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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 2145.PDF
946 FLIGHT International, 12 December 1%) f—^ > I | in mi WORLD E W S Mr Amery on the TSR.2 A strong affirmation of technical and political faith in the TSR.2 was made by Mr Julian Amery, Minister of Aviation, at a luncheon of the Air League in the City of London on December 3. Outlining the r61e of the aircraft—tactical strike, reconnais sance and strategic bombing—he said the TSR.2 made "a major contribution to our technological strength as well as to our military power." It met requirements "in almost every particular." Recent events had reinforced his conviction "that the British deterrent is essential to our national security and to our political independence." Why did the Australians buy the TFX? There was not much to choose between the performance of the TSR.2 and the TFX. No doubt price was an important consider ation, but the reported TSR.2 ccst of £20m per aircraft was "an exaggeration by about a factor of ten." There was another reason. "There are men in this country, influential men, men who aspire to the leadership of our affairs, who continually proclaim that Britain should cease to be a nuclear power... We should not under-rate the extent to which defeatist forces here may drive Australians to look for support elsewhere than from the Old Country." He did not complain of the Australian decision, but "I do complain of those who by their words and actions at home have done damage to our cause." The British aircraft industry, said Mr Amery, was "in very good heart"—a different situation from that prevailing 18 months or two years ago. Rationalization had "given it strength to face up to American competition." Leadership of the civil air business was "within our grasp." The VC10 dag problem had been ironed out; the problems arising from the crash of the One-Eleven were being overcome; and the Trident had had no problems at all. The Minister reaffirmed his faith in the P. 1154. With the Concorde, on which the decision to go ahead "may prove to be one of the historic decisions," Britain remained in the forefront of technology and, said the Minister, "we are the leaders." The Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, President of the Air League, proposed the toast to the Lord Mayor of London, Alderman C. James Harman, who presided at the luncheon. Spey Buccaneer in Simulated Deck Trials The prototype Spey-powered Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.2 naval strike aircraft completed its first catapult launching and arrested landing trials at RAE Bedford recently. The tests at Bedford also included an evaluation of the handling character istics of the engines under high-incidence conditions. New equipment and systems introduced in the Mk 2 version of the Buccaneer were examined after each series of tests to ensure that they withstood the forces up to 5g in both fore and aft directions encountered during catapulting and arresting. The aircraft has now returned to the makers' airfield at Holme-on-Spalding Moor to continue its development trials. Air Exports Down British aviation exports in October totalled £8,398,023 in value: a drop of £1,431,823 from the total for the same month last year. Aircraft and parts accoun ted for £2,950,274; the sale of 37 new engines, 54 "other than new" engines and engine parts accounted for £5,203,941. Tyres brought in £80,134 and instrument sales were worth £163,674. Canada was Britain's best engine market during the month, with purchases worth over £1.1 m, and Brazil was the best aircraft market. The cumulative total for January- October 1963 is £95,909,813 compared with £98,196,456 for the corresponding period last year. Facts on the Fake Many readers will by now be aware that the photograph published on page 852 in our November 28 issue, purporting to show a Soviet intercepter firing an air-to-air missile was, in fact, an extremely skilful fake by a 19-year-old Exeter art student, Mr Bernard Carr. Editorial comment is made on the preceeding page, and Mr Carr has contributed the following explanation of his motive and methods:— " I would like to thank the Editor for giving me this opportunity to explain how and why I produced the recently published photograph. "When the July 27, 1961, issue of Flight appeared, I was naturally very interested in the report on the Tushino Air Show. Included in the report were some very clear three-view drawings; and, being interested in making small models, I selected the then-new and undesignated Mig fighter. I made a model from this drawing exactly the same size: length 4in, span 1 f n. The aircraft was made from balsa wood, cardboard, wire and Perspex; the missiles from filed-down matches and paper. "At the beginning of this year I became interested in photographing my models and paintings, mainly as a record of their existence. I fixed the model on a piece of wire and attached it to the side of the window so that it would show against a natural sky back ground. \ TSR.2—another genuine fake by Mr Carr (see "Facts on the Fake") "The first photographs were a complete failure, due to my bad photography. The second series was, however, more successful and I had added cotton-wool to cover the wire which projected from the tail of the model. Realizing the possibilities of cotton-wool, 1 detached one of the missiles and extended it from its pylon on a very thin wire stalk, also covered with cotton wool. I also added a dorsal fairing from the cockpit to the fin to make the model technically up-to-date. This third series of photographs was far more realistic; but the smoke from the tail of the aircraft was too thick for a vapour trail and too broad to be from a supplementary rocket motor. Also there was too little reflected light- "The angle and positioning of the first three series of photographs had been severely limited by the mounting wire. However, by splittms a piece of nylon thread into its individual Two Ministers Were Checked Out on the Concorde mock-up at Bristol on December 5: left, M Jacquet, French Minister of Transport and, right, Mr Julian Amery, British M""ste of Aviation. Between them are Messrs P. Cameron and G. L Auty of Bristol Aircraft
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