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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0768.PDF
778 FLIGHT, 1 Jun EXPORT GNOME FLIES IT was on December 21 last that the de Havilland Engine Coannounced the first export order for Gnome turboshaft engines.A contract worth almost £lm was signed with CA Giovanni Agusta, of Milan, for engines to power the Agusta 204B. In addi-tion, an option was taken on a "very much greater quantity" of Gnomes, for delivery during the next three years. This was amajor victory for the team from Leavesden, for not only was foreign competition intense but the 204B is essentially a BellHU-1A Iroquois, which in the United States has a different type of powerplant. On May 10, after only 25min ground running, Sig OttorinoLancia, Agusta's chief test pilot, took the first 204B into the air. Well over 2Jhr had been flown by May 16, and most of thecritical parts of the flight envelope—including autorotation, vertical climbs, hovering and high-speed level flight—have already Deenexplored. The aircraft has now been painted, and is scheduled to fly at the Paris Salon, described in an earlier section of this issue(pages 734-743). The close-up of the installation shows well the exhaust trunk, taken out to starboard, and the tail-rotor drive fromthe secondary gearbox under the rotor. FIRST DOUBLE ATLANTIC CROSSING (continued from page 749) repair. It was accidentally declutched whilst under load and thegovernor failed to control it. The captain then felt compelled to set course for East Fortune, but his plan was countermanded by AirMinistry, who ordered him to Pulham. The Irish coast, a little to the north of where Alcock and Brown had landed in their VickersVimy, was crossed at 2000hr on July 12, 1919, exactly 61hr 43min after leaving Long Island. The landing at Pulham was made afteran elapsed time of 75hr 03min. The flying crew of R 34 were years ahead of their time. They hadoperated W/T with Clifden both ways at more than 2,000 miles. They had experimented with pressure-pattern flying. The navigatorhad foreseen the use of bubble sextants in the air. Heavier-than-air Crossings Of the other flights shown on thechart on pages 748-749 there is little to say that has not already been said. The first crossing, by the American NC-4 flying-boat, was amagnificent achievement. No matter that they took three weeks over the trip, that crew was the first to cross by air; and when Irevisited the Mayflower steps at Plymouth recently I was glad to see the well-kept plaque which rests in the wall beside the MayflowerStone and reads:— This tablet was erected by the Plymouth Borough Council to com-memorate the arrival, on the 31st day of May 1919, of the American seaplane NC4, in Plymouth Sound, on the completion of the firsttransatlantic flight, and the reception by the Mayor of Plymouth of the Commander, Pilots and Crew, on their landing at the Barbican. J. P. Brown Mayor. R. J. Fittall Town Clerk. Lt Comm A. C. Read USN (Commander)Lt (Junior Grade) W. Himon USN (Pilot) Ensign A. C. Rood (Radio operator)Lt E. F. Stone (Pilot) Lt J. L. Breeze USN (Res Force)Ch. Machinist E. S. Rhodes USN. Mackenzie-Grieve and Hawker had a very gallant try and wereincredibly fortunate to find a ship in sight when they decided to ditch their Sopwith biplane. They were even luckier that theweather was so calm at the time that their aircraft did not break up when it hit the water. They had entered for the £10,000 prizeoffered by the Daily Mail for the first non-stop crossing and no one grudged them the £5,000 consolation prize they received. Pride of place among the aeroplanes must, of course, go to theVickers Vimy (Rolls-Royce Eagles) flown by Alcock and Brown. At 0840 on June 15, 1919, the first direct non-stop crossing wasmade—16hr 27min of concentrated history. COMANCHE ROUND FRANCE (continued from page 755) weather is clear. We track round the zone from the free lane, againusing London VOR. Then thick mist appears and we struggle through the Reading gap. The Comanche's small windows makemap-reading pretty difficult under these conditions so I abandon the ground, climb up and fly out on the London radial which liesbetween Abingdon and Kidlington. The German girl suddenly points at the spasmodically moving control wheel—the autopilotis on—and asks "what is that?" I shall always treasure this as the classic question from a first-flighter. Having established myself onthe London radial I tune Upper Heyford and then turn onto the radial that passes through Kidlington. Then I let down into themurk, with visibility of less than a mile. I recognize nothing until the Upper Heyford runways loom up. A smart turn onto thereciprocal and I fly the left/right needle like an ILS local izer. Up comes Smoky Joe, the Kidlington factory chimney, and thenthe airfield. From downwind I cannot see the landing run and follow the taxyway round onto finals. We land in visibility whichwould have kept me extremely firmly on the ground, but with VOR there was not a moment's anxiety or uncertainty. This is proof ofthe pudding. Normally, I reckon I can find my way by map-reading as well as most people, but why work so hard when you can fly insmooth air, VFR on top, and navigate by radio? Final refuelling shows a consumption of 8.2 Imp gal/hr after Paris, using moderatepower at medium altitudes and making three separate flights. It is sad to leave the Comanche. It was comfortable and smooth,fast and easy to fly. My passengers loved it. I am totally converted to the use of autopilot and VOR, even though I was previouslyinclined to think them "cissy." This has completely vindicated the American way of airborne life and 1 do not look forward to goingback to the Gemini. Comanche visibility ought to be better and its handling is not perfect, but comfort and utility make up foralmost anything. Wake up, Europe! JET CHRONOLOGY NOTING with pleasure the transference of the Gloster-WhittleE.28/39 to the new block of the Science Museum (picture in Flight May 18), Sir Frank Whittle reminds us that the duration of thefirst flight was seventeen minutes, and not seven minutes as was stated in our quotation of a makers' press release. Sir Frank suggestsalso that our younger readers might assume from the capiion "OFF GROUND AGAIN after twenty years" that the historicaircraft did not fly after 1941. It was, in fact, flying with various powerplants until 1944. The Heinkel 178, incidentally, first flewin 1939 and not 1940 as suggested in our leading article.
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