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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0228.PDF
228 FLIGHT, 2A February 1961 FROM ALL QUARTERS Avon-Mirage Flies THE Rolls-Royce Avon engined Mirage III had an auspiciousintroduction at Dassault's airfield at Melun-Villaroche on February 13, when it made its first flight three weeks ahead ofschedule. On the 13th and 14th it made four flights in all, and attained speeds in excess of M2. Powerplant of this Mirage III is the Avon RB.146, which has asea-level dry thrust of 12,5001b, augmented by reheat to 16,0001b. Rolls-Royce state that "further reheat development, giving sig-nificantly increased performance at altitude, is also being evaluated." The Mirage III is to equip certain units of the RAAF, andan Australian team is now in France in readiness to assess its handling capabilities with the RB.146. British Bullpup ? ONE of the most plausible rumours currently circulating is thatclaiming that the Royal Navy is shopping for the US Navy's Bullpup air-to-surface missile. It is no secret that both the RN andRAF have for many months been looking at this Martin missile, and at similar devices developed by Nord-Aviation in France.On February 20 the London Daily Express stated that Bullpup is wanted for Sea Vixens and Scimitars, and such a weapon fills anobvious gap in the range of stores which these machines can carry. The original ASM-N-7, and its improved USAF counterpartGAM-83A, are very well established in service; the much improved GAM-83B was illustrated in our December 23 issue. BEAGLE-Miles Board FINANCIAL and other arrangements whereby the aviationbusiness of F. G. Miles Ltd becomes "an important component of the BEAGLE Group" have been completed, the group now com-prising British Executive and General Aviation Ltd and its two subsidiaries, BEAGLE-Miles Aircraft Ltd ar Shoreham andBEAGLE-Auster Aircraft Ltd at Rearsby. Membership of the BEAGLE-Miles board is as follows:Messrs Peter G. Masefkld, chairman; F. G. Miles, deputy chair- man; G. H. Miles, technical director and chief engineer (withresponsibility in these spheres throughout the group); J. W. P. Angell, general manager; L. Blount (Pressed Steel Co), director;and Mrs O. M. Wadlow, financial director. Discoverer Comes of Age THE 20th and 21st launchings in the USAF Discoverer satelliteprogramme were made on February 16 and 18 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The latter launch included the firstrestart of the powerplant of an Agena B stage while in orbit. Discoverer 20 was described as "the biggest and heaviest rocketof the series," and its Thor-Agena launch vehicle was reported to be "an improved model." Test equipment for other satelliteprogrammes was carried in the instrument capsule, which it was hoped to recover on February 21.The Agena engine of Discoverer 21 was restarted on February 18 on command from Vandenberg, and this feat wasdescribed by an Air Force spokesman as an achievement promising the future conversion of passive observation satellites intomanoeuvrable military spacecraft. The satellite weighed 2,100ib and was in an initial orbit varying from 155 miles to 670 miles.It was carrying instruments to measure heat radiation from the Earth and test missile defence alarm equipment for future Midassatellites. Mysterious Magisters THREE Fouga Magister trainers were delivered to Elisabethvilie,Katanga, on Thursday of last week, reportedly in a Stratocruiser of Seven Seas Airlines which had flown in from Toulouse. Theaircraft, it was thought, either formed part of a Belgian order placed under NATO auspices, or of an order for nine placed byPresident Tshpmbe of Katanga. Tiger Afloat? THE newly formed Seaplane Club has been offered a Tiger Mothfree of charge, provided the club can acquire a pair of floats for the aircraft. The founder of the club, Air Cdre G. J. C. Paul,secretary-general of the Air League, believes that there must be suitable floats in existence somewhere in this country, and wouldbe grateful for any assistance in locating them. Information should be sent to the air commodore at Londonderry House, 19 ParkLane, London Wl. [Perhaps the Royal Navy might weigh in with a set of Queen Bee floats?—Ed.] SERVICE LIAISON between Avro and the RAF is the task of Gp Copt A. K. Hunter, OBE, BSc (Eng) AMIMechE, AFRAeS, DCAe, RAF (ret), whose appointment as the company's Service liaison officer has just been announced. Trained as a fighter pilot, he transferred to the RAF Technical Branch on its formation in 1940 and remained in it until his retirement. He was at Bomber Command headquarters when the Avro Vulcan was being introduced into service IN BRIEF The prototype Victa R-2 four-seat light aircraft made its first flighton February 16 at Schofield Aerodrome, near Sydney, piloted by Fit Lt R. Green, who is chief test pilot at the Richmond RAAF station. Mr P. J. Daglish, who joined D. Napier & Son Ltd last September as a special executive, has been appointed to the board as commercial director. Overseas orders placed with the French aircraft industry during lastyear amounted to more than NFr 1,142m (nearly £83m), more than double the 1959 figures. United Aircraft Corporation are to change the name of their whollyowned subsidiary, United Aircraft Export Corporation, to United Aircraft International Inc from March 1. Link Luckett, who last May rescued two climbers by landing aHiller 12E at 18,000ft on Mt. McKinley, Alaska, has been awarded the Carnegie Silver Medal for heroism. Potez Air Fouga and Heinkel are jointly to develop to official Germanorder the CM.191 four-seat version of the Magister (with Marbore Vis) for military and civil purposes. It will cruise at 435 m.p.h. for 935 mileswith 8801b payload. A prototype will be at the Paris Salon. Donald Douglas Jr, president of Douglas Aircraft, said in New Yorkrecently that the future strength of the US aircraft industry might depend on "closer co-operation or outright mergers." Noting that the trend"had already been set by the British aircraft industry," Mr Douglas said that such consolidations would be chiefly the result of the tremendouscosts involved in producing future aircraft. Leaders of the industry agreed that the development of a supersonic airliner was "beyond thecapabilities of any single company." SEA RAIDERS: Mentioned in the Navy Estimates (see opposite page) is the fact that a Buccaneer Intensive Flying Trials Unit is to be formed before midsummer. This photograph is the first to be released of the Buccaneer production line at the Blackburn works at Brough
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