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TRAINING IN AERONAUTICS

TRAINING IN AERONAUTICS September, 1943 A I R C R A F T E N G I N E E R I N G 24 Contrasting Conditions Aircraft Engineering As regards industrial research equipment, it should be borne in mind that in America there are, in effect, several aircraft industries Devote d t o th e Scienc e an d Practice of Aero ­ widely separated in space. This is in complete contrast to the con­ nautic s and to Allied and Subsidiary ditions prevailing in England where units of the industry are seldom separated by more than a few hours by train. Consequently there Branche s of th e Engineerin g Industry is not, or should not be, the need for elaborate research equipment in Editor:Lieut.-Col. W.Lockwood Marsh, O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S.,M.S.A.E.,F.I.Ae.S. each firm and to institute it would be an unjustifiable expense. It is far better to rely upon one or two central research and experi­ Vol. XV, No . 175 September 1943 mental establishments, run either, as at present, by the Government or by an Industrial Research Association, with less ambitious and expensive equipment set up by individual firms. E have received a number of letters endorsing the attitude The Proof of the Pudding we adopted last month in condemning the proposal to estab- blish an Aeronautical University. As one writer points out, There is an aspect of this which we feel must be touched on—and the very name is self-contradictory. The word "university" with frankness. Before the war, we were constantly lectured on the connotes an assembly of teachers and students where the whole superiority of American transport machines. We felt then, and we range of knowledge is covered. In any case , it is impossible to draw are confident now, that this was mainly, if not entirely, due to the any hard and fast line separating other branches of engineering larger demand in the United States making it possible for greater from aeronautics. The range of subjects that come into the de­ effort to be devoted to design and the wider experience resulting in signing of the modern aeroplane and its myriad components and more rapid development and improvement. To be perfectly candid, accessories constitutes the answer to the proposal to attempt to we do not feel that any war type of aeroplane designed in America separate at an early stage those who ultimately intend to take up has shown any such superior qualities over its British counterpart as aeronautical engineering from others whose ambition it is to become to justify the view that because anything in the organization of the structural, mechanical or electrical engineers. Furthermore, what industry is American it is therefore necessarily better—whether would happen to any surplus students whom the aircraft industry in regard to design or, for that matter, production. The British might at any given time be unable to absorb ? It is very certain industry has to hammer out its own educational and training that other industries would not look at them. organization to suit its own needs and brobdingnagian schemes of grandiloquent conception borrowed from other countries are neither Over-Specialization Now necessary nor desirable. One correspondent who considers that over-specialization, without an adequate general background, is already having a derog­ atory influence on the technical personnel of the aircraft industry RECOVERY OF POWER proceeds to raise a point which we have ourselves touched on in the Attention has been called recently to the possibility of recovering past. He suggests that this over-specialization is due rather to the power which at present goes to waste in the course of aero­ lack of facilities for gaining experience within the industry itself than engine test-bed running. At first sight it seems an obvious line of to defects in the education system at present in vogue. The young thought to regenerate electricity and utilize it for providing power engineer who has followed a B.Sc. syllabus enters the industry and in the factory. Though superficially attractive, on examination, is pu t on to some specialized work with little opportunity of gaining however, the plan fails to come up to expectations. It is necessary all-round experience. In the modern large industrial concern it is to be realist in these matters and to count the price to be paid for often difficult to move about to obtain experience in the various the economies which appear to accrue. departments even of one firm ; while wartime legislation restricts movement from one firm to another. He suggests that it is for the We arc glad to be given the opportunity of publishing the reasoned industry to provide more facilities for its technicians to gain ex­ examination of the pros and cons which appears in this issue. It is perience during the early part of their careers. Men temporarily of course general knowledge that electricity companies, for obvious entering the industry he writes, are often unfavourably impressed reasons, dislike installations which involve a series of peak loads and comment on the large number of technical staff engaged on with intervening periods of low intake of power. To this kind of routine jobs and the limited opportunities for advancement. load-curve engine test-beds are inherently prone and it is easy to imagine the doubts of those supplying them if they were asked to We believe that there is a good deal in this contention and that it take back regenerated current with similar variations. Apart from should be seriously considered by the leaders of the industry, this, there is the economic factor—in wartime, particularly, of particularly if certain proposals that arc being put forward should supreme importance—of cost in money, man-power and scarce find favour, as they would only accentuate this state of affairs. materials involved in the production of the necessary electrical apparatus. Though, admittedly, little, if any, actual experience The Glamour of Size exists on the practical utility of D.C. "fully regenerative" dynamo­ Dazzled by the glittering array of technical staffs in the American meters, sufficient data of a reliable character is given in the article aircraft industry the suggestion is being seriously propounded that to make it reasonably certain that, on a balance of the factors we in the British aircraft industry design staffs are too small for effi­ have mentioned, these must be ruled out. There remain various ciency and should be enlarged to two or three times their present types of A.C. "partially regenerative" dynamometers. These proportions in relation to the number of employees ; with concomi­ offer more attractive possibilities and it might be tha t it would prove tant additions to the quantity of research and experimental equip­ advantageous to instal them. On the whole, however, we fear that ment available. We do no t agree with this view. We do not believe this is one of those superficially enticing ideas which will not stand up that there is necessarily any relation between the size of a design to the text of reasoned logic and must reluctantly be abandoned. staff and the number of aeroplanes of one type to be produced by the firm employing it. As the number of men in a drawing office is increased, so inevitably the work of each becomes more specialized. The fact that goods made of raw materials in short So, too, grow the difficulties of control and less and less becomes the supply owing to war conditions are advertised in likelihood of standardization of .methods of detail design and of materials, tools and such details as screws, nuts, bolts, etc. There is AIRCRAF T ENGINEERING should not be taken as an something very glamorous about size, but it should not be an end in indication that they are necessarily available for export. itself and extravagance must not be confused with efficiency. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology Emerald Publishing

TRAINING IN AERONAUTICS

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology , Volume 15 (9): 1 – Sep 1, 1943
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Emerald Publishing
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Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
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0002-2667
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10.1108/eb031049
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Abstract

September, 1943 A I R C R A F T E N G I N E E R I N G 24 Contrasting Conditions Aircraft Engineering As regards industrial research equipment, it should be borne in mind that in America there are, in effect, several aircraft industries Devote d t o th e Scienc e an d Practice of Aero ­ widely separated in space. This is in complete contrast to the con­ nautic s and to Allied and Subsidiary ditions prevailing in England where units of the industry are seldom separated by more than a few hours by train. Consequently there Branche s of th e Engineerin g Industry is not, or should not be, the need for elaborate research equipment in Editor:Lieut.-Col. W.Lockwood Marsh, O.B.E., F.R.Ae.S.,M.S.A.E.,F.I.Ae.S. each firm and to institute it would be an unjustifiable expense. It is far better to rely upon one or two central research and experi­ Vol. XV, No . 175 September 1943 mental establishments, run either, as at present, by the Government or by an Industrial Research Association, with less ambitious and expensive equipment set up by individual firms. E have received a number of letters endorsing the attitude The Proof of the Pudding we adopted last month in condemning the proposal to estab- blish an Aeronautical University. As one writer points out, There is an aspect of this which we feel must be touched on—and the very name is self-contradictory. The word "university" with frankness. Before the war, we were constantly lectured on the connotes an assembly of teachers and students where the whole superiority of American transport machines. We felt then, and we range of knowledge is covered. In any case , it is impossible to draw are confident now, that this was mainly, if not entirely, due to the any hard and fast line separating other branches of engineering larger demand in the United States making it possible for greater from aeronautics. The range of subjects that come into the de­ effort to be devoted to design and the wider experience resulting in signing of the modern aeroplane and its myriad components and more rapid development and improvement. To be perfectly candid, accessories constitutes the answer to the proposal to attempt to we do not feel that any war type of aeroplane designed in America separate at an early stage those who ultimately intend to take up has shown any such superior qualities over its British counterpart as aeronautical engineering from others whose ambition it is to become to justify the view that because anything in the organization of the structural, mechanical or electrical engineers. Furthermore, what industry is American it is therefore necessarily better—whether would happen to any surplus students whom the aircraft industry in regard to design or, for that matter, production. The British might at any given time be unable to absorb ? It is very certain industry has to hammer out its own educational and training that other industries would not look at them. organization to suit its own needs and brobdingnagian schemes of grandiloquent conception borrowed from other countries are neither Over-Specialization Now necessary nor desirable. One correspondent who considers that over-specialization, without an adequate general background, is already having a derog­ atory influence on the technical personnel of the aircraft industry RECOVERY OF POWER proceeds to raise a point which we have ourselves touched on in the Attention has been called recently to the possibility of recovering past. He suggests that this over-specialization is due rather to the power which at present goes to waste in the course of aero­ lack of facilities for gaining experience within the industry itself than engine test-bed running. At first sight it seems an obvious line of to defects in the education system at present in vogue. The young thought to regenerate electricity and utilize it for providing power engineer who has followed a B.Sc. syllabus enters the industry and in the factory. Though superficially attractive, on examination, is pu t on to some specialized work with little opportunity of gaining however, the plan fails to come up to expectations. It is necessary all-round experience. In the modern large industrial concern it is to be realist in these matters and to count the price to be paid for often difficult to move about to obtain experience in the various the economies which appear to accrue. departments even of one firm ; while wartime legislation restricts movement from one firm to another. He suggests that it is for the We arc glad to be given the opportunity of publishing the reasoned industry to provide more facilities for its technicians to gain ex­ examination of the pros and cons which appears in this issue. It is perience during the early part of their careers. Men temporarily of course general knowledge that electricity companies, for obvious entering the industry he writes, are often unfavourably impressed reasons, dislike installations which involve a series of peak loads and comment on the large number of technical staff engaged on with intervening periods of low intake of power. To this kind of routine jobs and the limited opportunities for advancement. load-curve engine test-beds are inherently prone and it is easy to imagine the doubts of those supplying them if they were asked to We believe that there is a good deal in this contention and that it take back regenerated current with similar variations. Apart from should be seriously considered by the leaders of the industry, this, there is the economic factor—in wartime, particularly, of particularly if certain proposals that arc being put forward should supreme importance—of cost in money, man-power and scarce find favour, as they would only accentuate this state of affairs. materials involved in the production of the necessary electrical apparatus. Though, admittedly, little, if any, actual experience The Glamour of Size exists on the practical utility of D.C. "fully regenerative" dynamo­ Dazzled by the glittering array of technical staffs in the American meters, sufficient data of a reliable character is given in the article aircraft industry the suggestion is being seriously propounded that to make it reasonably certain that, on a balance of the factors we in the British aircraft industry design staffs are too small for effi­ have mentioned, these must be ruled out. There remain various ciency and should be enlarged to two or three times their present types of A.C. "partially regenerative" dynamometers. These proportions in relation to the number of employees ; with concomi­ offer more attractive possibilities and it might be tha t it would prove tant additions to the quantity of research and experimental equip­ advantageous to instal them. On the whole, however, we fear that ment available. We do no t agree with this view. We do not believe this is one of those superficially enticing ideas which will not stand up that there is necessarily any relation between the size of a design to the text of reasoned logic and must reluctantly be abandoned. staff and the number of aeroplanes of one type to be produced by the firm employing it. As the number of men in a drawing office is increased, so inevitably the work of each becomes more specialized. The fact that goods made of raw materials in short So, too, grow the difficulties of control and less and less becomes the supply owing to war conditions are advertised in likelihood of standardization of .methods of detail design and of materials, tools and such details as screws, nuts, bolts, etc. There is AIRCRAF T ENGINEERING should not be taken as an something very glamorous about size, but it should not be an end in indication that they are necessarily available for export. itself and extravagance must not be confused with efficiency.

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Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology – Emerald Publishing

Published: Sep 1, 1943

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