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fLIGHT International, 9 April 1964
position servo (picture opposite), a velocity
servo with d.c. or 400c/s a.c. inputs, synchro
follow-up or resolver servos. Outputs may
be shaft rotations, or signals from potentiometers, synchros, resolvers and shaft encoders. Gearbox shafts can be coupled to
a shaft-angle indicator on the front of the
panels, as shown in the illustration.
Altitude encoding A new size 11 encoder
with an output in Gillham code, as recommended for altitude encoding by ICAO
and described in an FAA report of May
1962, has been introduced by Moore, Reed
& Co Ltd of Durnsford Road, London
SW19. The encoder has two coded discs
with a gear ratio of 16 : 1 between them
and measures a height change of 128,000ft
in 100ft steps. One revolution of the input
shaft represents 8,000ft, which is convenient
for servo altitude transmitters. The encoder is incorporated in versions of the
Elliott modular air data system designed to
provide automatic height reporting for
ATC purposes. It is available in two forms,
respectively with ±10ft and ±20ft guaranteed height interval boundaries. It has survived 20g peak vibration at up to 2kc/s and
8,000 repeated 40g shocks, and materials
are selected to withstand climatic tests to
DTD1085(c).
RAF Orders BS Starter A substantial
order for the new Bristol Siddeley Mk XI
low-pressure-air starter trolleys has been
placed by the MoA on behalf of RAF
Flying Training Command. The starter,
developed as a private venture and capable
of starting all modern gas turbines, will be
used in starting the Bristol Siddeley
Orpheus-powered Gnat advanced trainers
which are now standard equipment in
Flying Training Command.
The new starter employs a Palouste
P-104 engine in a lightweight tubular steel
frame. The unit, which weighs less than
9001b, is readily air transportable, for it
can pass through a loading door no more
than 36in wide, and can be manoeuvred and
operated by one man, without need of a
towing tractor. It is, therefore, particularly
suited for starting a number of aircraft in
rapid succession. Its fuel tank holds 15gal,
sufficient for 17-20 aircraft starts. The unit
delivers 2.21b/sec of air at 381b/sq in.
UK-USA Investment Casting Link Centrax Ltd, of Newton Abbot, Devon, has
joined forces with Misco Precision Casting
Co, of the USA, to form a new company to
Produce investment castings for Great
Britain and certain European countries.
Centrax-Misco Ltd (CML) will occupy a
recently completed 28,000 sq ft extension of
the factory where Centrax has been producing machined compressor and turbine
Wades since 1955. The installation of
e
quipment for vacuum castings and ceramic
core manufacture will greatly extend the
facilities already offered them by Centrax
Diade division of Centrax by adding such
Products as integrally cast turbine rotors
and air-cooled turbine nozzles and blades.
formed to operate as an entirely separate
organization to the parent companies,
The vast new electronics plant of North
American Aviation's
Autonetics Division at
Anaheim, Calif. Built
on a 250-acre site, it
employs 20,000 of
Autonetics'
25,000
workers. A note on
the division's current
work begins on this
page
CML will have Mr R. H. H. Barr, Centrax
managing director as chairman, with Mr
T. Operhall, president of Mis;o as vicechairman.
flight trial in a Sud Alouette two-and-a-half
years ago. It allows navigation and hovering over the sea in zero visibility.
Concord Planners to Note Petbow Ltd,
the Sandwich, Kent, manufacturers of
ground power units, recently published a
brochure listing more than 80 aircraft in
common commercial and military use,
showing their normal power requirements
for starting and servicing and naming the
recommended Petbow unit beside each one.
The Concord is listed—apparently Petbow
already have a suitable unit, the GS.182.
Lance Gas Generator A contract for
development of a solid-propellant gasgenerator system for the Lance missile
has been awarded to Olin Mathieson
Chemical Corp by the Rocketdyne Division
of North American Aviation. The generator will expel the storable liquid propellants
into the missile's combustion chamber.
The letter contract award exceeds $600,000.
Lance is the US Army's latest surface-tosurface battlefield missile; Ling-TemcoVought's LTV Michigan Division is prime
contractor.
USA
US Cargo System for Super VC10 BAC
have awarded a $500,000 contract to the
general engineering division of the American
Machine & Foundry Company's Advanced
Products Group, to design, develop and
manufacture eight cargo systems for the
Super VC10.
The system will consist essentially of
cargo pallets, each holding up to 8,0001b of
freight, on roller conveyors, with patented
restraint devices. The system will be
designed to restrain cargo under loadings
of up to 9g.
Raytheon Equipment for Britain Unspecified "airborne electronic systems" worth
$3.5m have been ordered from Raytheon
Space and Information Systems Division
by the United Kingdom Government.
Delivery will begin late this year.
Ryan Doppler Orders Through its French
licensee CFTH, Ryan Aeronautical has
obtained a limited-quantity production
order for AN/APN-130 Doppler navigators
to be fitted for naval training purposes in
Sud Super Frelons and Agusta Bell 204Bs
of the French and Italian navies. The
APN-130 has been used for some years in
US Navy turbine-powered ASW helicopters
and very successfully completed a 40hr
Autonetics in 1964 One of the largest
electronic facilities in the world has been
completed by North American Aviation's
Autonetics Division on a 250-acre site
in the orange-grove country of Southern
California. Divisional president John R.
Moore said in London last month that all
Autonetics' diversified activities in the field
of electronics for defence and aerospace,
and 20,000 of its 25,000 employees, are now
located at the single Anaheim site. The
facilities, which include 24 buildings and
nearly 3,000,000 sq ft of floor space, are
"the most advanced in industry." They
include R&D, production and administrative centres for inertia! guidance systems,
electro-sensor systems and airborne data
processors. The R&D centre includes 49
laboratories for such subjects as lasers,
materials sciences and studies of simulators
for aerospace and "hydrospace" vehicles.
Autonetics is one of the ten leading US
electronic manufacturers. It has pioneered
microelectronics and microminiaturization
to provide greater reliability and reduce the
size and weight of inertial guidance and
control, electro sensor and armament
control systems, data processors and ground
checkout equipment. Key programmes
underway are guidance and control systems
for the US Air Force Minuteman ICBM
and SINS (Ships' Inertial Navigation
Systems) for submarines and surface ships
of the US Navy and the United Kingdom's
first four Polaris-carrying submarines.
Autonetics' selection to produce 11 sets