FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0728.PDF
fUGHT] AUGUST IO, 1912. THE MILITARY COMPETITIONS THE AVRO BIPLANE. THIS machine is one of the most remarkable of those flying at Salisbury, for the fact that it is the only one of the competition machines that allows the pilot and passenger to be totally enclosed and so completely protected from the rush of air. It is an interesting fact with this new Avro biplane that, with the side windows open the only wind felt is one which comes from the side when turning and banking. As will be seen by the photographs we publish this week, tint fuselage completely fills the gap between the main planes. It is approximately streamline in side elevation, and its section may be (represented by a tall vertical panel. The body is surprisingly narrow. Where the pilot and passenger sit it is only sufficiently wide to give them free movement. At the extreme front it is only 15 inches wide, a dimension which is obtainable by the use of a 60-h.p. vertical Green engine. The planes are identical with those fitted to the machine already supplied to the War Office. On the " all enclosed " biplane one deck is fitted to the extreme top of the fuselage, and the other to a point near the bottom. The warping wires pass from the top plane through slots in the lower, round a phosphor bronze four-grooved pulley attached to the end of the skid. It has been so arranged that a warp of eighteen inches at the wing tip is possible. The landing gear is admittedly of Nieuport pattern, but it has the refinements that rubber blocks are interposed between the skid and the chassis struts, and that the transverse leaf springs are fitted to the wheels in an improved manner. The military authorities, recognising this latter improvement, are, by the way, now fitting this type of spring attachment to their Nieuport monoplanes. Access to the interior of the body is obtained through triangular doors. A dashboard, on which are fitted all the instruments necessary for cross-country flying, is arranged to fill the whole space between the planes in front of the occupants. The latter are provided with safety belts. The rudder serves a double purpose. By being shod with iron and by being arranged to slide vertically up and down the rudder post against the action of a spring, it is made to serve as a rear skid, as well as to perform its usual function of directing the course of the machine. Main characteristics:— Overall length 30 ft. [Weight without Span 35 ft. 8 ins. | fuel • Speed 65 m.p.h. complement or 1,250 lbs. THE BREGUET BIPLANES. Born the Breguet biplanes met with misfortune in being got to Salisbury Plain. The one flown over by Moorhouse met with a contretemps at Ashford in Kent. The other started from London on Tuesday, July 30th, being conveyed on a trolley drawn by a steam tractor. At both Basingstoke and Andover, wheels gave out, while some time later one of the axles broke. These accidents, of course, occurred to the trolley, and when the biplane was examined at Lark Hill it was found not to be damaged in any way. The delay, how ever, had prevented it from being present while the assembling tests were in progress. Neither machine presents any very great difference from the customary Breguet design, excepting that the motors are fitted in a horizontal position, instead of a vertical, as heretofore. The drive to propeller, instead of being direct, has therefore to operate through a bevel which is geared down I to i*8. The propeller speed is about 720 revs, per minute. A point to notice is the system whereby the pilot may, if necessary, disconnect the passenger's control while in flight by means of a foot pedal. Brakes to assist in pulling up after landing are fitted. They are also operated by a foot pedal. It is possible to start the engine from the passenger's seat. Main characteristics :— Overall length 34 ft. Speed 72 m.p.h. Span 47 ft.! Weight without complement or Area 400 sq. ft.| fuel ... ... 1,300 lbs. THE BRISTOL MONOPLANES. THE monoplanes representing the Bristol firm in the Military Trials probably look more warlike than any other machines flying just now on Salisbury Plain. Their disc wheels and the amount of aluminium sheathing used in covering the front part of the machines gives them THE MACHINES. an armoured appearance, and the two little streamline stay-masts above, like miniature funnels complete the impression. Everything exposed to the relative wind has been shaped to decrease resistance. When flying they both have the appearance of four-seaters, owing to the resemblance, at a distance, of the streamlined stay-masts to passengers' heads. The body is of the lattice girder type, flat at the sides but belled out top and bottom with curved formers over which aluminium sheathing is applied. Pilot and passenger sit in tandem and are both provided with controls. In both cases an 80-h.p. Gnome motor of the Grand Prix type is fitted under an aluminium cowl which is designed to reduce the head resistance that the engine, unshielded, would cause. The efficient cooling of the engine is, apparently, not interfered with in the slightest. The wings are quite different in shape from those used on the former "Prier" type of Bristol monoplane. In the present machines the rear spar is longer than the front, a system that many constructors have resorted to of late by virtue of the fact that it is thus possible to obtain a more powerful warp. In the case of the Bristol monoplanes this is increased, owing to the flexible construction of the wings. The spars are virtually steel tubes filled with wood, and the ribs, instead of being directly connected to them, are threaded thereon. A new wing camber has also been adopted. The one at present used has a Nieuport type of entering edge, and a slightly turned-up trailing edge. On each side of the pilot's seat a section of the wing to the rear of the back spar has been cut away to allow of a better view being obtained. The warping wires are carried to and operated from a single mast beneath the fuselage. This mast is carefully shaped to avoid resistance, and the warping pulleys are similarly protected. The Bristol firm have, in these monoplanes, departed from their practice of employing a completely movable empennage. They now use a fixed stabilising plane with elevator flaps hinged to its rear edge. The landing gear strikes one as being particularly solid and efficient. Four exceedingly strong vertical struts connect the two horizontal skids to the body. At the rear these skids are laminated to form flexible extensions, which may assist the machine in coming to rest after landing. The struts themselves are not rigidly attached to the skids, but are joined thereto by a form of joint which relieves the fuselage of any kind of twisting strain which may result in landing. At the front ends of these straight skids are fitted short tusk-shaped organs, which carry a miniature pair of wheels, Cody fashion. Main characteristics:— Overall length 28 ft. Weight without complement or Span .. 40 ft. fuel 792 lbs. Area 242 sq. ft. Propeller Bristol Motor ... 80-h.p. Gnome THE CHENU-ENGINED COVENTRY ORDNANCE BIPLANE. THIS machine differs very little from the 100-h.p. Gnome-engined biplane that we described in these columns quite recently. The main point of difference, besides the fact that a 110-h.p. water-cooled Chenu motor is fitted instead of a ico-h.p. Gnome, is that the fuselage is much narrower, being designed to accommodate the pilot and passenger in tandem. The main dimensions, too, are consider ably smaller. A four-bladed propeller is employed. Main characteristics:— Overall length 32 ft.| Speed 68-70 m.p.h. Span ... ... ... 32 ft.I Weight without complement or Area 300 sq. ft.| fuel 1,250 lbs. THE MARTIN HANDASYDE MONOPLANE. IN general outline this machine has much in common with the well- known but now almost extinct Antoinette monoplane. At Salisbury it has created a very good impression, for not only are its general lines extremely pleasing to the eye, but the materials and workmanship used in its construction are of the very first order. Its main body, in appearance, is slim, but of its strength there is not the slightest doubt. Its section is that of a triangle with its apex clipped. Above the body in front is applied a streamline superstructure for the protection of pilot and passenger, and for the reduction of the head resistance that they would otherwise cause. A section of this superstructure is formed by the radiator which fits saddle fashion across the top of the body. Totally enclosed an 728 I
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
