D.H. Sea Vixen
The one that landed at Valley one day did it's best to disprove something called laminar flow was useful for flight....the right wing being opened up to give a credible impression of a sardine can.....somebody will doubtless know the full story, but apparently caused by a brief, but passionate, contact with something solid on "Eagle".
The finding was the low level sortie had allowed too much salt buildup on the pilot's windscreen affecting his visibility, compounded by the ship's heading into a setting sun (midwinter about 16:00 local).
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Thought police antagonist
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25th January 1971, I was stealing a jolly in the left seat of the planeguard Wessex (XS888) when Vixen 123 lined up a bit too far to starboard while landing and hit 3 parked cabs on deck. Managed a bolter and was diverted to Valley.
The finding was the low level sortie had allowed too much salt buildup on the pilot's windscreen affecting his visibility, compounded by the ship's heading into a setting sun (midwinter about 16:00 local).
The finding was the low level sortie had allowed too much salt buildup on the pilot's windscreen affecting his visibility, compounded by the ship's heading into a setting sun (midwinter about 16:00 local).
However, I'm a bit bemused as to how it wasn't lined up properly as I thought there was only one way it could be lined up on a cat.launch.
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One issue with the aircraft was the tail-plane's straight leading edge. This meant the wings had a higher MCrit than the tail, which is a disaster for pitch stability at high Mach numbers. Making the tail-plane as flat and thin as possible (fineness ratio) will alleviate his, but it wasn't enough on the DH110. The Vixen crash at the Farnborough show in 1952 was a result of a breakup in an overstress. The cause was determined to be the wing not being strong enough, it was reinforced in production aircraft. But the break up was preceded by a supersonic run and a violent pitch up which under the circumstances and considering the experience of the test pilot, John Derry, may not have been a result of a control input. It's in-service MMO was 0.91 - it was a subsonic fighter, despite it's power.
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