and 60kt, passing50ft with 85° propeller deflection and a descent gradient of 11.5°. At about 15ft above ground, propeller deflection is reduced to 75°,giving a descent gradient of 7.5°. Just before touchdown the nose is pulled up and propeller deflection increased to 85°. Speed isreduced to about 45kt and the ground run is 150ft. Total landing distance from 50ft is 460ft, At the Hanover air show last year, Flight learned from Dornierthat the Do 29 performance would be extended into the VTOL field by fitting engines of greater power and better power-to-weightratio. More powerful piston engines will probably be fitted to the prototypes as a first step but, for a payload-carrying project, smallturboprops such as the Turbomeca Astazou, P & W PT6A-3 or General Electric T58 have also been mentioned. The landing technique indicates that propeller deflection, whichis apparently directly linked to flap extension—and probably also to tailplane incidence—is directly controlled from the cockpit withimmediate response, either infinitely variable or in a series of steps. New designation of the two-seat Andreasson BA-7 is MFI Junior; h-,me base of the aircraft has changed from San Diego to Malmo. !'/,. designer and constructor of the prototype, Mr Bjorn Andreasson, w/,0 was previously with Convair, is now head of the aircraft deparirent of Malmo Flygindustri. The Swedish company plans to produce ;he machine at a price of less than 30,000 kronor ($6,000) SIXTEEN MORE RALLYE ORDERS have been placed s> ;iceChristmas Day, bringing the total to 166, of which 85 are fran 17 different foreign countries. This does not include 22 orderson which down-payments have been made in the USA, but winch have not yet been completely cleared in France. Despite a pro-duction rate of 30 per month from next July, further orders will not now be filled until 1962. The pressure is so high that Moianenow refuse to incorporate any non-standard modification before delivery. The first prototype Rallye, an "In the Air" report on whichappeared in Flight for August 5 last year, has now completed 2,008 flights and 799hr and is being overhauled. The moral is undoubtedly that the market is wide open for awell-designed and competently produced club aircraft. No non- military light aircraft in Europe has achieved such immediatesuccess; and orders from the United States seem likely to be plentiful. RETROSPECT From "Flight" of February 11, 1911 Wireless Telegraphy for Aeroplanes. It is interesting to note that as aresult of experiments carried out by Mr Maurice Farman at Buc the Farman firm now quote for the supply of wireless telegraphy instru-ments for fitting to their aeroplanes. Two different transmitting instpi. merits are supplied for eeaduig messages avtt distances of e:'her \i 9[SO kiloms., while a receiving apparatus can also be supplied. Xlae 50-kilom. apparatus weighs about 40 kilogs. Truly the Farman Brothersare ever progressive, and in a practical way—whilst others are dreaming, they are doing. A BEECHCRAFT BONANZA has been purchased by CaptL. Gordon Cooper, USAF, one of the Project Mercury astronauts, for both business and pleasure use. The aircraft is based at LangleyField, Virginia, where the headquarters of the Space Task Group of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are located. A TWO-SEAT AERONCA is being rebuilt by three RAF officersat the Central Flying School, Little Rissington. They are Fit Lt Giles Baker (son of Air Chief Marshal Sir John Baker), Fit Lt AlanJones and Pit Off Thomas Salter. A TOTAL of 69 employees of Shell-Mex & B.P. Ltd receivedflying instruction under the firms' flying club scheme during 1960, and 18 have qualified for PPLs. An article on power flying andgliding for young people, entitled The Way to the Skies, is included in the company's house annual Book of the Year 1960. This Beech Travel Air (above), converted to Turbo- meca Astaxous by SFERMA at Bordeaux, is the fore- runner is reported in "Flight" last month) ol Astazou-powered Beech Barons to be built undet licence at St Nazaire. Cruising speed is 268 m.p.li Left, Cessna 182 sold by Airwork Services fo the Colonial Pesticide Research Establishment for experiments to control blights and pests at ArJsha, Tanganyika. For spraying it will use rotary atomizers, as shown, or conventional spray-booms- The fuselage chemicals tank is of glass-fibre
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