ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL 53 2 The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the contributors concerned and are not necessarily those held by the Royal Air Force Historical Society. First published in the UK in 2012 by the Royal Air Force Historical Society All ri hts reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical includin photocopyin , recordin or by any information stora e and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writin . ISSN 1361 4231 Printed by ,indrush -roup ,indrush House Avenue Two Station .ane ,itney O021 40, 3 ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORICAL SOCIETY President 2arshal of the Royal Air Force Sir 2ichael 3eetham -C3 C3E DFC AFC 7ice8President Air 2arshal Sir Frederick Sowrey KC3 C3E AFC Committee Chairman Air 7ice82arshal N 3 3aldwin C3 C3E 7ice8Chairman -roup Captain 9 D Heron O3E Secretary -roup Captain K 9 Dearman FRAeS 2embership Secretary Dr 9ack Dunham PhD CPsychol A2RAeS Treasurer 9 3oyes TD CA 2embers Air Commodore - R Pitchfork 23E 3A FRAes ,in Commander C Cummin s :9 S Cox Esq 3A 2A :A72 P Dye O3E 3Sc(En ) CEn AC-I 2RAeS :-roup Captain P 9 2 Squires O3E 2A 3En RAF :,in Commander S Hayler 2A 3Sc RAF Editor & Publications ,in Commander C - 9efford 23E 3A 2ana er :Ex Officio 4 CONTENTS THE ,OR.D?S FIRST 9ET EN-INES: THE SERIOUS 7 PURSUIT OF INNO7ATION IN 2I.ITARA A7IATION, 19368194C byDr Hermione Giffard E&A SESSION 22 3RITAIN?S EAR.A 9ET AIRCRAFT by Captain Eric 3rown 21 DISCUSSION 3C THE 9ET INTO RAF SEUADRON SER7ICE by Air Cdre 31 -raham Pitchfork FIT FOR SER7ICE F THE RO.E OF SER7ICE TEST PI.OTS C0 by A72 Alan 2erriman THE A7RO 7U.CAN F 2AKIN- IT ,ORK by Tony 66 3lackman THE CO2ET IN TRANSPORT CO22AND by , Cdr 3asil 79 DGOliveira THE INTRODUCTION OF RAF 9ET AIRCRAFT F 96 EN-INEERIN- AND SUPP.A ISSUES by A72 -raham Skinner SUPP.E2ENTARA PAPERS THE .INCO.N THESEUS E0PERI2ENTA. UNIT by 111 -p Capt 9 D H9ock? Heron HI-H DUTA A..OAS AND THE 9ET EN-INE by 123 Tony 3uttler 3OOK RE7IE,S 131 C SELECTED ABBREVIATIONS A&AEE Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (from 1992 Aircraft and Armament Evaluation Est8 ablishment) AA2 Air8to8Air 2issile AF3 (United States) Air Force 3ase A.32 Air .aunched 3allistic 2issile AE2 Air Euartermaster ASI Airspeed Indicator ATC Air Traffic Control 3.EU 3lind .andin Experimental Unit 32, Bayerische Motoren Werke CAA Civil Aviation Authority CFE Central Fi hter Establishment C- Centre of -ravity ETPS Empire Test Pilots School FAA (US) Federal Aviation Authority F. Fli ht .evel IA2 Institute of Aviation 2edicine I2N Indicated 2ach Number ISTAR Intelli ence, Surveillance, Tar et Acquisition and Reconnaissance .A3S .ow Altitude 3ombin System 2AP 2inistry of Aircraft Production OASC Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre OP Observation Post RAE Royal Aircraft Establishment SAR Search and Rescue S3AC Society of 3ritish Aircraft Constructors T2N True 2ach Number 7SI 7ertical Speed Indicator 6 THE RAF IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE JET ERA RAF MUSEUM, HENDON, 19 OCTOBER 2 11 WELCOME ADDRESS BY THE SOCIETY"S CHAIRMAN Air Vice-Marshal Nigel Bald,in CB CBE .adies and entlemen F it is ood to welcome you back to our well loved venue for a day that should be full of interest. 3efore I introduce our Chairman, let me ive my usual thanks to the Director -eneral of the RAF 2useum, Air 7ice82arshal Peter Dye, and to his always most helpful staff for allowin us to use their ma nificent facilities. Today?s Chairman, Air Chief 2arshal Sir Richard 9ohns, and I are both ex8Cranwell fli ht cadets. Sir Richard preceded me at Cranwell and was trained on the Provost and then the 2eteorI I was a member of the first Hall throu h Jet? Cranwell entry on the 9et Provost, (we were iven our win s by Sir 9ohn Slessor F but that?s another story) but we then went to RAF 7alley to fly the 7ampire F and thus, at the very least, both Sir Richard and I have a feel, and a reat respect, for what the pioneers achieved with those early Jets. Aou will hear more of this at first hand today. After a first tour on 9avelins, followed by Hunters in Aden, Sir Richard became a EFI durin which time he tau ht the Prince of ,ales to fly. He was then much involved with the Harrier, eventually commandin RAF -utersloh and the Harrier Force in the early 1910s. He was SASO at HE Strike Command when the first -ulf ,ar broke out in 1991, and went on to be Deputy and then Commander8in8Chief of Strike Command and then CinC Allied Forces North ,est Europe. He was Chief of the Air Staff from 1997 to 2000 and then, on retirement from the RAF, became Constable and -overnor of ,indsor Castle until early 2001. ,ith that back round, he will be well placed to keep today?s show on the road. Sir Richard F you have control 7 THE WORLD"S FIRST JET EN.INES/ THE SERIOUS 0URSUIT OF INNOVATION IN MILITARY AVIATION, 1931-1925 Dr Hermione .iffard Hermione Giffard read physics at Stanford CA, graduating in 005. In 006 she was awarded a Masters degree with distinction by Imperial College, London and in 011 she completed her doctorate, sponsored in part by the RA, Historical Society, again with Imperial College, specifically, its Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, her thesis being .The Production and 0e1elopment of Turbo2et Aero3 engines in Britain, Germany and the 4nited States, 1535315758. She has recently finished a post3doctoral Guggenheim ,ellowship at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington 0C. I would like to be in by thankin the or anisers for the invitation to contribute to this seminar as well as the RAF Historical Society for supportin my work. ,ith the help of a whole roup of or anisations that ave me fundin throu h various awards F the Royal Air Force Award for Research into the History of Aviation (funded by the Royal Air Force Historical Society and Royal Aeronautical Society Historical -roup, amon others)I a Hans Rausin Scholarship, Imperial Colle e?s Centre for the History of Science, Technolo y and 2edicineI an Imperial Colle e, UK Overseas Student AwardI a -erman Academic Exchan e -rantI a -u enheim Fellowship, Smithsonian Institution, the National Air and Space 2useum, ,ashin ton DC F an undertakin that be an as a one8year research proJect became a four8year thesis on the early history of the production and development of Jet en ines in 3ritain, -ermany and the United States, which took the question of how to study invention as its central problem.1 In my thesis, I was particularly interested in the road from prototype to service article. This su ested studyin a time period from about 1936 to 194C and lookin closely at the work of the aero8 1 en ine industry. I ar ued that the skills of 3ritish industry were indispensible in creatin a viable 3ritish service Jet en ine as well as fundamental in shapin the very details of early Jet en ine technolo y. Here was another view of what makes nations stron , their industrial expertise. -oin back to the archival record with fresh ideas about how novel machines are made allowed me to uncover new aspects the history of the Jet en ine. 2y work has already been criticised because what I have written is different from what has been written in many books on the Jet en ine before. 3ecause I chose a new perspective, my story departs from the familiar story in many ways. 2y thesis demonstrated, for example, that the national 3ritish Jet effort was ultimately very successful, settin up 3ritain as a leadin manufacturer and exporter of Jet en ines in the immediate post8war period. I also showed that the ar ument that -ermany was much more successful than 3ritain because it produced more Jet en ines is a confused comparison of two very different histories. ,e all know the story of Sir Frank ,hittle?s extraordinary achievement as a student at Cranwell, in ori inatin the idea of a practical as turbine to power an aircraft at hi h speeds and altitudes throu h Jet propulsion. The Royal Air Force reco nised ,hittle?s enius, trainin him from a youn recruit into an officer and ivin him the opportunity to study en ineerin further at Cambrid e University. This, alon with his experience as a pilot, was crucial to ,hittle?s later inventive work. It is to the RAF?s credit that it reco nised and nurtured F took advanta e of, even F ,hittle?s extraordinary talents as both an en ineer and a pilot. In my research, I chose not to look at the question of who came up with the idea of the Jet en ine because I Jud ed that this question has been well studied already. I thou ht that I could contribute more by lookin at topics that have been lar ely i nored up to now. In this way, my research has put the work of ,hittle and Power 9ets into a new context F the complex networks of innovation and production of which they were a part. 2y decision to focus on subJects that we don?t know much about is not meant to be a reJection of the stories that we know.