Comments on: Thursday, 29 September 1938

By: CK

CK — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:55:14 +0000

Nice point, Erik. Might make mention of the Bell X-1, X-15, and Virgin Galactic here. All off which rely on the same principle.

The pic looks anachronistic. But hey. Sound idea, still employed.

By: Airminded · Friday, 7 October 1938

Airminded · Friday, 7 October 1938 — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:52:21 +0000

[...] taken off on its non-stop flight from Dundee to Capetown, after many delays due to weather and the crisis (Manchester Guardian, p. 11). The composite took off from the Tay at 1pm yesterday, and the upper [...]

By: Brett Holman

Brett Holman — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:06:53 +0000

Thanks — not much of that came through in The Times, in fact approximately none did, but that’s the only source I can check easily.

By: Erik Lund

Erik Lund — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:05:47 +0000

Excuse me –”Long Range Development Unit.” The memory, she is tricky.

By: Erik Lund

Erik Lund — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:48:21 +0000

Technically, _Flight_ is impressed by the fact that the Very Long Range Flight was a Flight, rather than a single aircraft. This shows that instead of a freak performance, the new world record was established with technology with real world applications.
Amongst which are :
100 octane (Research Method rated) avgas;
automatic carburettors;
A version of the Pegasus with an auxiliary driveshaft (implicitly suggesting significant progress in impact-loading resistant steel cases), allowing radios, instruments, etc., to be driven directly from the engine;
constant speed propellors (thereby proving that the weight and efficiency issues that had previously made these dodgy had been overcome);
an unprecedented loaded-to-empty weight relationship, and the huge aspect ratio of the Wellesley wing, together demonstrating the advantages of geodetic structure specifically, but in general foreshadowing longer airliner ranges and much larger bomb loads;
and good radio-based navigation.
I do not know how well the conventional media managed to convery the cumulative implictions of all these converging technological developments, much less whether Berlin got the implicit “Im in my Lancaster firebombing ur base” message.
I have often thought of trying to put together a timeline of technological developments from December 1938 to August 1939. I have a niggling feeling that they had some cumulative effect on the decision for war, but I have no way of measuring their impact on the general public.

By: Brett Holman

Brett Holman — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:00:52 +0000

Don’t know. Must admit it hasn’t come up much in my research. The report in The Times, 8 November 1938, p. 16 puts it in the context of imperial defence.

By: Airminded · Friday, 30 September 1938

Airminded · Friday, 30 September 1938 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:44:09 +0000

[...] Subscribe to feed ‹ Thursday, 29 September 1938 [...]

By: Erik Lund

Erik Lund — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:33:30 +0000

More seriously, I’ve been wondering what would have happened to all the air war panic if the Very Long Range Flight had made its Egypt-Sydney flight during the kerfuffle. Would it have emboldened people? Been ignored as off-message?
Now that I know that the Civil Air Directorate’s attempt to upstage the Flight was actually put off because of the crisis, I guess my question is answered.

By: Erik Lund

Erik Lund — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:14:45 +0000

Capetown, Walvis Bay… somewhere around there. i’d be interested in seeing the conventional press response to the German attempt to upstage _Mercury_ . Of course, the Very Long Range Flight is almost ready to go, too.