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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 2017.PDF
428 FLIGHT International, 13 September 1%J WORLD E W S U-2 Incidents On the morning of Sunday September 9 a Lockheed U-2 flown from Formosa by a Chinese Nationalist pilot was brought down over the mainland of China. A spokesman in Taipeh said the U-2 was one of two supplied by Lockheed Aircraft in July 1960, and that it was on a "routine reconnaissance mission"; the Nationalists, he said, had "every right" to fly over China. The Soviet Union last week protested to the United States that a U-2 had violated Russian airspace by flying over the southern tip of the island of Sakhalin, north of Japan, on August 30. According to the Russians, the aircraft was over Soviet territory and territorial waters for nine minutes, from 7.21 p.m. (Moscow time). In a reply to the Russian note, the United States said that a USAF patrol aircraft—no type was mentioned—had been in the area, but was well outside Soviet territorial limits when severe winds were encountered. If Soviet airspace had been violated, this was owing to a navigational error under extremely difficult flying con ditions. Indian-French Agreement The Government of India has signed an agreement with an unamed French com pany for the manufacture of helicopter engines and components in India. This was announced recently by the Defence Min ister, Mr Krishna Menon, in the Lok Sabha; but he refused, "on grounds of public interest," to give any further infor mation, saying that this might prejudice the terms of the contract. Mr Menon also announced that an agree ment had been concluded with the Soviet Union for the acquisition and manufacture of Soviet engines for the Mk 2 version of the Hindustan Aircraft HF-24. Production was to start in India next year. Negotiations were in progress with the Soviet Union for the purchase of heavy transport aircraft and helicopters "for immediate require ments." A decision on the purchase of fighter aircraft by India—the Lightning, Mig-21 and Mirage III have been considered— would be taken when all the information was available and had been evaluated. Grasshopper on View A second prototype Grasshopper, the twin- engined light helicopter being developed for Rotorcraft Ltd by Servotec Ltd, at Feltham, Middx, was on view privately last week. It had been hoped to have it in the static display at the SBAC show but it could not be got ready in time. This aircraft, G-ARVN, bears the same registration letters as the first research prototype, flown last spring by Mr Basil Arkell. The Grasshopper has been conceived and designed by Mr Jacob Shapiro. Apart from its two engines the helicopter's main features are twin, contra-rotating rotors, power being transmitted through two shafts, one inside the other, with a common gearbox; absence of a tail rotor, the aircraft having instead a butterfly tail unit for stabilization in pitch and yaw; and ease of maintenance through an exchange of field assemblies. Powerplants in the first prototype are: Walter Mikrons of 65 b.h.p.; Walter Minors of 105 b.h.p. in the second prototype; and Rolls-Royce Continental O-200As of 100 b.h.p. in the production version. It is hoped that the second prototype will fly before the end of this year. Rotorcraft Section Dinner Proposing the toast of the Rotorcraft Section of the RAeS at the annual dinner in London last Thursday, Dr W. Cawood, Chief Scientist, War Office, suggested a two minutes' silence in memory of the Rotodyne. He also complimented Wg Cdr Wallis on the development of his autogyro. People had been hypnotized for too long by the helicopter's ability to hover when extreme STOL was adequate for certain tasks—and was much cheaper. Dr Cawood felt that too little effort had been devoted at RAE to helicopter development: too much research had been concentrated on high performance. Prof J. A. J. Bennett, chairman of the Rotorcraft Section, and Admiral of the Fleet Sir Caspar John, for the guests, traced the history of helicopter development, not ing that it was the Royal Navy who encour aged Igor Sikorsky in the early 1940s and ordered 250 R-5s for Atlantic anti-sub marine work, when the US Navy was much more preoccupied with other operations in the Pacific. The Army and the Royal Navy now had very different requirements, but high costs meant that few helicopters could be bought and much was expected from them. The Navy wanted twin engines and a floating hull. Sir Caspar said that the Admiralty and Air Ministry did not need to be "prodded" on helicopter development and that Westland, with a helicopter monopoly, bore a heavy responsibility. Aereon III is the name of the rigid airship being built at Trenton, NJ, by Aereon Corpora tion. Each lobe of its triple hull, 83ft long, contains six gas cells. A photograph of the interior structure appeared in these pages on August 9 James H. Kindelberger Honoured The 1962 Daniel Guggenheim Medal has been awarded posthumously to the late James H. Kindelberger, former chairman of the board of North American Aviation Share for Short? Artist's impression of the Vought/HillerlRyan XC-142 tilt-wing transport. Short Brothers & Harland announced last week that, if it eventually wins the NATO BMR-4 competition, they will share in its manufacture by a group of European constructors. Some details of the XC-142, and another illustration, appear in the article "VTOL in America" en pages 460-462 ".: ••
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