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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2224.PDF
Official Organ of the Royal Aero Club First Aeronautical Watkly in the World Founded in 1909 THURSDAY AUQUST 13, 1964 Number 2892 Volume 86 Editor- in- Chief MAURICE A. SMITH OFC • Editor H. F. KING MBI Technical Editor W.T.OU N8TON Air Transport Editor J. M. RAM8DEN Production Editor ROY CASEY Managing Director H. N. PRIAULX MPE In this issue World News 236 Air Commerce 238 I Straight and Level 245 Letters 246 Short-haulers in the Sun 248 Coventry Pageantry 250 Vigilante 251 Sport and Business 258 odel D.150 Mascaret in the Air 260 Spacefiigrht and Missiles 263 Service Aviation 268 Industry Internationalj268a Iliffe Transport Publication* Ltd., DorsetHouse, Stamford Street, London, SE1; telephone Waterloo 3333 (Telex 25137).Telegrams Flightpres London Telex. Annual subscriptions: Home £4 159.Overseas £5 5s. Canada and USA $15.00. Second Class Mail privileges authorizedat New York, NY. Branch Offices: Coventry, 8-10 Corpora-tion Street; telephone Coventry 25210. Birmingham, King Edward House, NewStreet, Birmingham 2; telephone Mid- land 7191. Manchester, 260 Deansgate,Manchester 8; telephone Blackfriare 4412 or Deansgate 3595. Glasgow, 123 HopeStreet, Glasgow C2; telephone Central 1265-6. Bristol, 11 Marsh Street, Bristol1; telephone Bristol 21491/2. New York, NY: Thomas Skinner * Co(Publishers) Ltd, 111 Broadway 6; telephone Digby 9-1197.© Iliffe Transport Publications Ltd, 1964. Permission to reproduce Illustra-tions and letterpress can be granted only under written agreement. Brief extractsor comments may be made with due acknowledgement. Boom ... • ,.,/'....'.,-..„„.;;:.-; ,i.,,v.' WHEN Kelly Johnson speaks it behoves every right-minded citizen tosit up and listen. For Kelly Johnson was awarded the American Medal of Freedom, having designed the astounding YF-12A (ex A-ll) and SR-71. His work, likewise, was the U-2, of lofty if sombre eminence; and his, moreover, the F-104, no less a bombshell in aeronautics than in politics. If any man knows supersonic aeroplanes it is this Lockheed master-mind. Kelly Johnson's most recent design was for a supersonic transport, selected, together with a Boeing submission, for further study following rejection by the Federal Aviation Agency. It now emerges that this non- acceptance arose not (as widely believed and reported) from deficiencies in range or any other aspect of performance, but because of recognized inability to keep sonic-boom overpressures at acceptable levels. Yet Mr Johnson said recently that he himself was more concerned than were some of America's government officials about the problem of the boom, adding that a major technological breakthrough was needed to get the boom reduced "if we are to fly supersonic airliners over land, which we must do to achieve any kind of market for them." On the same occasion he observed that the breakthrough would largely involve more powerful engines, capable of getting the SSTs higher in a shorter time. He thought the Anglo-French Concord would have as great, or even greater, problems than the US designs "because it could not fly as high." The biggest problem, he said, was generated when a heavy aircraft on the climb exceeded Mach 1 at heights between 25,000 and 35,000ft. The resulting boom must be reduced by about 50 per cent before over-land supersonic flight became practicable. Mr Johnson also remarked on the unpredictability of boom intensity, which has been found to vary according to atmospheric conditions, temperature, terrain and other factors. On a few occasions a boom for which a tolerable level has been predicted has mushroomed into an intolerable blast. Meanwhile the historic tests in Oklahoma have been proceeding and have recently been terminated. Residents of Oklahoma City echoed the last bang with a cheer. Since early February 1,262 booms were placed over selected real estate at the rate of eight a day. Several court actions failed to halt the programme, and the FAA has received 8,000 claims for damage to property. About 800,000 people live in the subject area. . . . for Whom? In Britain, we believe, the menace of the boom has been most forcefully pinpointed by our own air transport editor, following his interview with Mr Najeeb Halaby, the FAA Administrator (this page, June 25). A passing remark by Mr Halaby was not on that occasion recorded; it was to this effect: "If it's an aircraft that only the fish will tolerate its market is going to be greatly reduced." And now—such is the perversity of nature—it seems that the fish themselves are hardly less vulnerable, for an Australian Mirage, on test near Werribee, Victoria, has planted a bang which brought a shoal of mullet to the surface—stunned. There they remained floating for a minute or two before recovering and diving back to the depths. This was all very well for two luckily placed fishermen, who just had time to secure a haul. But it offers a bleak prospect for everybody else, including the fish.
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