FIRST FLYING WING AIRCRAFT

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 25061, 18 December 1946, Page 8

FIRST FLYING WING AIRCRAFT

TESTS IN BRITAIN NEXT YEAR

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 16. The first jet-propelled flying wing will undergo flight tests at Boscombe Downs early in 1947. The secrecy surrounding the evolution of Britain’s aircraft vitnout a tail or fuselage was partially relaxed to-day when newspaper correspondents saw technicians at Armstrong Whitworth’s lactory near Coventry put the finishing touches on the 14-ton all-metal wing which may start a new aviation era when Armstrong Whitworth’s chief test pilot, Squadron Leader F. Franklin, flies it next month.

The wing is a sheet of metal constructed in a curve, the smoothness of which is within thousands of an inch of »the ideal. The machine is powered with twin Rolls-Royce Nene engines and has a span of 90 feet.

The chief scientist to the Ministry of Supply (Sir Ben Lockspeiser), to whose specifications the machine was built, refuses to disclose his expectations of its performance, but if the wing is successful another model six or seven times larger will be built, possibly as the first of a fleet of night passenger carriers. The present model is designed to carry only a pilot and observer but Squadron Leader Franklin will probably fly alone at first because only the pilot’s compartment is fitted with an ejectable seat to enable escape from the aircraft in the event of a mishap at top speed.