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BACKGROUND IN the early stages of World War II the U.S. Navy used the Lockheed PV‐1 (Ventura) in considerable quantities as a land‐based patrol plane for anti‐submarine and anti‐surface vessel patrol and attack. Inasmuch as the PV‐1 was the first high speed land based patrol aeroplane used by the U.S. Navy, and realizing that its aero‐dynamic configuration grew out of the commercial Lockheed Lodestar, it can be understood that its tactical utility was a compromise.

The Aviation Division of the Dunlop Co. Ltd. (Engineering Group) is to install Dynex power units, designed and built by Applied Power (U.K.) Ltd., in the latest design of hydraulic production test rigs at the Division's Coventry factory. The company is completely re‐equipping its production test facilities by providing every rig with the higher pressures and flows which future trends in fluid technology will demand, and to ensure that each testing station is capable of handling service fluids currently in use, including kerosene, DTD 585, Skydrol, Lockheed 22 and Oronite.

The construction of windscreen panels for modern aircraft is described and the role of each component in meeting the requirements for pressure strength, bird resistance and optical performance is discussed. The influence of the physical properties of the windscreen components on the performance of complete laminated windscreens is discussed and the limitations imposed by these properties indicated. Silicone inter‐layers are beginning to replace polyvinyl butyral inter‐layers in high‐speed aircraft laminated transparencies when the temperatures reached are above the working limit of the conventional interlayers. New types of glass capable of withstanding prolonged exposure to higher temperatures than soda lime silica glass without loss of toughening stress, and also capable of withstanding more severe thermal shock without fracture, have been developed.

BETWEEN May 18 and 26, airline experts from the United States, Australia, India, the Middle East, France and Great Britain gathered at Bristol and later at Toulouse in France to hear details of the progress which had been made with the Concorde supersonic airliner. This was the first time that representatives of the Concorde customer airlines had received this type of ‘on‐the‐spot’ technical presentation from British Aircraft Corporation, Sud‐Aviation, Bristol Siddeley Engines and S.N.E.C.M.A., and the whole venture has been described as highly successful. Not only did the customer airlines benefit from seeing, at the various plants, just exactly how the Concorde project is progressing, but they were also able to discuss in detail all engineering aspects of the aircraft with senior engineers of the Anglo‐French consortium. The manufacturers were also able to learn from the customers their views on particular aspects of the Concorde.

THERMAL protection from the effects of ice built up can be achieved by means of anti‐icing or de icing. Most aircraft structures are de‐iced since this consumes considerably less power, but in some cases it is essential that the surface be anti‐iced, (e.g. engine intakes, where ice ingestion to the engine is unacceptable and any formation of ice must therefore be prevented).

FLYING, in common with all means of transport, is affected by adverse weather conditions, but the necessity of aeroplanes maintaining flying speed introduces a major difficulty of its own. The older forms of transport are able, in the last resort, to evade their difficulties by coming to a dead stop. An aeroplane must, literally, fly in the face of its difficulties. It must fly blind in clouds and perhaps land in fog. Over and above this, flight under certain meteorological conditions introduces a danger unique to aircraft. Ice may deposit at all leading edges and grow to windward, at critical regions of the relative airflow, in shapes which increase drag and seriously decrease lift. The accumulated ice adds to the weight. Unsymmetrical ice deposits on the airscrew blades cause dangerous engine vibrations which can only be kept in check, if at all, by throttling back at the expense of thrust. Venturis and pressure head orifices become blocked with ice, rendering the instruments they serve useless. External controls may become jammed. In short, many adverse factors to prevent flight may be brought into play simultaneously by the mere fact that particular meteorological conditions have been encountered.

ICE formation in the carburettor or induction system of an aircraft engine may cause a serious loss of power, and if the ice continues to build up it will eventually cause complete failure of the engine. In consequence of this possibility the Air Ministry undertook, at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, a comprehensive investigation to determine the conditions under which ice is formed and to find means to prevent or remove it. The research has been attended by marked success, and the present article deals with the more important features of the work with particular reference to the practical considerations arising from it. The full results of the research are given in a paper by W. C. Clothier on “Ice Formation in Carburettors,” published in the Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, No. 297, Vol. XXXIX.

WHEN the original design of the Ambassador's thermal de‐icing was conceived very little practical experience had been gained on such systems in this country, and almost no theoretical data were available. Little or no development had been carried out on the numerous new components involved, so much credit must be given to the initial project work of the Airspeed design team (in particular Mr W. T. Blanchard), and of Radiation Limited (design of the combustion heaters), which resulted in no fundamental changes having to be made during the Ambassador development trials, although a considerable number of refinements were necessary.