Author Archives: Jin-Hyun Yu

December Lecture 2016

From Flying Dreadnought to Dogfighter

Thursday 8th December 2016

Lecture Starts at 7.30 pm
Mulled wine and Mince pies to follow after lecture.

Speaker: Greg Baughen, Aviation Author

Location: Lecture Theatre ‘0’, Cambridge University Engineering Department, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ.

Lecture Synopsis

Long before the first shots were fired in the Great War, army generals knew that aircraft were going to play a crucial role in future wars. They also realised that some way of shooting down enemy planes had to be found.   Designers and engineers were soon struggling to find a way of doing this. In this talk, Greg Baughen describes the story behind British efforts to overcome the problems. Inspired by the Royal Navy’s dreadnoughts, the Royal Flying Corps planned to rule the skies with their own aerial battleships.  It was an approach that proved to be a mistake and would delay the development of the single-seater fighters that were needed to challenge the German Fokkers and Albatroses. The Pup, Camel and S.E.5a eventually emerged and helped save the day, but the battleship fighter was never abandoned completely. Even at the end of the war, there were still plans to develop them and the concept would continue to influence British fighter design long after the First World War.

November Lecture 2016

Operating the Antonov 124 – Rising to Logistic Challenges

Thursday 10th November 2016

Light Refreshments served from 7.00 pm
Lecture Starts at 7.30 pm

Speaker: Vlad Vyshemirsky, Cargo Logic Air.

Location: Lecture Theatre ‘2’, Cambridge University Engineering Department, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ.

Lecture Synopsis

Operating a fleet of Antonov 124 and the many abnormal loads which come with that is incredibly challenging. Vlad Vyshemirsky will present a history of this amazing aircraft intertwined with stories of his experiences as loads master for Volga Dnepr. A must not miss lecture with a real unique opportunity to hear from someone with so much experience and knowledge of the aircraft.

The air cargo industry has come a long way since Philip Orin Parmelee piloted the first ever cargo flight across a distance of 65 miles between Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, on 7 November 1910. Onboard was a cargo of 200 pounds of silk for the opening of a new store.

Today, airlines deliver more than 51 million tonnes of goods a year, representing more than 35% of global trade by value but less than 1% of world trade by volume. This is the equivalent to $6.8 trillion worth of goods annually or $18.6 billion worth of goods every day carried in the bellyholds of passenger aircraft or onboard conventional freighters.

For many years, however, manufacturers and distributors of big, outsize and heavyweight products were unable to benefit from the speed, reliability and security offered by air cargo because their goods simply did not comply with conventional aircraft design. Their only option remained long road journeys or slow and often unpredictable sea crossings. This all changed in 1990 with the arrival of the Antonov An-124-100 in the commercial transport market, a move that has since reduced end-to-end delivery times for big, complex cargoes from weeks to a matter of hours.

Volga-Dnepr Group operates the world’s largest fleet of An-124 freighters, the former Soviet military transport aircraft equipped with front and back loading ramps, onboard cranes and winches that make it virtually self sustaining. It also has the ability to ‘kneel down’ to simplify the loading of long, large and heavyweight cargoes for industries such as aerospace, oil&gas, power & energy and heavy construction.

This presentation will look at the unique operating capabilities of the An-124-100 in comparison to other large transport aircraft, focusing on its original design and methods of loading and unloading. It will highlight the types of cargoes that rely on the aircraft to meet urgent or timely delivery deadlines around the world and focus on projects in the aerospace and oil&gas sectors as well as its vital role supporting global humanitarian missions.

Branch Visit – November 2016

Branch Visit to Vulcan to the Sky Trust at Robin Hood Airport on Wednesday 9th November 2016

The next branch visit will be by coach to see Vulcan XH558 & Canberra WK163 at the former RAF Finningley near Doncaster.  The visit will include presentations on and tours of both aircraft and a buffet lunch.  While the Vulcan has now been retired from flying, Canberra WK163, which broke the world altitude record in 1957 as the Napier Scorpion rocket engine testbed, is being restored for flight in 2018 to celebrate the Centenary of the Royal Air Force.

Booking forms are available here;
Nov 2016 Booking Form PDF
Nov 2016 Booking Form WORD