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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0343.PDF
MARCH 13, 1919 mm The two central engine cars of the R 33. scout, and although modifications may be made which will enable her to carry a small number of passengers or a quantity of mails, she can hardly be expected to compete with an airship originally designed for commercial work. Not, of course, that this fact detracts from the merits of the R. 33 —for the purpose for which she was designed. There can be little doubt that, apart from such experience gained with this ship as is of immediate usefulness from the naval point of view, much will be learned which will be of the greatest value in the designing of the purely commercial airship of the future. Thus the general structural design of the two types need not vary greatly, although details may differ, and the disposition of cars, etc., be modified. Also general questions of performance should apply to a great extent to both the commercial and the naval type. There is thus good cause to be satisfied with the production of the R. 33, although it should be kept in mind that her value—from the commercial aviation point of view, of course, and not from the military—-is to be considered of an indirect nature, and the ship herself should not be regarded as a solution of the problem of the commercial airship. As regards the trans-Atlantic trip, the prevailing idea appears to be that the R. 33 could do the return journey with ease, given favourable weather conditions. The volume of the R. 33 is in the neighbourhood of 2,000,000 cu. ft. Assuming that 1,000 cu. ft. of hydrogen will lift about 70 lbs., which is a fair estimate, the gross lift will be about 62.5 tons. The weight of the airship will probably be in the neighbourhood of 30 tons, say 28 tons. This leaves a disposable lift of 34.5 tons. The weight of crew, ballast, etc., may be taken as about 11 tons. Taking the average cruising speed as 40 knots (46 m.p.h., which is not, of course, the maximum speed) and the distance to New York as 3,000 miles, following the southern route, the time for the double journey will be 130 hours. Taking the horse-power at the cruising speed as 1,000 h.p., and the petrol and oil consumption as .5 and • 03 lbs./h.p./hour respectively, the amount of fuel carried for the double journey will have to be about 30 tons. As the tank capacity of the R. 33 is stated to be about 20 tons, it will be seen that very favourable weather would have to be counted upon to make the journey possible, even if the return journey is made along the direct route. There is, however, no reason why she should necessarily do the journey without taking in fuel on the other side, and as the single journey may be assumed to consume about 15 tons of fuel, there is a reserve of 5 tons, which should be ample for the purpose. There is no doubt that a small fleet of these air ships could—-and in our opinion ought to—do a great amount of very useful meteorological work by exploring the upper air over the Atlantic Ocean during the coming spring and summer, thus providing information which would be of the utmost value when the commercial airship service across the Atlantic comes into being as it surely will—some day. With reference to the question of whether or not the R. 33 is, as has been claimed in some newspapers, the largest airship in the world to have flown, it will be found that in our detailed description of the L. 33, published in the Octo ber 27, 1916, issue of FLIGHT, the length of the L. 33 was estimated by our representatives to be 680 ft. with a diameter of 75 ft. These figures may be taken as being fairly accurate, although they cannot be guaranteed as the airship was in a damaged condition. The R. 33 is stated to be 670 ft. long and to have a diameter of 79 ft. The difference in size is not, therefore, considerable, and the cubic capacity of the two airships is probably so nearly the same as to make no difference. There is little doubt that some of the more recent German airships—the L. 33 dates from 1916, it should be remembered—is of greater volume than this, while we believe we are correct in stating that the capacity of the R. 36 class of ship is considerably over 2,000,000 cu. ft., and that these airships have already flown. While on the subject of the L. 33, it may be of interest to refer briefly to the similarity between the British and German " 33's." The stream-line shape, as different from the type having parallel sides and tapered nose and stern, is similar in the two airships. So also is the general shape and arrangement of the fins, rudders, and elevators. The same may be said of the number and disposition of the cars : One in front, two side by side about half-way aft, and one at the rear. The shape of the cars of the R. 33 is consider ably different from those in the L. 33, while the disposition of the airscrews differs greatly. Thus in the L. 33, it may be remembered, although there were only four cars, there were six airscrews, two of which were mounted on a framework on the sides of the hull and driven through shaft and bevel gearing. In the R. 33 these screws have been done away with, as was also the case in German airships of later date than the L. 33. In the R. 33, there are six Sunbeam- Coatalen engines of the Maori type driving four propellers. Apart from detail design, these are the chief differences between the L. 33 of 1916 and R. 33 of 1919. As regards the fundamental principle of construction, there is considerable similarity between the two types. Although the trial cruise of the R. 33 on March 6th was cut short, after three hours, by adverse weather, the tests indicated that the ship is very promising, and further trials will be watched with interest by all students of aircraft. Col. Hicks was the trial flight pilot, with Major Thomas as captain of the ship. 343
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