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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0396.PDF
fUGMT International, 13 February 1964 LETTER8 . . . up. It does appear, however, that rolling bearings would be possible, whereas in the Tyne space and planet-pin diameter preclude their use. The ratio requirements of the two trains are certainly more favourable than with the Tyne arrangement. For an input sun-gear pitch diameter d, the annulus pitch diameters would be approximately 4d primary and 4.4d secondary, compared with the Tyne annulus of 5.2d. The effect of this permits a gear of overall smaller diameter though, as demonstrated earlier, it seems likely to be longer, heavier and of poorer efficiency. The information reported on the Ivchenko gear does not include any mention of the type of tooth form. It would be of great interest to hear that Novikov-type teeth are employed. Indeed, the proportions possible with this split-power gear, by avoiding difficulties which tend to arise with very small diameter pinions, might show the system to particular advantage. Derby w. j. DAVBES, Chief Transmission Engineer, Rolls-Royce Ltd More Cosmos Comment SIR,—I was interested to see Mr Tony Devereux's comments Flight International, January 23) on my Cosmos article, but I regret that he has been overestimating the accuracy of the satellite magnitudes I derived. The Cosmos satellites have been observed on about 120 transits to be steady in brightness and on 35 transits to vary slightly. The maximum and minimum magnitudes presented originally actually contained the steady values, and thus averaged their appearance over all 155 occasions. The mean variations stated were thus smaller than those obtained by consideration of the 35 transits alone:— SatelliteCotmos I Cosmos 2Cosmos 3 Cosmos 5Cosmos 8 Cosmoa 11 Mean variation (steady and varyinf transits) 0.29 0.37 0.45 0.40 0.01 0.14 Average 0.28 Mean variation (35 varying transits only) 0.74 0.64 1.07 1.33 0.72 0.73 Average 0.87 Ratio of D, Ratio to D, (ratio of D, Av. mean of A, and and D, tovar. A, to A,) D, ±0.28 1.29 1.14 The satellites cannot be studied individually, since their mean variations are little larger than the probable error accumulated through the simplified methods used and the assumptions made. The very most one could do is to determine the order of ellipticity of the spheroids by taking the average of the mean variations for the group as a whole, and this I have done below:— Dimens. of cyl.producing givenD, and D, mean var. 1.44m and 1.87m 1.44m diam. diam. x 1.47m long ±0.87 2J3 1.49 1.10m and 2.45m 1.10m diam. diam. X 1.92m long D,, Do, and D, are the diameters of circles of area Ax, A8, and A, which would produce the minimum, mean, and maximum magnitudes observed. We may conclude that Cosmos satellites, if not "pure" spheres of 1.6m diameter, may be ellipsoids or stubby cylinders and, at their most cylindrical, are no more than 2m long and lm across. Analysis of subsequent spacecraft and their accompanying rocket bodies may confirm these results, and I hope to publish another article when my studies are completed. London NfVJ J. A. pmaNOTON de Lesseps Memorial for Montreal SIR,—At the suggestion of Mr Arthur L. Dawe of Montreal, one of the spectators at the First Canadian International Air Meeting, staged from June 27 to July 4,1910 at Lakeside Heights (some ten miles to the west of the city) a fund was opened by The Lakeshore News in 1956 to erect a suitable 247 monument to commemorate the event. It would also com- memorate the 35-mile flight over Montreal by the French aviator Count Jacques de Lesseps, which started at 6.15 p.m. on Saturday, July 2, and lasted for 49min. La Scarabie, the 50 h.p. Gn6me-engined two-seat Bldriot XI monoplane flown by de Lesseps, was the machine in which he had made the second aeroplane crossing of the English Channel a few weeks earlier, on May 23, and the Montreal flight was the first to be seen over a Canadian city. The design proposed for the Lakeside Heights memorial is that of a small fountain, spanned by an aluminium arch surmounted by a model of La Scarabe'e, and an offer to con- struct the scale B16riot has been received from Canadair. Count de Lesseps, together with his passenger Theodor Chickenko, ultimately lost his life on October 18, 1927, in a crash into the Gulf of St Lawrence while making an aerial photographic survey flight over the Gasp6 Peninsular area of Quebec. South Benfleet, Essex PETER M. H. LEWIS Wrong School SIR,—There are three good reasons why the Jet Provosts pictured in "Service Aviation" for January 30 do not, in fact, belong to the Central Flying School. Firstly, they carry an FTS crest on the nose, instead of the CFS pelican badge; secondly, the code-number is on the nose rather than on the fin; and thirdly, the code-numbers are far too low—CFS aircraft all have code-numbers over 40. They may be in loose formation over Little Rissington, but they most certainly do not live there. My guess is that they come from 2 FTS, Syerston, or perhaps 6 FTS, Acklington. , 5 Cambridge c. M. WOODMAN [Our Services correspondent is crestfallen: he admits that the nose badges identify the Jet Provosts as aircraft of 2 FTS, Syerston.—Ed] IN BRIEF Kenneth Owen of Flight International writes: "I am seeking information concerning the training of Fleet Air Arm pilots by the US Navy during the 1939-45 war, and should welcome the assistance of ex-cadets who trained in the USA under the Towers scheme. I am particularly interested in obtaining contemporary official publications and photographs of primary training at Bunker Hill, Indiana, and intermediate and advanced training at Corpus Christi, Texas, during 1943-45. I should appreciate the loan of such material and suggestions for further sources, addressed to me either at Flight International or at 10 Laurel Crescent, Woodham, Woking, Surrey." FORTHCOMING EVENTS Feb 13 RAeS Air Law Group and Mansfield Law Club: Debate, "International Limitation of Air Carriers' Liability." Feb 14 Society of Instrument Technology: Symposium on redundancy design. Feb 18 RAeS: "European Co-operation in Space Vehicle Development" by W. H. Stephens. Feb 18-20 International Airline Navigators Council: 14th annual convention, London. Feb 19 Kronfeld Club: "The Story of the RAF," film continued. Feb 19 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: James Clayton Lecture, "Gyroscopes for Inertial Navigation," by A. Stratton. Feb 19 RAeS Christchurch Branch: "Flying the 707," by J. B. Linton. Feb 19 RAeS Coventry Branch: "Recent Aerolastic Investi- gations at Cranfield" by D. J. Johns. Feb 19 RAeS Hatfield Branch, "Supersonic Transport Design" by D. Howe. Feb 19 RAeS Reading Branch: Lecture competition. Feb 19 RAeS Weybridge Branch: "The Wright Brothers," by C. H. Gibbs-Smith.
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