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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1739.PDF
546 FLIGHT International, 26 September 1963 MILITARY AVIATION IN IRELAND returning from operations over the Atlantic in February 1941, crashed into the West Cork hills. The only survivor was an air gunner, who was pulled from the wreckage by an Irish nurse; she received a German medal with a citation signed by Adolf Hitler.. Later that year, on August 26, a black Ju88 descended through thick black rainclouds after an engagement over the Irish Sea with two Hurricanes of No 603 Squadron. The crew were evidently over-optimistic and poor at aircraft identification, for the Irish authorities intercepted a message from the crew to a German base: "Have been attacked by two Spitfires. One engine stopped, other damaged. Intend to land Ireland. Papers destroyed. We shall return after victory. Don't delay. Heil Hitler!" The Air Corps was kept at readiness. Its work entailed vigilance and training, with mine-spotting and security patrols as its routine duties; but it sadly lacked modern operational aircraft and the RAF could spare only obsolete biplane types. An interned Hurricane I (Canadian built P5176, used by the Corps as No 93) represented the height of modernity during 1940. In the following year it was supplemented by two Hurricane IIAs gained by repairing two that forced-landed with undercarriages retracted. By arrangement with the RAF in 1945, these were handed back in exchange for four Hurricane Is. Later that year more Hurricanes were made available; then, in Feburary 1945, six Hurricane IIB/Cs were taken over at RAF Station Long Kesh in Northern Ireland. No Spitfires were used by the Air Corps during the war period, as only two landed in Ireland, and both were beyond repair: P8074, put down by an Eagle Squadron pilot who had run out of fuel during a practice interception, and P8267 from a mis-directed delivery flight. Time and time again the defences were alerted as an unidentified aircraft approached Eire, but each time it was an inadvertent infringement of neutral territory. The crew of Whitley V P5045, apparently misled by a false bearing, abandoned their aircraft over Galway. It came down in the bay, where three of the crew perished in the water. For such emergencies liaison was maintained with the RAF'S four Marine Craft Units in Northern Ireland. In addition, the RAF air-sea rescue trawler Robert Hastie was per mitted to keep station in Southern Irish waters provided it was manned by civilians. The Corps nearly acquired a Sunderland in late 1941, when W3988 of No 201 Squadron, returning from patrol on December 3, made a landfall too far south and was damaged when putting down in failing light in Doonbeg Bay, near the mouth of the Shannon. After the war the Corps decreased in size, but an effort was made to use modern equipment. Twelve reconditioned Magisters, under their civil designation of Miles Hawk Trainer, were collected from the Miles factory near Reading during 1946. Thereafter, for the next ten years, training trends followed RAF lines with the use of Chipmunks and, later, Provosts. For target-towing, two Martinets were acquired to replace the pre-war Lysanders that had been converted for that work in 1944. By purchasing twelve Seafire L.F.3s, the Corps maintained its operational strength. These were supplemented by six Spitfire L.F.9 two-seat conversions, a modification that was not used by the RAF. A Dove intended mainly for aerial photography, together with three Anson 19s for general training and communications work, are the only post-war twin-engine types in service. The jet era was entered in 1956 by the acquisition of three Vampire T.lls. One was lost in an accident in May 1961. Training has always been thorough in the Corps and even before the war a boy-entrant scheme was in operation. Aer Lingus, the Irish Air Line, take a number of their technical staff direct from Air Corps training. It is a curious fact that the achievements of Aer Lingus, so much in the public eye in Ireland, have rather overshadowed all other aspects of aviation, so that surprisingly few of the Irish know much about their own small but efficient Air Corps. Baldonnell remains the Air Corps' Headquarters, with Advanced Flying and Technical Wings, while the only other military airfield— at Gormanston—houses the Basic Training Wing. From a wartime strength of some 2,400, the peace establishment of the Corps is around 830 officers and men. ENGINES FOR THE 681 BY the time these words are read the Minister of Aviation may have announced the name of the company chosen to provide the powerplants for the Hawker Siddeley AW.681, the future heavy STOL transport for the RAF. Rarely has the choice of an engine been so difficult. There are two obvious candidates: the Rolls-Royce Medway and the Bristol Siddeley Pegasus. Each manufacturer has made a convincing case why his engine should be chosen, and the main points of their arguments are as follow:— In favour of the Pegasus It is imperative that a new version of this vectored-thrust turbofan should be developed with a thrust of some 18,0001b, to meet the needs of an operational version of the Hawker Siddeley P. 1127, and this is the same level of thrust required by the 681. The Pegasus is a well-proved engine, with extensive flight development in P. 1127s and the Valiant test bed. It has from the start been a vectored-thrust engine, by the originator of such powerplants. In favour of the Medway The original RB.141 version of this turbofan has run several thousand hours on the bench, including substantial time at 17,5001b dry, and has demonstrated greater thrust and lower specific fuel consumption than its rival. The installed diameter of the Medway is such that its cowling would have approximately half the drag of that of the Pegasus. The entire efflux is discharged through a single propelling nozzle, giving improved propulsive efficiency. With a simple switch-in deflector (diagram) efficient thrust-vector control is achieved with minimum weight, as outlined in our June 27 issue. Such a deflector has, in fact, also been proposed by Bristol Siddeley; but the MoA are likely to adhere to their original choice of the Medway because it results in rather better 681 mission performance. At the same time, the uprated Pegasus appears to be a firm requirement, and the Minister has been left in no doubt that failure to support it would be serious. His task has been unenviable. NORMAL PROPULSION NOZZLE IN WING BORNE FLIGHT PROPULSION DECELERATION MOVEMENT \ THROUGH ACCELERATION TRANSITION MOVEMENT THROUGH VTOL DECELERATION I TRANSITION HOVER The Medway (far left) has been proposed by Ro"s" Royce as the powerplant of the AW.681 equipped with a switch-in deflector of the type illustrated above. With the clam shell open the efflu* is entirely undeflected
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