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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0473.PDF
[THURSDAY APRIL 4, 1963 Number 2821 Volume 83 Official Organ of the Royal Aero Club First Aeronautical Weakly in the World Founded in 1909 Editor-in-Chief IAURICE A. SMITH ore Editor H. F. KING MBE Technical Editor W.T.OU NSTON Air Transport Editor J. M. RAMS D E N Production Editor ROY CASEY Managing Director H. N. PRIAULX MBE In this issue Jet Flap in the Air 454 Air Commerce 456 Straight and Level 463 Sport and Business 464 Letters 465 Buccaneer 467 Industry International 479 Missiles and Spaceflight 482 Service Aviation 486 llifre Transport Publications Ltd, Dorset House, Stamford Street, London, SE1 ; telephone Waterloo 3333 (Telex 25137). Telegrams Flightpres London Telex. Annual subscriptions: Home £4 15s. Overseas £5. Canada and USA $15.00. Second Class Mail privileges authorized at New York, NY. Branch Offices: Coventry. 8-10 Corpora tion Street; telephone Coventry 25210. Birmingham, King Bdward House, New Street, Birmingham 2; telephone Mid land 7191. Manchester, 260 Deansgate, Manchester 3 ; telephone Blackfriare 4412 or Deansgate 3595. Glasgow, 62 Bucha nan Street, Glasgow CI ; telephone Central 1265-6. XLT.X01*' NY : Thomas Skinner & Co 'Publishers) Ltd, 111 Broadway 6; telephone Digby 8-1197. ® tiBt Transport Publications Ltd, «nw. Permission to reproduce illustra tions and letterpress can be granted only under written agreement. Brief extracts or comments may be made with due acknowledgement. Britain's VTOL Decision . . . F ROM the front pages of British national dailies the NEW WONDER JET type of headline has almost vanished; and with it has gone the popular supposition that this country has a lead in every branch of aero nautics. But there remains one kind of aeroplane which can still make the headlines without meeting with a catastrophe, and it does so under the appellation of "the jumping jet." In the VTOL field Britain still retains a significant technical lead over all other countries. This lead was won by two engine manufacturers, each working with an airframe manufacturer. One team, Rolls-Royce and Short Bros, has been sponsored by the Ministry of Aviation, and it has pioneered VTOL using separate lift and propulsion engines. Bristol Siddeley and Hawker Aircraft, financed chiefly by the United States, have evolved an alter native scheme in which a single powerplant discharges through rotating nozzles so that the thrust vector may be turned downward to give lift. At first glance the latter idea appears the obvious solution; it is un doubtedly simpler and can be cheaper. But Rolls-Royce and several aircraft manufacturers have conducted studies indicating that the weight and drag of a group of pure lift units is more than outweighed by reduced aircraft size and weight, improved matching of the propulsion engine(s) and much reduced cruise fuel consumption. Despite these results, firms in several countries have chosen vectored-thrust schemes for reasons of customer preference. A current tally shows three firms with active VTOL projects using Rolls-Royce lift units, four using Bristol Siddeley vectored thrust, one using both and three undecided. ... is Taken In Britain the Ministry of Aviation has asked for project studies on only two V/STOL aircraft, both powered by turbofan engines with vectored thrust. One is the Whitworth Gloster 681 transport. The other is the P. 1154 evolved by Hawker Aircraft around a single Bristol Siddeley BS.100 engine of over 30,0001b thrust. At the eleventh hour Rolls-Royce made a technical presentation to the Mo A of a P. 1154 with two vectored Spey engines. Last week they learned that their bid had failed; they are now to assist Bristol Siddeley, both to augment BS experimental strength and to make use of capacity available at Rolls-Royce. Discussions between the two firms began on March 27. There is no reason to expect any difficulty in reaching a happy solution, although there will certainly be some horse-trading in sorting out who will do what. Up in Derby there are many who feel that they are prophets without honour in their own country. France's Dassault Balzac has just completed a full transition, the Mirage IIIV is to fly this year, the German VJ-101C is about to begin free flight and Fiat in Italy have received a substantial design contract for VTOL fighter and transport aircraft—all using Rolls- Royce lift jets. At home all Rolls-Royce have as a reward is some work subcontracted by their rival. But collaboration is nothing new to them; and this time their partners will speak English.
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