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THE airframe systems division of Lucas Aerospace are involved in producing the high lift and wing sweep control unit for which the design rights are shared with Microtecnica SpA who hold the contract.

QUADRAK is not, as might be thought at first guess, some science‐fiction device designed to provoke spine‐chilling fear situations in a new “Dr Who?” series. They don't go in for that sort thing in gracious, regency Bath, the city where the UK distributors, Rotork Controls Ltd, have their headquarters.

The Westland Lynx helicopter is a particularly fine example of the use of advanced fan technology in modern aircraft applications. The firm of Airscrew Howden have come a long way from their original manufacture of the wooden ‘prop’ but they still continue to play a very essential part in all types of aircraft flying today; this takes the form of sophisticated fan designs to cover a wide variety of special air‐movement requirements that can arise in this sector.

THE FUEL SYSTEM is a simple state‐of‐the‐art system which is designed to minimise system maintenance and provide a very high probability of mission success. It requires no fuel management or manipulation of system controls during a normal mission. It is designed to use MIL‐J‐5624G, grades JP‐4 and JP‐5 turbine fuel.

KINGSTON Design Engineers always arrived at system simplicity and reliability, which has been carried through by Flight Refuelling Ltd in the Hawk fuel system. Fuel is contained in a fuselage bag tank, a wing integral tank and wing collector tank. Means for pressure de‐fuelling is also a requirement.

THE Trident IE fuel system, designed to operate on cither kerosene or JP.4, has a straightforward layout with few controls. Five integral tanks (FIG. 1), comprising four in the wings and one in the centre section, give a total of 5,880 Imp. gall, of which 2,000 Imp. gall, are contained in the centre tank. (Total fuel capacity of the Trident 1C is 4,960 Imp. gall, with 1,160 Imp. gall, in the centre tank.) Each wing inner tank has slightly more than twice the capacity of the outer.

BEFORE BEING SELECTED as the design authority and manufacturer of the Concorde units, Dowty Boulton Paul had obtained considerable experience of electrically signalled control systems on the Tay Viscount aircraft in 1957, this being possibly the first aircraft to be controlled by a fly‐by‐wire system. In addition, multiplex actuator packs controlled by electric signals and operating on a majority voting system were tested in investigating their possibilities for fly‐by‐wire systems. The work on advanced designs of multiplex electro‐hydraulic actuator packs progressed in parallel with the Concorde unit design and at the present moment 15 actuators in three packs are being simultaneously tested in an endurance rig which is scheduled to run for 12,000hr. In addition three quadruplex packs are installed in a Hunter Mk. 12 aircraft at RAE Farnborough for flight trials.