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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1221.PDF
FLIGHT, 31 August 1961 323 NEW from the ACCESSORY INDUSTRY . . . contained air-driven saw for cutting intocrashed aircraft, and a new fire-fighting suit of aluminized asbestos with a heat-insulating undersuit, allowing a rescuer to stay "many times longer in the heartof a very high temperature fire than the 50 or so seconds granted by previoussuits". Ferranti Ltd In addition to theiralready well-known products—which include the Airpass radar fire-controlsystem in its Mk 2 version (though only the Mk 1 system will be on view)—Ferrantiwill be showing at Farnborough the new Type 100 intermediate-size stable plat-form for navigation systems. Fully manoeuvrable, it carries three accelero-meters and is stabilized by three flotation- type gyros. Synchros on the gimbalssupply attitude and heading information, and inertia! velocity is derived by inte-grating accelerometer outputs. Driven through geared servo motors, the newplatform provides short-term inertia! navigation facilities and can be combinedwith other navigation aids, such as Doppler, in which the high quality ofthe heading output allows accurate navi- gation for long periods. It is likely that the platform on showwill be mounted on a rocking table simulating a manoeuvring aircraft. As itwill be operating in the Schuler tuned Goodyear Aviation "thermal" tyre mode, i.e., an undamped period of 84minutes, it may be possible for the exhibit to demonstrate the velocity ofthe earth's rotation. Another recently introduced Ferrantiequipment is the Airstream Direction Detector, for presenting angle-of-attackinformation to a pilot in "head-up" or "head-down" form. Equally effective inthe take-off, cruise and approach phases, it enables full advantage to be taken ofparticular characteristics of the aircraft for particular operations, and it will alsowarn the pilot when he is approaching an operational limit of his aircraft. The detector, it is stated, will sensethe direction of local airflow to an accuracy of better than 0.1° at speedsover 90kt and may be used to detect side- slip as well as angle of attack. It gives a Front plate of VGI09 Mk III vibration generator, seen dur- ing assembly. This is the largest generator in the Goodmans Industries range of vibrators continuous reading with no flutter orovershoot from 60kt upwards. The system is being fitted as standard equip-ment to all Scimitar, Sea Vixen and Buccaneer aircraft of the Royal Navy. Firestone Tyre & Rubber Co Ltd In their Farnborough Show display Fire-stone will be illustrating the special fabric reinforcement which they are now incor-porating in the treads of their high- speed tyres. These tyres have beendeveloped to withstand the strains of landings at speeds of the order of225 m.p.h. Flight Refuelling Ltd have developed anew fluid-level switch, known as the Mk 15, in which moving parts have beenreduced to a minimum. Other new fuel- system equipment by the company in-cludes the 1.75in-diameter Mk 42 in-line refuelling/defuelling valve, with surgerelief and a device indicating VALVE OPEN; an air-operated in-line vent valve;a combined jettison and relief valve; and a new range of lightweight pipe-con-nectors. General Electric Co Ltd A recentdevelopment is a data-transmission sys- tem consisting of a ground-to-grounddigital data link and an airborne digital- to-analogue converter unit. The groundlink utilizes three standard landlines to achieve information rates of up to3.600 Bauds. After conversion in the airborne unit from digital to analogueform, the instructions to the aircraft can either be displayed on suitable instru-ments or fed directly to the autopilot. Both ground and airborne equipmentsare fully transistorized. Another new system by GEC is acontrolled cockpit and instrument light- ing installation in which the intensity ofillumination can be continuously varied from full brightness to complete extinc-tion by means of a simple circuit using transistors and silicon-controlled rectifiersoperating from the 115V, 400c/s aircraft power supply. A feature of the device,it is stated, is the low_ weight and small physical size of equipment needed tocontrol relatively high power loadings with efficiencies in excess of 90 per cent. Sir George Godfrey & Partners Ltd A photograph on page 322 illustrates what is probably the largest single unityet developed by the company for air- borne applications: the Godfrey/SRMgearbox compressor Type GB80/210 Mk 1. Four such units provide thecharge air for the pressurization and air-conditioning system of the VC10 air-liner. Each unit is mounted directly on one of the Conway engines, from whicha quill-shaft drive is taken through a speed-increase gearbox to which isdowelled and bolted an SRM screw-type compressor incorporating a slide valveand balance-piston assembly. The effec- tive operating length of the two helically-lobed intermeshing rotors is controlled by the slide valve, which also governsthe aperture of the integral intake spill duct. During take-off at sea level theslide valves adopt the minimum-delivery setting, in which three-quarters of theair flow to the compressors is directed through the intake spill ducts. The latterare progressively closed as the aircraft climbs, and shut completely in the maxi-mum-delivery position at cruising r.p.m. at 40.000ft. Manual control of the slidevalves can override the automatic system and also permit isolation of any unit. Inthe event of hydraulic failure, the balance piston—subject to delivery air pressure—moves the valve to the minimum-delivery position. The hydraulic power is obtainedfrom the gearbox oil system. Goodmans Industries Ltd Specialists invibration generators, Goodmans will be featuring at Farnborough their recentlydeveloped VG109 Mk III generator. This equipment provides peak thrusts ofbetween 18.0001b and 22.0001b over a frequency range of 5 to 2,000c/s. Goodyear Tyre & Rubber Co (GreatBritain) Ltd A recent development by Goodyear is the "thermal" tyre as speci-fied for the Bristol T.188 all-steel research aircraft. The design of this tyre, and thecompositions used in the carcase and tread, avoid the need for the refrigerationequipment which would otherwise be necessary in the wheel wells to protectthe tyres from the effects of kinetic heating. Another recent Goodyear developmentis the "Blue Dot" sidewall inflation system, which eliminates the need forconventional valves and cores, thereby simplifying wheel design.
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