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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0766.PDF
776 Correspondence The Editor of "Flight" is not necessarily in agreement with the viewsexpressed by correspondents in these columns. Names and addresses of writers, not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. Enlightened AttitudeI N today's [April 27] issue of Flight I noticed your article "ICAOShares Experience," in which you both support the effort of dispelling the taboo of public discussion of air safety matters andthe commonsensical idea of sharing aircraft accident experience. This article, as well as your leaders "In the Cause of Safety" ofMarch 16 and "Safety and Secrecy" of March 30, prompt me to congratulate you on your enlightened attitude. I must say that myown experience in this field has been the happiest and most grati- fying with the airlines, aircraft manufacturers and research workersin all European countries, including Great Britain. This experience is the ground for my conviction that your efforts will prove suc-cessful. London SE14 B. R. STANOJLOVIC, European Representative, Daniel and FlorenceGuggenheim Aviation Safety Center Phugoid's Ancestry From Prof P. J. YangosI T is very well for Mr Norman Wells (Correspondence, April 27)to make fun over the word "phugoid," but try to put it back into Greek, as the writer has to do once a year when lecturing inthe Royal Hellenic Air Force Academy, and then you will find blank looks all over the classroom. Fortunately, since 1949, Sir Graham Sutton The Science ofFlight) came to my rescue: ". . . This odd-looking word was coined by Lanchester from 4>vy>j and e<'50S, literally flight-like, butthis was a 'howler'; <pi<y-rj implies flight only in the sense of being a fugitive and not as a bird. Despite this, the word has survived inthe literature of aerodynamics, possibly because it is short and easy to pronounce." What would Mr Norman Wells have to say, hadposterity appreciated in a greater extent"... Lanchester's inordinate love of words coined from Greek roots such as 'apteroid,''peripteroid,' 'pterygoid,' 'ichthyoid,' etc.?" . . . (isoclinic or anisoclinic alike). Sir Graham's explanation of the word "phugoid" is shared byTheodore von Karman (Aerodynamics, Selected Topics in the Light of their Historical Development), who, going a step further, remarks:"my Greek would suggest 'phygoid,' but I am not quite sure about the term." I venture to say that / am and it should be phygoid, ifanything like it (BSI please note!). Still, there is worse, such as "anhedral" or "cathedral," or even"aerobatics," which, quite rightly, the Americans turned into "acrobatics." "The Greeks had a word" for many a thing, butbeware of using this ancient language where they did not. Athens P. J. YANGOS The Princess Flying-boats AS you will be aware, the final date for submitting offers for thePrincess flying-boats was extended from March 31 to June 30, and my Group have accordingly been advised by the concernedauthority of all details and conditions appertaining to the sale. As far as I am aware we are the only organization in existence with anyconcrete and firm proposals for the commercial utilization of these fine aircraft. We are not scrap merchants and therefore do notintend to compete in the purchase of the hulls and ancillary equip- ment unless we have complete confidence in the Ministry ofAviation and the new Air Licensing Board that we stand a 100 per cent chance of an unrestricted high-density route. We are observing with keen interest the battle between Cunardand BOAC, the outcome of which in its long and protracted form, together with the probably long-delayed decision by the Board, willundoubtedly ring the final death-knell of the Princesses. I doubt very much whether Mr Thomeycroft would wish to have his nameassociated with the death warrant of these superb aircraft and to have the dissipation of vast amounts of public money associated withthe present Administration. It is only too obvious that national prestige in the sixties andseventies and the far-foreseeable future will be associated directly with a nation's authority in the air. BOAC cannot be too proud ofits record, considering the huge financial resources and effort which has been lavished on the undertaking. The "Queen" liners mayhave been the symbol of national prestige in the thirties but a new Cunarder will certainly not retrieve our lost and dwindling com-mercial aviation authority. In 1958 I wrote to the chairman of Cunard making firm andpositive suggestions with regard to the operation of the Princess flying-boats under the Cunard flag. I also put proposals to Mr FLIGHT, 1 Jum 1961 Bamberg of Eagle Airways and it was indeed a disappointm-nt tothis Group that in both cases we received no support or encc age ment. Cunard are the obvious organization, in our view, to iiaveoperated the Princess flying-boats on the North Atlantic rou; The suggested governmental assistance of £18,000,000 cou; wellbe expended on the Princess flying-boats. In point of fa; the Princesses, by our careful investigation, could be put into full ••»,trim for under £4,000,000. One of the chief designers, Mi <f Stevenson, who recently joined our staff, has made an indept dentappraisal of the installation; and the consensus of opinion i: that the Princesses, far from being obsolete, would with the new T ,e 12be a phenomenal commercial success. It should be borne in nind that the Princesses would in fact be "flying Vanguards," ai:.j thelong and extensive flying trials of the Vanguard reflect favoi-ablv and with benefit on the Princess project. The British flag wouldcarry far more prestige-value on the tail of the Princesses than dying from the mizen of a new Cunarder, no matter how large. Southampton BENNETT G. HALPIN Managing Director, British Princess Flying Boats Ltd. Out to Grass IN a recent letter to The Times, dealing with the problem of pre-serving historic aircraft, Mr Charles Gibbs-Smith mentioned the possibility of the grounds of country houses being used to storesome of these types. This letter coincided with the handing-over of the last Sunderlandat Pembroke Dock, by the French Navy, to our Short Sunderland Trust. Even before the "Save-the-Sunderland" campaign wascompleted, I had given much thought to other types not yet saved, and had in mind making use of the ten acres of property here asan aircraft museum. In London this week I shall be following up my investigationsas to whether I can implement the idea. Provided I get half the co-operation shown in the Sunderland project, I have little doubtthat the plan can succeed. Pantgwyn Mansion, PETER F. M. THOMASCardigan Gas-turbine LubricantsT HE first "In Brief" paragraph in "The Industry" section of yourissue for May 11 refers to the grant of DEng RD2487 approval for Castrol 98 and goes on to say this is the first and only British oilso approved. By inference, Esso Aviation Turbo Oil 35 is made out to be of foreign origin. The facts are that EATO 35 is whollyBritish, from inception through development to final approval way back in 1953. This work was done at Abingdon by Esso EuropeanLaboratories, now Esso Research Ltd. There is an American counterpart, Esso Turbo Oil 35 (withoutthe "Aviation") which was evolved by Esso in the US and is essenti- ally identical with EATO 35. However, I know the British companyis very proud of its pioneering activity in this field. Reigate, Surrey N. O. RAWLINSON Aslib's Aero Group ROUND about boat-race time in the spring of 1952, a party oftrepidatious people gathered at Cranfield for the first time.They have done so at about the same time every year ever since— except in 1961. They could, I suppose, be described as the aero-nautics hindermost room boys (and girls), since they are the Aero- nautical Group of the Association of Special Libraries andInformation Bureaux. Shortly after the end of the war, Cyril Cleverdon, librarian of theCollege of Aeronautics, felt there was a need for greater co-opera- tion between librarians of the various aeronautical firms, theMinistry (it has changed its name so often that I will not be more specific) and other bodies with the common subject. At first hemade little headway; but then Aslib decided to form specialist sub- ject groups and a further effort to bind the aero libraries was made. With co-operation from the Royal Aircraft Establishment throughthe then Director, Arnold (now Sir Arnold) Hall, and his infor- mation officer, Bob Thorne, a meeting was called at RAE inSeptember 1951, a committee was formed, a programme outlined and the Aero Group was launched—or should one say airborne. The group has set itself several tasks down the years but alwaysin the forefront has been the desire to collect all the information on its subject and then make it available. Not only has it aimed tomake it available but to do so in the shortest possible time. To do this last, the perennial subject has been "retrieval." A librarymay have every piece of information on a subject that has ever been published, but if a particular item of information is not "findaoleat the precise moment that it is required, one might just as well burn the library. Rumour hath it that when the USSR launched its nrstSputnik the USA went haywire trying to ascertain the wavelengtn on which it was transmitting. It was not until long after that i! wasdiscovered that the Russians had published the information and 'nat the Americans had it all the time.
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