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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0055.PDF
JANUARY 13TH, 1949 F L I G H..T THERE Lindberg in Germany : i^OLONEL LINDBERG made a secret" ^-/ visit to the Berlin air lift airfield at ; Frankfurt on January 4th. He is under-stood to be on an "unscheduled tour" ~ of U.S.A.F. European bases and went to ; Germany as a special technical adviserto the U.S.A.F. Chief of Staff, Gen. Van- denbergh, to observe operational pro-cedure and recommend improvements. " Going Up! •"'P ILOTED by Capt. Charles E. Yeagerat the U.S.A.F. Base at Muroc, Cali- fornia, on January 3rd, the experimentalsupersonic Bell X-i took off under its own power for the first time. TheU.S.A.F. reports that this aircraft reached an altitude of 23,000 feet in oneminute 40 seconds, a rate of climb more than 13,000 ft per minute, which exceeds'all previous records. The Bell X-i is powered solely by a battery of four liquidfuel rocket motors. The total static thrust of these rockets is some 6,000 1band the fuels are alcohol and liquid oxygen. Slick WorkW ITHIN 55 minutes of receiving anurgent call from B.E.A.'s charter section on the Berlin airlift to fly sparesto a Lancastrian tanker grounded at Wunsdorf, Kearsley Airways had aDakota airborne from Stanstead. Dur- ing the 55 minutes arrangements weremade with the Control Commission to waive the necessity for military permitsfor the crew of the Dakota since theirs VISITOR AT BRISTOLS : Mr. Geoffrey de Freitas, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Air, went to Filton on January 5th and flew in the Bristol Type 171 helicopter. He is here seen in conversation with the test pilot, Eric Swiss. Also in the group are (left) Mr. C. F. Uwins, Managing Director, Aircraft Division ; and (backs to camera) VV/C. A. V.' R. Johnson and Mr. A. J. Pegg, B.A.C. Chief Test Pilot. had expired when Dakotas were with-drawn from the airlift a few weeks ago. After landing at Bovingdon to pick uppapers and passports (normally kept at Kearsley's London office) which wererushed there by road, the Dakota flew on to Tarrant Rushton to load up theFlight Refuelling Lancastrian spares. These consisted of a Merlin engine, fins,rudders and elevators. Altogether a highly creditable effort demonstratinghow formalities can be cut short when all parties co-operate with enthusiasm. R.Ae.S. Reading Branch Revival ON January 26th the Reading and Dis-trict Branch of the Royal Aero- nautical Society are to hold a special meeting at which it is hoped to obtain "NOW, IN THE NENE . . . " : "Wimpey" Wade, Hawker test pilot, now engaged in development flying on the Nene-powered Hawker/P. 1040 and N. 7 46, and soon to test the P. 1052 (likewise with Nene), discusses an eldenfy Whittle W. 21700 turbojet at the School- boys' Own Exhibition in the New HorticulturaVHall, Westminster. Doubtless he drew on the knowledge he acquired during war-time service at the Air Fighting Development Unit of the somewhat later Wetland. B II sufficient support to recommence theactivities of the Branch which has been inactive since the liquidation of MilesAircraft. The meeting is to take place in No. 1 lecture room of the flying schoolat Woodley Airfield, at 6.15 p.m. New H.P. Test Pilot L. D. J. BROOMFIELD, D.F.M.,has been appointed test pilot for Handley Page, Ltd. Early in the warF/L. Broomfield flew Hampdens with Bomber Command, Number 49 Squad-ron, and from 1943 onwards was engaged on experimental work. Before leavingthe R.A.F. in October, 1948, he was testing heavy aircraft at the A. andA.E.E., Boscombe Down, having gradu- ated from the Empire Test Pilots'School. While en loan to Handley Page's last year F/L. Broomfield flewas second pilot of the Hastings on its tour of Australia and New Zealand. Aero Club Film Show -T HE next coloured film show to begiven for Members and Associate Members of the Royal Aero Club at Lon-donderry House is to be held on January 18th at 6.15 p.m. The two films to beshown are "B.O.A.C. Short Sol?nt Fly- ing Boat to Johannesburg," and "Withthe R.A.A.F. in the Balik Papan Cam- paign, Dutch Borneo, July, 1945." Thefirst records the inaugural flight of the Short Solent flying boat Southampton toJohannesburg in May 1948 gives an impression in natural colour of thetourist route to South Africa. The other film was taken largely from a Liberatoron D-Day in the last of the three cam- paigns in Dutch and British Borneo andshows the use of air power, bombing attacks, and how the taking of an airstrip became the principal objective. Mr. William Courtenay will give an eye-witness commentary. R.Ae.S. Lecture T^HIS evening, January 13th, at J- 6 p.m., Mr. F. W. Meredith, B.A., F.R.Ae.S., is to give a lecture before theRoval Aeronautical Societv at the Insti-
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