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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0070.PDF
ANUARY 17, ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE U.K. OFFICIAL THE FLYING SERVICES FUND, administered by THE ROYAL JAERO CLUB. THE Flying Services Fund has been instituted by the RoyalAero Club for the benefit of officers and men of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps who areincapacitated on active service, and for the widows and dependants of those who are killed. The fund is intended for the benefit of all ranks, butespecially for petty officers, non-commissioned officers and men. NOTICES TO MEMBERS. Forms of application for assistance can be obtained from theRo?al Ae?o Club, 3. Clifford Street, New Bond Street, London, W. 1. Subscriptions. Total subscriptions received to Jan. 1st, 1918 W. Murray.. Staff and Workers of Gwynnesfourth contribution) 12,526 12 10 100 Ltd. (fifty- Total, January 15 th, 1918 10 15 4 13.538 8 2H. E. PERRIN, Secretary. 3, Clifford Street, New Bond Street, W. T. R. J.T-L. (Dudley).—There is such a thing as an " aerialtorpedo." The term conveys the impression of a projectile carrying some means for propulsion, and such weapons havebeen invented and, we believe, tried. In the raid reports of the lay press, however, the term is frequently used and, itshould be pointed out, misused. What is referred to in these reports is generally a somewhat elongated bomb, which doesnot, however, carry any means of propulsion after being released, being propelled solely by gravity, E. I. R. (Edinburgh).—In any twin-engined aeroplane thereis always the possibilty of one engine developing slightly more power than the other. If the difference is so great as tocause a sensible turning moment, this can be corrected in two ways. For instance, the rudder or rudders may be putover slightly to prevent the machine from turning. This constant ruddering will have the effect, smaller or greateraccording to the magnitude of the tendency to turn, of slow- ing down the machine somewhat. The other alternativereferred to consists in throttling down the engine developing the greater power until the two engines develop the samepower. This also will naturally have a tendency to slow down the machine, and the question then is which of the twomethods gives the best result. Probably throttling down one engine will be found to be, in the majority of cases, the betterway, as it has the advantage of relieving the pilot of the Strain of constant ruddering. From your rough sketch wecannot identify the type of machine that it is meant to repre- sent. The book referred to is not, we think, available for thegeneral public, but only to officers of the Air Force. . A. B. (Putney).—When flying in a cloud which obscures thehorizon, it is very difficult for a pilot to tell whether or not his machine is on an even keel. It is true that he willbi ableto tell from his speed indicater whether he is flying level or along a sloping path, but if at the same time the machine ismaking a turn, this is difficult to " feel," as it may be very slight. The compass should, theoretically, indicate a turn, butwhat frequently happens is this : A machine enters a cloud and the pilot watches his compass and speed indicator to seeif he is keeping on his course. He then notices that the compass needle begins to move, and rudders in the oppositedirection to check the turn. As he can see nothing except his machine, the horizon being invisible through the cloud* he is very apt to over-correct, with the result that the machine begins to turn the other way. The rudder is then put over in the opposite direction, and very likely over-correction again occurs. In this way the machine swerves from side to side, each turn being accompanied by a bank. If this bank becomes steep the machine will probably get her nose down, and the speed indicator will register a high velocity. As the pilot may not be aware of the amount of bank, he will instinctively pull his control lever towards him in order to pull the machine out of the nose dive. If the machine is steeply banked the elevators will not " flatten out " the machine, since they are in a position somewhere near the vertical and therefore act as rudders. The compass con- tinues to swing, and before long the pilot may not have the slightest idea of what is really happening to his machine, until he emerges from the cloud. So far as we are aware, there is no book published dealing, in addition to the question of structural design, with details to the extent of the articles on German aeroplanes that have appeared in " FLIGHT " from time to time. " The design of Aeroplanes," by A. W. Judge, contains chapters on stresses in the main components, such as spars, ribs, &c, but does not deal with the design of fittings and similar small details. W. R. H. D. (N.Z. Engineers).—The question of triplane efficiency was dealt with in an article by J. Hunsaker, pub- lished in " FLIGHT " of November 23rd, 1916, a copy of which can be obtained from our offices, the price being 6d. This article will probably furnish you with all the information you require. A. E. B. (Plumstead).—We have no reliable information regarding the speed of a Gotha, but should put it down as somewhere in the neighbourhood of 90 m.p.h. It is incon- ceivable that its speed could ever reach anything like 200 m.p.h., even on a dive with the engines running. The wings would probably fold back long before such a speed was reached. H.L. B. (Enfield).—(1) The engine fitted to the Sopwithtriplane was a 130 Clerget. (2) We are not permitted to publish details of the performance of this machine. (3) Thismachine is an imaginary one. (4) 350 Rolls-Royce. More Flax to be Grown. AT the request of the Flax Control Board, the Board ofAgriculture will endeavour to make arrangements for an extension of the cultivation of flax in this country during1918, and for dealing with the resulting crop. For this pur- pose the Board have constituted, temporarily, a specialbranch, entitled the Flax Production Branch, and have ap- pointed Mr. W. Gavin to be Director of Flax Production,Mr. Alfred Wood, F.C.A., Secretary to the British Flax and Hemp Growers' Society, to be Assistant Director, and Dr. J.Vargas Eyre to be Technical Adviser. The Board have further appointed the following committeeto1 assist the Board in the carrying out of such extended measures of flax production as requirements arising from thewar may render necessary :— Mr. P. Middleditch (Chair-man) Mr. W. Norman BoaseMr. H. I. Bo wring Mr. J. G. CrawfordMr. H. E. Dale Capt. R. Williams EllisMr. R. Foster Mr. W. GavinMr. A. G. Gould Mr. P. Guedalla Mr. A. G. Lupton Mr. James Mackie Dr. R. S. Morrell Mr. W. M. Oliver Mr. Wyatt Paul Mr. C. Coltman Rogers Mr. W. S. Sykes Mr. T. A. Wilson Mr. A. E. Wheeler Mr. Alfred Wood has been appointed secretary to theCommittee. The address'of the Flax Production Branch is 14, Vic-toria Street, London, S. W. 1. 66
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