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Aviation History
1971
1971 - 0770.PDF
FUCHT International. 13 May 1971 679 ground was becoming increasingly obscured by cloud when there was a dull crack which I though at first must be the engine surging, but as I glanced around the cockpit all instruments were giving normal readings. At 36,000ft I decided on account of the weather to abandon the flight and get down as quickly as possible. The temperature was -56-6°C and at 35,000ft there was another bang—louder this time and nearer my ear it seemed. Then I saw it was due to a large crack in the canopy, but fortunately it did not open out any more. Hitherto we had imagined that, because of the great heat and volume of the jet efflux, there would be no vapour-trail from a jet-propelled aircraft, but during this flight the contrary was proved when an observer at Brock- worth clearly saw a vapour-trail as I passed overhead at 36,000ft. June 24 dawned cloudless and looked a promising day for my next attempt. I left the ground at Brockworth just after six o'clock in the Gladiator to fly to Barford St John (like Edgehill, also near Banbury) where we now kept the E.28. I'd had no breakfast in order to lessen the possi bility of intestinal pains and after the usual oxygen ritual of jumping up and down on a chair I took the air in the E.28 at 0715. It really was a marvellous day with no clouds to be seen (apart from a few over the Severn Estuary) as I flew steadily upwards. By 39,000ft the full-throttle rate of climb had dropped to 800ft/min and at 40,000ft the cold in the unheated cockpit had become intense. Although "I was wearing four pairs of gloves—silk inners, chamois gloves, woollen mittens and leather gauntlets, I was barely able to write the important figures relating to oil pressure, bearing cartridge temperature and outside air temperature, which were the only ones not covered by the automatic observer. My outside thermometer indicated that the air around me was at — 51 °C and it certainly felt it. The fuel gauge was down to 32gal. I knew I might suffer from sinus trouble if I went down too fast and in view of the need to stooge around low down where it took about lOgal to fly an extra circuit in order to unfreeze the undercarriage I dared not delay my descent. I had reached 41,600ft and as I came to write the last group of climb figures my fingers were so numb and my eyes streaming due to the irritation of oxygen at full flow that it took me three attempts to write them. The throttle had to be closed very gingerly for fear of extinguishing the engine and I eased the lever backwards and forwards once or twice before daring to close it. Idling speed at 40,000ft was checked and found to be 13,500 r.p.m. at 180 m.p.h. On landing after this flight (and the under carriage fortunately came down all right) I recall that I have never felt so cold in my life, even at Vostok in Antarctica which is the coldest place on Earth. This was the first occasion on which 40,000ft had been W404I with temperature-indicating paint stripe along the fuselage. The large diameter of these centrifugal-compressor, reverse-flow engines dictated a tubby fuselage. Despite the lively performance of the E.28, George Carter (chief designer of Glosters) realised that much greater power would be needed for a definitive RAF fighter, so a twin-engined layout was chosen for the F.9/40 Ifii The first E.28 led an eventful life and was still at Farnborough in the late summer of 1945. Eventually Its historical significance was recog nised and it was presented to the Science Museum (above) on April 27, (946. The dimensions were: span, 29ft; length, 25ft 2in; height, 9ft 3in. With full fuel, 82gal, and an all-up weight of 3,7001b, the endurance was 5bmin. A flight limitation of 2g was applied with the W.I engine owing to the low stressing of the compressor reached by a jet-propelled aeroplane, and I was delighted with the performance of the E.28 and its Whittle W.2/500 engine. The piloting problems were due to the lack of heat or pressure in the cockpit, the absence of radio which meant continually checking one's position visually when one really wanted to concentrate on the work of the test, and the limited fuel capacity which prevented this 52min flight being safely extended at all. After lunch the same day I climbed to 35,000ft to carry out some checks of full-throttle level speed, and on that occasion suffered slight bends and considerable stomach pains through having recently had a meal. Although lOhr had been so successfully flown in this series, I could not understand why anybody should want to take the engine out and strip it, until a crack was found right across the impeller of the compressor under x-ray inspection. So one can only suppose that if another flight or so had been attempted, the engine behind my seat would have disintegrated, probably at the take-off when all pressures were at their maximum. Later this first E.28, W4041, was sent to Farnborough where they had crashed the second one as already men tioned. They modified it by fitting a jettisonable canopy (the original not having really lent itself to baling out) and by adding end-plates to the tailplane in order to increase the fin area and reduce the rudder problem. By the time it was decided not to risk any more flying on the only remaining aeroplane and relegate it to the sanctuary of the Science Museum, the E.28 had faithfully fulfilled its purpose. It had completed the basic research necessary to prove the principle of jet propulsion, and from this immediately followed the British jet fighters—the Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire. In fact all the jet aeroplanes subsequently built on both sides of the Atlantic owe their original elementary development to the Gloster-Whittle E.28/39. Today, these flights on the E.28 seem like a glimpse into a former existence, and I am amazed that in spite of the added stress of war and the handicaps of security they had the air then of being so matter of fact and routine. Without in the least shooting a line, I never thought there was any special difficulty or danger in the proceedings at that time. But now in retrospect I am horrified by the narrowness of the margins so freely accepted—82gal of paraffin which were just enough for 20mm flying low down; ailerons which were prone to seizing up at altitude; an under carriage which sometimes froze up; the canopy with its tendency to disintegrate in the cold; the impeller on the brink of exploding just behind the seat of my pants; and finally the lack of heating, pressurisation or radio. Anyone who tried to do those sort of tests in that sort of aeroplane today would need to have his head examined. •
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