COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

CHAPTER TWELVE ELONGATED BALLS
discussion about flying the aircraft, on autopilot, through a minature
force stick - and it was clear from our visitors' expressions that they
were on a different wave length. The arrival of Dr Ross, somewhat
bruised and battered about the face, enlivened the proceedings. He was
introduced all round and, in response to Jack Pateman's question about
his appearance - what Jack actually said was:
"Have you been in a fight Dr Ross?" he explained in torrent of
fractured English that it was all the fault of his new car. A Jaguar
fitted with automatic transmission.
Starting off for the first time he had put the unfamiliar gear
selector into drive and promptly hit the vehicle in front. Irate beyond
words he had thrown the selector into reverse and stood on the
accelerator instead of the brake. This time he managed to mount the
pavement and hit a lamp standard fair and square. In the process he
had made violent contact with the windscreen. In his not so humble
opinion Jaguar should be sued for producing such a dangerous motor
vehicle!
The OR 330 contract went to A.V.Roe and the automatic flight
control system to Louis Newmark but it did them little good. The
Operational Requirement was too advanced for the technology of the
day and within two years the whole project had been cancelled.
Meantime the Aviation Research Laboratory at Borehamwood was
on the up and up with two two new contracts. First OR 946 - then,
almost in a matter of weeks, an inertia! guidance system for Blue Steel
a nuclear tipped stand-off missile for the V bomber force.
OR 946 was a new concept. Master reference gyro and air data
sources would provide a range of outputs, for aircraft and weapon
systems, and would drive a set of new flight instruments to replace the
standard blind flying panel. It seemed a good idea at first and another
string to the Elliott bow. But the further we got into it the more the
display aspects began to look dubious.
The new tape driven ASI/Machmeters and Altimeter/VSIs 3 , called
for by the specification, could accomodate a much more open scale
than any circular dial. But the moving pointer, so essential in
providing unambiguous and rapidly assimilated analogue information,
had virtually disappeared. Unfortunately this shortcoming could not
be overcome without a totally different approach which the Ministry
were unwilling to consider.
Dubious or not OR 946 displays were in fashion and our brochures
were extended accordingly as my travels continued. A.V.Roe, where
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