RECORD HIGH FLIGHT
“Beyond Reach Of Any Fighter” (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON. May 8. Wing Commander Walter Gibb, the pilot of the Canberra jet which set an altitude record of 63,668 ft today, said later in London: “From that height I could see the whole of Devon, Cornwall, and the Irish coast." The Canberra beat by 4222 ft the record set by Group Captain John Cunningham in a Vampire in 1948. Experts believe this record means that Britain’s latest four-jet bomber will be able to fly above any known or projected fighter aircraft. Jet engines are unable to operate at full power in the Canberra because the aircraft Is held back by its wing structure, but they will develop their full power in the new Avro Vulcan delta-winged four-engine bomber, for which they were designed. An official statement said: “The significance of an engine capable of a long range and taking a bomber to heights achieved by no modern fighter will not be overlooked.” At such heights a bomber would be vulnerable only to guided tnissiles or Sossibly rockets from other high-flying ombers.
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Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27036, 11 May 1953, Page 9
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183RECORD HIGH FLIGHT Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27036, 11 May 1953, Page 9
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