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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1348.PDF
172 Letters The Editor of" Flight Internationar' is not necessarily in agreement with the views expressed by correspondents in these columns. Names and addresses of writers, not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters. Brief letters will have a better chance of early publication. "In Accordance with the Planned Programme . . ." SIR,—I wonder whether other readers experience the same sense of exasperation as I do when reading Russian reports of their space activities. One can only marvel at the skill with which they manage to say so little in so many words. Much as I regret the amount of valuable space in Flight International taken up by the Russian reports, it is certainly instructive to compare them to the American ones. Al though the accounts of the US astronauts leave a good deal to be desired, there is a strong feeling of the excitement of these ventures, the sense of problems and difficulties met and overcome, whereas a totally unreal atmosphere per vades the Russian accounts: if one is to take them literally, all five Vostok nights have been accomplished without a single technical hitch. Such a thing is so improbable as to be unworthy of serious consideration, particularly in view of the numerous un announced Russian space failures reported in your columns recently. May I record my thanks to Flight International for their detective work which has shown the gullible that the Russian space scientists are not blessed with superhuman powers, together with a fervent hope that, in time, the Rus sians will forget their obsession with secrecy and cultivate the sort of openness which will earn them that genuine admiration and feeling of participation which their American colleagues inspire in the earthbound reader. London W14 G. L. HEYGATE "The War Lover's" X Certificate SIR,—Your correspondent Mr H. W. West (Letters, July 11) seems to have missed the basic fact about traditional morality. In everyday speech, the word is taken to mean "sexual morality" only and listeners betray surprise and embarrassment if anyone applies the word to commercial, professional or military activities. So it comes about that the spokesmen for traditional morality have slumbered contentedly through half a century of films (not to speak of TV shows) in which blowing five or six Germans twelve feet into the air with a neatly lobbed hand grenade (to take your correspondent's example) can be dismissed as essentially normal, if high-spirited, behaviour, with no moral implications. But let a candid love-scene be introduced and the whole kelter of moralists comes out fighting. It would take Freud himself to explain why this should be so—and, come to think of it, he has! Croydon, Surrey RICHARD ROWE SIR,—I have read with great interest the comments published in your magazine concerning the film The War Lover. Apparently the persons who have made these comments have overlooked an important factor—the book on which the film was based. Anyone who has read the book would realize that the love-scenes are an integral part of the story. Mr West, and at least one member of your staff, should read the book before making any more comments about scenes included "for the sake of a bit of box-office sex." How Mr West can call The War Lover a piece of military aviation history is a bit beyond me. The film was centred on the relationship between the main characters, and the Fortresses were purely a background for that. The film was FLIGHT International, 1 August 1963 not even completely authentic. The blame for this lies not with Captain Crewdson, who did a truly remarkable job, but with editing of the film. Sequences allegedly shot from a waist-gunner's position show Thunderbolts and Spitfires attacking the Fortresses, and being shot down by the American gunners. If anyone doubts my powers of obser vation, I suggest he watches these particular sequences closely. He will see that the radial-engined fighters have white cowlings, a feature that was shown on Thunderbolts of the Eighth Air Force to avoid confusion with the Focke- Wulf Fwl90. I shall be interested to read Mr West's views when he has read The War Lover. When he has finished the book I suggest he gives it to his son, who will get a better picture of Fortress operations than from the film. Basingstoke, Hants G. L. YAXLEY [The staff member who saw the film had indeed read the book; the comment about scenes included "for the sake of a bit of box-office sex" was Mr West's, not his. "Flight International" (June 20) regretted the award of an "X" certificate, "for reasons best known to the censors." John Hersey's novel describes B-17 operations in brilliant detail and the psycho logical conflict of captain and co-pilot is carefully delineated. The screenplay simplifies the latter aspect.—Ed] The Halton Meteor SIR,—The originality of the push-pull engine arrangement claimed for the Cessna Skymaster led Norman Hall-Warren to make an earlier claim (Flight International, July 18) on behalf of a 1936 light aeroplane to his design "with a Bristol Cherub engine at the front of the fuselage and another at the rear end," apparently the subject of a patent dated 1937. Mr Hall-Warren may not have known of the Halton Meteor tailless monoplane, to my designs 1928-29 (based to some extent on the earlier Nottingham Archaeopteryx), which also was powered by Bristol Cherubs in tandem. The Meteor incorporated a number of interesting features— tandem landing wheels, pilot planes all along the leading-edge, ete—and was a step towards the "flying wing" concept, that for years was believed to be the ultimate in aeroplane con figuration. Although about 90 per cent completed, the Meteor unfortunately never flew, owing to official obstruc tion. The Meteor also acted as a scale model for two provisional designs, of 1929, for the Schneider Trophy contest, each incorporating two Napier Lions, the one being tailless and the other having a tail supported on two booms. These designs were under consideration by H. P. Folland, then chief designer of Gloster Aircraft, and R. J. Mitchell, of Supermarine Aircraft. c. H. LATIMER-NEEDHAM, Cranleigh, Surrey Phoenix Aircraft Ltd FORTHCOMING EVENTS July 27- London Gliding Club: Regional Competitions, Dun* Aug 5 stable. Aug 5 Tiger Club: Air display, Fair Oaks. July 31 Kronfeld Club: Film, "Salute to Flight." Aug 2-5 National Air Races and Lockheed Trophy Competition, Baginton Airport, Coventry. Aug 5 Fair Oaks parachuting competition. Aug 5-11 International parachuting competition, Spa. Aug 7 Kronfeld Club: Aviation colour slides by John Blake, Aug 10 Royal Naval Air Station, Lee-on-Solent: Open day. Aug 14 Kronfeld Club: Film, "Target for Today." Aug 18 Tiger Club: Air display, Shoreham. Aug 21 Kronfeld Club: "Bomber Command during the Hitler Regime" by Vivian Varcoe. Aug 24-31 A viation Union of Yugoslavia: International parachuting competition, Portoroz. Aug 25 Waveney Flying Group: All-day fly-in, Seething, Norfolk. Aug 28 Kronfeld Club: "History of the Glider Pilot Regiment" by Philip Cooper.
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