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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1360.PDF
184 FLIGHT International, 1 August 1963 INDUSTRY International Flight Systems Products Company News Great Britain FLIGHT SYSTEMS Pictorial Computer Ordered The Federal Aviation Agency has given the Electronics Division of ACF Industries a $393,644 order to develop a pictorial computer to operate with the existing airways Vortac system. The computer will form "a possible alternative to installation of additional Vortac ground stations" by providing off set computation for flying off-airways routes. Flight testing in various FAA air craft will begin next spring. Sarah Rescue Fit Lt Nielsen of the Royal Danish Air Force was recently saved from the Skagerrak, off southern Norway, by his Ultra Sarah beacon. He baled out of an F-86D when the cloud base was 600ft. A Catalina located his beacon and, being unable to land, homed a helicopter to the scene to pick him up. Many Sarah rescues have been made from Alaska to the Antarctic. Arthur Harrison, GQ test parachutist, being installed in a Meteor 7 from which he success fully ejected at 20,000ft and made a loOsec stabilized free fall to 5,000ft before automatic parachute deployment. The seat is by Folland and the helmet by Baxter, Woodhouse and Taylor Weather Radars for Nigeria Two new weather radars are being supplied by Decca Radar to the Nigerian Government for installation at Kano and Lagos airports. One will be a type 42 weather radar capable of detecting the location and height of storm centres up to 400km away, and the other will be a WF 2 wind finder with auto matic print-out on an electric typewriter. PRODUCTS Gnat Spin Models Three models of the Gnat Trainer have recently been made in the wind-tunnel model shop at the Whitley factory of the Avro-Whitworth Division of HSA. They are constructed mainly from glass fibre with foam filling and are approx imately one-fifth scale; weight and moments of inertia are also scaled, and flying controls are cam-operated and driven mechanically through a predetermined sequence. The models are used to investigate the trajectory, flight-path velocities and atti tudes of the aircraft during a spin. A model is released from a helicopter at approx imately 4,000ft and the controls are moved to the "spin entry" configuration, followed by "spin recovery" and finally to "glide," at which point the canopy is jettisoned and a parachute released to facilitate recovery. Aiding Accident Investigation A minia ture high-intensity viewing probe for the examination of deep cavities has been ordered by the Accident Section of the RAE, Farnborough, for both field and laboratory uses. Made by Optec Reactors Ltd, 54 Upper Montagu St, London Wl, and known as a Universal Endoscope, Series 250, it is equipped with small-dia meter optical probes and high intensity external lighting. The Endoscope will enable the inside of instruments such as altimeters in crashed aircraft to be exa mined without the risk of evidence being disturbed when opening them for examina tion. Photographs can be taken through the endoscope. A quartz rod lighting system is used, and as the optical probe is cooled by forced air (or inert gas) and is water-tight, it will be quite feasible to inspect the insides of com ponents which are hot or full of fuel or water. The insides of flooded compartments can also be visually examined. The equipment has been supplied with rigid probes 20cm and 45cm long. The optical and lighting probes will together pass side-by-side through a hole of less than 10mm in diameter. Alternatively, optical and lighting probes can be put through separate smaller access points. The equipment is readily portable and runs off 110-volt or 240-volt a.c. supplies or from batteries. Castrol European Users British United Airways are now using Castrol 98 to lubricate their Britannias, Viscounts and Heralds, and the Castrol Group state that since the introduction of Castrol synthetic aviation gas turbine lubricants three years ago, these have been adopted for jet or turboprop aircraft of 18 airlines through out the world, including Air France, BEA, Lufthansa, MEA, Olympic, Swissair and TCA. As reported on this page. Hawker Siddeley have made three spin models of the Gnat T.I, one of which is shown here. With their aid the type will be cleared for spinning in RAF Flying Training Command
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