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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1822.PDF
936 FLIGHT, 14 December 1961 Correspondence The Editor of " Flight" is not necessarily in agreement with the views expressed by correspondents in these columns. Names and addresses of writers, not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. Turboprop Beagles ? CLOSING-DOWN of the Christchurch factory of de Havillandand the threatened shut-down of the Gloster works with all its implications has no doubt come as a hard blow to readers ofFlight. To my way of thinking this should be a challenge. Frankly, I see no reason why British designers should not recover ourdwindling export trade in all classes of aircraft, though I have in mind the light and executive aeroplane that is now being sold fromabroad through British agents. Blackburn, de Havilland, Bristol Siddeley and Rolls-Royce couldproduce a medium-sized turboprop while the Rover concern is only waiting for a design in which to install its 90 h.p. turboprop. It isto be hoped that Beagle-Auster and Beagle-Miles will quickly market turboprop versions of all their products and I see no reasonwhy existing Austers could not be modified to receive the 90 h.p. Rover turboprop—in the interim—to gain turboprop experience.If only we had another Claude Grahame-White to back Peter Masefield in his strenuous efforts to "wake up England"! Birmingham 14 MAURICE AUSTIN Rearward-facing Seats REFERRING to recent correspondence about rearward-facingseats, I feel sorry for the ARB because, however well they present their case, they are not going to convince anybody whowas unfortunate enough to read the remarks which triggered off the present discussion, and old friend Dick Abel (Correspondence,November 30) is not helping by throwing-in some irrelevancies. Firstly, although some forward-facing people would doubtlessbe broken in half by their seat belts in a 9g crash, some other people would not. (For the sake of argument, a lady acrobatic dancerweighing 6\ stone probably wouldn't.) Also, Dick Abel is criticizing forward-facing seats withoutreferring to the method of holding down the passenger; and it may be that in a few years, when we are all used to wearing shoulderharness in our motor cars, airline commercial managers will not mind if passengers are told to strap themselves in properly fortake-off and landing. If this comes to pass, people will be able to survive more than9g crashes without the discomfort of sitting in aft-facing seats during take-offs when the fuselage makes an angle which looks like 47| tothe horizontal, for reasons which have nothing to do with safety at all. Sandhurst, Berks J. CUTLER Monospar Memories THE letter from Senrab (Correspondence. November 23) hascaused me to scratch my head and look up some of my old albums.As you say in a footnote to my previous letter (November 9) the original machine was built at Brockworth to the order of AeroSyndicate Ltd, Byron House, St James's Street. It was a three- T7ie Monospar referred to by the Hon Robin Cazalet in his letter below: a photograph taken at Croydon Airport in 1934 seater and was designed to take two 80 h.p. Redrup engines, Forsome reason, these were not available, so it was fitted with two 40 h.p. Salmson engines, and taken to Hanworth in 1930 where itwas put through flying tests. G-ACHU was in fact built at Croydon, as Senrab says. I tookit back there in February 1934 to have the ST.6 undercarriage fitted. I have a photo [reproduced herewith—Ed] of what I think is theST. 10, taken that year, with the Airport Hotel clearly recognizable in the background. In the same year an ST. 10 fitted with Niagaraengines, G-ACTS, piloted by H. M. Schofield, with its designer as navigator, easily won the King's Cup race at a speed of 134 m.p.h. I flew my machine in the same race and started favourite. Forthe first time in my life I took a navigator on board, but we lost the way on the Bristol leg. In June the following year, General Aircraft gave a large partyat their Feltham works to unveil the new "Jubilee" model S.T.25. This was similar to the ST.10, with two 90 h.p. Pobjoy Niagaras.It had a fifth seat at the back which could fold down to take luggage. It had a Plessey radio receiver and homing device, cabin andnavigation lights, and the specification included dipping landing lights, cabin starters, hydraulic wheel brakes with differential ruddercontrol and parking brake, throw-over control wheel, upholstery by Rumbold, full tools and motor covers. The price all in, believeit or not, was £1.550. K. Seth Smith spent all the afternoon taking parties joy-riding. New Ross, Co Wexford ROBIN CAZALET 19th Century SpeedsI AM afraid that the Rev Alfred J. Bartlett's claim to be theholder of the world's speed record in 1893, with 40 m.p.h., is unacceptable. Perhaps you and your correspondent (this page,November 30) overlooked the fact that he claimed it "with a twinkle in his eye." The Rev Bartlett, together with vast numbers of his con-temporaries, habitually travelled at speeds much higher than 40 m.p.h., while many of their grandparents could have made asimilar claim. When Whishaw published his train timings, taken in 1839 on normal services, maximum speeds of 50 m.p.h. wererecorded on several railways, while down the Maddely Bank of the Grand Junction Railway the recorded maximum was 68.2 m.p.h.Even if we suspect that the crude methods of timing used inflated this last figure, it is reasonably certain that absolute maximumspeeds of about 40 m.p.h. were reached soon after 1830, 60 m.p.h. about 1840, 80 m.p.h. early in the eighteen-fifties, and at least90 m.p.h. in the early nineties. And we must not forget the incredible speed achieved on theDublin atmospheric railway in the early eighteen-forties. With a young engineering student aboard, the towing carriage broke awayfrom the rest of the train and ascended this short, steep and bumpy line at a speed alleged to average over 90 m.p.h. A few simplecalculations seem to show that this speed was quite possible, and that the acceleration experienced could have been little inferior tothat given by a modern steam catapult! Although motor cars had not attained 40 m.p.h. by 1893. Ithink that we can dispose of any claims made after 1837 for world land speed records as low as 40 m.p.h. Yeovil, Som M. C. JONFS Mixed Ornithology? SURELY the caption to your photograph on page 857 (issue ofNovember 30) should say that the Wakefield seaplane is theWaterhen. Cowley points out that Waterbird was destroyed in March 1912. Your photograph was published in June.Is your ornithology getting a trifle mixed? London Wl F. H. SMITH FORTHCOMING EVENTS Dec 15 RAeS Man-powered Aircrafc Group: "Problems of a Man-powered Rotorcraft," by R. A. Graves. Dec (7 Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences:Wright Brothers Lecture, Washington DC. Dec 18 Institute of Transport; Annual General Meeting. Dec 19 Photogrammetric Society: "Adjustment of Aerial Triangulation by Electronic Digital Computers," by D. W. Proctor and Faud Amer. Dec 19 Institute of Transport (West Middlesex Group): "Practical Aspects of Operating Jet Aircraft," by Capt J. B. Linton. Dec 21 Society of Instrument Technology (Grangemouth Section): "Instrumentation of Space Vehicles," by Dr A. E. Roy. I Institute of Transport (Metropolitan Section): "Development of an Airport," by Maurice G. Housego. 4 RAeS: Young People's Lecture, "Airliners of the Future," by Godfrey H. Lee. 5 RAeS Rotorcraft Section: "Rotating Aerofoils and Flaps," by Dr S. Neumark. Jan Jan Jan Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators: Livery Dinner. RAeS Historical Group: "R.10I and Other Airships," by Sir Harold Roxbee Cox. RAeS Astronautics and Guided Flight Section: "Development of Seaslug," by C. Bayly and A. Lightbody. Aircraft Recognition Society: All-England Competition. RAeS Graduates' and Students' Section: "The New Bluebird," by K.W. Norns. RAeS Man-powered Aircraft Group: "Design Philosophy of Man- powered Aircraft," by J. J. Spillman. RAeS: Joint discussion with Institution of Electrical Engineers. Institute of Transport (West Middlesex Group): "The work of IATA and the Clearing House," by A. J. Quin-Harkin. RAeS Branch Fixtures (to Dec 21): Dec 15, Weybridge, Annual Dance. Dec 19, Glasgow, "The Place of Wind Tunnel Research in the Development »f a New Aeroplane," by K. B. J. G. Asbeek Brusse. Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan 10 15 16 20 24 26 29 30
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