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Aviation History
1916
1916 - 0054.PDF
AN AMERICAN FURTHER details are now to hand regarding the Sturtevant biplane, of which a photograph appeared in our last issue. From the following details, which are given in our American contemporary Aerial Ags, it will be seen that it is proposed to mount two guns, one on each side of the fuselage:— " On December 12th remarkable flights made at Read- Front view of the Sturtevant Battle biplane showing the gun "turrets" mounted on either side of the body. ville, Mass., by one of the U.S. Army expert aviators, re vealed to the public for the first time that a notable development in aviation had quietly been made by the Sturtevant Aeroplane Company under the direction of Mr. Grover C. Loening, B.Sc, M.A., C.E., former Aero nautic Engineer of the U.S. Army, author of ' Military Aeroplanes ' and other important technical works. " As the accompanying illustrations show, the Sturtevant Battle-plane is a biplane of tractor type built with re markable simplicity and with studied attention to efficiency. " There are many novel features, including the steel construction, the placing of gun turrets on either side of the central bodv, the elimination of wires, the general View showing the tail plane and construction of the elevators of the Sturtevant Battle biplane. streamline construction which has been canied as far as to having even the cables and turnbuckles in streamline. The span of the machine is 50feet, the length 25 feet; it has a total area of 700 square feet of wing surface. JANUARY 20, 1916. BATTLE-PLANE, " It is interesting to note that the machine was com pletely designed before construction, and extensive aero dynamic tests were made of the model of this machine by Naval Constructor Jerome C. Hunsaker, in charge of the Aeronautical Engineering course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which gave excellent information on the stability and controllability of the machine. Constructed as designed, the machine actually did more than was anticipated. " In the Sturtevant Battle-plane the single motor tractor that has been puzzling aviation experts is made into a simple effective fighter, by the novel idea of placing a gun turret on either side of the body, as shown in the illustrations, a development which, though obviously simple, nevertheless required considerable effort to work out satisfactorily. These gun turrets, in each of which a gunner observer is located, are placed out on the wings, with an excellent clear view ahead and below and a range for gun fire on all sides, with the added advantage that two guns can be concentrated forward with deadly effect. In addition to that a broadside of both guns can be obtained by tilting the machine laterally, a feature which for a long time escaped attention of aviation experts. " It is true that in the two motor machines there is a View of the body of the Sturtevant Battle biplane showing the steel construction. small degree of safety in having one motor still running when the other has been hit, so it is equally true that in the new Sturtevant Battle-plane a gunner is still hitting away when the other has been disabled. " Due to the better load distribution, the safety factor of this new machine has been shown by tests to be 12 times the flying load. Another feature which is novel is that the gun turrets are readily removable, so that by decreasing the head resistance and the load, the same machine is interchangeable into a high speed, scouting type with great excess power for climbing and cruising radius of over 500 miles. " Very little data on the performances of this machine are disclosed by the manufacturer, but it is said to have a gasoline capacity of almost 150 gallons, sufficient for 12 hours' flight and to carry a total live load of over 1,200 pounds. The efficiency of this new machine is said to be considerably higher than has been previously attained in this country, due to having all the wires and fittings ' streamlined' (made torpedo shape to reduce head resistance). This, however, is a development that has come to be standard practice abroad. " It is interesting to note that the gun turrets could be used for carrying mail, and measuring 2 ft. wide by 7 ft. long, they could carry over 24 cub. ft. of mail. One of 54
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