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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0172.PDF
MARCH 27, 1909. FLYERS AT OLYMPIA. IN the following paragraphs the flyers on view at Olympia are described separately, their salient features being pointed out, and an explanation being given of the purpose for which such leading details have been devised. In a future article we purpose taking these features collectively in order to compare them. No attempt, therefore, has been made this week to introduce com- parisons into the descriptions themselves. In an accom- panying table we have summarised the leading data relating to these machines, and have included, in addition to the selling price, a column to indicate whether or no any guarantee is offered to the purchaser, and it is perhaps not the least remarkable feature of this first British Show that practically every constructor was cheerfully willing to commit himself in this respect, most of them stating that the flights accomplished would be to the satisfaction of the purchaser before he need take delivery. In other cases a definite distance was agreed upon, as, for instance, with the Rep monoplane, for the demonstration of which, however, the buyer must journey to M. Pelterie's aero- drome at Buc, in France. A notable exception in this matter of guarantee is that of Short Brothers, who, while declining to guarantee what they have not yet tested personally, are nevertheless quite prepired to make re- ciprocal arrangements with the purchaser of a thoroughly sporting character. FLYERS AT OLYMPIA. Name and Exhibitor. a a.1 3 Cfi; CD *;• Engine. Make. I if Biplanes. Short Howard Wright Voisin (Simms) Voisin (M.-Brabazon) Delagrange (Mass) ... PischorT(Windham)... Breguet (Stenbury) ...! Weiss (H. Page) Rep (Bessler-W.) Lam plough ... De la Hault (Miesse) ft. 40,520 401620 33J537 1,100 I,IOO lbs. 360 Green Metallurgique Simms 33 537,1,2501 E.N.V.J3 537,1,100 35 4954051J 53O Antoinette Dutheil-C. 1,120 Gobron Monoplanes. B 1341150; 360 Anzani F :32|i55i 792 Rep... Special .Types. B 156920 1,200 Green Be I—i — 1,680 Miesse Remarks. 30 4 60 4 50 6 80 8 50 8 45 4 75 8 12 *1 1,200 S 95o 3 650 1,000 500 30 7 1,400! I 50:411,000; S 130 8Ji,200; — Country of Origin.—B = British ; F = French. Be = Belgian. Guarantee.-—S = Flight to satisfaction of purchaser. * 25 mins. Short.—Weight is for skeleton as exhibited. Special arrangements with purchaser re guarantee and price. Moore-Brabazon.—-Private exhibit of " The Bird of Passage." Weiss.—Guarantee of straight flight only. Rep.—Guarantee of circular flight at Buc, France. Lamplough.—Biplane with oscillating lifters. De la Hault.—Wings beat 80 per min. and give lifting effect with- out propulsion. " The Bird of Passage " (J. T. C. MOORE-BRABAZON). Such is the name which Mr. J. T. C. Moore Brabazon has given to his No. 4 flyer which, like its predecessors, was constructed by Voisin Freres in France. It is the actual machine with which Mr. Moore-Brabazon made his latest famous flights at Issy, and it is the only flyer in the Show that has actually flown ; incidentally, the mud on the wheels and chassis give the fact an air of practical reality. This particular flyer which is, of course, typical of the Voisin construction and to which our remarks about the Voisin machine exhibited by Mr. F. R. Simms therefore apply, happens to have been the first of the new pattern in which the distance between the main decks was increased from 1*5 metres to 2 metres. "The Bird of Passage " is equipped with an E.N.V. 8-cylinder engine which drives a twin-bladed propeller direct. The pilot sits in front of the engine in a rectangular car which projects forward to carry the elevator. Directly in front of him is a steering wheel like that on a motor car, but set on a horizontal spindle ; this wheel the pilot turns to steer and pushes bodily to and fro in order to ascend and descend. Voisin (F. R. SIMMS). The biplane exhibited by Mr. F. R. Simms, who has secured the sole concession for these machines in this country, is one of the standard Voisin machines and affords an excellent example of the Voisin system of con- struction. Next to the Wrights', the Voisin flyers have been the most successful which have yet taken their place in the air. The great feature of the Voisin system is, as our readers know, the use of a box-kite tail, carried by an outrigger framework some distance behind the main plane. This tail, which encloses the rudder, is itself employed for the purpose of giving automatic longi- tudinal stability, the idea being that the wind blowing on to the tail uses the leverage afforded by the outrigger framework to bring the machine once more on to an even keel. In front of the main planes is an elevator, and between the main planes there are fixed four vertical side curtains ; the car which carries the engine and the pilot is also covered with fabric. The Voisin machine is certainly a well-built job, and it has a number of constructional details of considerable interest, some of which may or may not, of course, stand the test of time. The main planes are single surfaced, and the decks are thus very thin and flexible, which causes the spars and libs to stand out rather prominently; each member is, however, encased in its own special bag. It is a feature of the Voisin design, possibly resulting from certain details of construction, that each main plane has an overhung flexible rear edge which can adjust itself to the air streams. The elevator in front, on the contrary, is rigid fore and aft, and has top and bottom surfaces, which are nearly two inches apart at the thickest point. All the struts of the Voisin machine are elliptical in section, and have sharp cutting and trailing edges ; they are neatly and rigidly mounted in aluminium sockets, which are bolted to the main spars. All the tension wires are adjustable. The machine is mounted on a two-wheeled chassis in front, and has a pair of small wheels under the tail; the suspension of the former is effected by long helical springs. Delagpange (MASS CARS). The Delagrange biplane as exhibited by the Mass Co. is a slightly modified Voisin machine; the modification consisting in the abolition of the four vertical side curtains which the Voisin machines proper employ between the two outer pairs of struts separating the main planes. In the machine shown, too, the distance 174
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