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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0077.PDF
fLIGHT International, 17 January 1963 be solved in bringing a VTOL aircraft to the hover over a given spot in fog, par ticularly so because the traditional cues of auitude and speed do not readily define the approach performance of the VTOL machine. The flight control system includes an attitude hold facility which will main tain the attitude of the aircraft constant during the approach regardless of external moments and trim changes. New instru mentation is required for the pilot's use. Shorts are making use of simulators and computers and have fitted a tape-recording system and ground-analysis facility handling some 18,000 data points per second. The newly equipped SC.l should fly its first trials during the coming days or weeks. The company have learned much from their research with the SC.l and should learn a great deal more from the coming programme. They are understandably disappointed that this pioneering know ledge should have found virtually no out let in British projects. Malayan Heralds and Herons It was reported from Kuala Lumpur last Thursday that the Royal Malayan Air Force is to buy four Handley Page Heralds and two de Havilland Herons and is also to get four Sud Alouette 3 helicopters. The report, based on a Malayan Armed Forces statement, said that the Herons are to be delivered in April this year and the Heralds and Alouettes in the third quarter of 1963. Handley Page Ltd said last week that they had received letters of intent for four Heralds for the RMAF but that no con tract had as yet been signed. 69 British Aviation Gets its Skates On Last week we illustrated a ski conversion of an Army Air Corps DHC Reaver at Middle Wallop, and now comes this picture of the undercarriage of the Tiger Club's Piper PA-18, flown successfully by Mr Ncrman Jones and others at Redhili last weekend. A pair of water skis and some Dexion angle provided the wherewithal STOL Otter Over the past six years de Havilland Aircraft of Canada has been pursuing an extensive STOL research and development programme in co-operation with the De fence Research Board of Canada. Its purpose is to assess the aerodynamic, performance, stability and control problems of STOL aircraft, with the object of achiev ing new refinements in the art. The RCAF supplied a DHC-3 Otter aircraft as test vehicle for the project. The Otter was chosen because of its existing configuration—particularly its powerful, double-slotted flaps, which provide excep tional power-on lift coefficients and make it a highly suitable vehicle for the test role. The initial evaluation programme, which was fully described and illustrated in this journal for July 15, 1960, was carried out to assess the potential of a deflected-slip stream configuration. Later a General Electric J85 turbojet, of 2,4501b thrust, was installed in the rear fuselage to STOL Otter As de scribed in an accom panying news-item, de Hav illand Aircraft of Canada Ltd and the Canadian De fence Research Board are collaborating in a STOL research programme. The aircraft involved is an Otter, but—as these illus trations emphasize—it has been modified almost out of recognition. The engines are Canadian Pratt & Whitney PT6A turboprops permit the examination of in-flight reverse thrust in combination with slip stream deflection. At this stage the under carriage was modified to have approxi mately twice the standard energy absorp tion. Flight-test results with this latter pro gramme conducted during 1961-62 proved very encouraging. Minimum speeds as low as 48 m.p.h. were obtained through the use of propeller slipstream deflection at the gross weight of 8,0001b. STOL landing techniques, exploiting the control capability of in-flight reverse thrust, have also been evolved. These, say DHC, "permit a higher degree of STOL landing performance consistency . . . even for very short landing distances." This control, allowing the pilot to alleviate to a very significant degree the adverse effects of wind shear and gusts on the STOL landing distance, suggests interesting possi bilities for the future STOL transport aircraft. In its latest configuration (pictured) the original Pratt & Whitney R-1340 piston engine has been replaced by two Canadian Pratt & Whitney Aircraft PT6 500 h.p. turboprops fitted to the standard Otter wing. In addition, the J85 has been retained in its rear-fuselage mounting. The aircraft will operate at a gross weight of 9,5001b, with the undercarriage modified for improved rate-of-descent capability. On the basis of data obtained to date, through study of a number of models and actual flight-test results, indications are that a very significant short-field perform ance improvement can be offered to military and civil transport operators at slight in crease in cost or complexity. However, while the DHC-3 Otter was chosen for the DHC-DRB programme because of its suitability as a test vehicle, no plans for the production of aircraft in the described configurations have as yet been considered. •SgSf «*»"»<••*&":*'"**«•
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