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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0751.PDF
JULY 4, 1918. THE CHEVRONS CIAJB. THE tremendous expansion of the fighting Services, conse-quent upon the war, has made manifest a great many needs, and particularly those connected with the well-being andcomfort of our fighting men. One of those needs, and by no means the most inconsiderable of them all, has been thatof comfortable quarters where men on leave can be sure of being able to secure the comforts of home at a reasonablecost. To fill the gap there have been established numerousclubs, especially in London', where all ranks of the new armies and the Navy can find decent accommodation at acost within the limits of their means. We have said all ranks, but it would have been more correct to say all rankswith the exception of the warrant and non-commissioned officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force. Of officers' clubsthere are many, quite apart from the older Service clubs ; while so far as the rank and file are concerned private enter-prise has provided numerous clubs and hostels where comfort at a moderate price is the rule. But until quite recentlyno one appeared to realise the existence of the warrant and non-commissioned officers of His Majesty's fighting Services,and nothing had been done for them. True, they were free to make use of the institutions provided for the men, but itseemed to have escaped attention that the same questions of discipline obtain within the four walls of a club as in shipsand barracks, and that, therefore, warrant and non-com- missioned officers who elected to make use of them did sounder a marked disability. i 4The' initial difficulty has now been got rid of by the institu- tion of the Chevrons Club, which is open to warrant officers,petty officers and non-commissioned officers of the Navy, Army and Air Force. It is under the most excellent auspices.His Majesty the King is Patron of the Club. The joint Presidents are Field-Marshal Lord French, Admiral SirRosslyn Wemyss and Major-General Sykes. Excellent premises have been opened in St. George's Square, close toVictoria Station, with a large number of comfortable bed- rooms and recreation rooms, while there are tennis courtsavailable, and arrangements have been made with the com- mittee of Lord's for the cricketing members and visitors ofthe Club to play on the St. Jahn's Wood ground without any payment beyond the ordinary membership subscription tothe Chevrons Club, and as that is the purely nominal one of five shillings a year it is clear that membership carries agood many advantages for a very small payment. Un- doubtedly the Club will fill a very pronounced gap in thearrangements for men on leave in London. It has already become a popular institution among warrant and non-com-missioned officers of all three Services, and will undoubtedly become more so as its existence and scope become betterknown, to which end on page 748 appear some photo- graphs of the Club-rooms, &c. • •:' . . • SOME OUTSTANDING PROBLEMS By Dr. DURAND. [.Continued from page 714.) IN AERONAUTICS. Variable Wing Area or Variable Wing Chamber.To mention only one of the many remaining problems which are connected with the design and construction of the aero-plane itself, a word may be said with regard to the problem of variable wing area. Broadly speaking, the ideal aero-plane should be able to change its wing area in accordance with the conditions and circumstances of flight. For ease ingetting off the ground at a moderate speed, for ease in landing likewise at a moderate or low speed, there is need of a rela-tively large area of wing or supporting surface. For the attainment of high speed, reduced wing areas are needed,and are furthermore sufficient for the support of the weight at such high speeds. The supporting force gained by a givenform of aeroplane wing depends on the area, the speed and the angle of attack, and there will be some combination bestfo r each set of conditions. To meet these conditions, varying -, from time to time throughout the course of a flight, a correla-tive variation in wing area is needed. To some extent the same ends may be met by changing the camber or curvatureand form of the fore and aft section of the wing. Thus, when the camber or fore and aft curvature is increased, the formwill be more suitable for landing at a reduced speed,,while with curve flattened and camber reduced, the form will morereadily favour trie attainment of relatively high speed. The problem of an adjustable wing, either as to extent ofarea or camber or both, is a favourite one with students of aeronautics and we may hope for some measure of usefuland practical solution. Thus far, of the many devices and forms proposed, none has so far fully justified itself as analtogether satisfactory and practical solution of the problem. Motive Power.Passing now to the motive power and its application to the propulsion of the aeroplane, a most interesting and importantseries of problems challenges our attention. Only the more important can be noted here. Fuel.One of the most important of these is that of fuel. What is to be the future fuel for the aeroplane, or for aerial navigationin its wider aspects ? How long will our stores of crude petro- leum oil from which we now obtain our petrol or essence orgasoline, as it is variously termed, continue to furnish this all-important element in the present programme of powerdevelopment ? Doubtless th#re are large stores of petroleum oils yet undiscovered, but we may safely assume that we areusing up a supply in the nature of a bank deposit. We are using our principal and not living on the interest. So faras we know, nature is npt now engaged in making for us petroleum oils, certainly not in any propcrtion to our rate ofexpenditure. To such a general programme of consumption, there is, of course, but one end, ultimate exhaustion. Thisis, of course, only one phase of the overshadowing menace which the modern social and industrial world must face some timewhen ou*r present supply of carbon and hydrocarbon fuels begins to become exhausted, unless indeed we develop or discover in the meantime some other source of energy whichwill adequately take their place. This is perhaps a question which need not seriously concern the present generation,but when we take a long look ahead—a look for example as that covered by the development of Europe from the days ofthe Caesars or even from the time of, say, Galileo—we may realise with startling emphasis the need of foresight withregard to a source of energy adequate to the world s demands. Various ages have been designated as of stone, bronze, &c.The present might well be designated as that of natural energy. Our entire civilisation, in a material sens*, restsupon the utilisation of sources of natural energy which are not inexhaustible, and which are, in fact, becoming exhausted,in some cases, with menacing rapidity. In the meantime we must, and presumably we shall, make some shift to tapefficiently other sources now known, or we may haply discover sources which to-day lie beyond nur present vision. A long look ahead for aerial navigation therefore shows thatif the present line of development is to continue, there will be a serious problem to be met sometime, and that perhaps beforemany decades—the problem of a fuel suited to the needs of aeronautic prime movers, at a time, when present petroleumsources will no longer yield the supply which we now accept» and use with so little thought for the morrow. But withregard to the question of fuels, we need not go so far afield as to look into the coming decades for interesting and importantproblems. Perhaps the one most pressing for present solu- tion is the question of what is the best fuel for the modernaviation engine, having in view the three equirements—power economy, with reliability and durability. Out of the exigenciesof the present war have come many serious and extended re- searches relating to the problems of military aviation, and ofthese none is perhaps of greater significance regarding the future of commercial aviation than the studies which havebeen made regarding aviation fuels. While matters relating to the problems of military aeronautics must be spoken ofwith much reserve, it will perhaps be permissible to say before this audience that from these studies three principal resultsseem to have been rather definitely established. These are :— (a) As between the various grades of aviation motor iuels whichhave been used during recent years, and comprising a rather wide range of composition and of physical and technicalcharacteristics, there is but little to choose from the standpoint of power or economy alone. This assumes, of course, that thefuel is a genuine motor fuel and the results regarding power or economy relate to an assumed period of effective operationunder such fuel. It must not, however, be assumed that there are ho differences in power or economy traceable tothe fuel employed, for such is far from being the case. It is. however, within the limits of reasonable statement to say thatsuch differences are relatively small, and under most circum- stances would not, of themselves, constitute a determining orcontrolling factor, (b) As between such motor fuels marked differences do seem to be indicated as regards their influenceon the life and reliability of the motor, especially on long time 749
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