THE
LIBRARY—REVIEWS
telemetry capable of withstanding the high accelerations
imposed by gun launching, there is the possibility of obtaining
much detailed information from a model in flight. Some
excellent work on real gas effects carried out at N.O.L. by
firing spheres into different gases deserves to be more widely
publicised. The use of light gas guns to obtain hypervelocities is also covered in the papers.
Of the remaining papers, there is an excellent summary by
Rinehart of meteorites which includes an account of ablation
characteristics and of the nature of impact craters, a paper on
the scaling of underwater explosions and water entry cavities,
and, rather as an outsider in this volume, the paper by Tesson
on the theory of ram-jets—in particular the secondary
stability effect arising through the displacement of combustion surfaces relative to the structure.
The AGARDograph series is excellently produced, and
this volume deserves to be read carefully by aerodynamicists
concerned with missile development. It is a great pity that
the gap between conferences and the publication of the
proceedings seems to be an ever-increasing one.—R. N. COX.
F U N D A M E N T A L S O F G U I D E D MISSILES. Air Training
Command, United States Air Force and Technical Staff, Aero
Publishers, Los Angeles, 1960. 575 pp. Illustrated.
$12.50.
This mammoth work has been written primarily for
training "thousands of skilled technicians and engineers" of
the United States Air Force who are to be employed in
maintaining and servicing guided missiles in the field. In
simple and non-mathematical language, it attempts to explain
from very basic principles how and why guided missiles work.
The intention is to give to the specialist technician a greater
depth of understanding of the importance of his own personal
contribution to the serviceability of the complete missile.
In this country the book will certainly prove of interest to
those concerned with the training of Service tradesmen.
Additionally it could be recommended to any newcomer to
the guided missile industry for general background reading, or
indeed to anyone who has only a passing interest in guided
missiles. Its great merit lies in the fact that it can be read by
anyone without a host of supporting reference books at his
elbow. However it is disappointing that the book was not
written for a wider audience. The weight given to each
technology reflects its usefulness to the service technician on
an operational site. Consequently aerodynamics and propulsion are dealt with superficially and structures not at all.
The resulting unbalance seriously detracts from the value of
the book to other potential readers, such as members of the
industry and higher ranking planners in the Services. It will
also be a disappointment to some readers that, although
considerable sections are devoted to components, no details
or illustrations of actual missile components are given.
(Possibly this was to be expected on security grounds.) The
text is restricted to describing the general principles of their
operation, and illustrations are limited to functional diagrams.
A criticism is that the arrangement of the book could be
greatly improved. The logical development would have been
from a classification of missiles according to their operational
roles. Consideration of possible guidance techniques would
have led to further sub-classification. Trajectories, aerodynamics, structures and propulsion could then follow,
indicating techniques appropriate to each sub-classification.
Having thus developed the various possible missile configurations, the scene would have been set for guidance and
control. Instead no real attempt is made to classify missiles
until chapters 8 and 9, after aerodynamics, propulsion and
control have been dealt with. The result is some confusion,
considerable repetition, and to a large extent the reader is left
to build his own missiles.
571
The section on control is worthy of especial mention. The
treatment is unusual in that it attempts to explain, without
recourse to mathematics, the complex techniques used by
designers in order to achieve stable and accurate control.
On the whole it is successful, although there are occasions
when verbosity and repetition give the impression that the
author himself lacked full understanding.
Elsewhere there are unusual explanations and strange
concepts such as the explanation of Coriolis effect and the
concept of "apparent precession", but, generally speaking,
the book achieves what it sets out to do, namely to provide
a general background of the basic principles of guided
missile design using non-specialist language. Like all
American books of its type it is lavishly illustrated but,
lacks a bibliography for further reading.—E. J. HOLDEN.
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R O C K E T T E C H N O L O G Y . V. I.
Feodosiev and G. B. Siniarev. Translated by S. N. Samburof.
Academic Press, New York, 1959. 344 pp. Illustrated.
$9.50.
The title of this book adequately describes its contents.
The authors, in their preface, state that the book represents
their attempt to introduce the reader to the general subject
of rocket technology without demanding of him serious
preparation, particularly in the specialised fields of aero-gas
dynamics and thermodynamics.
Others have attempted to write an introductory book of
this type, for which an undoubted need exists. The reviewer
feels that this attempt is more successful than most, probably
because the authors have selected their material, and its
treatment, specifically for the third year engineering or
science student who is preparing to specialise in some branch
of rocket technology. Such a student, before beginning his
specialisation, needs first a long view of the whole field of
rocketry in order to give his later studies some perspective.
This book is intended to satisfy that need, while demanding
no more of its reader than the sound working knowledge of
higher mathematics, physics and chemistry which he might
be expected to have acquired at this stage in his studies. Thus,
throughout the book, theoretical treatment of material is
always adequately supported by such basic information on
rocket hardware as would be indispensable to the newcomer.
The text divides broadly into two parts; the first six
chapters cover topics related to rocket propulsion, and the
next three chapters deal with the dynamics and control of a
rocket in flight. A final chapter describes ancillary ground
equipment.
A brief resume of the contents of the book indicates its
scope: After an initial chapter in which the basic equations of
reactive motion are derived, there follow two largely descriptive chapters, the first on types of rockets, past and present,
and the second on the construction and mode of operation of
rocket motors. Progressing from the essentially practical
content of these two chapters, the topics developed in the
following three chapters are the more theoretical technicalities of motor fuels, the processes of combustion in the
chamber and their control by suitable injector and chamber
configuration, and the gas- and thermo-dynamics of the motor
efflux. A discussion on the theory and properties of critical
and supersonic nozzles concludes this section on motors.
The three chapters comprising the second section of the
book are devoted to various topics related to the kinematics
of a missile in flight and its control. Following a much
abbreviated primer on aerodynamics and the special features
of supersonic flight, methods of calculating trajectories are
discussed in some detail, both for powered and free-flight
vehicles; some of the problems involved in putting a satellite
into orbit are demonstrated quantitatively. A short conventional treatment of rocket stabilisation and control is
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572
VOL. 64
JOURNAL
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next given, and the section ends with details of common
control devices. The final chapter in the book describes
briefly rocket launching equipment and installations.
There are few criticisms to be made of the book: misprinting in Chapter One of some of the symbols confuses the
derivation of the equations somewhat, and the punctuation
and purely descriptive passages throughout the book betray
the intervention of a translator. Nevertheless, these criticisms
detract little from the generally excellent presentation of the
material. All in all, the book offers a lucid, concise and
adequately comprehensive introduction to rocket technology which should be valuable to any serious student who is
unfamiliar with the subject.—B. C. E. J®NES.
SMALL GAS TURBINES AND FREE PISTON ENGINES.
Arthur W. Judge. Chapman and Hall, London, 1960. 328 pp.
Illustrated. 48s.
The latest of the author's series on prime movers, this
book is rather broader than the title indicates, since it is
concerned with turbines of up to 1,500 b.h.p. output and with
free piston sets of even greater output. About a half of the
book is necessarily concerned with general descriptions of gas
turbine features, drawing on world-wide sources. The book
is well illustrated with half as many figures as there are pages.
The first four of the ten chapters, forming about a quarter
of the book, give a brief history, an outline of the simple gas
turbine arrangement, a short account of the basic thermodynamic cycles used and a discussion of the efficiencies which
may be expected. The fifth and longest chapter is
" Improving Small Gas Turbine Performance" and describes heat exchangers, turbine cooling techniques and
shaft arrangements which have been designed to overcome
the low efficiencies and specific powers of the simpler
arrangements. The sixth chapter surveys automobile turbines, here and abroad, and the seventh describes both the
gas-generators and turbines of free-piston engines. The
last three chapters deal with combustion and fuel systems,
with materials and with typical gas turbine applications.
The book does not deal with the fundamentals which the
designer requires to solve his problems, but the text gives 128
references to articles and books listed at the end of the volume
and a large amount of existing design features is explained
in the context of the designer's problems.—R. G. VOYSEY.
WINGS OVER WESTMINSTER—Britain's Airlines in the
Sixties. Edited by Tony Lucking. The Bow Group, 22 St.
Giles High Street, W.C.2. 93 pp. Illustrated. 7s. 6d.
"The failure of the British Government to grasp the
fundamentals of air transport in the period 1918-1939 led
directly to the creation of the British Overseas Airways
Corporation^—Thus wrote an earnest and perspicacious
American in a short essasy which deserves to be better known.
One of the objects of the Bow Group pamphlet under
review is to light the pathway of the current Minister of
Aviation by presenting some of the fundamentals of airline
and manufacturing economics for the benefit of policyplanners in the 1960s. The hope therefore is to avoid some of
the errors of purpose and thinking which characterised the
pre-war era. How far do the messages seem to be correct?
And how far have they been effectively communicated?
There can be no sharp answer to either question because
in many respects the pamphlet has been overtaken by events:
— Both the manufacturing and the operating sides of the air
transport industry have been subjected to massive combinations of forces;
— The Air Transport (Licensing) Act 1960 will set up a
new Air Transport Licensing Board, and future operators
AERONAUTICAL
SOCIETY
SEPTEMBER
1960
will need both an "air operator's certificate" (for safety) and
an "air service licence" (for permission to operate);
— The Air Corporations are cautiously considering the
extent of desirable partnerships with the Independents, and
B.E.A. are increasing key frequencies and modifying key
timetables on internal routes.
All of these matters are either foreshadowed in this
pamphlet or are such as to cause great satisfaction to the
authors. They have caught the spirit of the times and like
true poets, may be doomed to remain our unacknowledged
legislators. Whether these are the correct answers for the
1960s only time can show.
The economic analysis contained in the 93 pages is the
true source of energy for the "Wings" which are meant to
soar "over Westminster". For this, the figures, diagrams and
conclusions merit the closest study by the air transport
industry. But seldom has important material been hidden
inside such an unappealing package. The kindest conclusion
is to assume that pressure of events dictated premature
publication and resulted in severe economies of typography
and proof-reading. The pages are plastered with factual
blunders' 2 ' and textual absurdities' 31 . One error (which
could have been avoided even if the authors had only read
the American essay referred to above) was unlucky enough to
provoke a libel action. All this is most unfortunate because
many potential readers may get no further than discovering
their "pet mistake" and discard the remainder as inferentially
worthless.
In covering such a wide field it is tempting to guess how
many of the seventeen chapters were written by different
hands. One unifying element of style has been the commendable emphasis on historical understanding of present
events. But it might have been less irritating if the historical
sketching was done as a separate and continuous story".
A mere matter of personal taste perhaps. Like one of James
Joyce's characters, History is a nightmare from which we are
all trying to awake.
Three ideas for consideration by British aircraft manufacturers will bear repetition:
(/) The repair and overhaul of transport aircraft is worth
investigating on a business footing.
07) Greater attention should be paid to design for
maintenance.
(Hi) More effort could be spared for "simplification" at the
detail design level.
No-one who has a serious interest in the British air
transport industry can afford to ignore this booklet. But it
requires patience to play or to ignore the game of "spot the
error".—H. CAPLAN.
1. R. D. S. Higham in Vol. 26 No. 1 Journal of Air Law and
Commerce, Winter 1959, "The British Government and
Overseas Airlines, 1918-1939, A failure of Laissez-Faire".
2. e.g. On pages 36 and 37: there is no such thing as the Air
Traffic Agreement; the International Air Services Transit
Agreement is confused with the International Air Transport Agreement; and the Fifth Freedom is incorrectly
defined. Page 66—there does not seem to be any statutory
bar to prosecutions of the type referred to.
3. e.g. What can one do with un-named graphs whose ordinates are also un-named and are not referred to in the text?
(Page 18.)
4. e.g. Some of the material on Page 24 creates the uneasy
feeling "Haven't I read this somewhere before?" Answer—
Parts of it are echoed from Page 10. Similarly on Pages
85 and 86—in relation to 36, 38 and 39; and 87-89 in
relation to 7-9. True that the emphasis and purpose are
different in each case. But it does not make for easy
reading.
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