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1 Cobham, Sir Alan John
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. 6 May 1894 London, Englandd. 21 October 1973 British Virgin Islands[br]English pilot who pioneered worldwide air routes and developed an in-flight refuelling system which is in use today.[br]Alan Cobham was a man of many parts. He started as a veterinary assistant in France during the First World War, but transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. After the war he continued flying, by giving joy-rides and doing aerial photography work. In 1921 he joined the De Havilland Aircraft Company (see de Havilland, Geoffrey) as a test and charter pilot; he was also successful in a number of air races. During the 1920s Cobham made many notable flights to distant parts of the British Empire, pioneering possible routes for airline operations. During the early 1930s Sir Alan (he was knighted in 1926) devoted his attention to generating a public interest in aviation and to campaigning for more airfields. Cobham's Flying Circus toured the country giving flying displays and joy-rides, which for thousands of people was their first experience of flying.In 1933 Cobham planned a non-stop flight to India by refuelling his aircraft while flying: this was not a new idea but the process was still experimental. The flight was unsuccessful due to a fault in his aircraft, unrelated to the in-flight refuelling system. The following year Flight Refuelling Ltd was founded, and by 1939 two Short flying boats were operating the first inflight-refuelled service across the Atlantic. Inflight refuelling was not required during the early years of the Second World War, so Cobham turned to other projects such as thermal de-icing of wings, and a scheme which was not carried out, for delivering fighters to the Middle East by towing them behind Wellington bombers.After the Second World War the fortunes of Flight Refuelling Ltd were at a low ebb, especially when British South American Airways abandoned the idea of using in-flight refuelling. Then an American contract and the use of their tanker aircraft to ferry oil during the Berlin Airlift saved the day. In 1949 Cobham's chief designer, Peter Macgregor, came up with an idea for refuelling fighters using a probe and drogue system. A large tanker aircraft trailed a hose with a conical drogue at the free end. The fighter pilot manoeuvred the probe, fitted to his aircraft, so that it locked into the drogue, enabling fuel to be transferred. Since the 1950s this system has become the effective world standard.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsKnighted 1926. Air Force Cross 1926.Bibliography1978, A Time to Fly, ed. C.Derrick, London; pub. in paperback 1986 (Cobham's memoirs).Cobham produced films of some of his flights and published Skyways, 1925, London; MyFlight to the Cape and Back, 1926, London; Australia and Back, 1926, London;Twenty Thousand Miles in a Flying Boat, 1930, London.Further ReadingPeter G.Proctor, 1975, "The life and work of Sir Alan Cobham", Aerospace (RAeS) (March).JDS -
2 Aerospace
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Caproni, Giovanni BattistaDassault, MarcelGiffard, Baptiste Henry JacquesJohnson, Clarence LeonardKorolov, Sergei PavlovichSopwith, Sir Thomas Octave MurdochTsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich -
3 Short, Hugh Oswald
SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace[br]b. 16 January 1883 Derbyshire, Englandd. 4 December 1969 Haslemere, England[br]English co-founder, with his brothers Horace Short (1872–1917) and Eustace (1875–1932), of the first company to design and build aeroplanes in Britain.[br]Oswald Short trained as an engineer; he was largely self-taught but was assisted by his brothers Eustace and Horace. In 1898 Eustace and the young Oswald set up a balloon business, building their first balloon in 1901. Two years later they sold observation balloons to the Government of India, and further orders followed. Meanwhile, in 1906 Horace designed a high-altitude balloon with a spherical pressurized gondola, an idea later used by Auguste Piccard, in 1931. Horace, a strange genius with a dominating character, joined his younger brothers in 1908 to found Short Brothers. Their first design, based on the Wright Flyer, was a limited success, but No. 2 won a Daily Mail prize of £1,000. In the same year, 1909, the Wright brothers chose Shorts to build six of their new Model A biplanes. Still using the basic Wright layout, Horace designed the world's first twin-engined aeroplane to fly successfully: it had one engine forward of the pilot, and one aft. During the years before the First World War the Shorts turned to tractor biplanes and specialized in floatplanes for the Admiralty.Oswald established a seaplane factory at Rochester, Kent, during 1913–14, and an airship works at Cardington, Bedfordshire, in 1916. Short Brothers went on to build the rigid airship R 32, which was completed in 1919. Unfortunately, Horace died in 1917, which threw a greater responsibility onto Oswald, who became the main innovator. He introduced the use of aluminium alloys combined with a smooth "stressed-skin" construction (unlike Junkers, who used corrugated skins). His sleek biplane the Silver Streak flew in 1920, well ahead of its time, but official support was not forthcoming. Oswald Short struggled on, trying to introduce his all-metal construction, especially for flying boats. He eventually succeeded with the biplane Singapore, of 1926, which had an all-metal hull. The prototype was used by Sir Alan Cobham for his flight round Africa. Several successful all-metal flying boats followed, including the Empire flying boats (1936) and the ubiquitous Sunderland (1937). The Stirling bomber (1939) was derived from the Sunderland. The company was nationalized in 1942 and Oswald Short retired the following year.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsHonorary Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Freeman of the City of London. Oswald Short turned down an MBE in 1919 as he felt it did not reflect the achievements of the Short Brothers.Bibliography1966, "Aircraft with stressed skin metal construction", Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society (November) (an account of the problems with patents and officialdom).Further ReadingC.H.Barnes, 1967, Shorts Aircraft since 1900, London; reprinted 1989 (a detailed account of the work of the Short brothers).JDS
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