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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2215.PDF
228 LETTERS... landing in an 0/400 at fog-bound Croydon, Mr Donnan should have asked the pilot a few pertinent questions. He would not then have written at length about a wireless- assisted landing and would not later have embellished the story as, "the first ever GCA in the history of civil aviation." It took forty years and more, a television broadcast and the publication of Mac's autobiography to explode this classic aviation myth. Either Mr Dorman has his tongue in his cheek or his memory fails him severely when he attempts to correct the caption to the photograph facing page 65 in Mac's book. There was a very early temporary wooden control tower, but the one he knows I refer to was the glass-roofed structure which was built after the first Air Conference of October 1920 and served until the demolition of the Plough Lane buildings in 1927-28. The glasshouse affair was indeed built between the two buildings and by the windsock shown in the above-mentioned photograph, and not "to the left just out of the picture." If there is still confusion and dubiety he had better refer to the photograph facing page 96 of Mac's book and he will surely see his error. And if yet he is unhappy I will supply him with further proof. Mention of glasshouses reminds one of the saying relevant to those who live in such buildings and the throwing of stones. Mr Dorman's letter chides me with two spelling mistakes and this, be it noted, he describes as a "wealth" of inaccuracy. To one of them he also confesses, and he was guilty of the other (the spelling of Hinchliffe with two Cs) in his weekly aviation notes in the early days. In his book Fifty Years Fly Past he spells Mclntosh (R. H.) incorrectly wherever that name appears—something he did not do in his early reporting years—gets in a muddle with the spelling of the early French airlines on page 344, and makes an error of fact on page 175. But I have the charity not to call this a wealth of inaccuracy in an otherwise valuable reference book. Finally, he is wrong yet again when he presumes to correct the use of the word "porcupine" in describing the Vickers Vulcan (an aircraft which first appeared at Croydon in mid- 1922 and not "circa 1921" as he so states). I suggest a visit to Regent's Park Zoo or reference to an encyclopedia. He will find that the porcupine is of the species porcus spinosus, i.e., an animal with an undeniable pig-like outline and many projections with, moreover, a short stumpy tail. The Vulcan was rotund, had many projections in the shape of fuel tanks, generator, external cockpit ladder, exhaust pipes and so forth and had, moreover, a short stumpy tail. What better description than porcupine could there possibly be? It seems a pity that Mr Dorman has failed to verify so many points and once again has taken up his pen in haste. Stamford, Lines JEFFERY SPRY-LEVERTON "Show Pre-1914 Replicas at SBAC Display" SIR,—In your issue of July 9,1 see that there are two more replicas of veteran aircraft flying. Would it not be a good idea to see if these machines could be on show at Farnborough ? I well remember how pleased people were when the S.E.5A was shown, and many photographers made the most of the chance to get photographs. Emsworth, Hants " F. HONEY The Oozeley Bird SIR,—What nostalgic memories were recalled by the photo- graphs of the replicas of pre-1914 types, now being built, recently published in Flight International! In the early days at Brooklands, the Eardly Billing Biplane was great fun. Billing's ENV-engined Biplane was named The Oozeley Bird, partly from the peculiar noise it made and partly from the adjacent sewage farm, as owing to thermals from the track and the accompanying down-draught over the farm practically every aircraft at one time or another went down in the sewage. I remember The Oozeley Bird had cooling trouble with the ENV, which was for its time a very advanced FLIGHT International, 6 August 1964 vee-eight water-cooled engine. The radiators were plain copper pipes with header tanks. The trouble was that when they were placed with the narrow part facing forward the engine overheated, and when they were placed with the widest part facing forward they created so much drag that the aircraft had great difficulty in taking off. The trouble was eventually cured by putting adjustable flaps to divert sufficient air through the tubes without creating too much drag. Best wishes to Flight International, which I have taken since the first number. Wembley, Middx c. L. WILLS Mods on the Rocker Boxes ? SIR,—At no more cost than that of the Concord an enormous, slow, giant airliner could be constructed to take vast crowds of teenagers on adventure flights. Here is a rough specifi- cation: Wing span, one mile; cruising speed, 85 m.p.h.; wheel diameter, 200ft; powerplant, 4,000 Ardem engines of the type in the Turbulent; passenger capacity, enormous. The aircraft could take off from Salisbury Plain, Dart- moorj the Fens or anywhere where obstructions do not exceed 15ft in height and are of a crushable nature. With such a large wing, railings round the edge would enable one to walk all over it. Mr G. Taylor's detailed design-study It may be said that such a low speed would mean that the aircraft would not make much progress against headwinds. But who cares, when life on board would be a great rip- roaring party? What an impressive sight on a summer evening to see her lumbering over London! Even in a crash the g would be so low you would have a good chance. If you say it is not possible, I challenge you to say what is the maximum possible size. Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire G. TAYLOR [The suggested size obviously presents little difficulty, though careful calculation shows that accommodating 4,000 Ardem engines along the leading edge of a mere one-mile wing would involve the use of intermeshing propellers, always a tricky design problem. A more serious objection is the likelihood of resistance from an unimaginative I AT A.—Ed] FORTHCOMING EVENTS Aug 8-9 Centre Alsace Aero Club: 8th international Alsace wine rally, Colmar. Aug 16 Tiger Club: Flying display, Shoreham. Aug 16 Shuttleworth Trust: Open day and flying of veteran aircraft, Old Warden Aerodrome, Biggleswade, Beds. Aug 20-23 PFA: International rally, Rochester. Aug 23 Aosta Aero Club: International rally, Aosta. Aug 26-29 AGARDAvionicsPanel: Ionospheric Research Com- mittee Symposium on "Spread-F and its Effects upon Radiowave Propagation and Communication," Copenhagen. Aug 27- FAI: World Aerobatic Championships, Bilbao,Sept 8 Spain. Aug 29-30 Cerrina Air School: 3rd international tour of Pied- mont, TurinjOrbessano-Bruino. Aug 30 Ravenna Aero Club: International rally, Ravenna.
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