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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1166.PDF
fUGHT International, 23 April 1964 657 Let the Passengers Hear the Patter SIR,—I am intrigued by the effects upon passengers in an American-operated DC-4 on the final stages of a flight to London when, inadvertently, there was suddenly piped into the cabin in place of the taped light music the verbal exchanges of a GCA landing between captain and controller. There were strong protests when the broadcast was silenced. This guiding, consoling earthbound hand had for a few moments stretched the length of the aircraft and had snapped the tension built of a mass anxiety. For perhaps the majority of passengers, the endless minutes of a let-down and finals in poor visibility with its relentless "running out of height" sensation, are spent reading the same paragraph six times, nail-biting, lap- strap fiddling, window straining for a glimpse of earth at an acceptable distance, ear relieving and so on. The smokes and drinks are gone and this seems to be a penance for having responded to a "fly there" poster. It shouldn't need a psychologist to see that what happened in the DC-4 is the best prescription so far towards extending the confidence between crew and ground to the passengers. These days there is a weakening of the argument that you must not get technical with the passengers. Travellers are becoming surprisingly well informed. They are inquisitive, as well they should be when their lives are in the scientists' hands. Knowing this, some operators include in their personal flight packs illustrations of jet engine principles. There is something very pally about the window view of a chunk of wing (in most cases it can still be seen) but it can no longer claim to be sole agent in keeping us airborne. The DC-4 incident gave confidence to 60 people who hadn't previously been given a glimpse of a technique which provides the permanent way along which we fly to our destinations. Horley, Surrey j. G. ALLEN A Man and His Value SIR,—With reference to First Officer Insole's letter (March 19): a man's personal earning power may be only 10s an hour, but his earning power for his employer must certainly be more than 10s, or for that matter more than £3 an hour. So get him there as quickly as you can. It's a good job First Officer Insole doesn't have to run BOAC, or indeed any other business. In fact, with his "who wants to travel fast ?" attitude, it's a pity he's not on Vimys. London SE24 D. c. TAUBE Engine Control in the Avro 504 SIR,—With reference to the talk recently given by Air Cdre Allen Wheeler to members of the Kronfeld Club Flight International, March 19), I would like to correct a small error which is, no doubt, due to a lapse of memory on the part of the speaker. [Or it is just possible that Air Cdre Wheeler was misreported.—Ed] It concerns the Avro 504K, which, from the description, one can assume was fitted with a rotary engine (either Clerget or Le Rhdne or possibly a B.R.2). Air Cdre Wheeler is quite correct in saying "you get it running up, find which positions of the two levers (air and fuel) give full power," then he goes on to say, quite incorrectly, "then pull back to tick over and taxi." In actual fact taxying, "ticking-over" and controlling the engine speed prior to landing was done by means of the "blip" switch, which cut the ignition whenever the switch was pressed. The blip switch was a push-button, situated at the upper extremity of the control column and operated by the pilot's thumb. As the ignition was cut by pressing this switch, the engine naturally slowed up but turned for quite an appreciable time, due to the inertia of the 9ft diameter propeller and the rotary engine. Before the engine completely stopped, the switch was released and the engine roared into life again, and thus the aircraft speed in taxying and on the approach before landing could be controlled. The progress of the aircraft was punctuated by puffs of smoke every time the engine revved up and the strong smell of burnt castor oil, so familiar to the pilots and ground engineers in the distant past. Incidentally, one of the engine control levers was con- nected to a sliding type of air shutter, which had a tapered needle at one end. This needle fitted into a calibrated orifice in the fuel pipe from the tank and adjusted the flow of fuel as the air shutter was opened and closed by the throttle lever. The second lever was known as the "fine adjustment" and was a means of leaning or richening the mixture, but was highly sensitive and was the cause of many accidents, some fatal, when the pilot tried to "adjust" the mixture to improve engine performance in flight. Pilots of modern aircraft will probably be very surprised to hear that the normal maximum r.p.m. which you could expect on a ground check before take-off was usually about 1,300 to 1,400 with a Clerget or Le Rhdne engine. There were, of course, quite a variety of "in-line" engines fitted to the Avro 504, including an eight-cylinder air-cooled Renault, and several water-cooled engines, and I have seen one fitted with a Bristol Lucifer three-cylinder air-cooled radial engine. Swansea. Glam c. s. WILLIAMS Are Non-flying Veterans Worth Saving ? SIR,—In the latest issue of Flight International to come my way, January 9,1 see a letter from Mr Peter Thomas, of the Skyfame museum, relating to the intended preservation of several old-timers. He may be interested to learn that the Walrus on the Australian register has just been advertised as being for sale. Mr Thomas's letter does not make clear whether the intention is to restore to, or preserve in, flying condition the aircraft involved. A great number of people will violently disagree with me, I am sure, but to my mind the preservation of antique aircraft in anything but a flying condition is a waste of time and effort. An aircraft in a glass mausoleum is a dead thing, like a stuffed bird. Only in the air does it come alive, a thing of grace and beauty to earn the admiration of the onlooker. An aircraft in a non-flying state cannot even be said to be genuinely restored; it is but a mere outer shell of its former self. As a pilot, I could not bear tediously to restore an antique aeroplane in the knowledge that when it is finished, all I could do would be to sit and look at it. This is like sewing flesh and skin to a skeleton; the result may be attrac- tive but there is no life in it. Nor does an aeroplane live until the petrol is flowing again in its veins and its wings flex to the lift of a stiff headwind across a grassy field. Findon, South Australia R. C. BROWNE [The policy of the Skyfame museum at Staverton will be, where possible, to maintain aircraft in a flying condition and to earn the cost of their maintenance by hiring them out to appear in air displays.—Ed] FORTHCOMING EVENTS April 23 RAeS: "Electronic Controls for Gas Turbine Engines," by A. Sadler, S. Tweedy and P. J. Colburn. April 23 RAeS Yeovil Branch: Ninth Henson and Stringfellow Memorial Lecture, "Life of John Stringfellow," by L. G. Hayward. April 24 RAeS Man-powered Aircraft Group: "Design of a Two-seater Man-powered Aircraft" by A. Drescher and B. Day. April 24- Hanover International A ir Show, Langenhagen Airport. May 3 (First two days are trade days.) April 27 RAeS Historical Group: "Atlantic Flying of Twenty- five Years Ago" by Capt J. C. Kelly-Rogers. April 28 RAeS Leicester Branch: "Man-powered Aircraft," by D.G. A. Rendel. April 29 Kronfeld Club: "Some More Aeronautical Reminis- cences" by Lt Cdr J. Sproule. April 30 RAeS Derby Branch: "Laminar-flow Control Aero- planes" by G. H. Lee
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