Loughborough Branch

Minutes of the Annual General Meetings held on Tuesday 24th April 2012 (including notes on lecture which followed the AGM) No. attendees – 35. Apologies for absence – These were received from Tony Irwin, Dr Oliver Lewis and Daniel Nutt.

1 Minutes of EGM held on 10th May 2011 These were approved. Proposer – Mike Hirst, Seconder – Frank Chambers.

2 Minutes of AGM held on 10th May 2011 These were approved. Proposer – Mike Hirst, Seconder – Frank Chambers. 3 Matters Arising There were none. 4 Secretary’s Report See attached. Proposer – Goff Tearle, Seconder – John Hodgkinson 5 Treasurer’s Report See attached. This was approved. Proposer – Goff Tearle, Seconder – Graham Kitto 6 Election of Officers 6.1 The following committee members indicated that they were willing to stand for re-election for the 2012/13 Season: Branch Chairman : John Ollerhead Branch Secretary : Colin Moss Branch Treasurer : Mac Maccabee Meetings Secretary : Oliver Lewis Committee Members : Ivor Amos, Frank Chambers, Mike Hirst, Barry Jacobson, Daniel Nutt, Goff Tearle and Karpaga Vipran Kannan (Vipran). 6.2 Ben Ward, present Chairman of Loughborough Students’ Flying Club was also standing for election. 6.3 Dr Andrew Dann, co-opted during the 2011-12 season, was not standing for election as he is returning to Australia. 6.4 Ben Lion, now past Chairman of Loughborough Students’ Flying Club, is leaving Loughborough University and was also not standing for election.

All those standing for election were elected nem con. 7 Any Other Business There was none.

Colin Moss MRAeS, Branch Secretary RAES812 24/04/12

RAeS Loughborough Branch

Secretary’s Report to the 2011/12 Season AGM held on Tuesday 24th April 2012 1. Review of the 2011/12 Lecture/Visits Programme 1.1 Visits There was one visit during the 2011/12 season. This was on 30th March 2012 to the Vulcan XH558 at Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster. 25 Members, Friends and others associated with the RAeS Loughborough Branch participated in the visit. 1.2 Lectures In all a total of nine lectures were planned for the 2011/12 programme (see Table 1 below). N.B. In each case the "Report on the Lecture" is a copy of the notes written for the RAeS Loughborough Branch website.

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 18th Oct. The Work of a Test Pilot in 1. Introduction 2011 Rolls-Royce (inc. Flying the 190 Rolls-Royce PR.XIX Spitfire) Phil joined the RAF in 1984 and flew Buccaneers, Hawks and Jaguars. Whilst in the RAF he by Phil O’Dell, Chief Test attended the French test pilot training school (EPNER - École du Personnel Navigant d’Essais Pilot and Head of Flying, et de Réception). He joined Rolls-Royce in November 2001 and since then he has flown the Rolls-Royce plc Hawk, various Airbus aircraft (including the A380), Boeing 777, Gulfsteam G450, Spitfire and Vulcan. He has also flown Rolls-Royce’s own Boeing 747 Classic with one of its four engines

replaced by a Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine on test.

Phil’s lecture was divided into two parts; a description of the activities of a Rolls-Royce test pilot and his experiences in flying the Rolls-Royce PR XIX Spitfire.

2. The Work of a Rolls-Royce Test Pilot 2.1 General A test pilot is the interface between the front line pilot and the design engineer. Together with the project and flight test engineers, a test pilot defines what test are required and what results are to be obtained. This leads to a definition of the flight test programme and an associated risk assessment. The test pilot also participates in the trials analysis and reporting process.

Page 3

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Increasingly the role of a test pilot is being orientated towards “operational support”. This is because of the increasing role of Rolls-Royce as a services company with the aim reducing customers’ operational costs. A Flight Operations Support Team was founded in 2003 with the aim of providing technical liaison with both military and civil customers. Its current strength wihin Rolls-Royce is 3-4 pilots and 5 engineers. The Team assists with accident and incident investigations, supports sales campaigns, and answers operationally biased technical queries. This has led to a much closer involvement with servicing organisations including a series of fuel saving trials. 2.2 Example Test Programme – the Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Adour Mk 951 Engine The Adour Mk 951 is an upgrade to an old engine, one which has powered the BAE Systems Hawk for many years. The Mk 951 has a thrust of 6,500 lbf and is a considerable upgrade to previous versions.

BAE Systems Hawk Jet Trainer

Page 4

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture The Mk 951 has an increased life over previous versions, lower life cycle costs, reduced servicing and maintenance requirements, more thrust, fewer engine restrictions and surge detection and recovery. It is designed to keep pace with changing requirements for the next generation of training aircraft. A flight test programme was undertaken to confirm the surge detection and recovery characteristics of the Mk 951 FADEC system. Surges can occur as a result of a variety of causes including bird injestion, operating an engine in the wake of an air-to-air refuelling drogue/basket, injesting the eflux from a lead aircraft when operating in formation with other aircraft and operating an aircraft outside its normal operational boundary. The FADEC surge recovery logic is required to detect a surge, confirm the surge within 0.5 sec., instigate a fuel dip whilst the surge clears and finally to ensure that the engine recovers to its pre-surge throttle setting after the surge has been corrected. Crucially the FADEC must not attempt to correct a surge when an engine will self recover from that surge. Hence the FADEC is required to resolve the difference between the pop-pop-pop of short term self recovery type surges and longer duration surges requiring corrective action. In addition, Rolls-Royce were not permitted to make changes to the pilot’s cockpit displays in order to provide pilot awareness of a surge correction in progress. In the event the IGN (igniters) light was used to indicate that the FADEC had switched on the engine igniters to restart the engine after implementing a fuel dip. The flight test programme comprised a series of aggressive agitated aircraft spins at high engine power with the throttle setting left in its pre-surge position throughout four full 360° spins. The aim was to promote engine surge. The tests were carried out at the Arniston Bay test facility in as that country was to be the first customer for the new version of the Hawk to be fitted with the Mk 951 engine. The test location offered the advantage of relatively uncluttered airspace and also “ownership” of the airfield during the trials. The latter ensured that forced landings could be made at any time and indeed, the majority of test flights were preceded by a practise forced landing.

Page 5

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture A BAE Systems test pilot in the front seat was required to fly the aircraft whilst Phil, in the back seat, was given control of the throttle during the spin manoeuvres. The aim was to leave the FADEC to correct the surge, but Phil was required to check the telemetry to confirm that the surge correction was proceeding satisfactorily and also to watch the engine temperature indicator to ensure that the engine did not exceed its permitted temperature limits. In the event of problems in either area, Phil was to instigate a manual surge correction. A second test was to pull the aircraft up into the vertical position wait until the aircraft speed had dropped to zero causing an engine surge. This also resulted in a full failure, a tail side and a quarter turn inverted spin. The test confirmed that the FADEC was able to carry out a full surge recovery even under extreme conditions. 3. Flying the Rolls-Royce PR XIX Sptifire.

Rolls-Royce PR XIX Spitfire Seventy-nine Mk. XIX Spitfires were built by Supermarine. Rolls-Royce’s example was delivered to the RAF in January 1945. During WW2 it took part in nine operational sorties including Operation Overlord. Later it was delivered to RAF Biggin Hill to join the then RAF Historic Flight, now the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and it was flown by Gp. Cpt. Johnnie Johnson. It was last used operationally in 1962-4 when it was used to give Lightning Fighter pilots experience of engaging piston engined aircraft. This was because were at the time using Mustang fighter aircraft.

Page 6

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture The aircraft has a top speed of 370 knots, stalls at 60 knots, can operate at +4g but no negative g, has a cross wind limit of 15 knots (25 knots during taxiing with 2 people holding the tail). The aircraft is a joy to fly and comes into the category of an aircraft “which you wear”. This experience is common to all pilots who have flown the Spitfire. It is also relatively easy to fly. That is not to say that the aircraft “will not bite” if it is treated badly. The flying highs of Phil’s experiences with the Spitfire have included flying in formation with an Airbus A340 test aircraft trialling a Trent 500 engine, a Boeing 787 at the Farnborough air display and a Typhoon fighter at Filton, Bristol. This lecture was enthuseastically received by an audience of approximately 190 RAeS Members, Branch Friends, students and members of the public. Notes by Colin Moss

1st Nov The Future with the Boeing 200 1. Introduction 2011 787 Dreamliner by Miguel has led the Boeing sales efforts in numerous countries. He is US-based, but was born in J. Miguel Santos, FRAeS, Angola and has Portuguese roots, and has been a member of the commercial team that has Director, International Sales, promoted numerous Boeing types for many years. He has strong interests in the commercial Boeing Commercial Airplanes exploitation of technology, which became a theme within his lecture. In addition to sales work, This was the prestige lecture of and has become associated with academia, and in the UK he is a regular visitor to the Air the 2011/12 season and a joint Transport department of Cranfield University. lecture with the IMechE.

Page 7

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 2. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Boeing 787-8 landing at Everett – completion of final certification flight (Photo credit: Boeing) The lecture concentrated on the development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with the presenter stressing that the first in service flight had been over 3 years after the proposed schedule. He was keen to explain the reasons for the delays, and the lessons that had been learned. His candid summary of the content he would cover was a story, that in respect of the ambitious timescale to produce it in, was of a revolutionary aircraft, and a programme that suffered because it was much more new technology all at once than the development processes they invoked could manage. He outlined the requirements that drove the design programme, whereby improved operating costs were sought, not just through improved fuel usage and lower maintenance costs, but also from using new materials, and simplified (’more-electric’) systems. Customers sought too a versatile payload-range capability from shorter runways, and wished for an aircraft that could serve ‘thinner’ demand, long and medium-range routes, point-to-point. They also perceived a need to offer improvements in passenger comfort. Boeing decided this should include having better seating, higher ambient pressure and humidity cabin conditions that ever before, large windows, and greater volumes available for of in-cabin baggage storage.

Page 8

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Boeing 787 mock-up of typical seating arrangement and cabin design (Photo credit: Boeing)

Before describing the aircraft’s features he summarised the project attainments at the time of the presentation:

 The order book was 821 aircrafts from 56 customers (admitted to be reduced from the 957 orders from 57 customers at the peak)  Aircraft 56 was already in production

Page 9

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture  Flight test has led to certification in August 2011. It was the most tested aircraft in commercial aviation history, having flown 5,200 hours in over 1,800 flights and addressed over 25,000 pre-determined test conditions.  Ground testing has also exceeded 4,000 hours  The aircraft had entered commercial service with ANA, flying Tokyo-Hong Kong in the previous week

2. The Technology

The key feature of the 787 design was the decision to produce an almost-all carbon-fibre airframe. Several aspects of the design’s unique attributes stem from this. They include not only the mass saving, but the fact that with a much reduced fatigue and corrosion risk, the cabin could use a higher pressure differential, and cope with greater humidity than metal-based airframes. (He eschewed the press term ‘plastic’ aeroplane).

Page 10

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Boeing 787 carbon-fibre moulded nose–section (Photo credit: Boeing)

The lecture material included videos and slides of the nose section moulding – that takes some 8 hours to be ‘woven’ on a mandrel jig, using automated tape-laying machinery, and then is ‘baked’ for 8hr 15 minutes in a tailored autoclave. This process delivers a complete nose section, one of six sections that comprise the whole fuselage, into which holes are cut by laser and water-jet to accommodate transparencies. This is a radically different process to the traditional method of developing frames and longerons, with chemically-etched stressed skin panels, all riveted and/or bonded together. He stressed how clean and quite the production

Page 11

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture spaces were, as they were devoid of metal swarf, and the chatter of rivet guns. Boeing has two assembly and completion centres in the US, at Seattle and in North Carolina.

The implementation of this radically new production technique was the major contributor to delay in the programme. Carbon-fibre comprises 55 per cent of the primary structural mass, the rest being aluminium, titanium and steel, and Boeing sub-contracted manufacturers of major elements worldwide, with many of these taking longer than anticipated to climb the new- technology learning curve, or having to have their supply arrangements changed.

There were some design problems too, especially in the wing centre-section, where the carbon fibre wing-box penetrates the mid-fuselage. The re-design was completed and the wing eventually tested to the ultimate stress level required for certification. He showed impressive photographs and videos of the test-specimen airframe wing reaching this condition, with the wing-tip deflected some 25ft (7.6m) vertically. The test was successful, and terminated before the structure reached it ultimate failure point because the test rig integrity was not necessarily equal to that of the airframe.

Miguel also paid tribute to the improved engine performance offered by suppliers, in their Rolls-Royce Trent and General Electric GEnx engines. These have higher by-pass ratio gas cycles, embody no engine air bleeds and have laminar-flow nacelles. Whilst the technical features improve carbon emission performance by up to 20 per cent, the suppliers have agree also on a physical design definition that allows total interchangeable at the wing-pylon interface, thus standardising the wing in production. 3. Conclusions He concluded with a summing up that Boeing believe they should have involved their suppliers 2 to 2½ years earlier in the development stages of the programme. They have faced not just delay, but mounting project costs too, and have been able to write-down the difficulties, and would not wish to pretend there are not lessons to learn and share within industry. He stressed that there is nevertheless still considerable intellectual-property covered by patents and

Page 12

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture undisclosed that stems from the research and development work undertaken on the programme. Boeing expect variants of the 787 (the 787-8 is in service, whilst the slightly larger, and longer- range, 787-9 has yet to complete testing) to prove so successful that they will account for a large proportion of company production long into the future. He quoted planned production rates in the next few year of:  Boeing 737 42 per month  Boeing 747-8 8 per month  Boeing 777 7-8 per month  Boeing 787 8, rising to 20, per month. He commented on the challenges of supplying such large programmes, and cited that there are only 5 aircraft seat, 5 galley systems and 2 in-flight entertainment (IFE) suppliers world wide. Miguel took questions throughout the lecture, and provided answers through accessing a tremendous amount of supporting material that made everyone aware that his 90-minute presentation was a skilful condensation of a vast amount of data, information and insight. This lecture received a resounding expression of thanks by an audience of approximately 200 RAeS Members, Branch Friends, students and members of the public, some of whom has travelled in by coach from Cranfield University. Notes by Mike Hirst

Page 13

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 15th Nov The Search for German 260 Capt Brown was introduced by John Ollerhead who gave a comprehensive CV which is too 2011 Wartime Technological long to include here in full. Some highlights include his 31 years service in the Secrets where Capt Brown was the Fleet Air Arms most decorated pilot receiving both the by Capt. Eric Brown (i.e. Distinguished Service Cross and the Air Force Cross. He served on the escort carrier HMS Winkle Brown) Audacity at the beginning of WW2 when he shot down two German patrol aircraft before being Joint lecture with the posted to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough in 1942. Here he later went on to Loughborough University command the Enemy Aircraft Flight, the High Speed Flight, and the Aerodynamic Flight Alumni Society. groups. He holds world records for flying the most number (487) of basic aircraft types, the most carrier landings in a fixed wing aircraft (2407), and the first carrier landing of a jet aircraft. Capt Brown has received numerous accolades such as the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators Award of Honour for outstanding lifetime contribution to aviation in 2005, an award given jointly to Neil Armstrong. He holds qualifications as diverse as Hon Fellow of the Royal Society of Experimental Test Pilots and Master Pilot of Russia. Capt Brown was appointed CBE in 1970 and is a Past President and Hon fellow of the RAeS. He has also written 20 books, mainly on military topics. Capt Brown gave a gripping narrative of his experiences in WW2 which he described as a “sortie into Nazi Germany – so fasten your seat belts”. His account was in a chronological sequence starting just before the war when he was 17 years old and was visiting Germany during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Here he had his first encounter with Ernst Udet, Luftwaffe Director-General of Equipment, and Hanna Reitsch, world renowned glider and pilot. He was taken on a hair-raising aerobatic flight by Udet of which he said: “I did not toss my cookies but it was a near thing”. Udet made a large impression on the young Brown and told him he must learn to fly and to speak German. Capt Brown did exactly this by attending Edinburgh University and studying German and French language and joining the University Air Squadron. In 1938 he got his wings and was speaking reasonable German. He went to Germany and visited Udet again who received him like a long lost brother. Together they visited the 1938 Automobile Exhibition where they witnessed the first flight by a female pilot of a helicopter, the Focke-Wulf FW 61, by Hanna Reitsch inside the Deutschlandhalle (a large hall built for indoor sports for the 1936 Olympics).

Page 14

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Back in Britain, Capt Brown was asked to join the Diplomatic Corps. As part of his duties he was in Munich, Germany when Britain declared war on 3rd September 1939. He was rudely awoken by two SS officers at 6 am that morning, arrested and taken to an SS jail in Munich but later released as part of a student prisoner exchange. His car, a MG, had been taken by the Nazis but strangely it was driven back with him to the Swiss border where he was released. The SS officer escorting him told him “you can take your car with you”. When Capt Brown asked “why, you’ve taken my books, my clothes, my money, why are you giving me my car?” The officer said with typical Teutonic logic “because we have no spares”.

Figure 1 Focke-Wulf FW 61 helicopter In 1943 Capt Brown become a test pilot at Boscombe Down and later chief naval test pilot at Farnborough. In late 1944, early 1945 Capt Brown told how he became chief pilot and interpreter for the Farren Mission which had several priorities laid down by Churchill including finding German supersonic wind tunnels and finding and bringing back home advanced German aircraft, jet or rocket. In April 1945 he flew to Fassberg, just south of Hanover, to investigate an abandoned advanced German aircraft. This aircraft was the Messerschmitt 262

Page 15

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture with its fuselage shaped like a shark and sweep-back wings which helped reduce compressibility effects. The biggest innovation though was the Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines which gave the aircraft a quantum jump in performance with a top speed 122 mph faster than Britain’s fastest aircraft, the Spitfire 14. The engine was however terribly unreliable with a total scrap life of just 25 hours which was attributed to the lack of specialist alloys available to Germany at this time in the war. The Messerschmitt 262 was equipped with four 30 mm canons which were accurate to 650 yards. The high closing speed of the aircraft when attacking a bomber meant that the pilot had only two seconds to aim and fire before breaking off his attack to avoid colliding with the bomber. Capt Brown did however highly praise the Messerschmitt 262 as a phenomenal aircraft for its time.

Figure 2 Messerschmitt Me 262 jet powered fighter On the 14th April 1945, Capt Brown was in Fassberg and was asked by Brigadier Glyn Hughes if he would help with the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp by acting as an interpreter. Capt Brown spoke of the horrors of the camp which was reported to have 20,000 typhus cases. Human bodies piled as high as 3 m were bulldozed in giant pits, huts built to house 60 people contained as many as 250 people, the majority of whom lay dying on 3 tiers of

Page 16

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture bunks with 7 people per bunk. Capt Brown recalled the appalling stench as perhaps his most vivid memory. He was asked to interrogate the male and female camp commandants, Joseph Kramer and Irma Grese. Capt Brown described Grese as the most awful person he had ever meet citing rumours that she made lamp shades using prisoner’s skins. During her interrogation she refused to answer any questions and at the end of the session she jumped up and made a Nazi salute. Approximately 250 guards at the camp were given field court marshals and condemned to death by hanging. Albert Pierrepoint was the hangman who Capt Brown reports had a curious ritual of limiting himself to 9 hangings a day. Capt Brown made sure that Pierrepoint tied Grese’s hands behind her back during the hanging to ensure that she could not give a Nazi salute. The 4th May 1945 saw Capt Brown ordered to an airfield in Schleswig-Holstein to investigate an unusual aircraft. This was the Messerschmitt 163 liquid fuelled rocket aircraft. He described this aircraft as an incredible aircraft of total desperation. It was a liquid fuelled, rocket powered aircraft with 23 degrees sweep-back wings and elevons on the wing tips which served as elevators and ailerons combined. Unlike previous rockets, the engine in this aircraft had some control with idle, cruise and full power settings. It had a solid skate undercarriage for landing and a bogie for take-off only. Shortly after take-off the bogie was jettisoned but if this was done too early it would bounce back up and hit the aircraft, often with disastrous effect. Hanna Reitsch suffered one such incident with the crash resulting in 9 skull fractures and her nose being wiped off her face. Once successfully off the ground the 163 could climb at 420 mph at an angle of 45 degree resulting in a climb rate of 16,000 ft/min. It was used to attack bombers by climbing to 30,000 feet and diving on them while firing from its two 30 mm cannons. The Germans believed about 6 such attacks could be carried out before the aircraft needed to return for fuel but Capt Brown could only execute 2-3 simulations of this manoeuvre before he needed to return. It suffered from compressibility problems at high altitude so that if the pilot did not pull back in time it would go into what was termed a ‘graveyard dive’ from which there was no return. The landing was a dead-stick landing that had to be performed with absolutely no fuel onboard. If any fuel was left in the tanks the impact of landing would cause an explosion usually destroying the aircraft and killing the pilot. The Germans suffered 42 such mishaps making it a very dangerous aircraft to fly. It had a poor operational record with 16

Page 17

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture allied aircraft shot down to the loss of 10 of its own.

Figure 3 Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket powered fighter Capt Brown was later to meet Dr Walter who invented the rocket engine of the Messerschmitt 163. In a graphic demonstration of just a drop each of the hydrazine hydrate fuel and hydrogen peroxide oxidiser combination by Dr Walter, the resulting explosion almost knocked Capt Brown over. It was after this demonstration that Capt Brown flew the 163 and he was therefore very conscious of the effects of the two fuel tanks on either side of the pilot’s seat! Capt Brown’s next mission was to investigate an aircraft reported at Grove Airfield in Denmark. The only minor problem with this mission was the presence of about 8 thousand German soldiers at the airfield due to the delay of the British forces by a SS division. Capt Brown landed with his team of boffins under the expectation that the area was secure but was met by a German lieutenant colonel. Somehow he convinced the officer that the British forces were “just behind the hedge” and he surrendered to Capt Brown who then spent the night in a

Page 18

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture house guarded by drunken, singing Danes who had come down from the local town to presumably celebrate their liberation. The next morning Capt Brown inspected one of the German aircraft at the airfield, an Arado Ar 234. This was the first jet powered bomber and was equipped with two Junkers Jumo 004 engines (the engines with a scrap life of 25 hours) giving the aircraft a top speed of 472 mph. Upon inspection it was discovered that there were no instructions, pilot data or service records. They had all been destroyed by the Germans. Fortunately for Capt Brown, the German ground crew, or the ‘black men’ as they were known, were willing to help by servicing the aircraft since they had not been well treated by the German pilots. The German cockpits were also well set out with colour coding. So Capt Brown taxied out to take-off and had only just throttled the engines to full power when the starboard engine blew-up. Some of the boffins believed that the engine had been sabotaged but Capt Brown thought this to be highly unlikely. His conclusion was that prior to his attempted flight the engines had been run for 24 hours and 50 minutes!

Figure 4 Arado Ar 234 jet powered bomber At Grove Capt Brown also examined the Uhu Heinkel 219, German night fighter. This aircraft was the first production aircraft in the world to incorporate ejection seats. The compressed air system was tested successfully 12 times before being fitted to the aircraft. The Uhu carried two

Page 19

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 30 mm cannons located on the top of the cockpit and inclined forward at a 60 degree angle. This orientation allowed the fighter to fly beneath enemy bombers and blast them from below. The 219 was the dread of Allied bomber command with one aircraft shooting down six Lancasters on its first sortie.

Figure 5 Uhu Heinkel 219 night fighter Before the German capitulation on 9th May 1945, Capt Brown flew his Focke-Wulf 190 D9, which he rated as the second best aircraft he had flown during the war after the Spitfire 14, to an air base in Schleswig-Holstein. After the capitulation he flew to Lubeck, Germany in search of Hanna Reitsch. Here Capt Brown heard the story of Reitsch’s daring flight with German Field Marshall von Greim, who was the last commander of the Luftwaffe in WW2, to visit Hitler in his bunker. During the flight in a two-seater Fieseler Storch, von Greim was hit by ground fire and fell unconscious during which time Reitsch piloted the plane by stretching over from the rear seat before von Greim regained consciousness and landed safely. They visited Hitler who gave them each a cyanide pill and refused to let them stay in the bunker despite Reitsch’s plea to stay. Capt Brown finally caught up with Reitsch after flying to Kitzbuehl in a Bell Airacobra to find her in a hospital bed feigning heart failure.

Page 20

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Two other unusual aircraft that Capt Brown inspected and flew were the Blohm und Voss BV 141 and the Heinkel He 162. The 141 was asymmetric with the cockpit to one side and the main fuselage and engine to the other side. Capt Brown said of the 141 “whenever I flew this I had the feeling I had forgotten something”. The Heinkel 162 was a jet powered aircraft with a BMW 003 axial flow engine on top of the fuselage. It was remarkable in that from specification to first flight it took less than 9 months but still arrived too late in the war to be effective.

Figure 6 Blohm und Voss BV 141 tactical reconnaissance aircraft Capt Brown was also involved in several interrogations of infamous German leaders. The first interrogation Capt Brown discussed was of Goring which was held on 17 June 1945 just outside Luxembourg. He was not allowed to ask political questions so he asked what Goring thought had been the outcome of the Battle of Britain. Goring replied that it was a draw if one considered casualty lists of men and machines. Goring also pointed out that he had been ordered by Hitler to withdraw all fighter units for the invasion of Russia. Capt Brown said Goring had a point since what he said about withdrawing all fighter units has been found to be quite true. Capt Brown also asked about Adolf Galland, the German Luftwaffe General and

Page 21

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture flying ace, and the fallout between the two. Goring replied that he had removed Galland for insubordination because Galland argued that Goring was misusing the Me 262 as a fighter bomber instead of a pure fighter. Capt Brown believed Galland was correct. Galland was later given control of a unit of 16 Me 262’s by Hitler who argued that Galland had done so much for Germany. Capt Brown was also called to interrogate a prisoner suspected of being Himmler. He asked him two questions which he thought no one but Himmler would know the answer. The first question was why he imprisoned Werner von Braun, to which the prisoner replied because von Braun appeared to be pursuing his rocket hobby and not the war effort. The second question was why SS officers were required to be present at rocket production plants to which the reply was in order to keep ‘quality control’. Capt Brown determined that the prisoner was in fact Himmler. Both Goring and Himmler later committed suicide by taking cyanide pills. Question time revealed some other interesting facts including the first successful piloted flight of a V1 rocket was by Hanna Reitsch, and that a meeting to discuss supersonic tail-less aircraft in 1947 had identified the slim delta wing as the likely design for supersonic civil transport aircraft of the future well before was envisaged. Mac Maccabee proposed the vote of thanks and the evening ended with tremendous applause for Capt Brown after an incredible adventure into German WW2 aircraft technology. Notes by Andrew Dann

Page 22

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 6th Dec The Use of Flight Simulators 55 1. Introduction 2011 and their Role in the Mike has specialised in Flight Simulation for over 40 years, supporting the engineering design Engineering Design Process and development of aircraft in BAE SYSTEMS at Warton, including Tornado, Jaguar, EAP, by Mike Southworth, EIS Hawk, Harrier, Nimrod, Typhoon and more recently the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Business Development Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) programmes. Manager, BAe Systems, In his Technologist role, he is a source of advice and knowledge within BAE Systems on Warton matters relating to engineering Flight Simulation. He also represents the company on the RAeS Flight Simulation Group Committee. As Business Development Manager for Simulation and Training Systems in Engineering Integrated Solutions (EIS), Mike is responsible for the strategy and future business in the Flight Simulators, Cockpit Development Rigs and UAS Development Laboratory. 2. Definition of Simulators for use in Engineering The simulators used in an engineering design process are "flown" by test pilots and operational air crew. They are used in trials and assessments of systems under design, primarily to test, evaluate and optimise those systems. In many cases these systems are only at the initial design stage. They are different from pilot training simulators which simulate the performance of existing aircraft which are already in production and hence contain fully defined aircraft systems. Such simulators are used to train crews for operational duties. This lecture concentrated on simulators for the engineering design process.

Page 23

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 3. Overview of the History of Flight Simulators

Fig. 1 - The Antoinette Learning Barrel Flight Simulator The French Antionette Learning Barrel Flight Simulator, dating from 1910, is arguably the earliest flight simulator (Fig. 1 above). The simulator provided an artificail horizon (horizontal bar) and was designed to aid pilots to learn to fly the Antionette monoplane. The earliest simulator in common use was the dating from 1929. Its aim was to provide a safe way to teach new pilots how to fly by instruments. It was widely used up to the 1950s, especially during WWII. Warton was a US Army Air Force base during WW11 and a Link Trainer was in use at Warton at that time. The Link Trainer was a generic flight simulator and the first "aircraft specific" trainer was not developed until 1948. Again it was designed for training pilots to fly an operational aircraft. Much of the early post WWII work with engineering flight simulators was carried out by English Electric, Warton (now part of BAE Systems), and at RAE, Bedford. Warton acquired its first analogue computer for flight simulation in 1953. Its main use was in carrying out flutter

Page 24

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture calculations. Engineering flight simulators developed rapidly during the 1950s, especially as part of the Lightning fighter aircraft development programme. This continued in the 1960s with the huge investment in the development of the TSR2 bomber. These developments included the PACE analogue compute and the Terravision Moving Belt to provide simulated images of the terrain below an aircraft whilst in flight. The use of such belts continued well into the 1970s although they suffered from the disadvantage that the "gaming area" was limited to the area of ground modelled on the belt. One of the main problems with the early engineering simulators was their inability to model changes to a situation in sufficiently small steps (time intervals). For example, it can be necessary to model the movement of an undercarriage 1000 times per second. This problem was solved in the mid 1970s by the introduction of digital computers and, in particular, by the DEC PDP-9 Digital Computer with its real-time operating system. Such computer were admirably suited to handling large aerodynamic datasets. A later model, the DEC PDP-15 was the first which allowed a full digital simulation. A number of these were purchased by Warton in the 1970s and used as the basis for the Jaguar Motion Platform Simulator. The simulations included flight assessments of the Jaguar with a variety of weapon loads. The same computer was used to model a concept for a fixed wing STOVL aircraft incorporating RB199 engines mounted in tilt engine nacelles. In the late 1970s the simulations were extended to include a full authority active control system for Jaguar which necessitated a full flight environment aerodynamic model. The need for real time short time interval simulations comes with a need to minimise the latency in presenting data to pilots. The commonly accepted maximum latency in civil pilot training simulators is 100 mS. For military applications, and hence the engineering simulators used at Warton, this is reduced to 60 mS. 1974 saw the development of the Manoeuvre Attack Simulator (MAS). This was a dome based simulator which allowed the modelling of air-to-air combats. It incorporated sky and ground simulations with a full rotational capability as a function of yaw angle and also a separate target projector. During the 1980s, the MAS were further developed into a Manned Tactical

Page 25

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Simulator (MTS) which permitted competitor (i.e. enemy aircraft) analysis/threat assessment. More recent work at Warton has included extensive research into cockpit displays, electronic map overlays, and the colouring of head-down displays. Engineering simulators have been widely used in resolving problems in these areas. As part of this work the potential for a completely enclosed cockpit was also assessed, mainly because of the advantages it offers in countering the effects of Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs).

Fig. 2 - The Typhoon Widescreen Simulator Other concepts evaluated have included the "widescreen concept" in conjunction with the Experimental Aircraft Programme (EAP) and, more recently, the Typhoon programme (Fig. 2 above). The essence of this programme was that it allowed carefree aircraft handling with the aircraft remaining in stable flight irrespective of the flight demands emanating from the pilot's flight controls. Warton is also the location of the Typhoon Active Cockpit Rig. This is supported by the 4 nations primarily involved in the Typhoon programme and is the main simulator for this work within Europe. It is able to provide full assessments of the effects of proposed design changes

Page 26

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture assuming a wide variety of operational missions. Human Factors engineers have used the Warton simulators to collect large quantities of data on pilot performance under various operational conditions. This has included assessments of issues relating to the use of helmet mounted displays especially latency and lighting issues. 4. Current Work in Progress at BAE Systems, Warton 4.1. F-35 Aircraft It is intended that pilots flying the F-35 aircraft will use a helmet mounted display without any reversionary head-up display as is the case with the Typhoon aircraft. Problems with the helmet mounted display have meant that prototype F-35s are flying with a reversionary head-up display. Work is currently in progress at Warton using a Motion Dome Simulator to assess the operational issues. (Fig. 3 below).

Fig. 3 - BAE Systems Motion Dome Simulator (with simulated F-35 Helmet Mounted Display)

Page 27

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Warton has also devloped a the Motion Dome Simulator to simulate landing the F-35 aircraft on to the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers. Initially this work was centred on the F-35B STOVL varient of the aircraft but has now been switched to the F-35C carrier based conventional take-off and landing varient*. This follows the decisions made by the UK government in the recent Strategic Defence Review.

Fig. 4 - BAE Systems Motion Dome Simulator (Simulating F-35 on Queen Elizabeth Class Carrier) The landing simulations have included a Ship Motion Model, an Air Wake Model to simulate the airflows round the carrier superstructure as function of carrier velocity, a Surge Operation Model and both Parking and Visual Launch/Landing Aids Models. The F-35 simulations have assumed even more significance given the UK's lack of recent experience in the operation of conventional take-off and landing aircraft on carriers and also the realisation that the UK will not be able to achieve the same manning levels as is normally

Page 28

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture the case with equivalent US aircraft carriers. Overall these simulations will significantly reduce the cost of bring the F-35 into service on the UK carriers especially because of their ability to reduce the need for sea trials and in assessing safety cases. *This was partly driven by the need to increase the maximum permitted stores carrying capability of the aircraft when landing on the carrier. The comparatively low carrying capability of the F-35B when landing could have necessitated jettisoning any expensive stores which had not been used during a mission. 4.2. Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) Simulations BAE Systems is in the process of developing the Taranis Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV). This is due to undergo both taxiing and flight trials in 2012. Even through Taranis in unmanned, it still needs to be subject to the same design processes and hence flight simulations. Today the aim is to take UAVs from the drawing board to flying in under two years. This will lead to even more simulations. Mantis, a joint UAV project with France, flew just 19 months after it was designed "on the drawing board". N.B. Because Mantis is entirely European in origin, it will not be subject to the same export control regulations as occur with equipment of US origin. 4.3. Other Current Simulations These include:  Air display clearance for many the Typhoon air displays throughout the world;

 The effects of integrating electro-magnetic sensors on aircraft;

 Carrier based version of Typhoon (aimed at the ).

Page 29

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 5. The Future for Engineering Simulation Simulation is one of the areas of likely expansion in the future mainly because of the opportunity it provides to reduce both development costs and timescales. Increasingly simulations will be driven by developments in computer games technology if for no other reason that spending in the computer games industry dwarfs that available to fund further developments in military engineering simulators. Notes written by Colin Moss

24th Jan Bio Jet Fuel in Aerospace 80 1. Introduction 2012 Industry Chris Lewis has 30 years experience of working with jet fuels and he began his talk by by Chris Lewis, Fluid introducing three key requirements of modern bio jet fuel – Specialist, Rolls-Royce plc.  Suitability – does the fuel have the correct energy density and chemical composition for use with modern gas turbines? Joint lecture with IMechE  Sustainability – Is the biofuel production process truly beneficial in terms of reduced CO2 emission and carbon footprint when compared with the established refining process? Does production of the bio fuel crop significantly change local land and water usage or significantly affect food crop yields?  Production Capability – can the bio process produce sufficient yields on an industrial

scale, and does the finished product meet the requirements of modern jet turbine engines.

2. Sustainability

The lecture introduced the group the concept of closed and open loop fuel life cycles, where the bio fuel production represented a closed loop system whereby carbon emissions produced by jet fuel consumption is balanced by CO2 re-uptake by the feed stock used to produce the fuel itself. Current methods of fuel production, based on refining crude oil, represent an open loop life cycle whereby CO2 produced by fuel burn is not removed from the atmosphere by any

Page 30

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture step in the refining process.

Fig. 1 - An illustration of the closed loop biofuel cycle

The lecture emphasised that the impact of biofuel feedstock production on the local environment must be carefully evaluated. Careful study of the source crop and its yield, the resources required to produce the fuel, its effect on the local economy and local community impact (especially the potential effect on local food production) is required in order to assess the true sustainability of the product.

Page 31

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Fig. 2 - Romania aims to provide a bio fuel which is sourced from a plant called Camelina, a plant from the Brassicaceae family.

3. Suitability – The Technical Requirements The lecture highlighted that the technical requirements of aviation fuel will become increasingly stringent as engine design advances. Modern jet fuel can be regarded as a “multifunctional fluid providing energy storage (high energy density is required for good range and payload), acting as an airframe and engine as well as providing fuel for combustion. The physico-chemical properties of any modern fuel are of prime importance, they must be capable of satisfactory performance over a wide temperature range (-47°C freeze point to 38°c flash point) and have good thermal stability for heat management. The high heat environment of modern engines places greater demands on fuel stability, for example, any chemical degradation of fuel components resulting in the formation of waxes or lacquers can lead to injector blockages. Also Modern engines and the advanced materials and alloys used in their construction are very sensitive to fuel composition.

Page 32

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Above all else the main consideration when developing biofuel alternatives to refined kerosene is safety. Certification of Biofuel Alternatives (ASTM D4054) Any new aviation fuel, whether from a sustainable source or not, must meet engine certification requirements and match the appropriate quality specification to be considered fit for purpose. A typical fuel specification includes –

 A clearly defined chemical composition  Properties and performance  Defined allowable source materials and processes  Appropriate Quality Assurance measures

To be viable, any new jet biofuel has to be deemed to be “drop-in” i.e. match the specification of standard refined kerosene closely enough to be considered identical. Given that there are often significant differences in the composition of bio sourced “kerosene” compared to normal refined kerosene this presents a significant technical challenge. There are three phases to development of a suitable biofuel, the R&D phase, certification and qualification phase and finally the business phase. All new fuels have to be evaluated against the requirements of ASTM D4054.

Page 33

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Specification Fit for Component Engine/AP

Proposal Purpose Rig Testing U Testing

Testing

FAA & Definition of ASTM ASTM OEM Standard Balloting Research Review & Process Report Approval

Fig. 3 - Industry Qualification Process ASTM D4054

In addition to this process, Rolls Royce conduct their own review to ensure that all submitted data satisfies an internal QA check, and this data must satisfy the requirements of this process before Rolls Royce can approve a new fuel in the ASTM process.

4. Fuel Composition Chris outlined the importance of the chemical composition of the fuel, and how its constituents can affect key operating parameters like freeze point, fuel density and compatibility with materials and elastomers used in modern gas turbines. Synthetic paraffinic Kerosenes - like biofuels or coal to liquid refining via the Fisher-Tropsch processes (SASOL South Africa) - have a high concentration of straight chain paraffin’s relative to refined kerosene, which tend to be rich in “napthas” and aromatics such as benzene. These differences often lead to differences in elastomer swelling (causing seal integrity problems) even though synthetic paraffinic kerosene have high fuel energy content.

5. Production Capability -Biofuel Feedstocks The lecture highlighted the diversity in source feedstocks for production of biofuels, covering both current (eg plant/nut derivatives) and future feedstock sources like switch grass, sugar and

Page 34

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture forest waste. The key reason for such diversity in source material is down to regional differences in crop/plant poduction. Chris put the supply issue into perspective by pointing out that in order to achieve a 50% reduction in CO2 production by 2050, 14 billion barrels of bio kerosene will be required. Current production runs at less than 1 billion, and the challenge presented by the need to produce the required yield of biofuel by 2050 is clear. The magnitude of this challenge justifies the diversity in the study of new source feedstocks eg from plant algae. 6. The Future It is clear that research into finding suitable biofuel derivatives will continues. In addition to the quest to find a diversity of source feedstocks to satisfy future demand for bio kerosene, the push to design more efficient gas turbines and improvements in air traffic management will also contribute to more efficient use of jetfuels in the future. Rolls Royce play an active role in alternative fuel programmes, forging links with both the oil industry and academia (Sheffield University Technical Centre). Rolls Royce participated in the first Gas to Liquid Kerosene flights which took place in 2008, and more recently the second generation biofuel transcontinental flight of 2009 with Air New Zealand.

Page 35

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Fig. 4 - The second generation biofuel flight took place in 2009 in which an Air New Zealand Boeing 747 undertook a transcontinental flight with one of its four RR Trent engines using biofuel 6. In Conclusion Chris Lewis gave the RAeS Loughborough branch an entertaining and highly informative talk on the complex challenge of producing sustainable biofuel. He made it clear that it is not just a question of finding suitable feedstock for refining the fuel; the true sustainability of the biofuel cycle must be considered, along with the socio-economic impact of giving over land to feedstock production. Add to this the technical challenge of producing biofuel blends that are compatible with modern engines and it is clear that much more research and development is required before we can achieve the target of a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions from jet fuels by 2050. Notes written by Frank Chambers

Page 36

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 7th Feb East Midlands Airport - 75 1. Introduction 2012 Past, Present and Future John has been employed at East Midlands Airport for the last 29 years. Prior to that date he by John Froggatt, Cargo & was an estate agent. Commercial Bid Director, East Midlands Airport The airport was purchased by the Manchester Airports Group in 2001 and John's responsibilities now extend across both airports. John's lecture concentrated on East Midlands Joint lecture with Institute of Airport and in particular the air freight and air mail business. Logistics and Transport 2. The History of East Midlands Airport (EMA)

The land at Castle Donnington was first used for aviation purposes by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in 1916 but it reverted to farmland in 1918. During WWII it became RAF Castle Donnington and acted as a satellite airfield for RAF Wymeswold. During that time it had the typical three runway layout of RAF airfields (Fig. 1). It closed again in 1945 and today very little remains of the RAF base.

Page 37

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Fig. 1 - RAF Castle Donnington Layout -1945 By the 1950s Derby Airways were operating at Burnaston Airfield but were finding operations at that airfield increasingly difficult. They therefore approached Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Country Councils with a view to finding an alternative airfield. Later Leicestershire Country Council also became involved in the discussions. Both Wymeswold and Castle Donnington were considered but Castle Donnington was chosen because the route being proposed for the M1 Motorway ran close to Castle Donnington and therefore offered the potential of a good adjacent road infrastructure. Building permission for a new airfield at Castle Donnington was granted in 1960. The new airport, called East Midlands Airport (EMA), opened on 2nd April 1965 (Fig. 2 and 3). By that time Derby Airways had become British Midland Airways. Later they were to become BMI and later still to split into BMI and BMI Baby. Over subsequent years the airport expanded dramatically with the runway being extended twice.

Page 38

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture In 2008 EMA employed 7,000 people. Today it employs 6,500.

Fig. 2 - East Midlands Airport - Layout 1965

Page 39

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

West North

Note the single east-west runway with airport infrastructure located to the south of the runway. Fig. 3 - Aerial Photograph of East Midlands Airport - Approx. 2008 3. Passenger Traffic By the early years of the 21st century the airport was handling 4.25 million passengers per annum and they were flying to over 100 destinations. This expansion was due in part to the fact that the airport lies with a 90 minutes car driving range for over 10.6 million people. Over the years the passenger business has changed dramatically. Initially it was predominantly inclusive tour and charter traffic. Today it is low cost/scheduled traffic. One exception is BMI

Page 40

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture who have recently reinstated a prime passenger scheduled service to Frankfurt. This has allowed EMA to become an important feeder airport. Most passenger customers regard EMA as being their local, friendly and convenient airport. In the 1960s most of them flew on charter flights to Spain. Today it is more likely that those flights will be to places like Egypt or North America. Further changes to passenger traffic are anticipated because of the current economic recession, changes to taxation, changes to the structure of the airline industry and increased security. 4. Freight Traffic 4.1 General Only 1% by weight of the UK's exports and imports are carried by air, but this rises to 38% when it is considered by value. Refer to Fig. 4 below. From 1965 up until the late 1980s EMA had little freight traffic but today it is the biggest handler of dedicated freight aircraft in the country. Large transit sheds are necessary for handling this freight. At EMA these are located mainly at the western end of the airport. Today the freight aircraft tend to be much newer than they were a generation ago. Little belly freight is carried by passenger aircraft using the airport because of potential delays that this might cause. In 1992 EMA handled 20,000 tonnes of air freight. This increased to 300,000 tonnes of air cargo per annum prior to the economic recession in 2007. Most of this freight uses the surrounding roads in late evening and early morning and neither of these times corresponds with periods of peak usage by other users of these roads. The downside of this is that most cargo flight operations are at night which means that EMA has to operate 24 hours each day with the result that there is overnight aircraft noise.

Page 41

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Fig. 4 - East Midlands Airport Freight Traffic - 1965 to 2011

Part of EMA's success as a freight airport is because 90% of and Wales lies within 4 hours lorry drive of EMA. Other advantages that EMA offers to freight operators include a long runway (currently 2893 m), CAT III instrumented landing system, simple taxiway layout and an excellent weather record.

Page 42

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Since 2007 there has been a downturn in freight traffic. It is known, however, that freight traffic tends to decline before passenger traffic in an economic recession but the subsequent uplift in freight traffic occurs before that for passenger traffic. The drivers for this growth will be an increase in the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and increased trade. Predictions made by Boeing suggest that the current world economic recession will impose little more than one year's delay to the overall rate of expansion of the world's freight traffic (Fig. 5). EMA will be part of this expansion and, partly because of its location, will continue to be an excellent express freight hub. 600

500 WACF 1986 WACF 1987 WACF 1988 WACF 1989 WACF 1990 WACF 1992 400 WACF 1993 WACF 1994 WACF 1995 WACF 1996/1997 WACF 1998/1999 WACF 2000/2001 WACF 2002/2003 WACF 2004/2005

300 Billions

-

200 RKT

100

0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Fig. 5 - Predicted Expansion of World Freight Business (in Route Kilo Tonnes) (Boeing Data)

Page 43

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 4.2 Integrated Freight Carriers The bulk of the EMA freight traffic will continue to be with "integrated freight" carriers (Fig. 6), that is to say carriers who pick up parcels at source and deliver them to their final destination. DHL, as a major freight operator at EMA, is as prime example of such a carrier.

Fig. 6 - Integrated Freight Process Certain companies may choose to locate in relatively close proximity to EMA because it offers them the commercial advantages of late pickups and early drops by integrated freight carriers. The Royal Mail is an example of a specialist integrated carrier. They transport 140 tonnes of domestic first class mail via their EMA hub every night (Fig. 4). This translates into 1.9 million letters each night. They employ 190 staff at EMA.

Page 44

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 4.3 Pure Freight Carriers "Pure freight" carriers, that is to say carriers who are concerned purely with carrying goods from airport to airport, will be a niche market within the overall expansion in the air freight business. These carriers will be concerned predominantly with transporting heavy and/or bulky loads. 5. The Future The UK government Future of Air Transport White Paper of December 2003 supported the continued expansion of the EMA passenger and freight business and forecast considerable growth for the airport. It did not support a second runway and none is currently under consideration. The White Paper called for an EMA Master Plan, although this was not mandatory. EMA duly produced a Master Plan in 2006. They also produced a Noise Action Plan as this was a mandatory requirement. It is understood that the UK government will produce an Air Transport Consultation Document in March 2012 and a Substantive Document in March 2013. In view of this EMA will not issue a new Master Plan in 2011 but has instead decided to await the UK government's document of 2013. At that time EMA will carry out a consultancy process to decide the plans for EMA's future. The challenges for the future will be:  Other UK airports;  Continental European airports which may expand their air freight operations;  Other modes of transport, e.g. Euro star;  Changes in customer behaviour;  Changes in customers. Other challenges include noise, especially night noise, air quality and congestion. Other factors which require consideration include carbon dioxide emissions and the associated global

Page 45

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture warming, Air Passenger Departure (APD) Tax and the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Within Europe there is an overall requirement to reduce the impact of night flights and to keep the overall levels of night noise down to 1996 levels until at least 2016. In addition all aircraft must be Chapter 4 compliant by 2012. Notes written by Colin Moss

21st Feb Modern light water aircraft 70 1. Introduction 2012 design, manufacture and Tony is an ex RAF pilot when he flew early fighter jets. Later he joined BOAC flying and flying navigating initially Stratocruisers, then Comets followed by VC 10s, 747s and finally a brief by Tony Irwin. run on Concorde. His employment with BOAC/BA took him round the world many times visiting most countries. During that time he accrued 21,000 hours flight time on 90 different aircraft. This was followed by one year of test flying for Rolls-Royce at Hucknall. His conversion to water aircraft, initially on float aircraft, came after many years land ops' and, to quote his words, ”he realised just what he I had been missing for well over a quarter of a century of normal flying”. Tony has been involved in the design, manufacture, flying and sales of the Seawind amphibian aircraft for over 20 years. Mostly this was in Canada and then in the USA. He is currently UK Representative of Seawind LLC, Kimberton, Pennsylvania, USA.

2. The Early History of Seaplanes The first autonomous, engine powered flight by a seaplane was made by the French engineer Henri Fabre on March 28, 1910. The aircraft was the Voisin Canard (the duck) (Fig. 1). A year later Glenn Curtiss made a successful seaplane flight in the USA and, on March 27, 1919, a U.S. Navy seaplane (the U.S. Navy NC-4 flying boat) completed the first transatlantic flight (fig. 2). Later an Englishman John Cyril Porte joined with Curtiss to design a transatlantic flying boat, and developed a more practical hull for Curtiss' airframe and engines

Page 46

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture with the distinctive 'step' which enabled the hull and floats to cleanly break free of the water's surface at take-off. Derivatives of this aircraft in U.K. became known as Felixstowe (Fig. 3). Because of the lack of runways and the perceived safety factor over water, many commercial airlines including Imperial Airways (the forerunner of BOAC - my old Company) and Pan- American World Airways used large flying boats to provide service for long distance service across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The largest flying boat ever to be built was the Spruce Goose: Wing span: 320’ 97.5 metres; weight 400,000 lbs 181,450 kgs. It flew only once for 1 mile at 80 mph (fig. 4). The U.K.’s efforts only produced a few water aircraft post war. The ill fated fighter the Saunders Roe SR A 1 and the 10 engined Saunders Roe Princess are the best known (Fig. 5).

Fig. 1 - “VOISIN CANARD” of the Voisin Brothers Fig. 2 - U.S. Navy NC-4 flying boat

Page 47

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Fig. 3 - The Felixstowe The Princess was one of the last flying boats designed and built, but it never made it into service. Saunders-Roe wanted to build an aircraft that could used by BOAC. The aircraft was to be powered by ten turboprop engines. The four inner propellers had contra-rotating propellers, driven by a twin engine. The two outer propellers were single and powered by one engine. The Princess was a double decker aircraft, designed to fly 105 passengers very comfortably. In 1951 BOAC cancelled their orders.

Fig. 4 - The Spruce Goose Fig. 5 - The Princess Flying Boat

Page 48

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 3. The Author's Initial Involvement with Seaplanes Tony's first flying from water was in a small two seat tandem aircraft, the Piper Cub, from Lake Union in the centre of the city of Seattle, DC (Fig. 6). Later he went on to fly a Cessna and a Beaver (Fig. 7). The Grumman Mallard (Fig . 8), the main stay of the New Zealand Mount Cook Airlines, was the seaplane which most impressed Tony. Mount Cook Airlines ran a service from Auckland to the many small islands round the Bay of Islands.

Fig. 6 - The Piper Cub Fig. 7 - The Beaver

Fig. 8 - The Grumman Mallard Amphibian Fig. 9 - A Micro Light on Floats

Page 49

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Further flights were made with micro light aircraft (Fig. 9) fitted with on floats. These are flimsy very small, one or two seaters. They are good fun, cheap to operate but not all rounders in British winters, possibly the reason for the scarcity in the UK. 4. The Seawind Amphibian

Fig. 10 - The Seawind Amphibian

Finally Tony became interested in what he believes to be the best medium amphibian aircraft in the world, the Seawind (Fig. 10). Its cabin is pleasant and comfortable (Fig. 11 and 12). There is plenty of room for five people being much wider than any similar aircraft and the view outside is panoramic. Having been instrumental in part of its design, Tony was given the contract represent the Seawind LLC's interests throughout Europe and the Near East and Russia. Several Seawinds have been sold to Europe, but the various licencing authorities, i.e. CAA etc., have imposed significant barriers to bringing the aircraft into Europe. Tony organised the use of part of a small factory to build Seawinds in Kaunas, Lithuania. This country was chosen because it was country with a well established history of Aviation. The factory was a very old aircraft factory built in 1919. The first aircraft was ready to fly in the snow in mid winter – minus 35oC. That aircraft worked well although the engine was old. The engine of the second aircraft, although brand new, failed three times during the first flight.

Page 50

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Fig. 11 - The Seawind Interior (1) Fig. 12 - The Seawind Interior (2)

5. Seaplane Design Requirements 5.1 Hydrodynamics and Aerodynamics Hulls and floats create drag and add weight. The hull, with all its water resistance requirements and strength required for the initial contact with water, can result in up a 40% increase in weight and a decrement of up to 15% in speed. The hull and floats must provide:  Buoyancy and static and dynamic stability;  Low water drag with the provision of hydrodynamic lift at low speeds;  Ability to suppress spray;  Manoeuvrability and control while taxiing. The wing incidence (Fig. 13) must be approximately 2o higher than for a land aircraft as there is little ability to rotate to get the extra lift required to get airborne. This is often quite noticeable on a float plane when the angle between the fuselage centre line and the float centre line is more evident.

Page 51

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Fig. 13 - Wing Angle of Incidence

Hydrodynamics demand that a "step" (Fig. 14) be incorporated into the hull (or floats if used) into to introduce turbulence in the water flow under the hull. This has the effect of reducing the water drag during takeoff. It does, however, increase drag whilst the aircraft is in flight. While a seaplane may fly in a level attitude when cruising along, during high speed flight constant altitude must be maintained with a nose-down trim attitude.

Step (either in hull itself or in the floats)

Page 52

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Fig. 14 - The Hull "Step" If the float or hull requires +8° for optimum operation, the wing must be set at +12° for maximum lift. It follows that the wing chord line and the fuselage reference line would be considered and the fuselage reference line would be considered to be a +2° angle of wing incidence. 5.2 Materials for the Hull/Floats Aluminium has been the normal material since wood and canvas were in vogue a century ago. It is light, strong and easy to work, however, it leaks. The continual movement of the aluminium plates breaks down the seals between them. Pre-flight actions on any aluminium float aircraft include pumping out the water that has seeped into the floats. Each float can have 4 to 8 compartments either side. Early plastics were water pervious. The types of fibreglass laminate such as ‘E’ glass and vinyl ester resin offer much improvement. With fibre glass, the radio antennas may be in bedded into the skin of the aircraft, this leads to a very clean outer skin which is good for both hydrodynamics and aerodynamics. With carbon fibre, the skin of the aircraft acts in a similar manner to aluminium and so the aerials have to extend outside the body of the aircraft. 6. Flying Seaplanes (and Amphibians) The flight characteristics of seaplanes depend on whether they have floats (Fig. 15) or a contoured hull (Fig. 16). A rough water take-off can turn into a series of bounces from wave to wave. Sometimes the aircraft can be tossed into the air at minimum flying speed. Applying an extra amount of flap at that precise moment will usually keep the aircraft from stalling back onto the next wave. Again, the proper attitude is critical to avoid damaging the aircraft. The objective is to get out of the water as soon as possible at the lowest speed. Landing on very smooth water can be the most hazardous task for the seaplane pilot. This is

Page 53

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture because the pilot cannot judge the water level and tends to think the bottom of the lake is the water level. One way of overcoming this problem is to land near the shore and thereby to sense the water level from the shoreline. Another is to use the VSI (Vertical Speed Indicator) instead of the ASI (Air speed indicator). The aim then is to use the power of the engine to keep a rate of descent of 100 -200 feet per minute and, on touchdown, to ease rapidly back on the stick to prevent the nose of the floats/hull digging into the water.

Fig. 15 - Seaplane with Floats Fig. 16 - Seaplane with Contoured Hull (e.g. Seawind) Once down it must be remembered that the aircraft has no brakes and the water rudder must be lowered. Approaching a jetty can be hazardous as it may be full of boats. When close to the jetty it is necessary to watch the aircraft wings and the boats’ masts and stays. Finally the pilot (or a passenger) must jump carefully on to the landside float if present or else the jetty itself and both hold and fend off the aircraft as it comes alongside the jetty. The aircraft can then be moored up to the jetty. Landing on a fast flowing river presents further problems. An aircraft landing on a runway will always land into the wind. This is not necessarily the case with fast flowing water when it depends on the relative effects of the water flow and wind speed. Having landed it is necessary to do battle with the current as you try to tie down ashore. One way is to stop the engine and hope you arrive by a sandy area of the bank. Taking off again presents yet more problems. Here

Page 54

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture it is necessary to rev up the engine, get the aircraft nose heading into the centre of the river and take off in the same direction as that used for landing. Notes written by Colin Moss

13th Mar Beneath the Skin – The 60 This was a unique lecture, presenting information on a wider-range of aircraft types than 2012 History of Flight and almost any presenter can claim an association, albeit in this case through the media of pencil Aeroplane Cutaway and paper, pen and card, and latterly the ubiquitous computer. Drawings by Tim Hall FRAeS, Tim has been associated with for over 35 years, and in that time has Technical Artist at Flight contributed drawings that almost every budding and practicing aircraft engineer will have International 1977-1999. perused. On joining the magazine he was under the watchful eye of artists whose own modesty was to acknowledge the work of their forebears, and it was on this theme that Tim based the

lecture, as he drew on material created by earlier and modern artists. He wove a picture of how materials have changed, and affected style, and most notably too, how character can be gleaned from the drawings themselves. His material was drawn from the archives of Flight and Aeroplane magazines, and covered a range of UK and non-UK aircraft.

He acknowledged some early sketches in Flight, around 1910, by Jan Prochazka. These were published before any cutaways, and it was the latter that drew on the drawing expertise of H.A. (Max) Millar – who emphasised that it was Millar not ‘cheeky chappie’ Max Miller of music- hall fame. Again, his first contribution were drawings produced at the 1912 Paris salon, when he was 22 years of age, but it was in the early 1930s that his output began to include cutaway drawings. His style was bold, and gave emphasis to areas of interest in his subjects, and were generally good perspective presentations. He often produced a drawing with an ink-wash background of clouds or fields.

Page 55

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Working alongside him were other artists, and most notable amongst these was A.J. (James – sometimes Jimmy) Clark, who was only two years younger than Millar. Clark’s drawings were mainly in Aeroplane magazine, and they were often noticeably distorted, as he exaggerated areas of interest, but the redeeming aspects for the engineers who perused these masterpieces was the wealth of technical detail within them. Millar’s and Clark’s drawings were predominant in World War 2, and are used widely in nostalgia publications to this day.

Page 56

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

According to Tim, after World War 2 was a 20-year or so period of massive significance, which he terms the ‘Golden Era.’ He concentrated on the evolution of the cutaway, but noted that it was a unique period too in respect of the massive number of projects that the artists were drawing. Millar and Clark remained active, but were less prolific. Millar retiring at 71 years of age in 1961, and Clark left the studio in 1962, when the change of Aeroplane’s editorial policy (it became ‘Aeroplane and Commercial Aviation News’) precluded the use of cutaways. He worked with the British Aircraft Corporation at Weybridge until his death in 1965 and is acknowledged to have influenced greatly the use of drawings in technical publications.

Page 57

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

They had been joined, albeit briefly on the scale of things, by a teenaged Arthur Bowbeer in 1939. He had clamoured to join Max Millar, only to realise that he was being held back from being a pilot in the RAF because he was producing aircraft recognition drawings that editor Geoffrey Smith had argued were important to the war effort. He joined the RAF, trained as a pilot and was appointed an instructor on Harvards, based at Bulawayo in Rhodesia, before returning to the drawing fraternity in 1946. His first cutaway was a F.8, then he broadened horizons by drawing the North American F86 Sabre, which set a precedent for then

Page 58

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture newer generation of artists as all the detail in the drawing was gathered without official recognition, having used photographs he collected from various sources. Arthur left the studio in 1967, and worked freelance until he was 70, in 1992.

The ‘Golden Era’ was when two particularly significant artists gradually displaced the work of their own mentors, and it is to Frank Munger, who joined the studio in 1945, by then aged 25 after a period as an engine mechanic in the RAF, that the leading role was passed. Frank has artistic instincts, but little in the way of formal qualification. Throughout his life he was primarily an engineer. In 1950 he was joined by John Marsden, who entered the studio in

Page 59

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture 1950, at the tender age of 21. Max Millar thought that ‘Frank’s linework too thin’ but let his develop his own style, which subsequently led to great delicacy and detail in his drawings. John Marsden was the first artist with a formal education in art, and his style was more rigid than Frank’s, but what they shared was the ability to draw a good configuration in pencil, and with good perspective, then to detail it in a realistic manner.

They used manufacturer’s drawings when they were made available, plus sketches and photographs, and travelled widely to gather the latter, then pooling their information at the drawing board. They worked on card, initially a flexible board, then on a thicker card, adding detail to a pencil layout using Indian Ink. The drawings took typically 4 weeks to complete, and the keys attached to the output in this era were the most prolific of all, as the detail was so great. On some projects, and especially as they grew in size, they would present detail

Page 60

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture in drawings of cockpits and landing gear, etc, to illustrate not just the scale, but also the detail that even they could not squeeze onto a single drawing.

Frank retired in 1985, and regretted only that he missed the opportunity to draw the great piston engines of the 1940s, and earlier. The innate passion he had for such material meant that he still drew aircraft and engines right up the time of the death in 2010. These have created a trove of excellent illustrations of pre-WW2 aircraft and engines (around a dozen of the latter) that are beautifully detailed, and unique. John retired in 1993, having produced more than 160 cutaways drawings over 43 years.

Page 61

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Meanwhile, these apprentices of the doyens had nurtured their own apprentices, with Mike Badrocke joining in 1965, and was superseded by Tim in 1977. Mike was to become the most significant producer of cutaways, working under his own name and Aviagraphica, for ‘Air International’ magazine, and now has a collection of over 800 card-produced drawings that he created over some 50 years. These range over designs of the era and some earlier types. A significant producer of drawings for the same publication, and the sister ‘Air Enthusiast,’ that carried drawings on many older aircraft designs, was John Weal. The nature of these commissions meant that detail often had to be surmised, and the budgets were tight, so a drawing style that allowed a detailed cutaway to evolve in about two weeks was adopted. Mike Badrocke’s work for Flight International and Aeroplane Monthly show that he developed the style of his mentors, whilst his later work, and that of John Weal, show this simpler style, with limited use of line width or shading to convey depth, thus being lest artistic and generally more technical in nature.

Page 62

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Tim, who was born in 1947, was joined by Giuseppe (Joe) Picarella in 1993 (then 24 years of age) and the expectation might have been that the traditions already passed through two previous generations would evolve naturally, but there was a significant shift in technical drawing, with the advent of computer aided-design (CAD). Flight International had already produced drawings in the traditional style with colour wash, and a significant move had been the adoption of a pull-out drawing, so that it was no longer limited to being re-produced within the printing run of the rest of the magazine. Now, the manufacturers were offering no drawings, but CAD files, and they expected to see not so much realistic drawings as accurate

Page 63

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture replication of detail. In his lecture Tim detailed how the most recent decade has seen the style of producing drawings change, with the computer replacing the drawing board, and thousands of ‘files’ replacing scores of photographs.

Flight’s publisher felt that they could only justify having one artist in 1999, so Tim left to become freelance, and he has remained a regular contributor, because the demand for cutaways has remained constant, and the time it takes to create a single drawing has risen, typically requiring 10 weeks to produce a very accurate and full colour drawing of any modern aeroplane. The cost of producing drawings, that up to this time had been fully borne by the publisher, had become a difficult to justify publisher’s cost, so drawings are now commissioned by the manufacturer, who shares copyright with the artist and the company. They will allow one-off reproduction in a magazine, and may demand that their logo is

Page 64

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture predominant on the published drawing. Tim rounded off his presentation with examples of recent personal commissions of some of the most complex and modern of aircraft.

Tim’s lecture was wide-ranging, profusely illustrated, and a fine insight into personalities as well as cutaway drawings. It was well paced and generated reminiscences as well as questions that were appreciated by a well-served audience. Notes written by Mike Hirst

24th Apr Some Memories of a Flight 95 On the 24th April 2012 David Eagles, former Chief test Pilot and Director of Flight Operations 2012 Test Career at BAE Systems, presented an excellent lecture entitled “Some Memories of a Flight Test by David Eagles. Career”. David started his career in the , having been enticed into national service with the Royal Navy (RN) by an advertisement in the Radio Times “depicting a pilot wearing a sheepskin jacket walking down a sloping flight deck”! He also reflected that he felt lucky to have been starting out in the 1960’s when there seemed to be a wider choice in both career path and aircraft being produced by the British aircraft industry compared with today. After six months induction training on HMS Indefatigable at Lee-on-Solent, which involved a lot of drills and square bashing without sight of an aircraft, David was posted to Pensacola Florida, to undertake flying training under the Mutual Defence Aid programme. Starting on North American Harvard/Texan trainers, the US based flight training course was a highly structured one, each pilot undertaking nineteen 1½ hour flights before going solo. The course then progressed through gunnery/weapons (bombing) training and simulated deck landings at a satellite field before proceeding on to the USS Monterey for 3 weeks training on the real thing!

Page 65

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

A picture of David Eagles first deck landing aboard USS Monterey After completion of deck landing training, David progressed to instrument flying training on the T28 before graduating to jets first flying the Lockheed TB2 trainer version of the F80 and then the Grumman F9F2 Panther for advanced jet training. The Panthers crisp handling characteristics and 360º per second roll rate capability due to it’s powered aileron control left a lasting impression on David and his fellow student pilots. David completed his flying training in the UK, firstly on the Vampire ( a good but sedate aircraft compared with the Panther) and then with the Sea Hawk, concentrating primarily on instrument flying training. Luckily, this part of his course coincided with the RN introduction of the mirror controlled approach system and angled flight deck systems which helped to significantly reduce flight casualty rates within the Fleet Air Arm. Completion of flight training was followed by a secondment to the Royal Australian Navy where, hoping to be flying DH Venoms, he was somewhat disappointed to be assigned to a squadron. A casual request to get Venom experience was greeted with a curt

Page 66

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture “just get on with it!” response from his commanding officer.

David in front of his Royal Australian Navy Firefly Flying the Firefly resulted in David’s first accident, a mid-air collision costing him about 6ft of wing and the need to ditch the aircraft in Jarvis Bay! From the Firefly David was transferred to a squadron: this was an aicraft that he found to be an absolute delight and a particularly good aerobatic mount. It was now around the time of the Suez crisis and David was faced with a choice; either go back to the RN or take up a recently offered full commission with the Royal Australian Navy. The prospect of active service with the Fleet Air Arm proved to be an opportunity that he could not resist so he made the decision to return to the UK for a tour of duty on the recently re-fitted HMS Victorious, finally getting his first tour on Sea Venoms.

Page 67

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

A brace of FAA DH Sea Venom’s The primary role of Victorious’ two-seat Sea Venoms was that of air interception which meant that the pilot had to develop a good rapport with his navigator who was responsible for vectoring the pilot on to potentially hostile aircraft using the Sea Venom’s airborne radar system. His tour on the Sea Venom was a happy one during which time his squadron sustained no losses. David found this aircraft delightfully easy to fly and land on a carrier, day or night, especially when compared to the Scimitar and Sea Vixen that followed it. David had two tours on the Sea Vixen during which he was a member of a 5-ship aerobatic team, but, in his assessment, “the Sea Vixen was not an ideal aircraft for aerobatics”, being much heavier than the original DH110 prototype and a rather heavy handling aircraft. Two hands on the stick was not an unusual occurance when flying the Sea Vixen. At this point in his career, David was posted to the Empire Test Pilot School (ETPS). Here he was able to acquaint himself with a range of RAF aircraft that were all new to him as an RN pilot.

Page 68

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

The range of aircraft types on charge with the ETPS during the 60’s All the ETPS aircraft were used to train the student in test pilot procedures, e.g. cockpit evaluation. David’s main recollections of his time at ETPS are hard work and a general feeling of anxiousness about making the grade. There were pilots of 8 nationalities on his course, and the workload and social life were heavy. Part of the syllabus was inverted spinning training in a dual control Hunter, and one pilot on the course, future US Skylab Astronaut Bill Poag, found this a particularly memorable experience. After the ETPS course it was on to Boscombe Down for evaluation of new . Although there was no formal naval section at Boscombe, he joined a group tasked with evaluating new naval aircraft, which included the Sea Vixen, Sea Balliol, Gannet and

Page 69

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Buccaneer, but his main responsiility was as project pilot for the II. Slow speed control on carrier approach was a particular challenge in the Buccaneer II program. Designed as a low level strike aircraft, the Buccaneer was designed with a high wing loading in order to minimise gust response at low level. In order to achieve satisfactory low speed handling for landing the Buccaneer wing incorporated a boundary layer blown wing fed from the engines at low speed. Replacement of the Gyron Junior engine with the more powerful Spey gave rise to inefficent control of the boundary layer airflow over the wing, a problem that could result in an increase in landing speed to 160Kts from 130Kts. This characteristic necessitated deployment of an open airbrake on approach to ensure that a higher throttle setting on approach could generate adequate boundary layer control.

Page 70

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

First deck landing trials of the Blackburn Buccaneer II on board HMS Ark Royal – note deployed airbrake By happy coincidence, Buccaneer II hot trials were to be conducted off the coast of Florida from USS Lexington, and this meant a return to NAS Pensacola, where David assured us that all the pubs were the same as he remembered them. During these trials, minimum launch speed was determined by finding the lowest speed at which the aircraft sink off the end of the carrier was no greater than 10ft, a risky and attention getting process!

Page 71

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

Determination of minimum launch speed for the Buccaneer II was an attention getting process! On leaving Boscombe Down, David had ambitions to leave the RN to take on a test pilot role at Blackburn. However, the RN kept him on for a further 2 years as an air warfare instructor due to the recent loss of some key personnel. Whilst serving in this role with an operational squadron he was asked to participate in a 5-plane Buccaneer display team, which he found rather frustrating given his ambition to leave the service and carry on test flying for the aircraft industry. Finally in 1968 David was able to leave the RN and join the British Aircraft Corporation where he worked with the Strikemaster, and then the Lightning, developing bomb sight setting systems for the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force machines. He was also involved in ferrying aircraft to the which involved 6½ hour direct flights with 3 air refuelling stages.

Page 72

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

A Lightning F Mk. 53 of the Royal Saudi Arabian Airforce Later he also worked on Canberras, flying re-assembled aircraft out to export customers in South America. A variety of flight paths across the Atlantic were used depending on the time of year and weather condtions; this, combined with the flying characteristics of the Canberra (low wing loading, smooth handling and high ceiling) made for many memorable experiences, esecially when turbulent air around the equator gave rise to some quite bumpy flying conditions, not to mention having to pay for fuel with cash! 1969 saw the start of Jaguar test flying. BAC’s then Chief Test pilot Jimmy Dell spent a lot of time in France flying the Jaguar, although whether he achieved the agreed 50:50 share of flying in partnership with the French test pilot Bernard Witt was open to debate. The Jaguar had many interesting features such as a first generation integrated navigation and weapons system and non-linear pitch gearing to accommodate Jaguar’s large load carrying capabilities. In addition to Jaguar David spent some time flying the first two Rolls Royce Spey engined Phantom F- 4Ks.

Page 73

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture The TSR-2 debacle prompted the UK government to enter multi-national projects for development of new strike and fighter aircraft for the armed services. The first project of its kind being MRCA, or Multi-role Combat Aircraft (which ultimately led to the Tornado). David signed on to this programme, as project pilot, before the first prototypes were built ,and the UK was responsible for design and build of the front and rear fuselage sections of the aircraft. This meant that he spent a lot of time developing the cockpit layout, particularly the throttle quadrant arrangement which needed to toggle between dry, re-heat and thrust reverser control. MRCA first flew in 1974 (from Munich) and, as you might expect with a multi-national project of this sort, the arrangements for the first flight were subject to all kinds of political maneuvering about when, where and who would make it. Once the flight test programme started Panavia were paid using a scale of performance check milestones. Given that the early versions of the RB.199 engine were somewhat down on power compared to their intended design specification, a degree of interpretation was applied to the performance milestone rules when it came to proving performance milestones had been satisfied. David also commented that his favorite photograph from the programme was taken by Alan Love from a Lightning chase plane while he was holding the control column between his knees!

Page 74

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

MRCA (Tornado) prototype P.02 taken from the Lightning chase plane by Alan Love The programme progressed through various stages of development including flight re-fuelling and proving the terrain following radar at 200 ft. at night. David also highlighted that the programme made extensive use of real time telemetry to monitor aircraft performance, and this led to a very efficient and rapid completion of the flight test programme for MRCA/Tornado. David also commented on the Tornado Air Defence Variant (ADV) ordered by the RAF. This variant incorporated an extra section of fuselage to accommodate the Skyflash air-to-air missiles and more fuel plus a more streamlined nose section which resulted in improved acceleration through to Mach 2 compared with the strike variant of Tornado. By the end of the early eighties the run down in the Tornado development programme led to BAe and the other consortium companies to consider new development projects to follow Tornado. BAe produced a number of design options for new fighter, as did their German and

Page 75

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Italian peers, and so naturally the prospect of re-forming a European consortium to produce the next generation fighter for Europe was explored by the members of Panavia. The intention was to build a high performance technology demonstrator to show the European defence ministries what they could achieve. Christened EAP for Experimental Aircraft Programme, the original intention was for the consortium to build three demonstrator aircraft, but this was subsequently reduced to one after the defence ministries of Germany and Italy pulled out leaving the consortium companies to fund the project, with the help of the UK Government. Funding was tight and much of the equipment was provided by sub-contractors free of charge on the understanding that they would be favourably considered if a future production programme came about. The aircraft was to feature new materials e.g. carbon fibre wing structures, electronic cockpit and a quadruplex fly-by-wire system designed to control an unstable aeroplane thus saving weight and wetted area. The progress on the project was swift with the demonstrator being rolled out at Warton during 1986. David spent some time discussing EAP’s complex instrumentation suite, pointing out that he had insisted that conventional instrumentation was included in case of a system failure. His stand was vindicated when on one occasion Chief Project Pilot Chris Yeo suffered a complete system failure when flying EAP back from Farnborough. Subsequently, much of the EAP cockpit instrumentation was simplified in the production version of the Typhoon.

Page 76

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture

EAP taking off on its maiden flight August 1986 The EAP project was a great success with the aeroplane going supersonic on its first flight in August 1986 and probably did much to promote the feasibility of the subsequent Typhoon project. David concluded with a couple of photos of one-off flights in Rolls Royce’s Spitfire which was arranged as a payback for some favours he had done for RR during the Spey Phantom project, and an English Electric Wren powered by a 9hp engine, a microlight of its day that, considering its lack of power needed quite a lot of runway to get airborne. In conclusion, David gave the Loughborough Branch of the RAeS a very informative and entertaining lecture on his varied and successful career as a test pilot and with the Fleet Air

Page 77

RAeS Loughborough Branch

TABLE 1

Date Lecture/Lecturer Attendance Report on the Lecture Arm. He also gave us a useful insight into the complexities of test flying and the challenges presented by aircraft design and development within the framework of an international consortium. Notes written by Frank Chambers

The above table confirms that, without doubt, the Loughborough Branch has had another excellent season. Our lectures have covered all aspects of aerospace - historical, the present and the future; reminiscences and modern technology. The average attendance for the 2011/12 season was 120. 4 of the lectures were joint lectures with other organisations.

Page 78

RAeS Loughborough Branch

8 20012/13 Season The following lectures shown in Table 2 below have been planned for the 2012/13 Season: Table 2 Date Lecture Lecturer 16th Oct. 2012 The Schneider Trophy Contest 1913 Mike Marsden, former Head of Wind Tunnels, Airbus Filton 6th Nov 2012 Flt Lt Mike J Child, Red 3, Joint lecture with the Loughborough University Students Flying Club Aerobatic Team (The Red Arrows) Royal Air Force Scampton, Lincs. 20th Nov 2012 Keeping the Battle of Britain Memorial Fight Airworthy Richard Oldfield BAE Systems and David Joint lecture with the Loughborough (University)Alumni Marshall BBMF 11th Dec 2012 A350XWB – Shaping Efficiency Phil Brown, Airbus – A350 Wing Architect Joint lecture with I. Mech. E.

22nd Jan 2013 RAF Reaper Operations - Saving Lives and Making a Wg Cdr (retd)Andrew Jeffrey OBE MA Difference 5th Feb 2013 Airbus A400M Military Transport Brian Kitson, Aerodynamic Project Domain Co-ordinator, Airbus Operations. 19th Feb 2013 The Astute Submarine Simon Purvis, Astute In-Service Technical Joint lecture with I. Mech. E. and RAeS Loughborough Branch Authority, BAE Systems. Prestige Lecture? 12th March 2013 Lecture by Dr. Peter Render, Loughborough University Dr. Peter Render, Loughborough University AeETS Dept. subject TBD AeETS Dept. 23rd April 2013 AGM + Joe Buckley Shannon International Airport Director on the Shannon Airport Board and former Operations Manager

Page 79

RAeS Loughborough Branch Treasurer’s Report to the 2011/12 Season AGM held on Tuesday 24th April 2012

Page 80