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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 1509.PDF
Straight & Level roqer.bacon@fliqhtinternational.com A plague on your house... Budgie News: "Can it get any worse?" Megaplanes Exec: "Yes and no." Budgie: "What do you mean?" Mega: "So far we've had 9/11, war, disease, massive economic downturn. Now we're expecting a plague of locusts." Budgie: "In other words you expect it to get worse?" Mega: "Not if the locusts land in the south-west USA and have an appetite for aluminium!" and he thought the ed sick bag was... Air crew post-flight digestive debrief, circa 1949 Jet Blue? Monty Orangeball: "So do you have a name for the engine on test?" Roger Ramjet: "Depends on the day - it's either a four or a five letter word!" Barrel of laughs An Alaskan-based turboprop operator speaking about the relevance of the scope clause discussions to his operations: "When we have any sort of discus sion about 'scope' up there it nearly always involves a hunting rifle!" STOVL surprises The US military arsenal often uncovers its latest surprises during wartime and the latest conflict in Iraq was apparently no exception. Two well-respected US newspapers, The LA Times and The Washington Times, for example, were first to break the news that two new STOVL weapons have been in secret develop ment. The LA Times says: "The new version, dubbed the Tactical Tomahawk, can hover over an area for two to three hours." According to The Washington Times: "A new spy plane that can hover for hours and give commanders a prime TV view of the battlefield has proved criti cal in this week's rapid coalition rout of the Iraqi Republican Guard." The name of the new spy plane, in case you are wondering...Global Hawk. 'Lost' Wright archives From late August onwards Seattle's Museum of Right will begin exhibiting the original business records of the Wright Company - America's first aircraft manu facturing firm, incorporated in 1909 by Orville and Wilbur Wright. The archives, long believed to have been lost or destroyed, were bought by private collector Joseph Gertler from a former employee of Curtiss-Wright who had salvaged them during an office clearout. The museum raised the money to acquire the Gertler collection which also includes corporate archives of the Curtiss Aeroplane Co (1910-1923) and the Glenn Martin Co (1912-1917). For more information on how to view the 'birth certificate' of the American aviation industry call The Museum of Flight on +1 206 764 5720 or visit www.museumofflight.org. 50 YEARS AGO AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FLIGHT 12.06.1953 B-47 Wing Arrives First unit to be equipped with the Boeing B-47B Stratojet medium bomber, the 306th medium Bombardment Wing is normally based at MacDill A.FB., Florida. During the past eighteen months the unit has been gradually working up to a fully operational standard, and now is in a "go-any where, do-anything" condition. Accordingly, and in conformity with U.S.A.F. practice, the wing is on detachment to this country for 90 days' continuous training. The aircraft have flown from MacDill by way of Limestone, Maine, where their crews were given a few hours' rest The total distance from Florida is in the region of 4,500 miles, and the first aircraft made the 3,125- mile transatlantic crossing in 5 hr 53 min (rather over 530 m.p.h.). The U.S.A.F. are anxious that it should be known that the bombers are fully operational, and were cruised at normal long-distance thrust; had they been after records, apparently, the figure could have been over 600 m.p.h. Flight refuelling was not used. The B-47s carried their normal crews of three "triple-head" personnel, each of whom can act as pilot, navigator or bombardier. A dummy bomb-load was also carried, and mock attacks were made at selected points during their Atlantic crossing. Records for Dunkerley Subject to confirmation by the F. A.I., Fred Dunkerley, the well-known racing pilot, last Friday set up six new light aeroplanes records during flights between London and Brussels, and London and the Hague, in his Miles Gemini, G-AKKB (two Cirrus Minor 2s). In the morning he flew from Bovingdon (Herts) to Grimbergen, outside Brussels, and back again, in 2h 30 min 45 sec; he touched down, for a few sec onds only, at the halfway point In the afternoon he he similarly flew to Ypenburg and back in 2h 34min 39 sec. Both trips were made unaccompanied. LA to Paris in One Hop On May 28th, a DC-6B set off from Santa Monica, Los Angeles for what was probably the longest non-stop delivery flight ever made by a commer cial aircraft. The aircraft, second of three ordered by the French independent airline T.A.I., arrived at Orly (Paris) 20 hr 30 min later, having completed the 5,700-mile journey at an average speed of 278 m.p.h. Capt. Charles Billet was in charge of the flight, which followed the arc of the Polar great cir cle, passing over Winnipeg, Hudson Bay, and the southern tip of Greenland. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 10-16 JUNE 2003 143
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