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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 0106.PDF
Straight & Level roger. .bacon@flightinternational.com Pot black? Our special Disasteroid correspondent Gas Giant reports that French scientists are studying ways of protecting Earth from incoming asteroids by deflecting them with a "billiard shot" using a smaller asteroid as the "striker". ...and over to the Crucible in the asteroid belt where the Intergalactic Snooker Championships are being held: "You join us just in time to see Alex Asteroid' Higgins attempt to pot the 100m diameter Artemis into the black hole. A very tricky shot, eh, David?" "Yep, absolutely. I think Alex may try and get it in the hole by glancing 1999 VK12 (that's the blue one to you lot watching in black and white) in off the cush ion. Ronnie O'Saturn tried that a few years back with disastrous results when the ball disintegrated, taking the table and most of the Crucible with it. Let's hope he's got his rocks in a row this time!" Sorry, sir, but you appear have lost your balls! The very latest in training devices 80 years ago Junior jets galore The floodgates have opened in the quest to "name that genre". Jetlet or Franco- like derivatives Jetette, Jet-ette, Jette and Jetlette appear to denote the appropriate "flavour". Other, perhaps less wholesome, suggestions include the following: Subjet, Underjet, Loungejet, Bubblejet, YuppieJet, PerkiJet, FlappieJet, PoofyJet, Snort Warbler, Ginko-Flinky Jet, ExpressoJet, LatteJet, Taxjet, TaxiJet, PinkieJet, Lawyer Destroyer, Squirt, WoosieJet, KookyJet, Relief Tube and - possibly the least attractive of the lot - Barf Box! The suggestion of Nephew Pete Donkin is also worthy of note: "How about 'JT' for our abbreviated txt culture?" he asks. Plus ca change Budgie News (to senior Hairbrush exec): "And what about Megaplane's latest project. Does that worry you?" Alphonse Aurevoir: "I am as concerned about the 7E7 as I was about the Sonic Cruiser." I-SAYY After the recent publication of the photo of an Alitalia A300 l-BUST Nephew Massimo T writes to ask if Meridiana-operated MD-82 l-SMEL is also a special case. Is it, he asks, registered this way as part of an EU rule denoting slightly environmentally unfriendly aircraft? My elderly, but most respectful Nephew Rene Francillon also reminds me that this unfortunate Italian registration trend goes back many years to at least 1956 when Linee Aeree Italiane-operated Douglas DC-6B l-LEAD proved to have a tragically apt identity when it failed to gain altitude and crashed shortly after take-off from Paris Orly. YEARS AGO AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FLIGHT 19.3.1954 Canada's Defences The President of A.V. Roe Canada, Ltd., Mr. Crawford Gordon, Jr., has disclosed in Toronto that Canadian aircraft designers are working on plans for fighters and bombers made "entirely from tita nium," and are also studying possibilities for the Canadian production of pilotless aircraft. Of the CF-100 fighter, manufactured by his own C f\ company, he said, "So far, the combina- •^ tion of radar and CF-100s has been remarkably effective. Almost every night aircraft are out, ranging the skies and mak ing successful interceptions. You have the consol ation of knowing that Canada's air defence against attacks over the Pole is as effective as anything available today." Incidentally, a report from Canada describes (perhaps incorrectly) Avro's V.T.O. Project Y as a "flying saucer". An unorthodox power-plant rotates round the cockpit, and is surrounded by the stationary disc wing with peripheral jets. Australia's Airlines Australian airline operators in 1953 lifted a record total of some 1,900,000 passengers - equivalent of a quarter of the Commonwealth's population. Their executives estimate that this figure will be doubled in the next few years by the introduction of tourist- rate travel on internal services. This anticipated growth should parallel the post-war development from the 1945-6 figure of half-a-million passengers. The post-war progress was due to the purchase of DC-4s and Convairs, which not only added seat ing capacity but almost doubled block speeds. Dollar investment was cut down by the facts of geography, which compelled Australian operators to extract from their aircraft the utmost hour of uti lization. Australian National Airways and Trans- Australia Airlines have for many years gained 4,000 hr annually from the Skymasters. They have been fortunate in operating over stages averaging 500 miles under weather conditions which European and American operators would regard as sublime. Herons for Turkey Five new orders for Herons are announced by the de Havilland Aircraft Co., who have now sold nearly 70 of these four-engined "branch-liners" (to use the term coined by the company to describe this class of aircraft). The most important of the new orders is that placed by Devlet Hava Yollari (Turkish state air line) for seven Series 2s with retractable undercarriages. Six of the D.H.Y. Herons will be arranged as 15-seat airliners and the remaining one will be an executive version with seating for eight. Delivery is expected to take place in the spring. 104 16-22 MARCH 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
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