Faster, Faster
Two daredevil, not-so-young Britons flew faster last week than men had ever flown before in level flight. At Herne Bay, England, a Gloster Meteor jet plane, piloted by Group Captain H. J. ("Willie") Wilson, 37, of the R.A.F. made four 70-mile runs at an average speed of 606 miles per hour.-In the same type of plane, Eric Greenwood, 38, of the Gloster Aircraft Co. flew nearly as fast. For a while Greenwood thought he had the record. When photographic timing showed him beaten, he was ready with the British sportsman's typical comment: "Really? Good old Willie."
Both pilots were taking risks: they flew at a dangerously low altitude, and 606 m.p.h. is well above the critical speed which has carried many a pilot to his death. Modern jet engines have plenty of power to push a plane still faster. But the properties of the air itself discourage highspeed flight.
Near sea level, sound waves travel through air at about 760 m.p.h. But long before a plane reaches this speed, the layer of air crowding over the wing and other surfaces begins moving as fast as sound in relation to the plane. Thus, a "shock wave" (really a standing sound wave) may form above the wing.
At this point, a frightful thing can happen. The shock wave spoils the airflow over the wing, reducing its lift. The plane's nose drops. Faster & faster it dives. Louder screams the shock wave. The pilot struggles helplessly with the controls, but the tail surfaces do not respond normally. They cannot pull the nose up. Down to earth shoots the plane, with the screech of a siren.
With some planes, the shock wave may form at speeds as low as 550 m.p.h. Captain Wilson's Meteor was probably designed specially to push the danger limit upward. Even so, he did not dare use the full power of his jets.
Speeds above the danger limit have already cost many lives. Designers of high-speed aircraft, rather than risk their test pilots, are turning to radio-controlled planes equipped with television. Last week Bell Aircraft Corp. described an experimental plane which takes off and lands with the unwinking eye of a television tube watching the instruments and the horizon ahead. Everything it sees is projected by radio on a screen in a mother plane or on the ground. Observers can study the plane's performance as if they were in the cockpit. If the speed limit is passed, and the plane screams down to earth, no life is lost. The records of the flight survive the crash.