Aeroplane_2020-02.pdf

(21780 KB) Pobierz
BEHIND THE SCENES BOLINGBROKE REBUILD
February 2020
Issue No 562,
Vol 48,
No 2
HISTORY IN THE AIR SINCE 1911
EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW
Warbird great
Richard Grace
Early days of
the ‘Spitfire
Women’
By ferry pilot
Lettice Curtis
LEGENDS
of
FLIGHT TEST
Inside story of the VAAC Harrier
PLUS…
Convair’s supersonic
seaborne delta
BAC’s Concorde
wing testbed
France’s
ying
beetle
FEBRUARY 2020
£4.99
• Owning and flying a Focke-Wulf classic
• Down-under on one engine… in 1920!
ALSO FEATURING…
Contents
February 2020
See pages
26-27
for a g
reat
subscription
o er
78
42
28
34
NEWS AND
COMMENT
4
6
FROM THE EDITOR
NEWS
• Grande Galerie opens at Le Bourget
• Brussels museum set for refurbishment
• Silver Spitfire completes world flight
…and the month’s other top aircraft
preservation news
14
WORKSHOP
A first in-depth look at Aerospace Bristol’s
Bolingbroke project
18
HANGAR TALK
Steve Slater’s comment on the historic
aircraft world
20
FLIGHT LINE
Reflections on aviation history with
Denis J. Calvert
84
FEATURES
28
PARER AND M INTOSH
The first England to Australia flight by a
single-engined aircraft left two aviating
friends in the record books
34
FOCKE WULF STIEGLITZ
Restoring, owning and flying the classic
German biplane trainer
42
EARLY DAYS OF THE ATA
The late Lettice Curtis describes the
challenges faced by the first Air Transport
Auxiliary pilots
48
AEROPLANE
MEETS…
RICHARD GRACE
The childhood dream of flying warbirds
came true for this very skilled pilot and
engineer
103
AEROPLANE
ARCHIVE:
NEWS FROM 1940
Continuing our new series, looking
back at how
The Aeroplane
covered a
momentous year
COVER IMAGE:
The VAAC Harrier T4, XW175,
photographed during 2007 in the hands of then-Lt
Chris Götke.
JAMIE HUNTER
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
65
DATABASE: CONVAIR SEA DART
A supersonic floatplane fighter was
never to be, despite
Convair’s
DATA
BASE
best e orts.
CONVAIR F2Y
SEA DART
T
Matthew Willis
charts the
chequered
history of the
Sea Dart
IN DEPT
TECHNICA
DETAILS L
A unique
design for
a highly specia
lised role
Saluting a selection of legends from
the world of post-war flight testing
78
84
92
SNECMA COLÉOPTÈRE
The French engine manufacturer’s one-
o annular-wing VTOL jet
BAC 221
The flight test diary of the British Aircraft
Corporation’s Concorde wing testbed
VAAC HARRIER
How the oldest two-seat Harrier helped
perfect the control method for today’s
F-35 Lightning II
REGULARS
SKYWRITERS
Q&A
Your questions asked and answered
62
HOOKS’ TOURS
More superb colour images from the
collection of the late Mike Hooks. This
month, a selection of Pilatus P2s
100
REVIEWS
The latest aviation books and products in
the spotlight
106
NEXT MONTH
22
24
DATABASE
KAWANISHI
N1K1 SHIDEN AND N1K2
ABOVE:
The
programm XF2Y-1 on terra
e.
TAILHOOK
firma during
Development
Development
Technical Details
Technical Details
Details
WORDS:
MATTHEW WILLIS
he XF2Y-1
and
were delta-win YF2Y-1
extended
g
beyond the
IN
research aircraft
exhausts
jet
D
DE
into
develope
PA PT
housed the a ‘boat tail’ and
feasibility
GE H
d to prove
,
the
of a
S
high-per
gear. ese hydro-ski landing
water-ba
skis extended
sed military formance
oleo
Construc
struts and
aeroplan
on
tion
e.
outer surface retracted so their
and the layoutwas conventional,
was ush
aircraft’s
slightly later similar to the
with the
skin.
small wheels In some variants,
F-102 Delta (single-engined)
Quite a crowd
skis, either
were built
into
up the ramp looks on as
Delta Dart, Dagger and F-106
the
the XF2Y-1,
and back
to allow the xed or retractable,
relating to most di erences
to the Convair in its original
aircraft to
the di erent
configuration,
facility at
and o a
taxi on
mediums
Lindbergh
heads
ramp
the aircraft
manoeuv
Field.
US
support vessel. on the shore or
designed
were
NAVY
ring in the
a
to
Take-o
water.
was by combineControl in ight
among theseoperate from. Chief
weight increased
J34s of 3,000lb
d elevator/
16,500lb
was the fuselage
ailerons and
from
undersid
at
thrust, and
e, which
conseque
24,400lb the design stage to
fully poweredrudder, which were
was shaped
ntly
a 35° V along
in the YF2Y-1.
pipes, with had shorter jet
to
. ere were
most of its
separate
e cockpit
no
length,
aps. A small
design
resembli outer exhausts
similar in
rudder was
ng
water
its layout was
protectin sugar scoops
tted for low-spee
to
contemp
A demonstr
g the fuselage
orary jets. other
ation of
d
tail from
waterborn
resemble
and boat
the XF2Y-1’s
e canopy
jet blast.
d that of
e turning
on the shoulder Intakes were
SAN DIEGO
the Douglas
circle.
D-558-1,
AIR & SPACE
being
MUSEUM
position,
behind the
with visibility largely solid and
just
wing
provided
teardrop
e wings wereleading edge.
by two
-shaped
delta planform of a modi
windows
forward part.
ed
in the
on the leading , with 60° sweep
e Sea Dart
slight reverse edge and a
two afterburn was powered
by
trailing edge, sweep on the
J46 engines ing Westinghouse
trailing edges featuring curved
though the of 6,000lb thrust,
e section at the wingtips.
prototype rst XF2Y-1
was
originally
NACA aerofoil a modi ed
ew with
of 3.83
thickness
-chord ratio. per cent
SPECIFICATIO
13
ASSOCIATION
VIA MARK
ALDRICH
an early
stage of
its flight-test
In Service
Flight Testing Insights
Insights
MAIN PICTURE: The ill-fated
first YF2Y-1, BuNo 135762,
the water of San Diego
on
Bay.
BILL YENNE COLLECTION VIA
TERRY PANOPALIS
BELOW: The initial Sea
Dart prototype, XF2Y-1
BuNo 137634,
with a hemispherical blanking
piece on the pitot head
the pitot tube broke during
after
taxi tests.
CHRIS SANDHAM
BAILEY
70
www.aero
planemon
thly.com
65-77_AM_D
atabase_Feb
2020_cc
C.indd
70
AEROPLANE
FEBRUARY
2020
13
POWERP
LANTS
DIMENSI
ONS
WEIGHTS
PERFORM
ANCE
www.aeroplanemonthly.c
65-77_AM_Database_Feb2020_c
om
65
c C.indd 65
23/12/2019 10:30
H
PAGES
AEROPLA
Two Westingho
with afterburne use J46 turbojets,
6,500lb
r
thrust
Length:
Span:
51ft 1.5in
(15.6m)
Wing area:
35ft 4in (10.8m)
Height (on
568 sq ft
beaching
(52.8 sq
gear): 16ft
m)
Empty:
0in (4.9m)
Loaded:
16,725lb
(7,586kg)
Max speed
24,373lb
(11,055kg)
(sea level):
Maximum
speed (8,000ft): 597kt
604kt
NS: YF2Y-1
NE
FEBRUAR
Y 2020
22/12/2019
22:05
See
page 64
for full
details
Your Aviation Destination
SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE
AEROPLANE
FEBRUARY 2020
www.aeroplanemonthly.com
3
I
Editor
Melun-Villaroche
deserves to be considered
part of French aviation’s
hallowed ground
of the Coléoptère, the almost equally
troubled Convair Sea Dart and the much
more successful BAC 221, we recall that
period in our pages this month, while the
story of the VAAC Harrier salutes another
more recent ight test legend, the ageing
V/STOL jet that
helped perfect the
control method in
use on the F-35B. In
watching the state-
of-the-art Lightning
IIs ying from HMS
Queen Elizabeth,
how many would have realised that a now
nearly 50-year-old Harrier played its part
in making that possible?
Ben Dunnell
Over many years of publishing
magazines for aviation enthusiasts,
people have often asked why we
don’t also publish books on the
subjects that fascinate us and our
readers. From 2020 onwards, Key
Publishing is doing just that! We are
looking forward to bringing you a
range of collectible and a ordable
books, packed with original
information and photographs —
a mix of rare archive and newly
published material — often with
special o ers available to our
magazine readers.
If you share our passion for
aviation, tell us the subjects you
would like to read about, and we
will aim to cover them. Perhaps you
could also write for us — we are
looking for existing authors and new
ones who really know their subject,
especially if you have a great picture
collection that could become an
illustrated book. To propose an idea
or nd out more, e-mail books@
keypublishing.com or call us on
01780 755131.
From the
CONNECT WITH
AEROPLANE…
www.facebook.com/AeroplaneMonthly
@HistoryInTheAir
t’s a fascinating place, Melun-
Villaroche — one with a certain
bottle-age to it, one might say. is
truly vast air eld south-east of Paris
remains, as it has been for decades, at
the leading edge of French aeronautical
innovation; Safran,
successor to
SNECMA, has a huge
jet engine factory
here, designing and
testing powerplants
for civil and military
use. But elsewhere
its history looms large. Even leaving aside
the museums, including Safran’s own,
and signi cant collections of airworthy
historic aeroplanes, Melun is deeply
redolent of years gone by. Away from
the engine plant, on the western side
an enormous, rather run-down hangar
conjures images of the post-war days
when this aerodrome played host to
the ight-testing of France’s latest jets.
Inevitably, on occasion this brought
tragedy. It was on 3 April 1954 that Col
Constantin Rozano , a wartime Armée
de l’Air Curtiss P-40 pilot who went on
to become Dassault’s ight test director,
lost his life in the crash of a Mystère IVB
following a system failure. And, as you’ll
read in this issue, on 25 July 1959 there
was nearly another disaster, involving
the almost other-worldly SNECMA C450
Coléoptère experimental VTOL aircraft.
ankfully, that time the pilot escaped.
Yes, Melun does indeed deserve to be
considered part of French aviation’s
hallowed ground.
I visited Villaroche for the rst time last
September, for the second edition of the
new Paris-Villaroche Air Legend show.
Already this ne event has established
itself in Europe’s top rank of historic
aircraft occasions, and how appropriate
this is. Walking around the old apron,
looking at — amongst others — a ne
array of classic jets, it was impossible
not to ponder this place’s part in an
incredible era. rough our coverage
CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH
LETTICE CURTIS
The late Lettice Curtis
graduated from St Hilda’s
College, Oxford, in
mathematics. She learned
to fly in 1937 and joined the
Air Transport Auxiliary as a
ferry pilot during 1940,
continuing as such
throughout wartime. With
the ATA, she was approved
to fly all categories of aircraft, including four-
engined bombers, of which she delivered
hundreds. Curtis died in 2014, aged 99, but this
month we present what we believe to be a
previously unpublished article by this outstanding
aviator about the ATA’s formative times 80 years
ago, and her role in it.
DAVID CYSTER
A former RAF Lightning and
Phantom pilot, David is
best-known for his epic
flight from England to
Australia during 1978 in his
Tiger Moth, G-ANRF. Two
years later he piloted
Dragon Rapide G-AIYR
from London to Cape Town.
Post-air force, David flew
commercially for Loganair, Manx Airlines and
British Airways. Now retired, he displays as part of
the Tiger Nine team, and is looking forward to his
famous G-ANRF taking to the air again after
restoration.
RICHARD MENAGE
Having learned to fly at
Sherburn-in-Elmet in 1984
with a Cessna 152, Richard
owned a Tipsy Belfair and
co-owned a Beagle Pup
before taking up rotary-
wing flying with a Bell
JetRanger. During 2012, a
search for an historic
German aircraft resulted in
the purchase of a Focke-Wulf Fw 44 project, and a
3,500-hour, five-year restoration ensued. Based at
Bagby in North Yorkshire, the result is the UK’s sole
airworthy Stieglitz — and Richard now has another
one on rebuild.
RICHARD SCOTT
ESTABLISHED 1911
Aeroplane
traces its lineage back to the weekly
The Aeroplane,
founded by C. G. Grey in 1911 and published until 1968. It was
relaunched as a monthly in 1973 by Richard T. Riding, editor for 25
years until 1998.
Continually fascinated by
the complex dynamics of
ship/aircraft integration,
Richard was a close
observer of the integrated
flight and propulsion control
research performed by the
unique Vectored-thrust
Aircraft Advanced Control
(VAAC) Harrier testbed.
“Pilots of the F-35B Lightning II today owe a debt
of gratitude to the VAAC project”, he says, “and the
vision of the RAE Bedford sta who originated the
unified control concept. But it was no easy task to
get unified accepted.”
4
www.aeroplanemonthly.com
AEROPLANE
FEBRUARY 2020

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin