Wings Over the Channel by Eric Forsyth

Author:Eric Forsyth [Eric Forsyth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yacht Fiona Books
Published: 2022-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

They called after a few days and Chadwick made the two-hour drive to Southampton and then to Calshot in the Bentley. The experts were very pleased with themselves—they had modified a calculator used to find dead reckoning position when allowing for wind. It used a roller blind that a navigator 180

Eric B. Forsyth could mark with a wax crayon. Normally it could handle drift angles of up to twenty degrees.

The navigators enthusiastically demonstrated several solutions, but when Chadwick gave them numbers to try involving distances of a hundred miles and interception angles of ninety degrees, the accuracy was hopeless. It was obvious that kind of calculator would not work. They pointed out that for the accuracy he needed, a device had to mechanically integrate the intruder’s velocity to generate an accurate position for the target. Such machines existed and they suggested a word with the National Tabulator Company.

Chadwick realized the organization of the actual fighter interception after an intruder was detected by RDR was far beyond his limited responsibility. He wrote an outline of the various steps needed, from processing the RDR signal, to making the tactical decisions to choose a target and an intercepting squadron, to supplement his earlier report. He pointed out several calculations were needed and the fact that decisions based on these calculations had to be performed at lightning speed. This was imperative, he noted, if the fighters were to stand a chance of intercepting the intruder before it penetrated inland, and defense then depended on anti-aircraft guns, which were notoriously inaccurate. He added his estimate that the time from recognizing an enemy RDR signal to fighters getting airborne should not exceed fifteen minutes.

Chadwick sent copies of his outline to Dr. Bostock and Squadron Leader Codrington. He added it to the growing files in his own RDR folder. At first, little attention was paid to it. Then a job came up that jerked Chadwick back in time—the first Vickers Wellington bomber prototype had been flown and the company was waiting for guidance on using the autopilot. He made arrangements to meet the company test pilots at Brooklands, an airfield only twenty miles from Farnborough.

He was able to park the Bentley at the flight office right next to the dispersal area. The Vickers crew were so interested in the car that it was only with great difficulty that Chadwick 181

Wings Over the Channel got them to listen to a description of the equipment and then climb aboard for a test flight.

The Wellington was a very successful, albeit expensive, medium bomber. It was built in an unusual style to minimize the effect of damage from flak and enemy fighters. The loads in flight were distributed over a complicated geodesic frame. No guns were mounted on the prototype, these would be added by the RAF when the plane was delivered.

Chadwick discovered it was a pleasant plane to fly. When he demonstrated the autopilot, he found no problems and the crew loved it. It was christened “George,” from a popular phrase of the time, “Let George do it,” meaning someone else could do the work.

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