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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0702.PDF
MAY 29, 1919 THE TARRANT TRIPLANE AFTER months of painstaking work, and having solved an endless succession of constructional problems those respon sible for the large Tarrant " Tabor " triplane, have suddenly- seen the results of their labours annihilated in the course of a few minutes by the accident which occurred on Monday last. Not only is the beautiful structure, for beautiful it was from a constructional point of view, whatever may have been one's opinion of the design, reduced to matchwood, but at least one of the men who had worked on the machine from the time of its inception has succumbed to the injuries sustained in the accident, while a second man, the pilot, is lying in a critical condition. We are sure that all readers of FLIGHT will join us in expressing our sympathy with the engines running, and that, in order to get sufficient speed to rise, the pilot opened out the two top engines, which had up till then been throttled down, with the result that the extra thrust, applied so far above the centre of resistance of the machine, brought the tail up. The momentum thus imparted to the machine, especially that of the two top engines, was, at any rate momentarily, too great to be overcome by the tail planes and elevators, and the result was that the machine turned on to her nose. It is quite conceivable that had the machine been in the air the momentary pitching could have been corrected by trimming the tail, but on the ground there was no time in which to do this before the machine was over. By keeping cool to the last, the horror of a fire was avoided THE TARRANT TRIPLANE.—View from the front relatives of Capt. Rawlings, D.S.C., who died shortly after the accident, and with Capt. Dunn, A.F.C., who is still, at the time of writing, in a very critical condition. To Mr. W. G. Tarrant we also express our sincerest sympathy in the mis fortune that has overtaken the machine into which, with rare courage, he had put so much thought and treasure. We understand that so certain is Mr. Tarrant that his principle is right that another machine will be put in hand immediately, incorporating, it may be taken, many alterations in design, but utilising the same constructional principle. With regard to the accident itself, it is difficult to be certain of the exact cause, but it would appear that the machine was travelling along the ground at high speed with the four lower by someone—probably one of the pilots, as there was a master switch in their cockpit—switching off the engines, otherwise the disaster might have been far greater than was the case. In addition to the two pilots, there were on board at the time of the accident the following :—Capt. T. M. Wilson, who, as the machine turned over, was flung into the rear part of the fuselage and sustained a broken leg ; Lieut. Adams, engineer- in-charge, who accompanied Capt. Rawlings on the famous flight to Constantinople in a Handley-Page ; Mr. Grosert, of the R.A.E. ; two mechanics. The injuries to the crew, with the exceptions of those sustained by the pilots, are not thought to be serious. uw Whim Sww*"**"? irti r THE TARRANT TRIPLANE.—View from behind 702
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