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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's 487. Career 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 American comic strip created by Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weybridge
Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district 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 Middle Ages, medieval periods, Weybridge was held by Chertsey Abbey. In 2011 it had a population of 15,449. 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 English Civil War, 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 Frederic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloster Grebe
The Gloster Grebe was developed by the Gloster Aircraft Company from the Gloster Grouse (an experimental aircraft later developed as a trainer), and was the Royal Air Force's first post-First World War fighter aircraft, entering service in 1923. Design In 1923, Gloster modified a Gloster Sparrowhawk fighter trainer with new wings to test a layout proposed by chief designer Henry Folland, combining a thick, high-lift section upper wing and a thinner, medium-lift lower wing, with the intention of combining high lift for takeoff with low drag. After the Grouse demonstrated that the new layout was a success, the British Air Ministry placed an order for three prototype fighters based on the Grouse (and therefore derived ultimately from Folland's Nieuport Nighthawk fighter of 1919), but powered by a Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar III radial engine, as the "Nighthawk (thick-winged)". The first of the prototypes (Gloster built a fourth machine as a company-owned demonstrator), by now ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellington Bomber
The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is 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. Despite the original specification, the Wellington was used as a night bomber in the ... [...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 had 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 R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979) was an English engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II. The raid was the subject of the 1955 film '' The Dam Busters'', in which Wallis was played by Michael Redgrave. Among his other inventions were his version of the geodetic airframe and the earthquake bomb, including designs such as the Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs. Early life and education Barnes Wallis was born in Ripley, Derbyshire, to general practitioner Charles George Wallis (1859–1945) and his wife Edith Eyre (1859–1911), daughter of Rev. John Ashby. The Wallis family subsequently moved to New Cross, south London, living in "straitened, genteel circumstances" after Charles Wallis was crippled by polio in 1893. He was educated at Christ's Hospital in Horsham and Haberdas ... [...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, which 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 Sheffiel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avro
Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War. Avro was founded in 1910 by Alliott Verdon Roe at the Brownsfield Mill on Great Ancoats Street in Manchester. The company remained based primarily in Lancashire throughout its 53 years of existence, with key development and manufacturing sites in Alexandra Park, Chadderton, Trafford Park, and Woodford, Greater Manchester. The company was merged into Hawker Siddeley Aviation in 1963, although the Avro name has been used for some aircraft since then. History Early history One of the world's first aircraft builders, A.V. Roe and Company was established on 1 January 1910 at Brownsfield Mill, Great Ancoats Street, Manchester, by Alliott Verdon Roe and his brother Humphrey Verdon Roe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackburn Aircraft
Blackburn Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1914 to 1963 that concentrated mainly on naval and maritime aircraft. History Blackburn Aircraft was founded by Robert Blackburn (aviation pioneer), Robert Blackburn and Jessy Blackburn, who built his first aircraft in Leeds in 1908 with the company's Olympia Works at Roundhay opening in 1914. The Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company was created in 1914 and established in a new factory at Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire, Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire in 1916. Robert's brother Norman Blackburn (aviation pioneer), Norman Blackburn later became managing director. Blackburn acquired the Cirrus aero engines, Cirrus-Hermes Engineering company in 1934, beginning its manufacture of aircraft engines. However an updated range of engines was under development and Blackburn wanted to wait until it was established before giving its name to them, so Cirrus Hermes Engineering was retained as a separate company for the time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martlesham Heath
Martlesham Heath is a village in Suffolk, England. It is east of Ipswich, This was an ancient area of heathland and latterly the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield. A "new village" was established there in the mid-1970s and this has developed into a modern community, based on a traditional village pattern. The population is still included in that of Martlesham. The village is also part of the wider Ipswich Built-up area. History There is evidence of settlement in this area since the Bronze Age, with a number of round barrows surviving to the present. The main community of Martlesham grew up to the north-east, initially on the highest ground, where Martlesham Church is still located, then, later, centring on the point where the main London-to-Yarmouth road crosses the River Finn, a tributary to the Deben. White's 1844 directory of Suffolk describes Martlesham as "a neat village near the confluence of a rivulet with the Deben" but mentions that the parish includes "a large, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions. The British Army Balloon Factory was established on Farnborough Common in the early 1900s. By 1912 it had come under civilian control and was the Royal Aircraft Factory (RAF) In 1918 it was renamed Royal Aircraft Establishment to prevent confusion with the newly created Royal Air Force. The first site was at Farnborough Airfield ("RAE Farnborough") in Hampshire to which was added a second site RAE Bedford (Bedfordshire) in 1946. On 1 May 1988 it was renamed the Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE) before merging with other research entities to become part of the new Defence Research Agency in 1991. History In 1904–1906 the Army Balloon Factory, which was part of the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avro Avenger
The Avro 566 Avenger was a prototype British fighter of the 1920s, designed and built by Avro. It was a single-seat, single-engine biplane of wood and fabric construction. Although it was a streamlined and advanced design, it never entered production. Development The Avenger was designed as a private venture and Roy Chadwick penned a machine of great aerodynamic cleanliness for its time. As originally built, it was powered by a 525 hp (391 kW) Napier Lion VIII and it first flew on 26 June 1926, but no order was forthcoming; this was partly because by the time it was evaluated, the Air Ministry did not favour the Lion as a fighter engine. In May 1928, the machine was modified as a racer, with equi-span wings of 28 ft (8.53 m) and revised struts and ailerons; it was fitted with a 553 hp (412 kW) Lion. The machine was subsequently redesignated Avro 567 Avenger II. The Avenger ended its days as an instructional airframe. Specifications (Avenger) R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Hornbill
The Hawker Hornbill was the last Hawker military aircraft designed under the direction of George Carter (engineer), George 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 (engine cooling), radiator. Only one aircraft was built. Development and design In 1924, Hawker Aircraft, H.G. Hawker Engineering made a proposal to the British Air Ministry to build a new single-seat fighter powered by the Rolls-Royce Condor engine. As a result, the Air Ministry placed an order for a single prototype, drawing up List_of_Air_Ministry_specifications#1920–1929, Specification 7/24 to cover the aircraft. Many of the normal requirements included in fighter specifications were omitted with the hope of resulting in an aircraft with higher performance. The specification required a speed of at sea level and a service ceiling of , with an armament of a single ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
