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Joseph Summers
Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers, (10 March 1904 – 16 March 1954) was chief test pilot at Vickers-Armstrongs and Supermarine. During his career, Summers flew many first flights on prototype aircraft, (a record of 54 by a test pilot), from the Supermarine Spitfire, to the Vickers Valiant. He also holds the current second place record for 366 general types tested, below Eric "Winkle" Brown, Eric "Winkle" Brown's 487. Career Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers received his nickname "Mutt" during his early days in the RAF from his habit of urinating before takeoff on the small rear wheel or skid of the aircraft he was testing. This led to his being accused of christening his aircraft like a dog marking its territory. He did this because he was aware that during some crashes a full bladder could prove fatal. Paul Brickhill (in ''The Dam Busters'') referred to the two test pilots Joseph Summers and Jeffrey Quill, as "Mutt" and "Jeff", alluding to the characters in the pioneering American com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weybridge
Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the River Wey, which flows into the River Thames to the north of the town centre. The earliest evidence of human activity is from the Bronze Age. During the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods, Weybridge was held by Chertsey Abbey. In the 1530s, Henry VIII constructed Oatlands Palace to the north of the town centre, which he intended to be the residence of his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. He married Catherine Howard there in July 1540 and the palace remained a royal residence until the Civil War. The buildings were demolished in the early 1650s and a new mansion, Oatlands House, was constructed to the east of Weybridge later the same century. Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany owned the mansion in the 18th century. The town began to ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Hornbill
The Hawker Hornbill was the last Hawker military aircraft designed under the direction of W. G. Carter. The design was started in 1925 and the first flight took place in July 1925. The Hornbill did not achieve service in the Royal Air Force due to problems in its power plant and radiator. Only one aircraft was built. Construction The Hornbill had a mixed material construction, having a steel engine mount and front fuselage covered with duralumin sheet. The rear fuselage was made of wood structure covered with canvas. The wings also were of wood and canvas. The engine was a 698 hp (520 kW) Rolls-Royce Condor IV driving a fine pitch wooden propeller. Performance The aircraft was very fast but lacking in stability and control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Contr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney Camm
Sir Sydney Camm, CBE, FRAeS (5 August 189312 March 1966) was an English aeronautical engineer who contributed to many Hawker aircraft designs, from the biplanes of the 1920s to jet fighters. One particularly notable aircraft he designed was the Hawker Hurricane fighter. Early years Sydney Camm was born at 10 Alma Road in Windsor, Berkshire, the eldest child of the twelve children of Frederick Camm, a carpenter/joiner and Mary Smith. The Camm family lived near Windsor & Eton Central railway station. His brother Frederick James Camm became a technical author, and created the ''Practical Wireless'' magazine. In 1901 he began attending the Royal Free School on Bachelors Acre in Windsor (The Royal Free school became the Royal Free Middle School with the secondary school becoming the Princess Margaret Royal Free School on Bourne Avenue). In 1906 he was granted a Foundation Scholarship. In 1908 Camm left school to become an apprentice carpenter. Camm developed an interest in aerona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southampton Airport
Southampton Airport is an international airport located in both Eastleigh and Southampton, Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The airport is located north-north-east of central Southampton. The southern tip of the runway lies within the Southampton unitary authority boundary with most of the airport, including all of the terminal buildings, within the Borough of Eastleigh. The airport handled nearly two million passengers during 2016, an 8.8% increase compared with 2015, making it the 18th busiest airport in the UK. Southampton Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P690) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. The airport is owned and operated by AGS Airports which also owns and operates Aberdeen and Glasgow Airports. It was previously owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly known as BAA). Up to March 2020, 95% of the flights from Southampton were operated by Flybe. However, the airline went in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supermarine Spitfire (early Merlin Powered Variants)
Supermarine Spitfire variants powered by early model Rolls-Royce Merlin engines mostly utilised single-speed, single-stage superchargers. The British Supermarine Spitfire was the only Allies of World War II, Allied fighter aircraft of the World War II, Second World War to fight in front line service from the beginnings of the conflict, in September 1939, through to the end in August 1945. Post-war, the Spitfire's service career continued into the 1950s. The basic airframe proved to be extremely adaptable, capable of taking far more powerful engines and far greater loads than its original role as a short-range Interceptor aircraft, interceptor had called for. This would lead to 19 ''marks'' of Spitfire and 52 sub-variants being produced throughout the Second World War, and beyond. The many changes were made in order to fulfil Royal Air Force requirements and to successfully engage in combat with ever-improving enemy aircraft. With the death of the original designer, R. J. Mitch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles Falcon
The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English feet, or 1,760 yards. The statute mile was standardised between the British Commonwealth and the United States by an international agreement in 1959, when it was formally redefined with respect to SI units as exactly . With qualifiers, ''mile'' is also used to describe or translate a wide range of units derived from or roughly equivalent to the Roman mile, such as the nautical mile (now exactly), the Italian mile (roughly ), and the Chinese mile (now exactly). The Romans divided their mile into 5,000 Roman feet but the greater importance of furlongs in Elizabethan-era England meant that the statute mile was made equivalent to or in 1593. This form of the mile then spread across the British Empire, some successor states of which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeffrey Quill
Jeffrey Kindersley Quill, (1 February 1913 – 20 February 1996) was a British test pilot who served on secondment with the Royal Air Force and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War. He was also the second man to fly the Supermarine Spitfire after Vickers Aviation's chief test pilot, Joseph "Mutt" Summers. After succeeding Summers as Vickers' chief test pilot, Quill test-flew every mark of Spitfire. Quill's work on the aircraft aided its development from a promising but untried prototype to become, with the Hawker Hurricane, an instrument of the Royal Air Force's victory in the Battle of Britain. The Spitfire later played a leading role in gaining Allied air superiority over Europe. Quill later wrote two books about the Spitfire. Early years Quill was born at Littlehampton, Sussex, the youngest of the five children of Arthur Maxwell Quill and Emily Molesworth Kindersley. He was educated at Lancing College, which overlooked Shoreham aerodrome, at that tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellington Bomber
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its geodetic airframe fuselage structure, which was principally designed by Barnes Wallis. Development had been started in response to Air Ministry Specification B.9/32, issued in the middle of 1932, for a bomber for the Royal Air Force. This specification called for a twin-engined day bomber capable of delivering higher performance than any previous design. Other aircraft developed to the same specification include the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and the Handley Page Hampden. During the development process, performance requirements such as for the tare weight changed substantially, and the engine used was not the one originally intended. The Wellington was used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, performing as o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers Wellesley
The Vickers Wellesley was a medium bomber that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs at Brooklands near Weybridge, Surrey. It was one of two aircraft to be named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, the other being the Vickers Wellington. The Wellesley was developed during the early 1930s in response to Specification G.4/31. The biplane Vickers Type 253 was effectively an early incarnation of the aircraft, sharing its radical geodesic airframe and many other features. The Type 253 was determined to be the best submission received by the Air Ministry, thus an order for 150 production aircraft was issued. As a private venture, Vickers has also developed the monoplane ''Type 256''; following flight testing of this aircraft, the order placed for the Type 253 was converted for the Type 256 instead. The vast majority of the Wellesley's production run were supplied to the Royal Air Force (RAF), a total of six squadrons under RAF ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers
Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 1867, acquired more businesses, and began branching out into military hardware and shipbuilding. In 1911, the company expanded into aircraft manufacturer, aircraft manufacture and opened a flying school. They expanded even further into electrical and railway manufacturing, and in 1928 acquired an interest in the Supermarine. Beginning in the 1960s, various parts of the company were nationalised, and in 1999 the rest of the company was acquired by Rolls-Royce Holdings, Rolls-Royce plc, who sold the defence arm to Alvis plc. The Vickers name lived on in Alvis Vickers, until the latter was acquired by BAE Systems in 2004 to form BAE Systems Platforms & Services, BAE Systems Land Systems. History Early history Vickers was formed in Sheffield ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avro
AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broadcaster in the Netherlands. In 2014 AVRO merged with fellow broadcaster TROS to form AVROTROS. History On 8 July 1923, Hilversumsche Draadlooze Omroep was launched by the Nederlandsche Seintoestellen Fabriek (in English: Dutch Transmitter Factory) under supervision of Willem Vogt. On 21 July 1923, it provided the very first regular radio broadcast in the Netherlands. In 1927 it changed its name into Algemeene Nederlandsche Radio Omroep (ANRO), followed soon by a merger with Nederlandsche Omroep Vereeniging (NOV). On 28 December 1927, the two merged broadcasters continued as Algemeene Vereeniging Radio Omroep (A.V.R.O., in English: "General Association of Radio Broadcasting"). In 1938, AVRO sponsored what was the strongest chess tournamen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackburn Aircraft
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-northwest of Manchester. Blackburn is the core centre of the wider unitary authority area along with the town of Darwen. It is one of the largest districts in Lancashire, with commuter links to neighbouring cities of Manchester, Salford, Preston, Lancaster, Liverpool, Bradford and Leeds. At the 2011 census, Blackburn had a population of 117,963, whilst the wider borough of Blackburn with Darwen had a population of 150,030. Blackburn had a population of 117,963 in 2011, with 30.8% being people of ethnic backgrounds other than white British. A former mill town, textiles have been produced in Blackburn since the middle of the 13th century, when wool was woven in people's houses in the domestic system. Flemish weavers who settled in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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