Short SC.1 & HP.115

[T-21]

Would like to hear any stories/anecdotes on the handling/flying qualities of these experimental aircraft ?

[BOAC]

John Farley flew them in his time at RAE Bedford.
http://www.pprune.org/flight-testing...-new-book.html

[henry crun]

British Experimental Turbojet Aircraft by Barry Jones has chapters about the SC1 and the HP115.

[ZH875]

When polishing tail of the HP115, ensure you have a person sat in the cockpit.

I found it was nose light when it was part of the RAF Museum Cosford in the late 70's.

[green granite]

I seem to recall the 115 doing an excellent demonstration of Dutch rolling at a RĘS garden party at Cranfield many years ago.

[henry crun]

Are you sure it was Dutch Roll you witnessed and not a demonstration of the handling qualities ?

I ask because in the book I mentioned above is the following comment.
".....while instantaneous recovery could be made from any tendency to Dutch roll"

Roland Beamont said it was most enjoyable to fly and was surprised how little there was to do once in the cockpit.
He also stated that it was ''a pleasant responsive aircraft with adequate longitudinal and directional characteristics in the range of flight conditions checked".
He found the adverse yaw was no more obtrusive than on the P1.

[John Farley]

With a bit of slide-slip at low speed and so high alpha the vortex attachment points could be made to drift a little forwards and backwards along the LEs generating a very large stick free divergent dutch roll of some plus/minus 60 deg. Jack Henderson did it in public for the first time at the 1961 SBAC show. He flew across the field at 1000ft in slow level flight hands off and gave the rudder a little tap. Off it went and at the end of the pass he stopped it dead by getting hold of the stick again and stuffing it forward to get rid of the alpha which was the forcing function. The cognoscenti nodded wisely and said that he was demonstrating outstanding aileron response.

HNY BTW

[henry crun]

Thank you John, I guess that answers my question.

[T-21]

Thank you for the replies gentlemen, some interesting facts there and Happy New Year.

[T-21]

The first astronaut on the moon Neil Armstrong flew the HP.115 at Thurleigh on June 22 1970. He was scheduled to fly the Short SC.1 also but it went tech. He also was invited to fly the Avro 504K at Old Warden. You could say this was one of the perks of flight testing,sampling various types.

[Robert Woodhouse]

HP 115 at the Le Bourget Air show

From my log book I see that 18 June 1965 we flew BLEU Varsity 417 Bedford - Wattisham - Manston - Coxide -Cambrai - Laon - Le Bourget, and return same route on 21 June. The flight was as shepherd aircraft for Clive Rustin flying the HP 115 and ? flying the jet flap aircraft (whose name I now forget) to the Le Bourget Air Show. The many stops were because these two aircraft carried fuel for only some 30 minutes or so of flight.

I remember that we arrived just after a USAF bomber had crashed on approach. I also remember Clive complaining about the French ATC directing him to break off his dislay when he was in the middle of the dutch roll demonstration half way down the runway. That same show the Fiat G91 did not quite get right way up from an inverted circuit and ended in the car park short of the runway.

Another memory of that trip - Commander Evans was captain on the last leg into Le Bourget and the we had great difficulty finding the ILS - our navigator (I think John Marsden) was peering out into the mist looking for landmarks. With both little aircraft tucked each side and their fuel running short it was an anxious few minutes.

We also saw the Russian SST, which crashed there at a subsequent show, and at one point on the way nearly had to divert due to an F104 crash. Thankfully, the return flight was uneventful. I guess we are all lucky survivors of those days.

[John Farley]

The ? pilot of the H126 jet flap was Dizzy Addicott RIP. The USAF bomber that crashed on the approach was a B-58 Hustler (they sent one to successive Paris shows and lost them both)

Wot are you doing in Canada Bob?

Sorry! Only just seen your other posts!

[T-21]

Can anyone confirm if the elevons on the HP.115 were metal or fabric covered ?? feasible for fabric as it flew a lot of low speed handling flights ?? Max speed quoted at 175 knots. Unable to get to Yeovilton to check.

[henry crun]

I hesitate to confirm anything after being corrected about my #6 post.

The book I referred to in post #3 has this to say, "During construction it was decided to retain wood for the wing's leading edges, and they were manufactured in fabric covered timber to a design where they could be easily removed when alternative leading edge shapes were tested. Both the elevons and the top section of the rudder were also fabric-covered".

[T-21]

Thanks Henry it is very interesting as I am building a vac form model at present and these details are important to get it right.

[John Farley]

115 Vne was 250 kt IAS

[BOAC]

Some fabric, John! Could do with that for my cycling trowies.

[John Farley]

BOAC

Point taken.

The manual elevons had a very inset hinge to give a lot of aerodynamic balance and so make them light to handle. The leading edges were plywood covered back to the hinge line with fabric behind that.

The controls turned out to be exquisite (light and responsive) over the whole speed range. A remarkable achievement right off the drawing board.

JF

[T-21]

Thanks John and others for all the information. The HP.115 was a shy aeroplane that did not get the limelight, but was well designed and flew very well as a test aircraft.

[stockdam]

An SC1 can be seen at the Transport Museum at Cultra just outside of Belfast.