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Aviation History
1913
1913 - 0217.PDF
FEBRUARY 22, 1913. carrying of an extra passenger. The pilot's seat is arranged behind the passenger in such a position that he has a very good view of all that is going on around him. He controls the machine by means of a vertical wheel mounted at the head of a column jointed so that it may be rocked to and fro. By pushing the whetl from him or by pulling it towards him he can make the machine descend or I/G22ZI " Flight " Copyright. The 80-h,p. Short tractor hydro-biplane. ascend : by 'rotating the wheel he controls the lateral balance. The rudder is connected by a pivoted foot bar on which his feet rest. That the engine may be set in motion without any necessity for the occupants descending from their seats, a starting handle is fitted in the passenger's cockpit. The writer noticed at the Paris operated from the pilot' seat, by means of which each cylinder may be given its priming of petrol prior to the motor being swung by the passenger. The main tank is stored on the floor of the body at the approximate centre of pressure of the machine, and from there it is supplied to a service tank under the cowl of the motor by a small wind-driven automatic pump. Enough fuel is carried for a flight of six hours. -• • - • The planes span 48 ft. and 30 ft. respectively. They have a chord measurement of 5 ft. and are separated by twelve stream lined steel struts. Ash, of H section, is used for the front spar, whereas the back spar, of the same material, is roughly of rect angular section. The ribs are of spruce, and their construction is such that it is almost impossible for them to split. Lateral balance it controlled by ailerons fitted to the top plane on either side of the machine. The extensions are supported by steel tubes. Float construction.—Two long catamaran-type floats are con nected to the body of the machine by stout steel struts. These floats are not stepped—they are simply plain pontoons. They are separated at a sufficient distance to give the machine a good notational base, but should the machine be inclined to tip sideways for any reason while floating, the tips of the lower plane are guarded by subsidiary floats mounted on them. These latter floats are illustrated by one of our sketches. They are made up in cylindrical form from canvas, with a skeleton of strip steel inside, so that should they become punctured they will still retain their shape- There is also a small float fitted to the tail. The floats of the 80-h.p. Short hydro-biplane. 1 Flight " Copyright. Aero Salon that many hydro-aeroplanes fitted with Gnome engines had similar self-starting devices, but at the same time he wondered how they could possibly be of any use, for it is a well known thing that unless a Gnome motor is primed with petrol in each cylinder no amount of swinging over will get it to fire. On the Short machine, however, the constructors have fitted a petrol injector, The tail is non-lifting and of conventional type. In order that the machine may be steered readily at slow speeds on the water the air rudder works in conjunction with a water rudder. This Short tractor hydro-biplane, an excellent sample of careful design and construction throughout, has a maximum flying speed of 65 miles per hour. MESSRS. VICKERS, LTD. They are represented by two exceedingly businesslike looking machines, an 80-h.p. Gnome engined monoplane and a military biplane equipped with one of the new 60-80-h.p. Wolseley aero motors. For some three years now has this noted firm had in operation an aviation department under the direction of Capt. H. F. Wood, himself a pilot of no mean order. Their designer, Mr. Archibald R. Low, M.A., who is responsible for the diawings of the two machines exhibited, is also an experienced pilot. Both the monoplane and the biplane shown may to all intents and purposes be considered as all-steel machines, for wood only enters into their construction for the shaping of the ribs, for the landing skids, and for the filling pieces by which the tubular struts are brought up to streamline section. The 80-h.p. Vickers Two-seater Monoplane.—This mono plane is of the same type as the one which, fitted with a 70-h.p. stationary Viale motor, put up such praiseworthy flights at the time of the Military Aeroplane Competitions in August last. The identical machine shown, driven by a 70-h.p. Gnome motor, has done upwards of 500 miles in the air at the Vickers private flying ground at Erith, piloted by the late Mr. Leslie Macdonald and by their present pilot instructor, Mr. Barnwell. Its body is an all-steel structure, built lattice girder fashion, with light tubular longitudinals and tubular cross members. They are assembled by means of welded steel sockets, the joints being after wards sweated together and pinned. At the front end the four longitudinals meet in a flat upright plate, which serves as one of the " Flight' Copyright. The 80-h.p, Vickers monoplane- mounting p'ates of the motor. Further support for the motor is provided by a stout flanged plate arranged some little distance behind the front cap. Seats are provided for the pilot and passenger side by side, and there are transparent wind shields 223
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