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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0808.PDF
818 FLIGHT, 15 June 1961 F/RST A/R-TO-A/R picture of the Breguet 941 blown-wing STOL transport, which was first flown on June I. Take-off and landing runs are quoted as "not wore than 100m" (328ft). The aircraft was airborne for I2min in the hands of test-pilot Bernard Witt FROM ALL QUARTERS Tri-Nation Jet Lift IN a written Parliamentary reply on June 7, the Minister ofAviation, Mr Peter Thorneycroft, stated: "The Minister of Defence and 1 have agreed with the Federal German Minister of Defence toconclude an early agreement for a joint development of a vertical take-off and landing strike fighter based on the Hawker P.I 127.In addition, we have agreed with the French and German Govern- ments, jointly, to develop the Rolls-Royce RB.162 jet lift engine.These are important steps forward in the Government's policy of co-operating with NATO countries in the development of militaryequipment suitable for meeting national and NATO needs." This is the first time the RB.J 62 has been officially referred to,although it has several times been mentioned in unofficial reports. It is almost certainly the new lift engine for which Rolls-Royce areab\e to claim a thrustjweight ratio of 16 : 1; and it is probably the powerplant which will lift the VTOL derivative of the Mirage 111and the Sud project mentioned on page 738 of the November 11 issue of Flight. One report has described how multiple RB.162scould be grouped in a package for use beneath the wings of the AW.660 and similar transports. Hawker and Folland Changes IN board changes announced by Hawker Aircraft, Mr J. T. Lidburybecomes chairman and Sir Sydney Camm is appointed managing director and chief engineer. Mr Lidbury, previously managingdirector, takes over as chairman from Sir Roy Dobson, vice-chair- man and managing director of the Hawker Siddeley Group. Thiswill allow Sir Roy, who will remain on the Hawker board, to devote more time to group matters. The appointment is also announced of Mr R. L. Lickley asHawker deputy managing director and of Mr E. G. Rubython as general manager. Mr W. J. Heasman becomes secretary of thecompany. Hawker Aircraft's board is now as follows: Mr J. T. Lidbury, chairman; Sir Sydney Camm, managing director andchief engineer; Mr R. L. Lickley, deputy managing director; Mr E. G. Rubython, general manager; Mr J. D. Stranks, worksdirector; and Mr R. H. Chaplin, chief designer. Sir Thomas Sopwith, Sir Roy Dobson and Mr S. D. Davies are members ofthe board without specific appointments. It is also announced that Mr Lidbury succeeds Sir Roy Dobsonas chairman of Folland Aircraft, Mr Lickley taking over from Mr Lidbury as managing director. STOL Belfast IN several recent issues this journal has discussed likely contendersin the RAF competition for an STOL "Beverley replacement" transport. The most attractive and versatile designs prepared tomeet this requirement are doubtless the BAC-208 entered by British Aircraft Corporation and an Armstrong Whitworth design enteredby Hawker Siddeley Aviation, both of which are powered by four Bristol Siddeley Pegasus lift/thrust turbofans. But these high-subsonic machines, capable of VTOL at something less than maxi- mum weight, are clearly much further off in development than STOLderivatives of existing turboprop aircraft. The BAC-222, derived from the Lockheed C-130C, has already been described; it is nowpossible to comment on an STOL Belfast. The basic Short Bros & Harland Belfast C.I is a 218,0001bmachine powered by four Rolls-Royce Tyne RTy. 12 turboprops and carrying a maximum payload of 85,OOOlb over 1,150 miles. Re-quired field-length at full weight is 7,000ft. It is worth noting that the 10,000cu ft hold of the Belfast is appreciably larger than that ofany of the rival STOL designs. To confer STOL ability—which may reduce required runway length to well below 2,000ft—Short STRICTLY SUB-ORBITAL: This undistinguished Yak-18 has now become a Soviet National shrine, for on it Maj Yuri Gagarin did his first solo in 1955. The photograph was taken at the "Dynamo" stadium in Saratov, when the local aviation club transferred custody of the aircraft to the District Study Museum, where it will be permanently on view and Harland have designed a quickly detachable pack providing airfor flap blowing, plus a substantial additional airflow to blow aii the control surfaces, in order to preserve control at much reducedairspeeds. The pack, which fits above the fuselage behind the hump created by the wing, contains three lightweight gas-turbine/com-pressor units which blow air through ducts passing across the rear part of the wing and along all tail surfaces. Such an arrangementwould require no modification to the propulsive engines, which in cruising flight would operate at their most economical r.p.m.The rival BAC-222 is deliberately overpowered in the cruise, since the main engines are used to provide shaft-power for the auxiliarySTOL compressors. B-52 Structural Trouble ANY major modification to a big modern aeroplane is awesomelyexpensive, and the US Air Force is faced with a bill of some S210m (£75m) following the discovery of fatigue cracks in theBoeing B-52G and B-52H heavy bombers which are now in volume production for Strategic Air Command. These new "wet-wing"versions, with greatly increased weight and machined-plank wing skins, have suffered local stresses greater than any experiencedwith the earlier versions of lower weight and performance. Two B-52Gs are said to have suffered structural failure in the air.Lt-Gen M. E. Bradley, Deputy Chief of Staff for Materiel, told a Congressional committee that "a major modification programme"is essential. It will take between 12 and 18 months to complete; aircraft on the line will be modified before delivery, and the 100 orso B-52Gs at present flying are being returned to Wichita in batches. Selected aircraft are to be subjected to intensive static testing, andall those due for modification will be "kept under surveillance" to ensure that they do not exceed given i.a.s. and manoeuvre loadings. US/Canada Defence Deal Reported EVER since the Avro CF-105 Arrow was cancelled in February1959, the RCAF has needed a two-seat all-weather fighter to re- place the obsolescent CF-100, notwithstanding the bulk purchase ofCF-104 Starfighters for the Air Division in Europe and the decision to adopt 1M-99B Bomarc as an area-defence missile at two basesin Quebec and Ontario. For many months it was hoped that MATS would buy a large number of Canadair CL-44 swing-tail freightersin exchange for adoption by the RCAF of the McDonnell F-101B Voodoo or possibly the Convair F-106 Delta Dart. In the event.MATS contracted for the very advanced Lockheed C-141 (tiding over the gap with C-130E and C-135 aircraft), and since the end oflast year Canada's most saleable product for the deal has been the Canadair CF-104. On June 11 the Washington correspondent of the CanadianPress news agency filed a despatch claiming that a deal would be concluded within 48hr. The gist of the agreement is that the RCAFwill receive "about 66" F-lOlBs made by McDonnell, the US paying 75 per cent of the SI20m (£42.9m) cost, while—on a similar75-25 basis—Canadair will produce "some 200" CF-104s which the US will supply to "NATO allies." In addition, Canada will hence-forth bear ail the costs of running the Pine Tree line of early-
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