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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 0755.PDF
AUGUST 17, 1912. [/QCHfJ THE MERSEY MONOPLANE. THIS extremely interesting monoplane, which, unhappily, was wrecked at Salisbury Plain on Tuesday evening last and which was contributory to the sad death of its designer and constructor, Mr. R. C. Fenwick, was purely an experimental machine, and had passed through a variety of modifications. The keystone of the design was that the propeller had been arranged behind the pilot and passenger while the engine had been retained in front. In this manner it rendered the machine particularly applicable to military use, for the absence of the propeller in front made observation much more easy and rendered possible the use of a gun pointing forwards. In our opinion it embodied the germ of an idea that was well worthy the time spent to evolve it, but in some ways we considered the constructive details to be a little of the makeshift order, especially as regards the tail trussing. This was a point that we had discussed with Mr. Fenwick a few days previously. He told us that he had tested the strength of that section of the machine, by hanging alman to the extreme end of the tail and lifting him clear of the ground.by the manipulation of the elevator in the slip stream from :the propeller. It had withstood that test perfectly, but he was not entirely satisfied and meant to modify it in his next machine. This, however, by the way, for the direct cause of the accident has not yet been definitely established. The central section of the design was a bluff streamline body 7 ft. in length, in which the pilot and passenger sat side by side. Between them ran the propeller-shaft that connected the motor, a 45-h.p. Isaacson, bolted to the front of the body, to the propeller at the rear. The propeller revolved at half engine speed. The chord dimension of the wings was also 7 ft., and they proceeded outwards from each side of the body without any dihedral angle, spanning 35 feet. Steel spars were used in their construction, and they were " Flight" Copyright The Mersey monoplane, fitted with a 45-h.p. Isaacson engine, at the Army Competitions. 755
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