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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 1487.PDF
more than local significance. London .""Coventry and - the North have had their share of these troubles, some of which looked grave at times, but were never- theless successfully smoothed away before they caused more than temporary inconvenience. That being so, we can agree to let bygones be bygones, simply con- tenting ourselves with the remark that we regret exceedingly that there have been a few units among labour which have done their test to give the whole a bad name. • • • From a technical point of view, the Technical prOgress made during the year that is just closing has been excellent. This applies not only to the aeroplanes themselves and their engines, but also to the production side of the question, which latter has progressed to such an extent that at no time during 1918 has our supremacy in the air been seriously in danger. Technically, and by that we mean the mechanical excellence of our engines, the structural and aerodynamical qualities of our machines, and the skill and daring of our pilots, we have never been behind the enemy, or at least not since the earlier part of the war. There have been times, it is true, when we have not had at the front a sufficient number of our latest and best types where- with to meet a concentration of the best enemy type of that time, but this has not been on account of any shortcomings in the machines we actually then possessed, but solely a matter of quantity production. It is gratifying to be able to state, that during 1918, the production in quantities has attained a standard which is on a level with the mechanical excellence of our planes and engines, so that this year has been marked by a decided supremacy all round, not only in quality, but also, as pointed out, in quantity. , •o. *. •*• . As regards the development of aero- Development engines< tn:is nas been marked during the year by an increase in power, and by a general improvement as regards reliability. The increase in power has been attained along two distinct lines. One of these has been the detail improvement and refinements which have resulted in a considerable increase in power of the engines already in existence, and the other has been in the nature of new designs. As an example of the former, we may refer to the Rolls-Royce figures published in our issue of last week, which showed an increase, in the case of the " Eagle," of from 266 h.p. in March, 1916, to 360 h.p. in 1918. Similar results have been obtained with other makes of engine. In the matter of new design, the increase in power brought about by the demand for larger engines, is illustrated by such engines as the Rolls-Royce " Condor," the Siddeley " Tiger," and the Napier " Lion," to mention just a few that come to mind. Apart from the larger engines that have come into being during the year, new types have been developed which have given promise of extraordinary things in the way of power for weight. Thus, we may refer, to take only one example, to the A.B.C. engines, which have, probably, the greatest power for their weight of any aero engine in the world. Since, how- ever, these engines have not, as yet, been employed in grjeat numbers on the Western front, we shall refrain from referring to them in detail. Suffice it to say that it was with one of the A.B.C. engines t-hat a Sopwith " Snipe " attained the extraordinary speed of 156 m.p.h., and a climb to 10,000 ft. in 4J minutes. DECEMBER 26, 1918 With all due respect to the excellent qualities of the " Snipe," it is doubtful if it could ever have put up such a performance if fitted with any other engine. ..'•• •*-•*•«• In the matter of aeroplanes, the develop- [Aeroplanes ment has, generally speaking, been in the direction of an increase in size all round. This has been occasioned by the employment of larger engines, with consequent greater engine weight, which has called for an increase in art a if the landing speed is to be kept down to a reasonable figure. In the single-seater class, the development has been from the Sopwith Camels, and a few Sopwith triplanes early in the year, the Spads, the S.E.5's, and S.E.5A.'s, and, possibly, a small number of de H.5's, to Sopwith Dolphins and Snipes to Martin- sydes, and with a reversal in size in the case of the diminutive Bat. Of the two-seaters, there were in use early in the year a considerable number of R.E.8's, Bristol Fighters, de H.4's, with a few F.E.'s used for night bombing. These have gradually been supplanted by higher-powered machines, such as the later Bristol Fighters, de H.g's, and A.W.'s. In the twin engine or multi-engine class, there has been an increase in size in the case of the Handley-- Page, which has grown from a twin engine bomber of about 100-ft. span to a four-engined giant with a span of about 130 ft. Of the smaller twin-engine bombers designed to be fast as well as good weight carriers, we have had such machines as the Vickers Vimy and the de H.IOA, the latter of which was illustrated in our last issue, and which has an extra- ordinarily good performance. In the way of armoured machines, excellent pro- gress has been made, although the latest of these was not put into production in time to show its merits before the Armistice was signed We are referring to the Sopwith Salamander, with B.R.2 engine, which would undoubtedly have played an extremely important part in the fighting, as it can fly at so low an altitude as 100 ft. in comparative safety against machine-gun fire. • • • f S 1 e Little has been permitted to be knownEL » with regard to the development of our seaplanes, but, apart from the use of land machines starting from a ship, our large seagoing flying boats have rendered excellent service, while the develop- ment of torpedo planes has progressed favourably. When it becomes possible to disclose particulars, we hope to publish some interesting information regard- ing the development of seaplanes and flying boats. • • «• ». .., The secrecy which has surrounded theAirships . , J , , , ,, !„,,,., work of our seaplanes has also thrown a veil over the doings of our airships, but when infor- mation regarding these becomes available, it will, we think, be found that our lighter-than-air fleet has done excellent work, and that technically the airship design has reached a very high standard, both as regards the small non-rigid type and in the way of the larger rigid airships. The information that has been obtained, and the data compiled will certainly be found most usefurwhen applied, as we hope it will be, to the development of the post-war commercial airship, for we firmly believe that this type of craft will play its part in commercial aviation alongside with the commercial aeroplane. 1456
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