FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0125.PDF
FEBRUARY 19, 1910. THE NEW ARMY WHEN referring in our issue of January 15th to -the •developments at the Army Balloon Factory, we hinted that the big shed there housed something more than the little experimental " Baby " airship, and the truth of this was revealed on Saturday, when the few people whose business took them to Farnborough Common were sur prised to see the doors of the big shed roll back, and a new airship issue forth. In shape, the envelope is some what reminiscent, as will be seen from our photographs, |/yGHT) The new Army Airship, as seen from below, showing the shape o£ the planes and rudder. •of the craft built at the Astra works in France, except that there are only two external ballonettes or flukes placed one on each side. It is 154 ft. overall, while the capacity is 70,600 cubic ft. The car, 84 ft. in length, is also similar in design to those used on the " Astra " airships, and is a structure of steel and hickory. The motor is an 80-100-h.p. Green, placed transversely, and driving two pairs of double-bladed propellers, of 8 ft. 10 in. in diam., one set on each side of the car, with the axis of the propeller-shaft so arranged that it can be adjusted to any inclination to enable the pro- $ ® STRINGFELLOW'S MODEL WE learn from Mr. C. H. M. A. Alderson that the historic relics of the famous Stringfellow model are about to be used for the purpose of reconstructing a replica of the original machine for exhibition in the South Kensington Museum. Such an eminently suitable way of preserving the remnants of what there is every reason to suppose was the first model to actually fly under its own power, does credit to the authorities who have the matter in hand, and is, moreover, a fitting appreciation of the parts played by Mr. Patrick Y. Alexander and the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, through whose generosity and influence these links with the past are now preserved to the nation. Some idea of what the Stringfellow model was like may be judged from one of the accompanying photographs, for which we are also indebted to Mr. Alderson. The machine was a monoplane, and was built by J. Stringfellow, of Chard, Somersetshire, in the year 1848. The wings had a span of about 10 ft. and a maximum chord of 2 ft., so that the aspect ratio was at least 5. According to the accompanying photograph the wings in plan form DIRIGIBLE. pellers to assist in elevating the airship or vice versa. This, of course, is an entirely new idea in. a dirigible, although M. BleViot has a patent covering the appli cation of a similar arrangement to aeroplanes. Except for the envelope, which was built of German material in France, the new dirigible is entirely British built. It will be seen from our photographs that two sets of triangular elevating planes are fitted, one at each end of the car, and that steering is effected by a large rudder, while a stabilising plane is fixed beneath the after end of the envelope. The airship was towed out of its shed on Saturday by a squad of engineers, and was promptly dubbed "Yellow Peril," on account of the bright colour of the envelope, but the official designation of this latest addition to the Army equipment is " Dirigible No. HA." As soon as everything was ready, Col. J. E. Capper and Lieut. Waterlow took their places on the forward platform, while Mr. McQuade and Mr. Green stepped into the " engineer's cabin." After giving the engine a preli minary run to see that all was in order, the word was given to cast off, and the airship rose to a height of about 500 feet. She manoeuvred at this elevation for some time, and then, on some ballast being discarded, rose to 1,500 to 2,000 feet, and then carried out numerous evolutions over Laftan's Plain. Eventually, after being aloft about 50 mins., the descent was safely made on the Common, just by the balloon factory. Throughout its trials the new vessel behaved satisfactorily, as far as could be judged " from the land," and, of course, no details as to the results have been officially published. ® ® TO BE RECONSTRUCTED. appear to be elliptical, with pointed extremities. The tail measured about 1 ft. 10 in. span by 3 ft. 6 in. chord, and had an area of about 5 sq. ft. A small steam engine, which has recently been discovered and presented to the Museum by Sir John Heathcoat Amory, was used to drive two 16-inch diameter 4-bladed propellers, and constituted the motive power of the machine. In addition to this model Stringfellow also constructed a triplane, and was probably the first to make use of superposed surfaces. This model was exhibited at the first aerial exhibition held by the Aeronautical Society at the Crystal Palace in the year 1868, and is therefore not only a very interesting memento of aviation in the last century, but is also a very striking illustration of the long record that stands to the credit of the oldest institution associated with flight—the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain. Collaborating with Stringfellow at an earlier date Henson built a model with a 20 ft. span and a chord of 3 ft. 6 ins. that had a weight of from 28 to 30 lbs. and 12.1
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
