First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded 1909 and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER No. 2436 Vol. 68. FRIDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 1955 EDITOR MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C. Transonic Policy - and Bar HAT the United States Air Force and Navy now have supersonic fighters in service ASSOCIATE EDITOR is partly due to a particular discovery—the subject of an article in this issue—by H. F. KING, M.B.E. TAmerican aerodynamicists. By corollary, it might be inferred that lack of this knowledge has denied similar machines to our own Services. TECHNICAL EDITOR Known as the area rule, the new formula has allowed the Grumman Corporation to W. T. GUNSTON build a carrier-based fighter which easily exceeds Mach 1 in level flight on the power of a single American-made Sapphire turbojet (an afterburner is fitted, but Mach 1 is ART EDITOR reached without its use). This turbojet is also used in British fighters, in which it gives JOHN YOXALL at least as much thrust as is available to the Grumman design; yet our machines reach Mach 1 only in a dive. Editorial, Advertising and Briefly, the area rule enables the designer of a supersonic aircraft to obtain the best Publishing Offices: distribution of cross-sectional area; from calculations he can draw the optimum shape DORSET HOUSE, for a given performance. The projected machine is theoretically sliced up, and its cross- STAMFORD STREET, sectional area—including wings, tanks and external stores—compared with the optimum; LONDON, S.E.1. adjustments are then made as necessary. In practice this may mean "waisting" the fuselage to compensate for the adjacent wings (and any appendages) or extending or Telegrams, Flightpres, Sedist, Londcn. Telephone, Waterloo 3333 (tO lines). swelling the nose or tail, or both, in order to preserve the overall shape. The result is not always pleasing to the eye. Bulges beside a jetpipe in a tail that diminishes rapidly in Branch Offices: cross-section look entirely wrong; yet area-rule experience shows that, aerodynamically, they make sound transonic sense. COVENTRY 8-10, Corporation Street. No official information has yet been released about the adoption of the area rule in Telegrams, Autocar, Coventry. this country, or about the industry's attitude to it. So great is its importance that, following Telephone, Coventry 5210. public revelation in America, an official pronouncement here might have been expected. BIRMINGHAM, 2 None has yet been made. King Edward House, There is no doubt that our designers have been acquainted with the area rule for some New Street. Telegrams, Autopress, Birminghcm. time past; yet the British taxpayer has not been told of any home-produced "area ruled" Telephone, Midland 7191 (7 lines). aircraft. By simple calculation it is not difficult to see that some of our designs, such as the Gnat, are extremely near to the right shape. Meanwhile, it is tantalizing to apply area MANCHESTER, 3 260, Deansgate. rule to existing R.A.F. machines and to calculate what a useful increment in performance Telegrams, lliffe, Manchester. it could have conferred. :, Te/ephone, Blackfriars 4412 (3 lines). Deansgate 3595 (2 lines). GLASGOW, C.2. Where Will it Stop? 26b, Renfield Street. Telegrams, lliffe, Glasgow. N support of the International Association of Machinists, which has been engaged Telephone, Central 1265 (2 lines). in a wages dispute with the Flying Tiger Line, trade unions at London Airport SUBSCRIPTION RATES I recently imposed a ban on the servicing of aircraft belonging to this American air- Home and Overseas: Twelve months freight and charter company. Last week the secretary of the trades-union side of the £4 10s. U.S.A. and Canada, $14.00. British National Joint Council for Civil Aviation announced with satisfaction that the ban had been "operated 100 per cent" by the unions. In a letter to the International Transport Workers' Federation, this official expressed his concern that not only had "aircraft of this line been serviced in other parts of Europe" but that "other non-British airlines have instructed their employees to service these IN THIS ISSUE: machines, and this may lead to the British civil aviation workers taking action against those European airlines who service 'black' machines if they happen to use British Coach-Air 543 The Jet Flap - - - - 545 airports . ." We must admit that we do not know all the details of the dispute between the Flying RJTV27 547 Tiger Line and its employees. Moreover, we would confess to the belief that America's The Area Rule- - - - 549 labour disputes, like her politics, are matters primarily of domestic concern. London Formation Five - - - 553 Airport's trade union leaders apparently think otherwise. This is not the first occasion Artist's Postscript - - 554 on which they have attempted to influence matters far beyond their accepted terms of Enthusiasm at Pau - - 556 reference. The Flying Tiger ban might not have any serious repercussions, because the The Technical Side of airline normally operates in North America and makes only occasional charter flights to Test Flying - - - - 559 Europe- but the implied threat is profoundly disturbing. That dockers adopt similar Leonides Major Progress 561 tactics is an unconvincing defence. In this expanding industry, such restrictive actions Exercise "Beware" - - 568 are far more likely to create new problems than to solve existing ones. 540 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS Commandos, and a civilian ornithologist.) It is, however, a fact Britannia Trials Continue —as the record of a few orthodox landing attempts during the past OR the third of its current series of overseas proving flights, 100 years shows—that the achievement would have been virtually Fwhich began on September 9th, Britannia G-ANBC visited impossible without the use of a helicopter. Tripoli. Previously, it had made two round trips to Johannesburg. The party was winched down on to the rock from a Dragonfly The main purpose of the Tripoli flight was to make a practical test flown by Lt. R. Leonard, who made, in all, 11 flights carrying of the cabin atmosphere system. The aircraft flew out with 98 men and gear and was airborne for a total of 1 hr 43 min. The people on board, consisting of a crew of 13 (this unusually large operation was performed in about three hours of "calm" weather crew included several B.O.A.C. Britannia Fleet members under between gales (10ft waves were breaking against the rock) and training) and 85 employees of the Bristol Aeroplane Co. tiie Dragonfly pilot had a ticklish job in putting his aircraft down The Britannia left London Airport just before 2 a.m. G.M.T. on Vidal's flight deck, which measures only 33ft by 33ft (normally, on September 21st and landed at Idris at 6.39 a.m. The total it accommodates a Hiller). - distance of 1,518 statute miles was covered in a chock-to-chock time of 4 hr 55 min (on-course time was 4 hr 37 min, giving a speed of 332 m.p.h.). Cruising altitude was 23,500ft for the first half of Fourth Order for Viscount 800s the flight, 25,500 for the second. Maximum ground-speed observed N order from Fred Olsen Airtransport, Ltd., for three Viscount during the journey—between Dijon and Turin—was 362 m.p.h. A•800s was announced last week. The aircraft, with the type- Throughout its stay at Idris, where shade temperature was number V.805, will be delivered in 1957. This Norwegian inde- 93 deg, the aircraft stood in the sun. When passengers went pendent airline had previously ordered three V.700-Series Vis- aboard for the return trip, the temperature in the aircraft was counts, two of which have been completed and are on lease to over 90 deg, but it dropped to comfortable level within about B.E.A. The order is the fourth to be placed for the V.800-Series 10-15 min of take-off. Technicians took temperature readings at Viscount, other purchasers being B.E.A. (22), K.L.M. (9) and various points in the cabin, recording the temperature-drop, and Transair (2); it brings the total number of Viscounts (of all types) on the outward flight a number of sound-level readings. sold to 239. The log of the return flight was as follows: chocks away at Idris, 14.57 G.M.T.; arrival at London Airport 20.22 G.M.T.; M.o.S. Appointment on-course time, 5 hr 3 min; average on-course speed, 305 m.p.h. TTHE Ministry of Supply announces that Dr. W. B. Littler has (over a slightly longer course); altitude, level flight at 22,500ft. -1 been promoted to chief scientific officer and appointed Prin- On September 24th the Britannia made a day-trip to Berlin, cipal Director of Scientific Research (Defence) in succession to carrying Mr. Peter Thorneycroft, President of the Board of Trade. Dr. Cawood, who is to become Principal Director of Scientific Mr. Thorneycroft, who was opening the British section of the Research (Air) on November 1st, 1955. West Berlin Trade Fair, described the Britannia as "in itself a wonderful showpiece for Britain." Piloted by Bristol test-pilot Walter Gibb, G-ANBC set off again SeaMaster Progress on September 26tfi for Entebbe. It was due to return on INCE its first flight on July 14th, the prototype Martin XP6M-1 September 28th. The purpose of this journey was to make a SeaMaster—new pictures of which appear here—has logged ten-hour flight from Entebbe at 16,000ft in search of icing condi- considerably more than 25 flying hours, and is regularly carrying tions. The equator area was chosen for the test since, it was out test flights of 1J to 3 hours' duration.