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Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0564.PDF
THE "WIGHT AMONG the ever-increasing number of British seaplanes, few have met with greater success than have Wight sea planes designed by Mr. Howard T. Wright and built by Messrs. J. Samuel White and Co., Ltd., of Cowes. The excellent performances of these machines are somewhat apt to escape the notice that they certainly merit, since they are at present built for the British and foreign navies only and their flights in public have been limited to trial nights and delivery tests. There is no lack of recognition by our own and foreign governments, how ever, and several of these machines have already been delivered, whilst sufficient orders have been received to keep the firm very busy indeed for a long time to come. One of these machines was, it will be remembered, exhibited at the last Olympia Aero Show when it caused considerable interest owing to its many original features. Most notable among these are the unusually long floats, and the peculiar double ramber on the upper surface of the wings. It is undoubtedly chiefly due to this double camber that the machine possesses such a good speed range —from 789 miles per hour to about 35 m.p.h. with full load of fuel, wireless apparatus, pilot and passenger. The The ** Wight" seaplane alighting. This photograph gives a most marvellous point, however, does not so much lie in the speed range itself, although that is uncommonly good, but more in the attitude of the machine throughout the entire range of speeds. The main planes and the tail plane are so designed that as the speed of the machine increases, the lift of the tail plane increases at a different ratio from that of the main planes, in such a manner that, as the speed goes up, the angle of incidence of the main planes in relation to the horizontal decreases without necessitating use of the elevator. When the maximum speed has been reached, the main planes are flying at a negative angle of incidence of i°, whilst the tail plane has a negative angle of incidence of 4°. Any attempt to increase the speed beyond this point causes a top pres sure on the tail plane and the machine begins to climb. It will therefore be seen that it is possible to fly the machine simply by closing or opening the throttle with out using the elevator, as longitudinal stability is perfect under all speeds. The lateral stability is more difficult to explain, but is none the less pronounced. We had occasion recently to observe the machine in flight, and she appears to 99 SEAPLANE. bank up to the right degree in making a turn without any use of the ailerons, and when flying in a straight line, even on a windy day, the ailerons are rarely called into play. Excellent as is the behaviour of the machine in the air, her performances when on the sea are almost even more so. The long three-stepped floats leave the water in a perfectly clean manner, without the huge spray of water usually set up while a machine is gathering speed. The nose of the floats leaves the water first, then the first step, and so on, until gradually the whole of the floats leave the water without any jerk whatever. When starting for a flight in a rough sea, the long narrow floats plough their way through the waves without causing the machine to rise and sink with the swell. Alight ing on the water is effected by throttling down the engine until a sufficiently low flying speed has been obtained to allow of settling down on the surface of the sea gently and without shock. One of the accompanying photographs shows in a most striking manner the clean wake of the floats under these con ditions. When taxying on the surface of the sea the good idea of the small wake set up by the long narrow floats. machine answers her rudder beautifully, and it is possible to make a complete circle of only about 30 ft. diameter. With a full load including fuel, wireless apparatus, pilot and passenger, the machine reaches an altitude of 3,000 ft. in i\ mins., and recently experiments were made with an additional load of 400 lbs., with which the machine reached 3,000 ft. in 13^ mins. By sacrificing the low starting and alighting speed, a much greater load could be carried, but Mr. Howard Wright is— rightly we think—in favour of a machine possessing a wide speed range. ® ® ® ® The Progress of the Montrose Squadron. UP to the end of last week the officers of the Montrose Squadron of the R.F.C. who are flying south had reached Lincoln. Another stage was completed on Tuesday, when eight of the machines reached Chapel Brampton, near Northampton. The weather was very cold, and a snowstorm was encountered. The' officers who made the trip were Major Burke, Capt. Todd, Capt. Dawes, Capt. Waldron, Lieut. Harvey-Kelly, Lieut. Dawes, Lieut. Corballis and Lieut. Martyn. Last week Capt. Waldron and Lieut. Harvey- Kelly returned to Montrose, and started on the afternoon of the 19th inst. to fly south on two fresh machines to replace those damaged at York.
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