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Secret Mission-Woomera and Salisbury 1953 question

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Old 16th Jan 2011, 11:58
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Secret Mission-Woomera and Salisbury 1953 question

I received this request and was wondering if any Pprune contributors could help who served with the RAF at Woomera during the British Nuclear weapons testing in 1953. The original "Elephant Ears" was the nickname given to an extra pair of air intakes on top of the fuselage for the RR Nene engine in the single seat Vampire Mk 30 and 31. Several RAAF pilots were killed when these aircraft encountered compressibility during high speed dives. This was due to loss of elevator control caused by airflow over the intakes.
From Ms Rosalind Jones.
"I am at present transcribing my father’s diaries which describe in 1953 a trip from Aus to London with 3 other chaps who were to be engaged on a secret mission code named Elephant Ears
My search on internet led me to the only reference I could find for “Elephant Ears” in your “Move Over Red Baron” article, so just on the off chance I wondered whether you had any knowledge of this project.
Unfortunately, Dad’s position was terminated some months later in England when he became ill and was subsequently evacuated and diagnosed with cancer.We have photos of his war experiences in the navy (“Bataan”) during Korean War and 8mm movies of his travels in 1953, but we have only just started to unravel these. The family has always been curious as to the nature of this secret mission, and by now I guess the information would be declassified if it were accessible.Thanks for your help,
Rosalind Jones


PS Dad was Aubrey Leggo (and was an electrical officer in RAN) His team members were Don Turnbull (no rank or other details), a British RNZ Air Force sergeant who was returning to the Air Ministry in Britain called David, and Arnold X a civilian rep from Vickers Aircraft Corp. – and that’s the limit of knowledge I have apart from the facts that their predeparture briefings were in Woomera and Salisbury where they met with aircraft design engineers and scientists. I guess your article may give some clues, as you describe that these ‘elephant ears’ caused problems with the aerodynamics of the fighter aircraft and perhaps this mission was to correct this design fault. It would be good to have this confirmed, even though it may have been relatively unimportant in the larger scheme of events during that period. Anyway, thanks for any input you might have.
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Old 16th Jan 2011, 20:21
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McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Aviation has a couple more descriptions for "Elephant Ear".

i. A type of air intake with twin inlets, one on each side of the fuselage.
ii. A slang term for a thick plate on a missile’s skin that reinforces a hatch or a hole.
iii. A slang term for an overhanging elevator.

Passed on FWIW
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Old 17th Jan 2011, 11:54
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Thanks for the prompt and interesting reply. I will look into it further.
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Old 18th Jan 2011, 19:46
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There's about six pages devoted to the intake problem and possible solutions for the Nene-powered Vampire in Stewart Wilson's book "Vampire, Macchi and Iroquois", but no mention of a secret mission, however it might be worth a look.

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Old 26th Jan 2011, 11:13
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Vampire "Elephant Ears"

There's an article Flight Magazine 28th July 1949 with photo of first Aussie-built Vampire with 'Horn Intakes' (Elephant Ears?) that can be seen here:

rolls-royce nene | 1949 | 1331 | Flight Archive

Accompanying article states:

AUSTRALIA'S FIRST JET
At Bankstown, New South Wales, where the factory of the de Havilland
Aircraft Pty. Ltd., is located, the first Australian-built jet aircraft flew on
June 29th. A Vampire, powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet, having
"horn" intakes to supplement the. breathing capacity of the wing-root
entries. It was flown by Brian Walker, the company's test pilot. Mr. Walker
is seen in the smaller view. Although there is little difference in speed
between the Nene-Vampire and standard models powered by the Goblin,
the rate of climb and ceiling of the former should be superior. It will be
noted that the Australian machine has the original Vampire wing, not the
newer short-span type.
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Old 26th Jan 2011, 16:32
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Just a long shot: Could it have been in connection of development of HP80 which then later led to the elephant ears of Victor B2 for Ram Air Turbines (hence something for electricians)? 1953 may not have been too early for those thoughts. Just a long shot - food for thought.
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Old 27th Jan 2011, 16:50
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Elephant ears

There was a French variant of the Nene-powered Vampire, possibly also built in France, which was fitted with "elephant ears" and perhaps actually went into service like that... I leave that to real experts in the H1N sphere!

Last edited by Jig Peter; 27th Jan 2011 at 16:51. Reason: must NOT use the Caps button when trying to do an ampersand
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