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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 0582.PDF
624 FLIGHT International, 7 March 1981 France and UK push overseas trade THIS month sees two major aerospace trade missions: France is sending representatives of potential subcon tractors to the USA, while British aerospace companies are putting on an exhibition and seminar programme in India. Main focus of French attention is the US West Coast, home of Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed, Nor throp, Garrett and Hughes Helicop ters, which are all cited as targets for the sales mission. The March 8-15 trip will include members of France's new South West Aerospace Group, which represents companies in the Bordeaux- Aquitaine area and plans to open a California office. The group offers skills in compo sites manufacture, precision machining of titanium and aluminium, titanium and magnesium alloy forgings, elec tronic components, cables and wiring, ignitors, fuel injectors, landing gear parts and airframe assembly and sub assembly. A symposium underlining the current manufacturing and re search and development programmes of the south-west region is planned for the Paris Show. Sponsored by the Society of British Aerospace Companies and organised by the British Overseas Trade Board, the mission to India (New Delhi — March 17-19, Bangalore—March 25- 27) involves some 28 companies, many of which have long-standing links with Indian Government, Air Force and airline customers. More than 100 papers and lectures are to be delivered. Becent development and advances will be outlined to some 1,000 guests. The team is to be lead by SBAC president Basil Blackwell of Westland Helicopters, director Sir Charles Pringle and vice-president Hugh Pope of Dunlop aviation division. India is sixth among Britain's major aerospace markets; exports worth £10 million in 1975 (when India ranked 15th in the UK customer league) have grown to £55 million in 1979. The mission follows a similar venture three years ago. Rosemount set for higher altitude AS A SUPPLIER of air data equip ment for more than 200 aerospace vehicles ranging from lightweight drones to the Space Shuttle, Rose- mount Engineering (Durban Road, Bognor Regis, Sussex; telephone 0243 863121) claims to be a leader in the field. The company has recently won a £1 million order for Tornado ice- detection equipment. The detectors are also specified for F-15, F-16, F-18 and TriStar aircraft and Chinook, Black Hawk and Seahawk helicopters. Rosemount, an American company with a 20-year old UK subsidiary, is shortly to expand its UK operations to a new £2 million plant and admini strative centre, which will give 45,000ft2 of working space with pro vision for expansion to 85,000ft2. The company's £8 million 1979 turnover is expected to become £20 million in the mid-1980s once the new premises are fully employed. First Rosemount product for the aerospace industry was a platinum re sistance total-temperature sensor. This was soon developed into a de-iced ver sion, now known as the 102 series. Rosemount claims to be the major supplier of such equipment. The next and most logical step was pressure measurement. The company designed and produced a wide range of pitot and pitot-static tubes, develop ing and patenting its aerodynamic compensation technique, which re duces the static-pressure error input to the air data computer (eliminating the need for further correction within the computer). In addition to pressure and total temperature sensors, Rosemount is the sole supplier of flow-angle sensors with no moving parts, designed in par ticular for V/Stol aircraft, where high accuracy at low airspeeds is needed, and for supersonic aircraft. The com pany has also developed a reliable ice detection system. This works by sen sing the frequency change produced when ice settles on a probe vibrating at 40kHz. The sensor is immune to airborne contaminants such as grease, dost, oil and insects. To complement Rosemount's range, signal-conditioning units are available to monitor equipment performance. An example is their dual-channel pitot-head monitor which warns a cen tral system when heater current falls below a pre-determined value. Airport conference THE 1981 Airport Operators Council International economic conference (March 25-27—Biloxi Hilton Hotel, Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi) will con sider airport financing, leasing/pricing principles, contract compliance and ground-transport developments. AOCI represents almost 200 airport operat ing authorities, which control more than 700 airports and account for 75 per cent of airline passengers includ ing more than 90 per cent of US traffic. Details from AOCI, 1700 K St, Northwest, Washington DC 2006. 'Jack" Northrop THE AVIATION world has lost its second pioneer in a month with the death of "Jack" Northrop at 85; he was three years younger than his con temporary Donald Douglas, whose death we recorded last week. The aviation career of John Knud- sen Northrop began in 1916 when he worked for the Loughead (later Lock heed) brothers designing seaplane wings. The operation folded and in 1923 Northrop joined the Douglas company, his first assignment being to work on the World Cruiser. Three years later, Northrop was back with a re-constituted Lockheed team to be come oo founder of the Lockheed Cor poration a year later. Working with "Gerry" Vultee, he designed the Lockheed Vega, an aircraft of excep tionally clean design for the period, that in 1932 carried Amelia Earhart on her solo transatlantic flight. Leaving Lockheed for the second time, Northrop immediately formed the Avion Corporation in 1927 to pur sue his interest in multi-cellular, all- metal construction techniques. These were applied to several aircraft, notably the Alpha, which was ulti mately developed as the A-17 attack* bomber. Northrop was back with friend and former employer Donald Douglas in 1932, forming the Northrop Corpora tion, El Segundo, California, in which Douglas held 51 per cent of the stock. The new company produced the Gamma and Delta aircraft, the A-17 and the Navy BT-1 dive bomber (fore runner of the Douglas Dauntless). In 1937 the corporation became the El Segundo division of Douglas Air craft. Northrop formed a new indepen dent company—Northrop Aircraft—in 1939 of which he remained a director until 1952. During this time, he de signed the XB-35 flying wing, a highly individual bomber driven by six pusher propellers. This was planned for production after the Second World War but was eventually cancelled. The modern construction methods pioneered by Northrop were funda mental to the success of the Douglas DC commercial transports. Douglas said of his friend in the 1940s "Every major aircraft in the sky has some Jack Northrop in it." Today, that is probably still true.
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