346
useful military load to Australia in a very7 short time.
The fact that its carrying capacity can cover a variety of
loads makes it a very versatile military transport: some
seven and a half tons in the form of guns or lorries ;
or 50 fully equipped troops; or, as an ambulance, 32
stretcher cases, 24 sitting cases, four attendants, and a
ton of medical supplies; or as a carrier of paratroops;
and as a tug for the largest gliders.
In the House of Lords debate on defence, mentioned
above, Lord Nathan stated, referring to the Forces in
general and not to the R.A.F. specifically, that "No
large-scale re-equipment of the Forces has yet been undertaken. In the view of the Government, this has been
neither necessary nor desirable." In the specific case
of transports for the R.A.F. we should have thought
that re-equipment was both necessary and desirable. It
is true that it is difficult to see the shape of things to
come so far as the fighting weapons of the Royal Air
Force in general are concerned, but if there is one thing
which is certain, it is that if the Service is to be truly
mobile, it must have fast transports. Even when what
Lord Douglas of Kirtleside called "the atom bomb,
push-button type of warfare " is reached, fast air transport will surely be needed.
High-speed Sloth
T
APKIL 1ST, I948
FLIGHT
RIALS with the Vickers transonic models have
lapsed and will not be resumed for some months,
due, in the words of the M.o.S. Principal Director of Scientific Research (Air), to shortcomings in the
rocket motor at great heights. This announcement is
made after months of fiddling about, and after the
Americans have flown a piloted aircraft, the Bell XS-i,
powered with a rocket motor produced by a private
company. Further, there are good grounds for believing that the XS-i, has flown at above sonic speed.
C O N T E
Outlook
-
-
NTS
345
' . . \ - . -
Britain Highest Again -
-
-
-
M e t e o r Miscellany
-
-
-
-
-
Civil Aviation News
-
-
-
-
-
Westland Sikorsky
Sea F u r y
.
.
-
-
.
.
.
--
Malayan A v i a t i o n in t h e M a k i n g H i g h Speed F l i g h t Research
H e r e and T h e r e
Service A v i a t i o n
Correspondence
-
-
-
347
349
352
355
359
-
-
-
362
364
366
368
370
Forthcoming Events, page 370
although official confirmation of this has not been g
—perhaps understandably in view of world instability.
Transonic experiments have been made and are being
made over the same Scilly area range with winged
"dropped bodies" of about 2,000 lb. These have
exceeded sonic speed, a reliable measuring technique
has been established and we have learned a lot. It has
been proved that the thrust required to overcome the
enormous increase in drag encountered in the transonic
range is of the order of 1 lb for every pound of all-up
weight. This means that a turbojet would require to
give three to four times the existing thrust without any
increase in weight, thus a rocket motor must be used
instead for experimental flights at these speeds.
Various advanced designs for very high-speed aircraft
are known to exist in this country, but we do not seem
to have put to much use the vast mass of German experience with rockets. Britain cannot put a tithe of the
American effort into research, either in manpower or in
prime cost, but for the efforts we can make, the results
which have so far emerged seem to be pitifully small.
THE COMPLETE TRAINER : Wheeled out for the first time last week, the prototype Avro Athena Mk I with Momba turbo-airscrew
power plant is the forerunner of several similar R.A.F. three-seater advanced trainsrs, including other Mk I's with Mamba and Dart
turbines and a number of Mk II's with Rolls-Royce Merlins.
A first flight is to be made as soon as full clearance is given for the
engine airscrew combination. The Athena carries a very full complement of instruments, radio and aids equipment.