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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0880.PDF
Straight & Level roger.bacon@fliqhtinternational.com Time travel? Are you all sitting comfortably? Good...you'll need to be, because from now on we're all going to be S...L..O...W...I...N...G things downnnnn a bit, and those seats will need to be nicely padded. You see it's been officially decided to reverse the course of human development, and we are now beyond the turning point. You probably saw the first signs of it in 1999 when NASA cancelled the High Speed Research programme. Then of course, there was another little clue when those interesting people at DARPA made sure the Quiet Supersonic Platform changed from a nice shiny white to a dull green camouflage. If you still missed all of the above, how about the death of the Sonic Cruiser? So now we come to Concorde. By the time it is grounded we will have wound the clock back to the 1960s. The SR-71 s are now nicely distributed around muse ums already, so dear old Cone will make a nice adjunct to various collections. Which brings us to our latest aircraft development plans. In light of the rever sal of time and the need to slow down, we are looking for any bright young engineers with a keen interest in biplanes. In particular, your uncle has heard of one project that may become the focus for the entire air transport industry - the building of a Handley Page HR42 replica. The New Hannibal Project wants to build what will amount to a ninth production example of the Hannibal. So how about it? Check out their website at: www.hannibal-ll.co.uk or contact project director Michael Russell at mike@navart.co.uk At this rate, we might see the HR42 going back into series production. The more struts the better...aaaaaahhh Handley Page! Divided by a common language The British troops morale-boosting speech on the eve of the advance into Iraq by Lt. Col Tim Collins: "If you are ferocious in battle, remember to be magnanimous in victory. We go to liberate, not to conquer. We are entering Iraq to free a people, and the only flag that will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Don't treat them as refugees, for they are in their own country. If there are casualties of war, then remember, when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves. You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest, for your deeds will follow you down in history. Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birth of Abraham. Tread lightly there." The US speech -Vice Admiral Timothy Keating: "When the president says 'go', look out - it's hammer time" (followed by "We Will Rock You" at high volume). Overheard at a conference A pilot was sent to evaluate a new simulator before acceptance. As he was taxi ing out for take-off he felt the virtual aircraft's response wasn't the fidelity he would expect. "So I asked where they got the simulator's aircraft model from," he tells your favourite uncle. "They said we used the basic model from our 'name-removed-to-protect-the-innocent' simulator", our intrepid evaluation pilot added "but that's got a tailwheel, my aircraft's got a nose gear". The response was, apparently, "does it matter?". Yes. AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FLIGHT 24.04.1953 Offshore Hunters Yesterday's contract was due to be signed in Paris between the Ministry of Supply and the United States Mutual Security Agency for a large number of Hawker Hunter fighters for the NATO countries. The value of the contract has been variously quoted as between $70m and $100m (£24 V;m to £35 V2m), and the number of aircraft involved as between 200 and 400, with spares. The delay which has occurred in the signing of the order has been largely due to the old stumbling-block of the June 1955 deadline, and it is still unclear whether this is being extended by a year by Congressional action or whether the difficulty will be surmounted by some such move as a loan arrangement for the aircraft. Once this contract has been signed, the way may be open for the signing of further orders - for Hunter production in Holland and for Avon produc tion in Belgium, as already mooted. With the Mystere IV already being produced in France, a remaining possibility would then be that of Javelin airframe-component production in Italy. Results of evaluation tests by Gen. Boyd's team are learned to have been satisfactory. 50 YEARS AGO The Valiant The second Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant prototype WB 215 is now back at work after a spell on the ground at Wisley. The Italian journal Alata quotes the following figures for the aircraft, and we repeat them for what they are worth: wing area 2,000 sq ft; all-up weight, 120,000 lb; max. speed, 500 m.p.h. Need for Technologists Among some parents of boys of school leaving age the idea still survives that a career in industry is not so "respectable" as one in the Services or professions. That such a point of view is not only out of date, but harmful, was the theme of a speech made by Lord Hives (Chairman of Rolls- Royce, Ltd.) when he opened the extensions to Nottingham University's engineering laboratories on April 14th. Industry today, he said, provided the life-blood of the nation; without it, we should be finished as a great power. In the year 1950-51,72.5 per cent of Britain's uni versity students were in some measure or other assisted financially by the State; yet of the full-time undergraduate population only 12.4 percent were studying technology. Saying the Government were tackling the problem, Lord Hives instanced the decision to expand the Imperial College of Science and Technology, and the plans to make resources available in other parts of the country. www.fllghtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22-28 APRIL 2003 53
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