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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1647.PDF
751 FLIGHT,16 Nov 1961 ON SCHEDULE, the first of the three Argosies for BEA was handed over on November 6 at Whitworth Gloster's Bitteswell airfield. At the cere- mony were (I to r) Mr D. A. Woodley, WGA transport aircraft project and development manager; Mr H. F. Butler, WGA project designer; Mr J. P. Golding, BEA type-engineer, propeller turbines; Capt E. Smith, BEA (who flew the aircraft to the corporation's Stansted training base); Mr E. D. Keen, WGA director and chief engineer; Mr J. Austin, WGA assistant chief inspector. The photograph was taken in the Argosy's hold, which is metal-lined to BEA requirements Air Cdre Banks on Engine Development AN historical review entitled The Aero Engine in the TwentiethCentury was the subject of the Sir George Cayley Memorial Lecture delivered before the Brough Branch of the Royal AeronauticalSociety on November 8. The lecturer was Air Cdre F. R. Banks. Of particular interest, in the air commodore's written paper, werehis remarks on the development of fuel, with which, in former years, he was particularly concerned. He said: "Since fuel played a mostimportant, almost vital, part in the development of the piston-type aero engine, a word on fuels generally would not be out of place.The more active and intensive period of fuel and engine develop- ment occurred in the 20 years between 1930 and 1950, and the fuelspecified by the Air Ministry in 1930 had a knock rating of 73-77 octane and consisted of a mixture of 80 per cent 'straight run'aviation gasoline and 20 per cent benzole. Comparing that fuel with modern 115-145 Grade, engine performance was increased inthat 20-year period by about 200 per cent, with a corresponding improvement in fuel consumption of 20 per cent, though, naturally,there was also considerable advance in engineering techniques and metallurgy at the same time. A further example: the Liberty engineof the First World War gave 400 b.h.p. on 58 octane fuel, but the Merlin gave more than 2,000 b.h.p. on 150 Grade fuel—bothengines having the same piston displacement. Leaded fuel of 87 octane was first introduced into this country in the early thirtiesand used for all British military engine development from 1932 onwards, to be followed by 100 octane fuel—at first for enginedevelopment but eventually replacing 87 octane fuel in the Second World War. Full credit for both fuels goes to the US Army." The air commodore's summary of plug development was also ofparticular interest. He said: "Up to the beginning of the Second World War, mica was the insulating material, but it was not stand-ing up well to the increasing power outputs. Just before the war, Siemens, in Germany, had developed an insulator of sinteredaluminium oxide, which was fired in a kiln at very high temperature (about J,700°C). Afterwards, Bosch produced a variant of theSiemens material; and then AC, K.L.G. and Lodge started to develop sintered aluminium oxide insulators for their plugs. A.C.made use of the original Siemens material (Sinterkerund), while K.L.G. took a licence from Bosch. Lodge developed a very success-ful insulator of the same basic material along their own lines, i.e., Sintox. All these ceramics had fluxing agents, which helped toreduce the sintering temperature somewhat. An important British sparking-plug development was the fine-wire electrode of platinumalloy, originally introduced by K.L.G." New Midlands Club Activity THAT club flying in the Midlands is in a healthy state was indicatedby the opening of the newly formed Coventry Flying and Country Club last Saturday by Aid W. Callow, Lord Mayor of Coventry.Not to be confused with the long-established Coventry Aeroplane Club, the aim of this organization—based at Baginton and associ-ated with Devonair Ltd—is to provide tuition to CPL standard. At the same time the social side will be well catered for. There are twobars, a large ballroom with organized dancing at weekends to a live band; and a first-class licensed restaurant. Devonair will provide and service the club aircraft, and econo-mical flying is available on a Tiger Moth, a Magister and an Auster Mk 5; hourly charges will be £3, £3 5s and £3 12s 6d respectively.There are also a Chipmunk for £5 an hour and a Tri-Pacer at £6, while twin-engined tuition is available on an Apache for an hourlyrate of £20. Devonair own G-AEWZ, one of the two remaining D.H. Dragonflies, which is currently undergoing repairs after aground loop at Elmdon. When this aircraft is in commission the club hopes to offer twin flying at £10 an hour. In addition to the social amenities in the club-house, briefingrooms, radio cubicles and a D.4 link trainer will be available. TURBINE-POWERED developments of the Soviet Mi-1 and Mi-4 helicopters are the V-8 (top) and V-2. According to "Soviet Weekly," they have the same dimensions and weights as their piston-engined precursors, but carry substantially increased payloads. Thus, the V-2 takes from six to eight passengers (the Mi-1 carried only two) and the V-8 seats 20-26 IN BRIEF FROM MINISTRY TO INDUSTRY: On his retirement from the post of Director-General of Engineering, Air Ministry, AVM G. Silyn- Roberts, CB, CBE, AFC, has joined Electro- Hydraulics Ltd as engineering consultant. In addition to advising on technical matters, AVM Silyn-Roberts—who will continue to reside in London is to assist the company in main- taining closer liaison with the aircraft industry Mr J. E. Armitage has been appointed comptroller of British AircraftCorporation. He will continue for a limited period as commercial director of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. The Kronfeld Club's fourth annual exhibition of aviation paintingsand drawings was due to be opened yesterday (November 15) by Peter Scott. Held at the club's premises at 74 Eccleston Square,London SW1, the exhibition will continue until November 25. Twenty-first anniversary of the establishment of Napier's LutonAirport factory was marked recently by the presentation of a pair of silver candelabra for the Corporation's plate and regalia. At a ceremonyat the Town Hall, the Mayor (Aid G. L. Matthews) received them from Mr C. L. Cowdrey, general manager of the company's Luton Division."Napier,"' said the Mayor in a speech, "is a credit to the industrial life of the town.'" The first F-104G to be completed by Arge Nord flew from the 10,000ftrunway at Schiphol on November 11. Assembled by Fokker from com- ponents shipped by Lockheed, Canadair, and other transatlanticcompanies, it was airborne for 25min in the hands of A. P. Moll, chief test pilot, who exceeded Ml on the climb and carried out most of thefirst test at approximately Ml.5. The aircraft is stencilled KG-101 and is destined for the Luftwaffe. Mr J. A. Corner, chairman and managing director of CornercroftLtd, the well-known Coventry engineering group, is retiring. He founded the original company in 1919, with Mr Norman Rycroft, toproduce "Ace" wheel discs and other motor accessories. Since then the business has expanded steadily, and during the war additional factorieswere acquired for aircraft component and other precision engineering work. Aircraft sub-assemblies and sheet-metal products have continuedto form a large proportion of Cornercroft output, which has also extended to other fields, including plastic moulding.
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