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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1859.PDF
No 2755 VOLUME 80 THURSDAY 28 DECEMBER 1961 Editor-in-Chiej MAURICE A. SMITH DFC Editoi H . F. KING MBE Technical Editoi W. T. GUNSTON Air Transport Editor 1. M. RA MSDE N Production Editor ROY CASEY Managing Director H. N. PRIAULX MBE IN THIS 1 From All Quarters Military Herald Missiles and Space-flight Flight System Survey Sport and Business YS-11 Anti-gravity Straight and Level Oleg Antonov The Navy's Airline Aviaco Mechanized Air Dropping Correspondence Air Commerce Service Aviation SS U E 974 976 977 982 983 984 986 988 989 99O 992 994 997 998 1OO4 Official Organ of the Royal Aero Club First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded in 1909 TSR.2 |OW deep is the ocean ? How high is the sky? How firm is a programme? How good is an unbuilt aeroplane? The rhetorical questions posed in the popular song differ little from those which could well be asked about any advanced aeronautical project, in particular the TSR.2 multi-purpose aircraft now being built for the RAF. In the one case no answer is expected because of the emotional context: in the other because of security regulations and the fallibility of aircraft builders. In any case, the TSR.2 has a singularity among weapon systems of the future, for although its physical characteristics have been preserved as one of the best-kept aeronautical secrets of our time a quite remarkable amount of miscellaneous information concerning the programme and predicted performance has been officially divulged. And if ever a pro- gramme was firm in a military and technical sense then we believe the TSR.2 to be rock-firm. It is an aircraft for which the RAF expressed not merely a requirement, but a passionate desire. It is definitely on. As for performance, it is known that its radius of action will be at least a thousand miles and a Mach number of about 2 should be obtainable at height. In his recent appraisal of Australian deliberations on a Canberra replace- ment our Australian contributor Stanley Brogden suggested that the range of the TSR.2 might be "too short." It now appears, however, that his appraisal was based on consideration of the aircraft as a low-level type, whereas it has been officially stated that the TSR.2 "will fly at supersonic speeds at high altitude for a considerable part of the journey." There is, in fact, every reason to believe that the British Aircraft Corporation team in Australia has been able to satisfy the RAAF on this as on other essential points. The French and American contenders could certainly be available earlier; but both are probably inferior to the TSR.2 in important respects. The political and military considerations confronting the Australian authorities are manifold; as Mr Brogden puts it in his latest communication, "Quite a problem, this bomber decision." The decision is, in fact, one which might well influence the future of what promises to be a British aircraft of quite exceptional capability: to influence it, however, not as a firm project for Britain's aircraft industry but as an export commodity of high potential. Iliffe Transport Publications Ltd, DorsetHouse, Stamford Street, London, SE1; telephone Waterloo 3333 (Telex 25137).Telegrams Flightpres London Telex. Annual subscriptions: Home £4 15s.Overseas £5. Canada and USA J15.00. Second Class Mail privileges authorizedat New York, NY. Branch Offices Coventry: 8-10 Corpora-tion Street; telephone Coventry 25210. Birmingham: King Edward House, NewStreet, 2; telephone Midland 7191. Man- chester: 260 Deansgatf1 3; telephoneBlackfriars 4412 or Deansgate 3595 Glasgow: 62 Burhunun Street Cl; tele-phone Central 12(50-0. New York, NYr: Thomas Skinner & Co(Publishers) Ltd, 111 Broadway 6; telephone Digby 9-1197. © Iliffe Transport Publications Ltd.1961. Permission to reproduce illustra- tions and letterpress can be granted onlyunder written agreement. Brief extracts or comments may be made with dueacknowledgement. A Cautionary Tale OUGHT the senior civil servants who have so much technical say inBritish aviation to be "career men," fresh(for example)from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries? Or ought they to be professional aviation people? So far as we know, there is only one top man in the Ministry of Aviation in the latter category. What is the exception in this country seems, in America, to be rather more the rule. At any rate, let us give currency to this diverting little tale; it may or may not have a moral, but it is certainly cautionary. At Washington National Airport last month a Cessna collided on the ground with a United Air Lines Viscount. The pilot of the Cessna has just been fined 50 dollars by the FAA for handling his aeroplane carelessly. Indeed, the matter has been brought to the attention of no less an FAA official than Mr Najeeb Halaby, the agency's Administrator. He was the pilot of the Cessna.
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