FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 1673.PDF
st & Leve roger.bacon@flightinternational.com Fur-paying passenger? The recent story about a cat in the cockpit (Straight and Level, 17-23 August) has prompted Vasco O'Higgins, our Latin American correspondent, to relate the tale of a freeloading mouse that paid the ultimate price for a flight on a TAM Fokker 100. Vasco says "the flight was about five minutes short of its destina tion when one of the flight attendants noticed a white mouse on the floor of the forward galley area. Interrupting the pre-landing galley check, he removed one of his shoes and, with a well-aimed blow, dispatched the hapless rodent. Tossing the dead creature into the bin, the attendant made a mental note to write up a pest control inspection request for the daily check. After landing and after most of the passengers had disembarked, the flight attendant noticed a middle-aged woman crouching beside the seats. "Excuse me ma'am, can I help you?" he asked. Self-loading cargo: "I know it's completely against the rules, but I brought my pet mouse with me and I seem to have lost it." Ilyushin 11-18 at Yegoryevesk aircraft mechanics school, Moscow, 1979 Uncle Roger's late summer bookshelf Frank Whittle - Invention Of The Jet In this unusual and fascinating book, Andrew Nahum challenges the oft-told story about how Sir Frank Whittle, the "father of the jet engine" struggled alone against the incompetence and hostility of the British government to develop his revolutionary invention. Nahum, curator of aeronautics at London's Science Museum, has delved deep into the archives and conducted interviews to unearth evidence which seems to provide a different, and refreshingly balanced historical perspective. Although some readers may find his views controversial at best, he explains why this myth may have developed against the background of wartime Britain and the fantastic strains then being imposed on every aspect of the aviation industry - including the aeroengine makers. Nahum also explains the enormous personal pressures on Whittle and his dedicated team, while providing illuminating examples of how Whittle's genius frequently clashed with the unwieldy and slow-moving machinery of government. The importance of Whittle's invention to the nation as a whole, and the govern ment's many missed post-war opportunities, are also summarised. Published by Icon Books at www.iconbooks.co.uk ISBM 1 84046 538 7 and priced at UK Pounds 9.99. Spool-ups: fascinating details and unusual new perspectives. Surges: would have been nice to have had more detail and analysis of the post-war period. TAB rating: (X) Top shelf. 0 Middle shelf. () Bottom shelf. 50 YEARS AGO AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FLIGHT 10.9.1954 Shannon Accident Less than a fortnight after losing a DC-6B, K.L.M. suffered another stroke of misfortune on September 5th, when their Super Constellation PH- LKY Triton fell into the Shannon estuary. Twenty-eight of the 56 people on board lost their lives. The survivors - 22 passengers and six crew members - managed to reach the shore in the aircraft dinghies. First statements suggest that the majority of casualties, if not all, were caused by petrol fumes rendering the passengers unconscious so that they drowned in the shallow water. Apparently nothing had been known of the crash - which occurred at 3.40 a.m. - until Johan Tieman, the second co-pilot and navigator, gave the alarm at 6.10 after swim ming to a mud flat and crawling through two miles of mud to the river bank. Reader's USSR Review I spent a month in the U.S.S.R earlier this year and during that time I travelled extensively by Aeroflot. My first journey under the care of this organisation was in an IL-12.1 must say that from a passenger's point of view, I found the Aeroflot machine wanting in every respect. Flying at a height of 6,000ft the machine was either excessively hot or very cold - dependent it seems on the whim of an unsmiling, un-informed hostess. The furnishing was dull and uninteresting, brown being the predominant colour. All the airports I visited were dual-purpose - that is both civil and military. I had the good fortune to be in the Red Square on May Day and had an excellent view of the proceedings, including the flypast led by a rather large four-jet bomber. When I mentioned the word "bomber" my interpreter raised his eye brows and asked: "Who said it was a bomber?" Migs V. Neptune Another shooting incident involving Communist and American aircraft occurred over the Sea of Japan on September 4th. A Neptune of the US Navy, while on routine patrol 100 miles east of Vladivostock, had been attacked and shot down by two jet aircraft "apparently of the Mig-15 type." Nine of the ten men on board were picked up by American air/sea rescue units. Bombay Duck Involving the largest concentration of aircraft and naval ships seen in Ceylon waters for years, Exercise Bombay Duck was recently completed. It was conducted by Vice-Admiral Norris C-in-C. East Indies Station. 50 7-13 SEPTEMBER 2004 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
