FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1904.PDF
Unseasonable Snow—or, wore accurately, slush—lay on the runway at Bitteswell, Coventry, last week. HSA's Avro Whitworth Division bought six tons of ice, crushed it, and spread it on a section of runway for testing the take-off and braking characteristics of an Argosy C.I in winter conditions. Results will be applicable to civil Argosies also. A similar series of tests had taken place a fortnight earlier FLIGHT International, 31 October 1963 709 statement the following day said: "The indications so far are that the information will lead to identification of the cause of the accident and through this to an early solution." This was a Midas (Royston Instruments Ltd) crash recorder. Also recovered was an eight-channel Ministry of Aviation crash recorder, made by Coin- brook Industrial Developments Ltd and installed in the fuselage. This is also understood to have yielded valuable data. The One-Eleven had flown just over 80 hours and had taken off in perfect weather from Wisley at 11.17 a.m. on its 53rd flight. It is believed that the programme included stalling tests to be carried out between 15,000ft and 20,000ft. The aircraft crashed just before noon in a field two miles from Chicklade, Wiltshire. Although the wreck age was compact—the aircraft having apparently descended almost vertically in a flat attitude—only the tailplane, engines and port wing escaped destruction by impact and fire. The eyewitnesses included an ex- RAF navigator. The BAC and Ministry of Aviation investigating teams, under Gp Lt-Cdr M. J. Lithgow, OBE (left) and Capt R. Rymer Capt J. B. Veale, MoA Chief Inspector of Accidents, have subsequently been working 24hr a day at the site of the accident and at BAC and at RAE Farnborough, where the wreckage has been taken for further analysis. A BAC spokesman said on Monday that the cause would be published as soon as it was definitely established. In command of the aircraft was Lt Cdr M. J. Lithgow, with Capt R. Rymer as co pilot. "Mike" Lithgow, who was deputy chief test pilot of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), had set up a world speed record of 735.7 m P-h. in a Swift at Tripoli in 1953. He had served in the Royal Navy before joining the company in 1945 and subsequently flight- tested, and set up records in, Attackers and Swifts. He was awarded the Geoffrey de Hav- illand Trophy in 1953 and was responsible for much of the Vanguard development flying. Capt R. (Dickie) Rymer was the first airline Pilot to fly the Viscount, in 1949, as a BEA captain. He also operated the first scheduled Viscount service—the world's first turbine- Powered passenger operation—between Northolt and Paris on July 29, 1950. He subsequently joined the Vickers test-flying staff. In addition to the two pilots, those Killed in the accident were Mr Ben J. Prior, assistant chief aerodynamicist, Vickers- Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd; Mr C. J. Webb, distant chief designer, Hunting Aircraft; Mr R. A. F. Wright, Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd, senior flight test observer on the One-Eleven; Mr G. R. Poulter, flight test observer, Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd; and Mr D. J. Clark, flight test observer, Hunting Aircraft. Cessna YAT-37D Flies Cessna Aircraft Co announce that the YAT-37D began its flight-test programme on October 22. As reported in our issue for July 4 last, the YAT-37D is a much more powerful conversion for Co-In (counter-insurgency) operations of the familiar T-37 jet trainer. Use of 2,4001b General Electric J85 engines will allow operations at weights up to 10,5001b, with a variety of weapons hung under the wings. Mr W. F. Coulshed We record with regret that Mr William Francis Coulshed, chief electrical systems designer at English Electric Aviation Ltd, was killed in a car accident last week on Preston New Road, Freckleton, Lanes. The driver of the car, Mr Neville Rhodes, chief structural designer to the company, was taken to Preston Royal Infirmary, but his condition was not serious. They had both been working on the TSR.2 and when the accident occurred were on their way to Warton. Beagle D.5/180 Accident Mr Trevor Howard, Beagle test pilot at Rearsby, was seriously injured in an acci dent which occurred when he was demon strating the ski-equipped Beagle D.5/180 at an airstrip near Fribourg, Switzerland, recently. His passenger, the company's Swiss agent, was also injured. According to a report, one of the aircraft's wheels struck the ground during a manoeuvre. Mr Howard was being flown home this week to the London Clinic. Eric Greenwood's New Post It is announced that Mr E. S. Green wood, OBE, one of Britain's best known test pilots, has been appointed sales manager (military) of Hawker Siddeley Aviation's Avro Whitworth Division. He was formerly technical sales manager of Whitworth Gloster Aircraft, and he has been with the Group for 28 years. Mr Greenwood, who is 53, started his flying career with the RAF in 1928. In 1933-34 he was chief pilot of British Flying Boats Ltd—a pioneer marine- aircraft operator in Scotland and the North —and then went to Malaya, where he formed the Penang Aero Club. Returning to England, he joined the Group as a test pilot with Armstrong Whitworth in 1936, and was made chief test pilot of Air Service Training and chief test pilot of the Gloster Aircraft Co in 1943. At Gloucester he flew Britain's first jet aircraft, the Gloster/Whittle E.28/39, and did much of the development test flying on the Meteor. In this aircraft, he became the first pilot in the world to exceed 600 m.p.h. He was also the first pilot in the world to fly a turboprop aircraft, the Trent Meteor. During his career he flew 192 different types of aircraft. He has been a member of the committee of the Royal Aero Ciub for 12 years. Institute of Transport Anniversary Mr Julian Amery, Minister of Aviation, is to be the principal speaker at the anniver sary luncheon of the Institute of Transport in London next Tuesday, November 5. The president, Mr Keith Granville (a director of BOAC and chairman of BOAC Associated Companies), will be in the chair. The luncheon marks the forty-fourth anniversary of the founding of the Institute. International Recognition Contest The Air-Britain Challenge Cup in the third annual International Aircraft Recog nition Contest, held recently in London, was won by "A" team of the Romford branch of Air-Britain. The Challenge Trophy was won by Mr G. E. G. Lewis of the London Society of Air-Britain; the Hunting Trophy by ROC Post 2/E3 (Littlehampton); the BOAC Trophy by 130 Sqn, ATC (Bourne mouth) ; and the Fokker Trophy by the RAF Halton apprentices "A" team.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
