People & Bottom Line

• Aerospatiale has recorded a 1990 profit of FF38m ($A9. 5m) from total sales of FF32. 8bn ($A8. 2bn), down from net income in 1989 of FF204m ($A51m) and 1988 of FF93m ($A23m). The breakdown of sales is as follows aircraft 32%, helicopters 24%, tactical missiles 19%, space and strategic systems 25%. New orders to the value of FF55. 7bn ($A13. 9bn) were taken: aircraft 53. 5%, helicopters 17%, tactical missiles 10% and space and strategic systems 19. 5%. Exports accounted for 56% of sales and 65% of new orders.

People

Mr David Amer has been appointed Qantas’ Chief Financial Officer. Mr Geoff Dixon has been appointed general manager of Ansett Holidays. Macquarie University has appointed former Qantas CEO John Menadue a visiting professorial fellow. Mr Peter McClintock has been promoted Australian Airlines’ manager of international and interline sales. Mr Geoff Mitchell is the new director of the AAAI replacing Brig Ian Meibush who is now the Hawker de Havilland manager for Canberra. Dr Robert Ward has been appointed the new Chief Defence Scientist with the DSTO. Capt David Wiltshire holds the position of chairman in the recently formed Australian Air Transport Association, Mr James Kimpton and Mr Ted Radford are the two vicechairmen. VIDEOS

Carrier:

AVI It’s easy to become blase when you are constantly watching the best aviation video apes available, and getting paid for the privilege at the same time!

That’s why this reviewer was just a little more than amazed at what the four-cassette Carrier series has to offer. Without doubt this is without question the finest aviation video production I have had the pleasure of reviewing. The series comes in four tapes and so engrossing was this production that I watched both the final two 65 minute tapes together and at the end of it could have easily played them all again. Hats off to Australia’s own AVI group for their excellent narrative and hard work in putting together a mass of video footage depicting the exploits, achievements and failures of the aircraft carrier from just after WW1 through till the invasion of Kuwait.

Due to the UK Government’s somewhat less than cooperative attitude towards assisting those who wish to record for posterity that nation’s many aeronautical achievements, the series tends to reflect of the USN. This is only a minor inconvenience though and ironically

The postwar Japanese seemed to be more forthcoming than the British with some remarkable footage shot aboard and about the formidable Japanese carrier task groups of WW2. Some of the very rare footage even includes the launch of captured German V-2 rockets from US carriers in the late forties, incredible stuff! Tape 1 takes in the evolution of the aircraft carrier, how it was tactically used in the early days and the lead up to war plus the first carrier to carrier battle in the Coral Sea. Tape 2 continues with WW2 operations while Tape 3 looks at the latter stages of WW2 and the Korean campaign where carrier task groups played a crucial role in the conflict. The final tape examines the emergence of the super carriers and their role in the Vietnam War, the various minor engagements since and the beginnings of Desert Shield.

Available on VHS singularly or as a set. RRP is $39. 95 per tape plus $5. 00 p&p or $135 for the entire set of four, post free (a saving of almost $45). Available direct from Australian Aviation, PO Box 3105, Weston Creek, ACT 2601. Fax orders on (06) 288 2021. and phone orders on (06) 288 1677.

Vertical:

AVI One would think that this tape is purely about helicopters but they would be wrong. Another of the AVI Strange Planes series, Vertical concentrates more on the non helo types that have sought to make runways obsolete by their ability to operate in deference to them. Some comic scenes thus evolve where the particular project designers obviously hadn’t appreciated the mental or physical limitations of their humanoid pilots. A classic example of this was the breed of US vertical launch fighters of the fifties which were designed to takeoff and land in the vertical. The Pogo, for instance, would transition from high speed horizontal flight (with itself a fairly sporty stall speed) to vertical by the pilot simply pulling into a vertical climb, decelerating then using its enormous thrust to slowly slide back to earth. Only problem was that mostly the Pogo would run out of airspeed at around 2,000ft or more with an enormously long ‘fallback’ in which it would naturally drift about and have difficulty maintaining its vertical angle of attack.

The fact that the pilot could only look straight up into the useless sky obviously didn’t deter the designers and it was a truly brave man who volunteered to fly what was historically not a well regarded aircraft. Needless this idea, and many others, which are all previewed in this most interesting tape, were not proceeded with.

Something that did merit further investigation however were the concept of tilt rotor and vectored thrust. Via the Bell XV-3 and XV-15 enough practical R&D expertise was developed to produce what today is the V-22 Osprey. Bell also made noteworthy contributions to the then mystical concept of vectored thrust via their X-14, which was to all intents and purposes the world’s first viable vectored thrust aircraft. This concept was then taken by Britain’s Rolls-Royce and Hawker Aircraft to produce what was the P1127, the forerunner to the Kestrel and ultimately the Harrier we know today.

Also of note were the 1950s attempts by the USAF to launch jet interceptors, such as the F-100 and even the Mach 2 F-104 Starfighter from the backs of specially modified trucks via rocket assistance. The concept was meant to enable such aircraft to be positioned regardless of terrain so that they could be launched against inbound hostiles. Recovery would be by normal means at a predetermined airfield. Though the concept was proved feasible it never actually became an operational facet of US defence policy.

An interesting one hour tape that informs and entertains. Available in VHS only direct from Australian Aviation, PO Box 3105, Weston Creek, ACT 2611 for $39. 95 +$5. 00 p&p. Credit card orders taken on (06) 288 1677 or fax (06) 288 2021. Substantial discounts exist when ordering two or more tapes in the Strange Planes series, refer full advert elsewhere this issue.

Strange Shapes:

AVI Another of the AVI Strange Planes series and dealing appropriately with the community of aircraft that are indeed strange shapes. To perform its given task an aircraft certainly doesn’t need to look right-it just helps if it does, as this interesting one hour tape shows. Of special note is the previously unseen footage of the first generation of Northrop flying wings, the rightful precursors to the B-2 stealth bomber. The legendary Jack Northrop had great hopes his unique aircraft but were, as history sadly records, shot down by the politics of the day. In addition to the bomber variant, which was far superior to anything of its era, were the prospect of large flying wing airliners. Few people realise that these were in fact on the drawing boards and the tape includes video of prospective passengers enjoying the creature comforts of a full sized cabin mockup showing happy air travellers enjoying the excellent forward vision through an all glass wing leading edge. One wonders about birdstrike, but after all, these were strange planes! Other footage involves the numerous X series aircraft that pioneered almost every facet of modem aviation and spaceflight that we nowadays take for granted. These include the X-29 forward swept wing ‘fighter” that could well prove to be the shape of the future in modern lightweight fighter design of the 21st century.

An interesting one hour tape that informs and entertains. Available in VHS only direct from Australian Aviation, PO Box 3105, Weston Creek, ACT 2611 for $39. 95 +$5. 00 p&p. Credit card orders taken on (06) 288 1677 or fax (06) 288 2021.

Drones, Mutants & Midgets:

AVI Another of the AVI Strange Planes video library, this tape appropriately specialises in drones, mutants and midgets.

Following their success in the recent Gulf War, it is interesting to see first hand the pioneering work that went into the forerunner of all cruise missiles, the German V-1 flying bomb of WW2. Incredible footage shows the Germans testing both the V-1 and V-2 rocket at Peenemunde prior to their introduction to operations in 1944.

Other aircraft include the tiny Boeing spotter plane that folded up to become a trailer capable of being towed by a Jeep. Watching this segment of the tape made one think that perhaps a market exists in today’s RV and leisure conscious world for a civil version of such a practical and simple to operate light aircraft.

The footage on drones also takes into account the widespread use of surveillance drones employed during the Vietnam War over the North in missions too dangerous for manned aircraft. Other footage shows. Weary Willies, bomb laden WW2 bombers flown by remote control to their final impact points. RPVs of course are nowadays a part of the modern battlefield though their origins stem from well before the beginnings of WW2.

An interesting one hour tape that informs and entertains. Available in VHS only direct from Australian Aviation, PO Box 3105, Weston Creek, ACT 2611 for $39. 95 +$5. 00 p&p. Credit card orders taken on (06) 288 1677 or fax (06) 288 2021. Substantial discounts exist when ordering two or more tapes in the Strange Planes series, refer full advert elsewhere this issue.