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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0041.PDF
JANUARY 8, 1930 The L. Clement Monoplane haswhich can be drawn up into the wings structional details. "Flight" Copyright a retractable chassisSome con- Anzani engine. Transmission to the tractor screw is Bya long shaft passing over the pilot's head, supported in front by a couple of tubes from the nose of the fuselage. In thenose, immediately under the airscrew, is a third wheel, de- signed evidently to prevent the machine from digging thenose of the low body into the ground. The pilot sits in a canvas hammock seat with his headjust in front of the planes, and whatever objections one may have to other features of the design, he certainly obtains avery good view. Lateral control is by warping the top and middle plane, the lower plane being rigid. There is onlyone strut on each side, attached to the front spar. From the top of each strut run two lift wires, one to the nose and one tothe stern of the fuselage. These wires thus, in addition to their main function as lift wires, act as drag and anti-dragwires. The bottom plane is also braced to nose and stern to give it greater rigidity in a longitudinal direction. Thelanding shocks are transmitted, via rubber shock-absorbers, to diagonal tubes running to the roots of the centre plane.As, however, a space has to be left here for the propeller shaft, the landing shocks on the two diagonal tubes aretransmitted to the single vertical centre strut and to the fuselage via a kind of roof girder truss consisting of four tubesmeeting at a point and forming a bridge over the propeller shaft. Although the machine looks very unorthodox it isnot without its good points, and except for the placing of the tail there is not really very much to find fault with asregards principle of design. The leading edge of the tail almost touches the trailing edge of the middle plane, and one E H H E H 0 H E a The Farman " Goliath " : A similar machine was used in the Paris-Dakar , flight " Plight " Copyright E E H E H E » s m-. BBBS B H E H The engine fitted is a 180 h.p. Hispano-Suiza, entirelycowled in. The radiator is placed behind the engine and is capable of being raised or lowered so as to vary the cooling.Perhaps the most notable feature of this unusual machine is the undercarriage, which consists of two simple Vees,each carrying a disc wheel, without any shock-absorbing arrangement whatever. Each Vee is hinged at its top so; as to be able to swing out laterally, but as the undercarriage was not rigged up complete one was unable to discover theexact modus operandi. When in their horizontal position the Veea and their respective wheels are housed in recessesi, in the lower surface of the wings. It might be imagined that . the opening thus left when the undercarriage is down in its'• vertical position would play havoc with the fabric attach- ment, which, one imagines, would be very apt to be blown~ off. The idea seems to have something to recommend it, however, and with certain modifications might prove worthwhile for racing machines. At the rear the fuselage carries a • tiny rudder, which is assisted by the extreme rear portionof the body itself which is hinged to move with the rudder. ^One has certain misgivings as to the efficacy of the littlelength of fairly thick fuselage stern to produce much of a turn- ing effect. Of fins there is none. In addition to the monoplane racer, L. Clement exhibitsa small triplane of very curious design. The two upper planes are of greater span than the bottom one, which carriesat its tips the two main landing wheels. The body is very low and carries, in an opening in the middle plane, a 35 h.p. imagines that the machine will hunt or, to use a more modernphrase, pitch violently. The Farman ExhibitsThere was nothing in the way of surprises on the Faxman stand, all three machines exhibited being known beforehand.Most imposing was, of course, the Goliath, with its luxurious cabin. Also a certain amount of sentimental interest attachesto this machine on account of its being similar to that used on the famous Paris-Dakar flight. With its square wing tipsand general angularity the " Goliath " is not exactly a pretty machine, but there is somehow a very business-like look abort ** i iijiht'" Copyright Sketch showing the undercarriage of the Farmai" Goliath." 39
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