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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0705.PDF
406 FLIGHT International, 19 March I9$4 WORLD E W S Amery in the Cockpit. . . During his visit to the United States— from which he returned on Monday—Mr Julian Amery, the Minister of Aviation, flew at over Mach 2 in a McDonnell Phantom, the type which is to be bought for the Royal Navy. The aircraft climbed to 45,000ft and, said the Minister, flew at Mach 2.1 before the pilot slowed to demonstrate its low- speed characteristics at 140 m.p.h. It is by no means certain that the Phan- tom will be able to operate from the 23,000-ton HMS Hermes, one of the three RN carriers intended to operate through the 1970s. Hermes will soon begin a two- year up-dating and refit at Devonport Dockyard, only four years after she first commissioned. Among other changes her deck and arrestei gear will be strengthened. . . . and in the Pillory While Mr Amery was touring the USA with a sizeable entourage of MoA officials, trade union leaders in Britain were calling for bis resignation. When the executive of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, representing many of the aircraft industry's workers, met in York last week the president, Mr John Boyd, said that when the Minister had met a delegation on February 2 he made "mis- leading statements." "He led us to understand the future was reasonably bright," continued Mr Boyd. "He palmed us off, and hardly before these words were uttered orders were placed for 50 American Phantoms and 200 American- Italian helicopters." Mr Boyd added that Mr Amery must have been aware of the trends of high-level discussions, if not of the discussions themselves. "He has let us down badly. We are writing to suggest that he resigns. It is bad faith to tell us one thing and then the opposite happens." The Minister countered Mr Boyd's remarks with an MoA statement the follow- ing day. "The forecast which was given to the Confederation remains valid," the statement said, "particularly in view of the recently announced decisions on the HS.681 and P.I 154." Referring particularly to the choice of the Phantom, the statement seemed to indicate that partial manufacture might be undertaken here. "Much of the manufacture will, in any case, be carried out in the United Kingdom," the Ministry said. This remark could, of course, apply strictly to the engines. HS.125 Completes Hot Trials Tropical trials of the Hawker Siddeley 125 twin-jet business transport were successfully concluded recently in a five- week visit to Africa. The trials, conducted by de HaviUand Division pilots Geoffrey Pike and Robert Sowrey, were held at Nairobi (5,327ft a.m.s.l.) in temperatures up to 85°F and at Khartoum (1,200ft a.m.s.l.), where temperatures exceeded 90°F. In some respects the "hot and high" per- formance of the 125 was found to be better than predicted. Tests included full-load take-offs and accelerate-stop tests with one- engine failure simulated. The HS.125 completed 97hr flying during the African visit, including 27hr on the 9,500 miles return journey. The longest leg, between Nairobi and Khartoum, was flown at an average speed of 426 m.p.h. against a headwind of 46 m.p.h., the journey taking 2hr 50min. XV-5A Flight Near Following structural, resonance and systems testing at the manufacturer's San Diego factory, both the Ryan XV-5A V/STOL aircraft should have been shipped for trials by the time this issue appears. The first was rolled out on February 26, and has been taken by road to Edwards AFB, where its flight-test programme will be supported by Republic Aviation Corp. The second of the fan-in-wing aircraft is to undergo tests in the 40ft x 80ft open-jet tunnel at NASA's Ames Research Center before going to Edwards. Indian Mig Production According to the Indian Minister of State for Defence Production, Mr K. Rahgura- maiah, the Indian Government has decided to manufacture the air-to-air missile (probably the Sidewinder-like weapon given the NATO code-name "Atoll") carried by the Mig-21 fighter, as well as other portions of the weapon system. According to a BUP report, the missiles will be produced at an electronics factory to be built in Hyderabad. As previously reported, a new company known as Aeronautics India is being established to manage the programme. Airframes are to be manufactured at Nasik, near Bombay, where assembly and flight- test will also take place. The powerplants are expected to be assembled at Koraput, in Orissa. R-R Outlook Set Fan- In London last week Sir Denning Pearson, chief executive and deputy chair- man of Rolls-Royce, spoke of the greatly improved prospects of his company com- pared with those of a year ago. Far from predicting short-time working, he was able to announce that substantial overtime is now in operation. Among the successful Dart-powered air- craft, Sir Denning made special allusion to the Japanese YS-11, which he described as a good aeroplane for which substantial orders had been received and for which others were in prospect. It did "very substantially more on two Darts than the original Viscount did on four." Rolls- Royce were beginning to consider the re- enginging of certain piston-engined types with Darts. These had a relatively high consumption but in some countries fuel costs were low. Development of the Conway RCo.42 was going exceptionally well. A very promising outlook for the Spey Looking Askance The first four Grumman OV-W Mohawks to reach Germany for service with the US Army, on March 7, match their side-looking radar systems with a distinctly bug-eyed sideways glare at the photographer. The twin-turboprop reconnaissance aircraft, equipped for photo and electronic surveillance, were deployed from the USA in o 4,000-mile two-day flight
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