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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 2310.PDF
Whirlwind and Pyramid The Gnome- engined Westland Whirlwind Mk 10, referred to in o news-item on this page, seen flying past the Great Cheops Pyramid in Egypt contrast between the facilities available when he was a cadet and those provided today—when Cranwell had become "some thing any university might envy." The new building has 80,000 sq ft of floor space and in addition to 56 offices, 33 lecture rooms and 18 laboratories its facilities include a high-speed wind tunnel. Aubisque Flies Initial flight trials of the Turbomeca Aubisque turbofan (Flight International, February 15, 1962) have been proceeding satisfactorily since September 3. CGTM have mounted the l,5401b-thrust unit on a cradle extended from a Canberra bomb bay. Putting Centigrade First From next Monday (October 15) at OlOOhr the centigrade scale is to precede Fahrenheit in all weather pronouncements by the Meteorological Office. For the past eight months centigrade figures have been given after the Fahrenheit ones, for com parison. Now the Fahrenheit scale is to take a back seat and will eventually be dropped altogether. Middle East Gnome Orders? Bristol Siddeley Engines say that there are now firm prospects of Gnome engine sales in several Middle Eastern countries following the "highly successful" tour carried out by the Gnome-engined Westland Whirlwind Mk 10, XP400, which landed at Farn- borough on the last day of the SBAC show (September 9) after covering 6,400 miles on Middle East sales demonstrations. The company comment that a helicopter tour of this range, coupled with a series of arduous demonstrations, had never previously been attempted from the UK. Lasting four weeks, it involved 2,800 miles' flying over sea routes. A total of 77hr flying time was achieved and no engine defects were experienced. BS also state that, following the recent announcement of the Royal Netherlands Navy order for Gnome engines in Agusta Bell 204B helicopters (Flight International, August 9), recent export orders for their FLIGHT International, 11 October 1962 range of small gas turbines amount to a further £lm. These orders are for Nimbus- engined Westland Wasp and Scout heli copters for a number of overseas operators, including the Royal Australian Navy, and for Gnome engines for Italian Air Force Agusta Bell 204Bs. R-R Exports, Sales and Servicing Civil turbine aero engines made by Rolls-Royce are now being used by 108 airlines and 110 other operators in 61 countries. The company has more civil turbines in service throughout the world than any other manufacturer. So far, 142 repeat orders have been placed, by 66 customers, covering more than 410 aircraft. A statement by the chairman in May this year reported that the gross trading revenue for 1961, amounting to £123m, was not only the highest figure yet recorded but included a record volume of exports at £60m. The following figures were quoted for the number of employees in given years and the value of export orders: 1955, 30,900 (£15.7m); 1956, 33,300 (£20.5m); 1957, 35,200 (£29.4m); 1958, 33,800 (£36.3m); 1959, 34,100 (£34.2m); 1960, 37,500 (£42.4m); 1961, 41,300 (£55.2m). Note: These figures are for aero equipment only. To support the operation of its engines, Rolls-Royce has built up a world-wide service and overhaul organization which (i) provides advice on spares and data for maintenance planning before aircraft are delivered; (ii) advises on overhaul shop planning and—where desired—arranges procurement of equipment; (iii) provides service and repair engineers who give on- the-spot advice to customers. More than 250 service and overhaul engineers are stationed with airlines, air forces and air craft constructors throughout the world. Zero-zero Rocket Ejection Rocket Power Inc, of Mesa, Arizona, claim to have developed and tested the first ejection seat rocket catapult capable of operation over the full speed and height range, down to zero-zero. Called the Zero Zero, their system has been designed for retrofitting to existing ejection seats in F-104s and F-105s and will lift the pilot to a height of 400ft. Ejection weight of the man/seat is 4001b; rocket burn-out is at 0.5sec at 40ft; man-seat separation at lsec at 110ft; pilot chute deployment at 2.5sec at 272ft; peak height 400ft at 5.1 sec; personal chute fully open at 7sec and 350ft; and time between ejection and landing, 19sec. Rocket Power are devel oping a more advanced unit for the Gemini space capsule seats (page 612). Their claim to be the first to achieve this zero-zero performance ignores the fact that Martin-Baker Aircraft not only developed, but publicly demonstrated the same cap ability in two demonstrations with live subjects, at least eighteen months ago— one of the occasions being the main public air display at the 1961 Paris Salon. The Martin-Baker rocket seat is fitted in the Dassault Balzac VTOL prototype and has been supplied for the German VJ-101D. The rocket pack can be retrofitted to existing seats. Martin-Baker have also made seven 583 variants of a gun-operated zero-zero ejec tion seat for V/STOL aircraft, in which an enlarged drogue gun also extracts the main parachute canopy. Maximum operating speed is 350kt. This seat was used "in anger" in the Ryan VZ-3RY and is fitted to the Messerschmitt VTOL "flying bed stead," Hawker P. 1127 prototypes. Short SC.ls, Dornier Do29, Handle v Page H.P.I 15 and Hunting H.126. Looking Into the 1970s This year's joint meeting of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute and the US Institute of the Aerospace Sciences, being held in Toronto on October 22 and 23, will have as its theme Aerospace Technology in 1972. A dozen papers are being given, covering all aspects of aviation and astronautics in the 1970s. Among the subjects will be Space Activity in 1972, by Mr F. Schueller, chief of programmes and planning, Development Directorate, Lewis Research Center, NASA; The Communications Satellite in the 1970s, by Mr N. I. Korman, director, advanced military systems, David Sarnoff Research Center, RCA; Commercial Air Transport 1972: An Uncertain Prophecy, by Mr I. A. Gray ,di rector, maintenance and engineering, and, Mr J. A. Gillies, manager, engineering, CPAL; and Private Flying in 1972, by Wg Cdr W. N. Hoye, head of the transport and training aircraft branch, Air Materiel Command, RCAF, The Chief of the Air Staff, RCAF, Air Marshal C. R. Dunlap, is to be guest of honour and principal speaker at a dinner on October 22. Aiding General Aviation Main theme of the Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers' fourth convention, held in Bournemouth this week (October 9-11). has been "Private and Executive Flying." In his opening address last Tuesday the Master, Mr J. MacDonald. emphasized this when he said: "May I make it clear that our duty is to serve the interests of all who fly, from the ultra-light to the supersonic. We are prepared to help the non-com mercial pilot in every way we can. We expect in return only a responsible attitude to basic rules." The whole of the convention's first day was being devoted to general aviation and ATC, with Mr Peter Masefield and Gp Capt Douglas Bader as guest speakers. Yester day, delegates were taking a look at the 1970s, and Mr MacDonald stressed the problem of working in darkness. Saying that probably 80 per cent of the 2,000 controllers in the UK had to do so, he commented: "If radar is to be the main tool of ATC for some time to come . . . then serious efforts should be made to produce satisfactory daylight viewing facilities." We hope to report the convention as a whole in next week's issue. Directing Air Armament Research The Minister of Aviation, with the agree ment of the Secretary of State for Air, recently appointed Air Cdre D. D. Hatfield as Director of Air Armament (Research and Development) with effect from December 3.
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