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Aviation History
1970
1970 - 0047.PDF
FLIGHT international, I January 1970 Willi DEFENCE EUROPE'S MILITARY TRAINER SCENE 31 Cheyenne Gunships? POSSIBLE USE of the Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne as a gunship is indicated by tests which have been carried out with one of the three remaining prototypes at the Yuma, Arizona, firing range. It is reported that deficiencies in the heli copter's design which caused the US Army to cancel the Cheyenne programme are still being studied by Lockheed. According to a company spokesman, "solutions are being delineated." THERE ARE NOW FOUR prospective trainers on the European military aviation scene: two Franco-German, one British and one Anglo-Italian. The Franco-German projects are the Alpha Jet and Type 462; the former is being studied by Breguet/Dassault and Dornier, the latter by Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm and Nord. The British project is the Hawker Siddeley HS.1182 and the Anglo-Italian (British Aircraft Corporation-Macchi) contender is for two levels of trainer, a basic and an advanced jet. The French and German Air Forces need a replacement for their Potez/Sud CM 170 Magisters. The two Governments have had several conferences over recent months (Flight, July 31) to decide which of the two proposals should be supported as a feasible project. Hawker Siddeley have proposed the HS. 1182 although there is not at present any RAF requirement for such an air craft, because the Air Force is doing some hard thinking about its training policy, and until some conclusions are reached will not decide on a new trainer. It is getting the Jaguar as an advanced supersonic trainer; this is a costly type, and cost will obviously affect what the RAF will be able to spend to replace its Jet Provosts. The RAF requirement would be for 150/200 aircraft. Hawker Siddeley have submitted a technical brochure and cost details to F-llls Grounded FOLLOWING AN ACCIDENT which killed two pilots on a training mission over Nevada on December 22, when the port wing fell off their F-111A, the United States Air Force grounded its 223 F-llls. This was the fifth time since April 1968 that the USAF had grounded its F-llls because of technical problems and acci dents, and 15 aircraft of the type have been lost. Shortly before this announcement. General Dynamics had put out a state ment about F-llls in service having recorded 50.000hr flying, the 50,000th hour having been logged by a USAF crew in an F-111A fighter-bomber on a training mission from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. The 50,000hr were amassed during more than 20.000 test and opera tional flights since the fira F-lll flew on December 21. 1964. General Dynamics said that although the combination of performance capabilities demonstrated by the F-l 11 far exceeded that of any other US military aircraft, it had a lower accident rate per 50,000hr than any other American century-series fighter. the Ministry of Technology. In view of the smallness of a possible RAF order, it would be up to the Government to decide whether such an aircraft should be built with an eye to exports or in collaboration with a European partner. This is a question of balancing the costs of building, say, 300 aircraft for the RAF or a third of 1,000 for a European pro gramme. Hawker Siddeley envisage a type not only able to fulfil an RAF training need, but saleable to countries interested in Hunter replacements. The BAC-Macchi idea was made pub lic in a Memorandum of Understanding announced in July of this year (Flight. July 31). This would be for a type suitable to replace the BAC 167 and Macchi MB.326 series with aircraft of higher performance, one a basic and the other an advanced trainer and with export implications, with both companies interested in an Australian market. It looks as though the British Gov ernment may at some time have to face making a decision on a new jet trainer for the RAF, and whether this should be supplied by BAC or HSA. Possibly for Britain the timescale is wrong for European collaboration, because by the time the RAF need had been determined, the French and German Governments should already have made their decision on, and gone ahead with, development of a trainer for their air forces. US Tilt-wing Transport Research AN AGREEMENT TO CO-OPERATE on the technology leading to the development of V/STOL aircraft for the USAF's pro posed LIT (light intra-theatre transport) programme has been made by Boeing Vertol Division and Vought Aeronautics Division of LTV Aerospace Corporation. The aircraft under study would be a tilt-wing configuration capable of opera ting from short, unprepared landing sites in a STOL mode or VTOL when required. Boeing and Vought both have exten sive tilt-wing technology backgrounds. Boeing developed and flew the world's first successful tilt-wing aircraft, the VZ-2. Vought built the largest tilt-wing aircraft flown to date, the XC-142. The Boeing-Vought agreement calls for an exchange of information on both companies' respective tilt-wing tech nology programmes: a combined effort towards winning the LIT and tilt-wing component development programmes: new joint technology studies; and Vought's support for Boeing during the proposal activity. End of term and prize-giving for student test pilots: the Empire Test Pilots' School McKenna Dinner at RAE Boscombe Down, as recorded by Chris Wren. The senior award, the McKenna Trophy, went to Fit Lt R. C. Ledwidge RAF EMPIRE TEST pitnrs" scHooL McKEMMA DINMER Wo2S BXED Winsoxez HAETlEy MIWTKW /Zp6*-'?fr"GKXO*,*H, nit. R»l LBMA6E..' BEST AU.-R31MP STUW/T; AftftPfeP •nEMcrtilKA-nMW wteriM>-raofW: - BEST HRK23PTER "SlUF&fl" J2A.A.F /&*fi AwHxx &*.<*** OW***%
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