Science: Record to Britain

The star of Britain’s Farnborough air show last week was R.A.F. Squadron Leader Neville Duke. Every day during the show he thrilled the crowds with the airborne hot-rodding that Britain encourages at Farnborough. He buzzed the spectators at flashing speed with his red. needle-nosed Hawker Hunter, slapped them with supersonic bangs, whirled in splendidly executed acrobatics. Then one sunny afternoon he flew down to the sea off Littlehampton. Sussex, to have a try at the official low-level speed record.

A great crowd on the beach watched him make his flights: two passes over the course in each direction to average out the wind. He flew just off the shore at 50 feet above the water, and when he finished he did a triumphant barrel roll to entertain the beach sitters. The Royal Aero Club announced that he had broken the record, but Airman Duke was not satisfied. After an early supper of cold roast beef, he made four more runs. His average speed of 727.6 m.p.h. exceeded the previous record (made by U.S.A.F. Lieut. Colonel William Barns—TIME. July 27) by considerably more than the 1% required for a new official record.

Duke did not carry a full military load, as Barns did in his Sabre, but on the other hand he had the disadvantage of Hying in colder air. The temperature over the Channel was only 72° F., while Barns flew over the hot desert near Salton Sea, Calif, in air at 104° F. Since the speed of sound is lower in cooler air, Duke approached more closely the resistance point that waits just below Mach 1.

The capture of the speed record (held by the U.S. since June 19, 1947) gave a big lift to the Farnborough show, the world’s No. 1 aviation exhibition. The show itself was as spectacular as ever, with radical-shaped aircraft cavorting all over the place. Best eye-catchers: two white Avro Vulcans, delta-winged bombers that look like great albino sting rays sliding through the sky (see NEWS IN PICTURES). The Gloster Javelin day & night fighter was another impressive delta wing.

But little in the show was actually new. Some planes that appeared singly last year flew in small numbers this year. Some were improved slightly or had better engines. Said a spokesman of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors: “We’re here to show the world that our achievements of past years have stood their tests, are proved and ready for sale.”

Visitors from 90 foreign countries seemed to agree. So many sharp-eyed Japanese and Germans armed with sketch pads and cameras crowded around that some of the exhibits were hastily snatched back into shelter.

The fact is that most of Britain’s vivid new airplanes are not yet in real production. It is British custom to show new models while they are still in the prototype stage. In the security-conscious (and sometimes security-bogged) U.S., a new airplane sometimes flies for years before the public gets a peek at it.