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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0994.PDF
f LIGHT International, 20 June 1963 963 Mach run and for a few seconds great wet snowflakes materialized and splashed icily on my face and hands. The push-over into level flight was complete by 37,000ft and we slipped past Mach 1 without a tremor, though there is apparently a slight trim change. At 3min 30sec we were flying level at Mach 1.05 accelerating slowly, the Mach numbers moving past behind the window in the a.s.i. scale. At Mach 1.2 the souris began to move automatically, but Capt Varin then deliberately controlled them manually until, at 6min 27sec, we reached Mach 2 at an indicated speed of 690kt, and with more than half the fuel used. The accelera tion from Mach 1 to 2 had taken 3min 5sec: outside temperature was — 58°C and height had ranged between 37,000 and just over 38,000ft. The slightest pitch attitude change produces very con siderable rates of climb or dive at such speeds. Afterburner extinction usually causes enough drag to throw you forward against the straps, but the Mirage seemed to decelerate very gently, probably by virtue of the fully variable afterburner. Capt Varin extended the airbrakes to show that it could be done, though the decelerating effect was mild. Being under radar control and now far south of Bretigny, we turned right, reducing to Mach 1.6 at 41,000ft during the turn. After that I took control, for the first time, at Mach 1.5. I found the ailerons very light and made several reasonably quick rolls; but longitudinal feel was very heavy, with a quite decided resistance to any stick movement. With the very pleasant "rocking platform" switch under my right thumb I found longitudinal trim easy to adjust. It responded quite quickly and was best used to alleviate the heavy stick-loads. I am not sure whether Oscar was getting into the act at this stage or not, but the sharp difference between very light lateral and rigid elevator control was most marked. I took a brief push at the rudder, but it seemed quite rigid. Varin later explained that the heavy elevator was specifically intended to prevent squadron pilots wearing g-suits from reaching excessive load factors. During these two minutes the Mach number fell slowly from 1.5 to 1.1. Varin took over again to fly some headings for the radar people and handed control back to me at Mach 0.9. Aileron response was now a great deal faster and the Mirage could be snapped over almost instantaneously into a turn. I pulled back hard and could see that angle of attack built up considerably, with the Adhemar lights winking away in various colours. We were by now at around 30,000ft and generally descending, taking care not to slip past Mach 1 and "plant" a boom, and evidently being led home by radar, though I could not hear the RT conversation. At Mach 0.9 to 0.8 I managed to pull 4g before the red light shone. Continuing to pull, I noticed a hard, high-frequency aerodynamic buffet, but no pitch ing or rolling. Later, at 400kt and 10,000ft I pulled similar g and only reached the orange light. Varin now warned me carefully that he was going to show me the maximum rate of roll. 1 gave a good tug at my harness straps, but the roll when it came was of an intensely unpleasant violence. My hard hat thumped against the canopy and I could feel the consider able centrifugal force generated by the rotation. 1 have never been spun round so fast in my life. Then he warned me for a roll the other way. 1 took a second hard tug at the harness and hung on to the strap ends while once again came that awful heave at everything as we spun round. 1 cannot for the life of me see the usefulness of this manoeuvre, but it certainly is impressive. We were still making our way homeward to instructions I could not hear and Varin and I were sharing the controls during a period of some 6min. This was 18min after brakes off and we were now down to 17,000ft. Varin flew a long loop, making several heading changes meanwhile, to show the use of the boule. It was fascinating to watch the thing slowly rotating and following the headings. Coming down towards 10,000ft some 20min after brakes-off we were both looking hard for the runway amongst the three-eighths cumulus cloud cover, and the fuel gauges had started to unwind decisively. 1 zoomed around some clouds at about 400kt, blipping the airbrakes to hold speed in check in the dives. The aircraft was very pleasant to fly if 1 used the trimmer frequently. Then I slowed down to 240kt, the gear-down speed. Airbrakes produced a slight nose-down trim-change; and the gear, going down quickly and quietly in 6sec, gave a very mild nose-down change. In this condi tion the Mirage appeared very manoeuvrable and pleasant to fly, though the Adhemar lights were on all the time. By 200kt I had yellow with some red in a 20° banked turn with gear and airbrakes out. The latter no longer had any worthwhile decelerating effect. The gear retracted in 7sec with an equally small trim-change and we regained speed for the final run-in to the airfield. At 21min we were at 5,000ft one mile from the circuit with the gauges down in the last quarter of the scale—time to get down on the ground. At 22min 30sec Varin called "three greens" at the end of the downwind leg and turned in for the landing. Fifty seconds later he completed the final turn at 180kt and crossed the approach lights at 160kt. We were in the Adhemar yellow sector and from my rear seat I could see only the very edges of the threshold during the last 400yd or so. With a little round-out which brought us squarely into the red sector, Varin cushioned the touchdown at under 150kt and popped the drag parachute with the nosewheel still high in the air. We slowed down rapidly and pulled over to the right to drop the parachute almost into the arms of the waiting groundcrewman, 23min 27sec after brakes-off. It had been a bit crowded, rather hot at times, but as exciting a trip as I could wish for. I really needed the champagne with which we soon toasted my entry to the Mach 2 fraternity. IN THE PARIS AIR: Westland Scout AH.1 THE Paris Salon always provides good opportunities for heli copter flying: the manufacturers have their military types on loan from the Services and are happy to give rides. Westland let me fly all three of their current basic types. I first acceded, as the French would say, to the Scout (Wessex and Whirlwind, which followed, will be the subjects of "In the Air" articles in early issues). From Westland (Fairey) pilot "Jim" Mathews I received a thorough briefing on those essential details which are rarely included in a brochure, but without which one cannot sensibly begin to fly a helicopter. First, the engine is the Bristol Siddeley Nimbus 10101 limited by redline to push a maxi mum of 685 s.h.p. into the transmission, the limit being represented by 100 per cent indication on a torque gauge and, for instantaneous reading at take-off, the 9° level of a collective-pitch gauge directly linked to collective-lever position (pitch indication is more immed iate than the torque system and useful for judging rapid power application). There is no mechanical bar against overpowering, but audio warning of overtorquing is to be provided and the full 685 s.h.p. can be maintained up to 7,000 or 8,000ft, with consequent excellent performance at altitude. Compressor r.p.m. are indicated in per cent, the normal 100 per cent equalling 35,000 r.p.m. Rotor r.p.m. are normally The West/and Scout at Le Bourget "Flight International" photograph
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