BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:The Saga of the Miles M-52 Britain’s Wartime Supersonic Project 
 - Rod Kirkby\, Retired Aerodynamics Research/Project Feasibility Engineer
DTSTART:20150608T183000Z
DTEND:20150608T200000Z
UID:TALK55542@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Nigel Bennee
DESCRIPTION:In 1943 a specification was issued calling for a research airc
 raft with a 1000mph maximum speed to be powered by an extremely advanced W
 hittle turbojet engine. \nAircraft diving in combat at half that speed had
  suffered violent buffeting and loss of control. \nMany pilots had been un
 able to pull out\, and the term 'graveyard dive' entered their vocabulary.
  \n\nAerodynamicists were aware that airflow characteristics changed as ai
 rcraft approached the speed of sound (660mph at altitude)\, but knowledge 
 was scanty and conflicting\, and the challenge presented in meeting the sp
 ecification was daunting in the extreme. \n\nThe theoretical picture piece
 d together by the aerodynamicists at Miles Aircraft enabled them to produc
 e a design which\, with the benefit of hindsight\, would have not only met
 \, but exceeded the specification requirements.\n\nThe design process will
  be discussed\, including the visits made to ‘experts’ in an attempt t
 o establish sound from less-sound information on which to base the design.
  \n\nSadly the resulting aircraft was abruptly cancelled in February 1946 
 under a cloud of secrecy and misinformation\, within months of its complet
 ion\, scheduled for the summer of that year.\nThe reasons for the cancella
 tion have been hotly disputed ever since\, and I shall discuss some of the
 se.\nWhat is certain\, however\, is that this one cancellation caused Brit
 ain to lose the lead we then had in the design of transonic and supersonic
  aircraft\, as well as advanced jet engines. (The Whittle engine alone was
  a technological tour-de-force\, well over ten years ahead of its time).\n
 It took over a year later for the Americans to nudge beyond Mach1 in Octob
 er 1947 with the rocket powered Bell X-1\, dropped from a bomber and glidi
 ng back to earth to land on a vast dry lake-bed in the Mojave desert\, a f
 acility which was not available in our tiny island!
LOCATION:Wolfson Lecture Theatre\, Churchill College\, Storey's Way\, Camb
 ridge
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR