AVIATION NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 99, 23 October 1935, Page 9

AVIATION NEWS

PKQGRESS IX BRITAIN

A STRATOSPHERE MACHINE

SCIENTISTS AND BOMBING

(Froni "The Post's" Representative.) :'•'■;.,- September 28. Construction, is: going ahead, at the Bristok works of the "stratospherel aeroplane which is intended for important [experiments in flying,at heights considerably greater .than the present worlds-record of 47,350 feet. Development Vwork is in hand on the special highlyj-supercharged' ■ and ■ extremely powefful engine designed to maintain adequate output in the thin air at levels of 50,000 feet-and more. It wiU drive a controllable-pitch airscrew. British aircraft, and engine builders have done much of the work needed in development of the successful stratosphere machine. . The chief difficulties are, maintenance of adequate power output and provision of reasonable living conditions for the crew at heights where the atmosphere is too thin to permit life. The cabin must be hermetically sealed and provided with its'own 'atmosphere of readilybreathable density. Alternatively, each member of the crew can live in a supercharged suit, analogous in its function to a diving suit. There is good reason to suppose that neither problem is insoluble. ,„.. : British .engine designers have a vast amount of .information about -conditions that-must be met to assure flight at very great heights. Present expectations are that the new machine will be ready to take the air some time before _the middle of next year. Much depends on progress of ths engine development work. New engines cannot be produced quickly; they may involve years of intensive study. . ■ ■ • AUTOGIROS IN THE NAVY. The successful accomplishment of trials in which an autogiro landed on, and flew off, the deck of the aircraft carrier Furious is inclining naval tacticians to consider seriously the value of these novel rotating-wing aircraft. There is a likelihood that autogiros may become part of the equipment of the' Fleet Air Arm within the next few months. Most noteworthy ju the recent experiments was the landing madu with the carrier steaming down wind, a feat which could be performed only with the utmost difficulty and at som-j risk by an ordinary Service aeroplane. The autogiro, piloted by Mr. R. A. C. Brie, landed and came to a standstill without needing to use the arrester gear which is employed to oring the fixed-wing craft to rest. He used the small hangar deck as well as the main flying deck in landings and take-offs that were done throughout the carrier's speed range, from about eight knots to nearly full speed. The idea is that the autogiro, because of its extremely low minimum ( flying speed and ability to ascend and < descend very steeply, may be admirabiiy suited for certain special duties with the Fleet. In the near future aircraft carriers may carry a small num- j ber of autogirqs in addition to .their j normal equipment of ,fixed- wing air- ' craft, while any other kmd pi warship large enough to carry a relatively small landing platform—-located, for example, on a gun turret—may also ' carry , one or more autbgiros for reconnaissance duties. AIR BOMBING. A rather surprising document has been issued by a group of distinguished scientists, who argue that all practicable precautions against bombing from the air must be inadequate, and therefore it is more or less futile and psychologically _ dangerous to organise any precautions at all. The group includes Sir F. Gowland Hopkins, F.R.S., president of the British Association, 1933; Julian Huxley; Sir Daniel Hall, F.R.S., late chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Agriculture; Bertrand Russell, F.R.S.; and Frederick Soddy, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford. They express their alarm at the tendency of civilised countries to accept the use of aircraft for unrestricted bomb and gas attack on civil populations. This barbarous perversion of science and industry, they maintain, must lead to the breakdown of civilised life. The scientists go on to say: "In our opinion nothing short of the complete abolition of aerial tjomb.ing and of bombing aircraft can prevent this result. ' . "The method —implicit in the British Government's air expansion programme—of countering air attack by means of reprisals carries its own condemnation. The acceptance of this principle by our own Government has already increased the general apprehension of air attacks in Western Europe. Active defence by interceptor aircraft and anti-aircraft guns can admittedly only result in casualties in > the attacking force without preventing more than a small fraction of the possible damage. The measures of passive defence actually proposed by the Government are grossly inadequate, though they are calculated to, produce a dangerous illusion of security. -The only passive defence likely to be technically efficacious ..is . the construction of armoured gas-proof shelters and the provision of closed-circuit oxygen gasmasks and complete vesicant-proof suits for the whole population. Not only would this be impracticable because of the enormous cost involved, but it would be an intolerable burden on the population and destroy all the possibilities for a better life which > science rightly Applied can offer." Critics of this document, which has been issued by the National Peace Council, call it a counsel of despair, and note how quickly the writers pass from science to politics. The precautions suggested by the Government have the backing of some respectable scientific talent, they point out. "It seems probable," says "The Times," "that the distinguished signatories of the present document have been appalled, as more humble folk . are appalled, by the possibility that ' science may be the destroyer insteaed of the saviour of mankind." i