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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 0048.PDF
36 LETTERS . .. a familiar sight at Brooklands, flown by young Vincent Waterfall, often taking part in the races. Later in the year he was one of the first members of the RFC to give his life on active service. Another Martinsyde machine which I recall was the small single-seat biplane of 1914-15, followed by the 120 h.p. "Elephant"; and a somewhat later memory in 1920 was watching the very fast little "Semiquaver," piloted by F. T. Courtney, win the Aerial Derby of that year and seeing it turn over on to its back when landing. All the Martinsydes that 1 recall had characteristically beautiful lines. Ascot, Berks w. M. BUNCF. Inverted Fuel System? SIR,—Reading through the wealth of detail in your article about the Boeing 747 (December 12) J was interested to see on page 991 that the maximum refuel ling rate is about 2,000gal/hr. I had been looking for ward, some years hence, to a flight in this giant, but if f have to wait 22hr while it is refuelled I might choose a different type. Immediately, of course, the A-300B comes to mind. However, when choosing which of the three alternative seat-layout diagrams on page 1014 (Flighr, Decem ber 19) the prospect of sitting inverted, presumably hanging in the straps, whilst in this otherwise very attractive aeroplane, leaves me even more disillusioned. I'm sure the next generation of airliners is too com plicated; perhaps it might be best to go by train after all. South Woodford. s. w. STONEHAM LondonE/8 [Mr Stoneham may safely make bookings for both aircraft. The 747"s fuelling rate should, of course, have read "per minute" : and in service the A-300's cabin is unlikely to be inverted.—Ed| F.E.2d Souvenir Offered SIR,—The author of "We Stood to Fight," Part One of which was published in last week's issue [Part Two is in this issue, pages 14-15—Ed] still has the boss and one blade from the F.E.2d depicted in the article. The blade is not splintered, but it has numerous scores and burns from bullets. Tf any RAF squadron, or flying club, would like to have this souvenir it is available, free of charge, provided that shipment from Australia is paid for. Interested parties should write to W. C. Cambray. 25 Merlin Street, Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia. Shirley, Surrey B. c. CAMBRAY Deep-stall Disaster SIR.—Your summary (pages 909-911) of the official report on the super-stall disaster to the Trident near Norwich brings to mind two episodes concerning the late Geoge Errington which have a tragic irony. During my researches on the history of Airspeed whiqh f am writing. Mr Hessell Tillman told me of an occasion when George took him up in one of the two prototype Queen Wasp biplanes to demonstrate a remarkable phenomenon which he had discovered during stalling tests on this aircraft. Mr Tiltman described how. as the throttle was closed and the nose brought up, the aircraft descended in a virtually stabilised and stalled condition practically vertically. He carefully aligned a datum point to establish this, and there was only a very light headwind blowing at the time. Oddly enough, the phenomenon could not be reproduced in the second prototype, which dropped a wing immediately. Was this a super stall? Mrs Errington kindly gave me access to George's fUGHT International, 2 January 1969 documents in which were the rough notes of a talk he gave to a test pilots' course at Cranfield soon after the war. He stressed the vital importance of the test pilot being intimately concerned with the stalling characteristics of his aircraft in all its forms, including straight flight, g, flaps down, part power, full and asymmetric power, etc. saying that the capability of the designers could well be established from the stall characteristics which the pilot found. He said that in any case the pilot must make every effort to achieve lateral stability at the stall for the benefit of those who were to handle the aircraft subsequently. He concluded this particular note with the statement that many pilots have come to grief because the stall characteristics of an aircraft have not been sufficiently clearly established. Sheffield o. H. MIDDLETON Avro Identified ? SIR,—The closely guarded Avro 500 illustrated by Roger Bacon in your December 12 issue was in fact photo graphed at Old Trafford in 1912 and was piloted b> Lt W. Parke, RN. The policemen were from the Manchester Con stabulary and were necessary to keep back the crowds anxious to see a flying machine close up—so reads the caption beneath an illustration I have of the same photograph. Could this descent at Old Trafford have occurred during the Daily Mail Tour of the same year in which Lt Parke, RN. took part? Twickenham, Middx M. A. P. TUCKF.Y IN BRIEF Pit Off R. W. Perraton (Officers' Mess. RAF Linton-on- Ouse. York) is working on a history of No I Flying Training School and would welcome appropriate infor mation. DIARY Jan 2 RAeS Young People's Lecture: "From Vertical Take-off to Supersonic Flight," by Dr S. G. Hooker; 4 Hamilton Place. London Wl, 3 p.m. Jan 6 RAeS Air Transport Group: "Air Transport Facilities and Regional Planning," by Dr K. R. Sealy; Engineering Department Lecture Theatre, University of Bristol, 7 p.m. Jan 7 RAeS Management Studies Group: Annual general meeting and discussion evening; 4 Hamilton Place, London Wl, 6 p.m. Jan 7 RAeS London Airport Branch: "The Air Registration Board and its Work," by G. A. Cropper; Senior Mess, Technical Block A, BOAC, London Heathrow Airport, 6.15 p.m. Jan 9 RAeS Specialist Lecture: "Noise Problems of VTOL," by Herr M. Flemming and Herr Scholten; 4 Hamilton Place, London Wl. 6 p.m. Jan 9 RAeS Southend Branch: "Early Days of Flying," by Wg Cdr S. T. Freeman; No. I Committee Room, Southend-on-Sea Civic Centre, 7.45 p.m. Jan 9 City University Department of Aeronautics; "Aeronautics Fifty Years Ago," by Prof Sir Geoffrey Ingram Taylor; City University. St John Street, London EC I. 1.30-2.30 p.m. Jan 13 RAeS Bedford Branch: "Aeronautical Research in the USSR," by Prof Dr G. A. Tokaty; The Hall, Mander College, Bedford. 8 p.m. Jan 14 RAeS Main Society Lecture at Prestwick: "Aviation Medicine," by Dr G. Bennett; Civic Theatre, Ayr, 7.45 p.m. Jan 14 RAeS Test Pilots' Group: "The Jetstream," by J. W. Allam; 4 Hamilton Place, London W|, 7 p.m.
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