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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0573.PDF
FLIGHT International, 11 April 1963 all candidates for CPL examinations will be required to have passed an approved course of training has been put back by not less than twelve months; and the regu lations will not therefore become effective before January 1, 1965, at the earliest. It is hoped that this fact will be given the widest possible publicity. The council of the association feel that the delay in an nouncing the detailed requirements for the provision of an approved CPL course, and the date by which this must be implemented, is having a disastrous effect on recruitment at those clubs and schools which have made a considerable contribution to CPL training in the past and intend to set up an approved training school as soon as the requirements are known. Unless the detailed information is widely pub lished in the immediate future the delay will result in valuable flying instructors and aircraft becoming unemployed. London SW1 R. J. B. PEARSE. Chairman, Association of British Aero Clubs and Centres Ltd "Are You All Right?"—1931 SIR,—I was most intrigued by Roger Bacon's photograph of the C-123 with propellers feathered (issue of March 7). The picture I enclose [reproduced herewith—Ed] has, 1 think, two distinctions: the propeller has been caught absolutely "sharp," as stopped; and the aircraft—a Fairey IIIF of No 448 Fleet Spotter Reconnaissance Flight—is carrying HRH Edward, Prince of Wales, and his equerry Lord Ednam (now the Earl of Dudley). The occasion was the British Empire Exhibition at Buenos Aires in the spring of 1931 and the picture was taken over Rio de Janeiro. Preston Bissett, Bucks HARRY D. BARLOW Cdr, RN(Ret) Rolls-Royce Hawks in Trust From Air Cdr A. H. Wheeler, CBE, MA, FRAeS SIR,—Correct me if Em wrong, but you say (March 21 issue, page 388) that Royce's first aircraft engine was the Eagle. I have always been under the impression that the Falcon preceded the Eagle and that the Hawk preceded both of them. It may be of interest to your readers to know that The Shuttleworth Trust have two Rolls-Royce Hawk engines which are now being reconditioned by Rolls-Royce. It is our intention that one of them shall be mounted on a stand whereon it can be run as a demonstration. I believe the Hawk engine was mainly installed in Blimps or small air ships although one was fitted experimentally in an Avro 504K. Any information on the subject would be of interest to us. Old Warden Aerodrome, Beds A. H. WHEELER [Available information suggests that the chronology was Eagle, Hawk, Falcon.—Ed] The Fairey IIIF referred to (col I) by Cdr H.D. Barlow Polaris—The Best Choice for Britain? SIR,—With respect to Mr Devereux's kind consideration of my letter (March 7) criticizing his article, 1 apologize if 1 did not express myself clearly. It is not my contention that Polaris is free from serious criticism as our independent deterrent. What 1 do assert is that on the basis of information published, Polaris is preferable to Skybolt. As 1 said in my letter, "Skybolt was not perfect from the military point of view." Its technical faults include a small war-head, short range and the vulner ability of its carrier making this missile less attractive than Polaris. Polaris too has its faults, but 1 do not consider them as significant as Mr Devereux would have us believe. For example, there is no evidence to suggest that in the fore seeable future the state of the art will render nuclear sub marines easily detectable when in passage. Mr Devereux's reasons for detracting from the supposed effectiveness of Polaris are to some extent valid, but in comparison with Skybolt should not be over-emphasized. May 1 also reply to his point that besides Polaris "There are plenty of tasks to keep our science and technology advancing, and our economy engaged to the limit" ? No one would reasonably dispute this, nor that Skybolt would be a valuable stimulus. All that 1 suggest is that the effect of Polaris on our prestige, science and economy will be so much more beneficial compared to Skybolt that we would be foolish to waste that potential. Bromley, Kent CHARLES G. S. SMITH [Tony Devereux writes: 1 see that Mr Smith lists the disad vantages of Skybolt, as mentioned by Mr McNamara. It is of course important to remember these, but I believe Skybolt was a weapon which Britain had some prospect of deploying successfully, with a sufficiently large number and dispersion of carriers to make a surprise or secret attack impossible. Now that we are told there are only going to be four Polaris submarines—so that perhaps three will be the usual operational number at any one time—it seems more than ever clear that there is a very weak link. If there are only going to be three vital bases, it seems to me 'hat they must be on our soil, pro tected by early warning radar, so that the enemy knows any attempt to eliminate them will trigger nuclear destruction.—Ed] Vostok Re-entry Procedure SIR,—I thought the uncertainties about the Vostok re-entry procedure had been cleared up, but your correspondent G. B. Bathurst (Letters, March 14) has raised some new dif ficulties. 1 would like, if I may, to attempt to clear up some of these. The Soviet statements make it quite clear that the tail annulus is jettisoned as part of the instrument section after retro-fire but before re-entry. Therefore it can have no aerodynamic significance, and its purpose is clearly to carry the retro-rockets. The pointed nose-cone is jettisoned during boost into orbit—Yuri Gagarin says he could not see out of his ports until this occurred. It is my opinion that the re-entry para chutes are carried in the blunt leading/trailing end thus exposed. The apparent absence of any emergency escape rockets could be explained by the fact that the retro-rockets serve a two-fold purpose. Being mounted externally they could easily fire with the ship still mated to its booster. Dolgellau, Merioneth LIONEL S. BUTCHER ' Vibrator Rig FORTHCOMING EVENTS RAeS, Gloucester and Cheltenham: a.g.m. and film show Tiger Club: Air Display, Panshanger. Kronfeld Club: "Barnstorming and Gliding in the Twen ties in Australia," by Hamilton Hervey. RAeS, Coventry: a.g.m. and film show. RAeS, Weybridge: a.g.m. Society of Environmental Engineers Specification and Design." RAeS Main Society: "Structural Design of the X-15," by R. L. Schleicher. RAeS Main Society: "Propelling Nozzle Research," by M. V. Herbert and W. G. E. Lewis. Kronfeld Club: Films. RAeS Graduates' and Students' geometry Aircraft," by C. G. B. Pressure Suits," by G. C. Cook. Tiger Club: Air Display, Fair Oaks. April Apr 15 Apr 17 Apr 17 Apr 17 Apr 17 Apr 18 Apr 23 Apr 24 Apr 24 Section: " Variable- Mitchell, and "Full Apr 28
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