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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1058.PDF
160 FLIGHT, 3 August 1961 CORRESPONDENCE ... photographic proof that of the six creatures watching M. Robartgliding at Amiens in 1904 one-third were dogs! It is also recorded on film (or maybe on a plate) that a terrier took up a most dangerousposition right in front of Archdeacon as he began a take-off in his glider from a sandhill at Berck. It must be admitted that I found onephotograph of a dog in attendance on an early powered aeroplane, but he seems mainly concerned in preventing his mistress fromgetting too close to Santos Dumont's 14 bis. During the First World War there were of course many dogs onmilitary aerodromes. It is known, for instance, that Richthofen had a Danish hound named Moritz; but photographic evidence sug-gests that for the most part the dogs kept well away from the aeroplanes and in any case it would appear that the animals weremore likely conscripts than volunteers. In those between-war days of the pioneer long-distance flier therewas scope for dogs both at the start of these flights and at their dramatic arrivals. Even had they wanted to give the impressionthat they were disinterested they could have mingled with the vast crowds. Alas, I have gone through hundreds of photographs ofsuch events and there isn't even a paw print. Did a dog turn out to welcome Mollison when he arrived at Croydon in his Moth afterflying solo from Australia? No. It was a kangaroo which repre- sented the animal world, and he nearly got decapitated for histrouble. In more remote areas during the same period a few dogs did showup, presumably because they had nothing better to do. Two nondescripts met Commandant Vuillemin's Breguet at Tamanrassetduring the first trans-Sahara flight and a couple of shaggy dogs braved the Arctic cold at Podkamenow-Tunguskoja when aDobrolet Junkers F.I3 arrived. Perhaps it would be uncharitable to suggest that shade provided by the Breguet's wing influencedthe Sahara hounds, but the latter case does suggest real enthusiasm. A rather self-conscious terrier posed with Sadi Lecointe in frontof his Hispano-Nieuport in about 1921, but there was a sort of smugness about that dog's expression and he may have had hisreasons. 1 think it was C. D. Barnard's dog which used to fly all over the place with him, but it may have been a love of travel or thelack of supplies if he stayed at home which caused this out-of-line behaviour. Some huskies were present at the arrival of the firstofficial mail flight at Aklavik; but, being in harness, they would appear to have had no more choice than the RAF's Alsatians. I have seen a few dogs on airports in recent years but theirinterest doesn't seem to be in aviation. At Bahrein they lie on the taxi track and get up just as the situation looks dangerous—butdown they go as soon as the danger is past, giving you a glare as you taxi by. At Chittagong there is a dog which meets all aircrafton which food is served. He goes only for a meal, which he has to share with a rather more agile crow. 1 know of no cases where dogs have actually helped with aero-plane operations. On the other hand there is ample evidence that horses have turned their hands (if that is the word) to towingaeroplanes from hangars or out of the mud; and a couple of bullocks have been seen to pull an old Breguet along a beach.There is certainly a dog at the airport at Luxor. Whenever a United Arab Airlines' DC-3 arrives he trots out to give moral support tothe boy who waves a red flag, but his approach is purely passive. Nevertheless, after nearly half a century of this couldn't-care-much attitude the dog has come back on the scene. I have noticed that, whenever I have landed in a town or city by helicopter, dogshave been leading the rush to the landing site well ahead of the men, women, children and bicycles. This proves my point—dogs are in-terested only in VTOL. Security has kept Soviet space-dogs muzzled, but I am sure that under a free system they would admit that spacetravel appeals to them only because of the vertical take-off. Any failure of the cooling and of course they would become hot dogs,or maybe red setters. London W14 JOHN STROUD Vigilante Weapon-delivery ARRIVAL of the North American A3J Vigilante in Europe hasfocused interest on the many revolutionary features whichmake this a very advanced bomber indeed. One of its more- publicized innovations is the linear bomb-bay from which bombsare ejected rearwards through an orifice between the jetpipes, after jettisoning a fairing. To someone inexperienced in thesematters, this arrangement seems unsuitable to say the least. Among its disadvantages are the following:— (i) The aircraft will have to overfly its target before dropping itsbombs; (ii) any attempt to give these bombs a trajectory similar to that used in toss-bombing will need power to overcome the forwardspeed of the aircraft; (iii) the slender fuselage (and bomb tunnel) will mean bombs have to be stowed linearly; thus the order ofdropping will have to be decided when the bombs are stowed, making for inflexibility in the aircraft's mission; (iv) the tunnel willbe a great waste of space as it cannot at its rear end be used for bomb stowage, due to e.g. limitations; and (v) the jettisoning of the fairing will decrease performance, especially at high speeds. Clearly the men from North American will have very good reasons for installing such a bomb-bay so I wondered whether some enlightened reader could help me with an explanation. Can it be that conventional rotary and clam-shell bomb-doors are unsuitable at supersonic speeds ? Teddington, Middx D. N. MAY [The linear velocity of ejected stores relative to the aircraft is small incomparison with the speed of the aircraft. Although the A3J weapon- delivery system must take the rearward speed of the stores into accountthe trajectory of the latter is similar to that of free-falling weapons. No other system could ensure clean separation of stores at A3Jspeeds—Ed] Code up the CREEK Reference in a recent Flight,To Moscow's show of aero-might, Brought to mind those odd creations,Nato's Soviet code-appellations. Now BEAR, I grant, seems fairly logical, MOOSE and BISON likewise zoological; Is it consistent, then, or bright To dub the YAK-two-nve FLASHLIGHT? HORSE and CAMEL are in this zoo,BADGER, COLT, HEN, HARE, HOG too; But Nato"s submarine Polaris-wish,Turns its thoughts, it seems, to fish. FISHPOT, FISHBED and dangling HOOK.Are in the Nato fishcode book; But for this list could not the BOUNDERBe re-coded as the FLOUNDER? And the unkindly titled CLOD,Might drop the "L" and be the COD, While further down the list the COACHCould similarly become the ROACH. But why on Earth, or sea, the BOOT,Which, garbled, could be read as COOT? Another name to cause a titter,Is the (FACEPLATE-mounting?) FITTER. About the scheme there's nothing neat,FARMER, BRAWNY, MAX and CLEAT; Nato, in its code's diffusion.Surely risks dire self-confusion. Why contrive a word like BACKFIN,When one could just as well use "Kremlin"? And will w: live to tell the taleWhen BEAGLEs thought to mean AIREDALE? Aalsmeer, Holland ROBERT R. RODWELL Commemorating the RFC HOW right Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Joubert is to expressconcern at the "couldn't care less" attitude of Air Ministryabout the 50th anniversary of the RFC next year. They ignored too the 50th anniversary of the Air Battalion last April. The aero-nautical press are not without blame, for none of them made refer- ence to this important anniversary except for Peter Breen's newRAF News, which carried a letter from me on the matter. The Air Battalion was the beginning of Army flying in the UK andshould have been remembered more widely. London, W14 GEOFFREY DORMAN July 30-Aug 7 Aug Aug Aug 1-13 27 27- Sept 3 Aug 29- Sept 2 SeptSept Sept SeptSept Sept Sept Sept Sept Sept Oct Oct 33-14 4-10 6-108-10 9 11-15 11-17 13-17 23-24 7-812 FORTHCOMING EVENTS Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club: Northern Gliding Contest. Italian Gliding Championships. Forli Rally. Swedish Parachute Club: International Contest, Uppsala. International Light-aircraft Exhibition, Luton Airport. Wolverhampton Aero Club: At Home. 8th Anglo-American Aeronautical Conference (joint IAS/ RAeS/CAl), London. SBAC Exhibition and Flying Diplay, Farnborough. FAI: European Air Tour. Popular Flying Association: Rally, Cranfield. British Air Flail Society: Golden Jubilee Exhibition and Dinner, Windsor. Royal College of Advanced Technology, Salford: Course on Noise Measurement. Battle of Britain Week. German Aero Club: 2nd International Sporting Pilots' Rally, Baden-Baden. International Grand Prix for Light Aircraft, Bourges. Genoa Rally. Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators: Lecture by Air Cdre W. K. Stewart.
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