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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0273.PDF
APRIL I, 1911. IfLlGHT THE ROE TRIPLANE. GOING back into the early days before flying was popular and practical encouragement mostly conspicuous by its absence in England, the figure of A. V. Roe stands out in a kind of forlorn loneliness that is peculiarly British. Inspired by the conviction of the great future of flight, energised by the enthusiasm of the true pioneer, but handicapped always by lack of the wherewithal to do the thing properly, Roe struggled laboriously to achieve what, nowadays, is an almost ordinary accomplishment. Even to-dav, however, An to the biplane formation, originated by Chanute, that is*so popular to-day. The three-decker built with the monoplane type body is, as may be seen by the accompanying illustra tions, by no means an ungainly machine, and it is at least interesting that its outstanding feature, which is the com bination of the monoplane body with multiplane wings, has already found its way into general biplane construction, and characterises one or two of the prominent machines at Olympia this year. General view of the Roe trlplane from in front. Flight " Copyright. he is still original in his ideas, and his firm build the only triplane on the world's market. Regarded purely from a commercial standpoint it is possibly a pity that the Avro- plane, as Roe called his machine long before it would fly, did not belong to one of the more popular types, for popularity is the greatest of all commercial assets these days, whether as a matter of business or pleasure. On the other hand there is nothing so fickle as this aspect of fortune, and in the present struggle between the inherently fast monoplane and the evolved light biplane racer, it may yet be that the triplane shall come to its own. Fundamentally the problem of flight is to obtain the greatest supporting area for the least weight and the principle of superposed planes, so strongly advocated by such early pioneers as Wenham and Phillips, is by no means necessarily limited Not unnaturally the Roe triplane has undergone many modifications in design, but its present form is unquestionably the most shipshape, as it is likewise the best flyer. Originally a machine that was practically a tandem triplane was con structed, but the multiplane tail member gave place to a simple monoplane directive organ that carries none of the essential load. The system of control, too, is now more or less conventional, the tail member carrying a single plane vertical rudder between the two parts of the divided mono plane elevator that form hinged extensions on R rigid triangular tail. The elevator is operated by a to-and-fro motion of the steering column, while the rudder is controlled by a pivoted cross-bar forming a foot-rest. A steering wheel mounted at right angles to the axis of the pivoted column is the means of maintaining lateral balance by warping the wings, but it Rear view of the Roe triplane. 275 Flight" Copyright.
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