FLYING WING PLANE

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5281, 18 December 1946, Page 5

FLYING WING PLANE

New British Jet-Propellecl "Machine Ready for Tests LONDON, Deeember 17. The first jet-propelled fl.ving- wing will undergo flight. tests at Boscombe I)owns earlv in 1917. The srcrecy surrounding, the evolution of Britain's tail-less, fusel-less aircraft was partially released to-day when newspaper eorrespondents saw technicians at the Armstrong Whitworth factorv near Coventry pnt the finishing touches on the 11ttn all-metal wing, which may start a new aviation era when Ihe Armstrong Whitworth chief test pilot, Squadron-Leader F. Franklin, flies it next month. The wing comprises sheet metal •(.nstructed in a eurve, the smoothness of which is within thousandths of an inch of the ideal. The machine is nowered with twin Rolls-Royce Nene ong'ines and has a span of 00ft. Passenger-Carrying Fleet The chief seientist to the Ministr.v of Supply, Sir Ben Lockspeiser. to whose specifications the machine was built, refuses to disclose his expectations of its performances, but if the wing is successful another model six cr seven times larger will he built, jiossibly as the first of a fleet of night passenger carriers. The present model is. designed to tarry only a pilot and an observer, but Squadron-Leader Franklin will probably initially fly alone because '>nly the pilot's comjiartment is fifctecl with an ejectahle seat to enable escape from the airerafi in the event of a mishap at top speed.