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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 1011.PDF
JULY 31, 1919 SOME DEVELOPMENTS IN AIRCRAFT DESIGN AND APPLICATION DURING THE WAR By the Right Hon. LORD WEIR OF EASTWOOD, P.C., Honorary Fellow of the N.E. Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders. (Continued from page 991) production, was never used at the front previous to the signing of the Armistice. This had another water-cooled engine—275 h.p. Rolls-Royce of high efficiency. Both aeroplane and engine were very good, and although the former was heavy and somewhat large, it was wonderfully manoeuvr able. The performance reached was very high—over 130 miles an hour at 15,000 ft. with a climb to that height in 12 mins. THE next type on our list is the S.E. 5 designed at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough. This is really a direct descendant of the B.E. 2A with which we started. It was a very long time coming into general use, principally owing to delays with the engine, a 200 h.p. water-cooled French Hispano. Opinion was by no means unanimous as to the fighting value of this aeroplane compared with the Camel, • -^-^B **w .,J3k.,^^ ..-. ^s 4JI iJtkJlm ... .'••••;'-s.': :'^jjm^^MW'-J$g^M tv ^-iL. • J ^^^^ J^j^p^WPP'?^* HflBtomKL—'•• - Fig. 23.—One-seater fighter. S.E. 5. Fig. 24.—One-seater fighter. Sopwith Snipe. and each type had its school of adherents. The S.E. 5 had a better performance, particular! ' at a height, was stable and manoeuvrable, very easy to fly, and had better visibility due to the pilot being farther back. On the other hand, it was much more difficult to produce, and the engine and its accessories gave a great deal of trouble both at home and in the field. By this time we had reached a point where the performance Fig. 25.—One-seater fighter. Martinsyde F. 3. of our aeroplanes was very considerably in advance of that of the Germans, who were cramped by their non-elastic engine policy. The next type to come into general service was the Sopwith Snipe. The engine here was a 200 h.p. B.R. 2 of British design. It would appear that this size of air-cooled rotary engine has reached, it if has not in fact surpassed, the maxi mum size for efficiency. The performance was rather dis appointing, and must be attributed to the enormous engine diameter and air resistance. Several competitive aeroplanes from different makers were tested simultaneously with this one, and the results were practically all the same. You will notice that the control surfaces are balanced. In this way the necessary manoeuvrability was maintained, although the weight of the aeroplane had reached rather a high figure. The actual selection of this type was largely governed by the engine position which entailed the placing of orders on a production scale before trials of the actual engine and aero plane were carried out. Finally we come to the Martinsyde F. 4, which, although in The increase in speed and climb from period to period is shown on Fig. 54. Two-seated Fighters.—Apart from the particularly interest ing case of the single-seaters, there developed from the use of the original reconnaissance type a demand for, and a supply of, two-seated fighting aeroplanes, which could do their recon naissance work and defend themselves, if attacked. As the best method of defence has always been, and will be, to attack, these machines, which were in principle defensive, became very effective in the offensive. Our two-seated pusher fighters, such as the Vickers or the F.E. 2's, gave a very good account of themselves, until the time came when their poor per formance, as compared with the tractors, put them out of date. The first really good two-seated tractor was the 1J Strutter, so called b T the Sopwith Co. because of its peculiar wing strut system. This aeroplane was, and still is, one of the most efficient ever designed, and for its engine power (130 h.p. Clerget) it has never been surpassed. In it the pilot was placed as close up against the engine as possible with a very fine view ahead and downwards. The gunner was now put behind him with a rotatable Lewis gun turret. He had a very good view downwards and all round the rear. This arrangement, which is, in principle, still standard, gave a very manoeuvrable aeroplane owing to the concentration of the weights ; and on account of its high performance the type became a very effective offensive weapon. Early in 1917 there appeared another two-seated fighter where the qualities enumerated above were still further NNS^B*^ '•# ;• mm -'^Wmm Ml < I / 2 ..'J®'' *fcr i2ft»«»». * fc^ I Fig. 26.—Two-seater fighter. Vickers gun-bus. 1013 H 2
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