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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0259.PDF
MARCH 23, 1912. it is characterised by gracefulness of outline that would be difficult to excel, and this carries much weight with the lay observer, beside being also to the credit of the designer, for no one would wish to build an ungainly object to perform such a graceful art as aviation. It is in England that Mr. Flanders has obtained the whole of his experience in connection with aeroplane construction, but it is evident that he has, nevertheless, relied more on the creative power of his own mind for inspiration in his work than on the published descriptions of well-known foreign machines. Undoubtedly the most notable feature about the Flanders monoplane is the method of assembly of its respective sections. Up to the present, constructors have, in this type of machine, employed a girder-like body as the backbone of the machine, to which all other organs, such as wings and landing chassis have been directly attached. In the Flanders monoplane, however, the assembly of the various parts is further centralised by attaching such organs to what might be termed an inner fuselage. This inner fuselage is built about two horizontal stout ash bearers on which rests the main weight— that of the engine, the pilot, and the passenger. I/UGHTI many of those parts as can conveniently be located in its interior and of serving as a support for the tail unit. It is entirely covered in by fabric and shajied to a fair stream-line form. Of the customary box girder type of construction, its longitudinal mettfcen are of hickory in the front section of the machine and of a lighter wood, llondura> mahogany, to the rear. The transverse struts are of ash in the region of the engine and the tail, and between these two points silver spruce is employed. Quite original is the method of wire bracing as can lie seen from one of our sketches. The method is almost analogous to sewing the structure together. The body is perfectly symmetrical about its longitudinal axis, which is dead level in flight, and has a maximum depth of 3 ft. just in advance of the pilot's seat. In plan form the wings aie trapezoidal, both entering and trailing- edges tapering from 7ft. Sins, at the wing root to 5 ft. Sins, at the tip. Besides diminishing in chord measurement towards the tip, the wings also diminish in camber and angle of incidence. At the root the camber is pronounced, and the angle of incidence is 7 . At the tip the camber is nil, and the angl*,o! incidence is similarly nil The workmanship evident in the wing construction is of the highest order. Both front and rear spars are fashioned from English ash and are of 11 section. They are set parallel in the wing skeleton and united by thirteen 1 in. solid whitewood ribs, flanged top and bottom by strips of ash 1 in. by • Besides these solid > ribs a large Sketch showing general arrangement of the front section of the Flanders monoplane. To it the landing chassis is directly attached, so that the weight may be supported direct, and not via the main body of the machine. This system seems so fundamentally sound and eminently simple that it is rather surprising no one has adopted it before. Mounted nearly vertically at a point mid-way between the motor and the pilot and forming a unit with the engine bearers is a massive wooden mast, from each end of which the wings are braced, from the bottom to take the weight of the machine in flight, from the top to support the wings when at rest. Thus the functions of the main body, relieved of most of the stresses resulting from flying and landing, are merely those of forming a stream-line casing to contain as Sketch illustrating the Flanders method of cross bracing. number of false ribs and longitudinal stringers of silver spruce are employed to give the fabric an efficient support. The dihedral angle is 3". In flight the weight is sustained from each wing by three steel ribbons proceeding from the landing chassis to the front spar and by three stranded steel cables connected to the rear spar. These latter also operate the warping for lateral balance, a maximum deflection of 9 in. of the rear spar being allowed. The landing-chassis is of the whcel-and-central-skid type. The wheels are mounted to the steel columns forming the sides of the rectangular chassis skeleton by tubular-steel forks, comprising two The Flanders monoplane, three-quarter front view. The general arrangement of the landing chassis is clearly seen. 259 C
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