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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0614.PDF
"MSas JUNE IO, 1920 CROYDON TO TURIN IN % HOURS v — s The Wonderful Flight of the Avro Baby QUIETLY, without making any fuss about it, and for once without the glaring headlines of the daily Press, who appear to have entirely failed to realise the significance of the perform- ance, Mr. Hinkler, flying an Avro Baby fitted with a 35 h.p. Green engine, last week flew from Croydon to Turin—the first stage of his journey home by air to Australia—in what appears to have been a non-stop flight. As announced in FLIGHT last week, Mr. Hinkler left Croydon at 4.50 a.m. He arrived at Turin at 2.21 p.m. The distance, taking into account the fact that the machine would not be able to follow the direct route, must have been in the neighbourhood of 700 miles, and as the cruising speed (average, as this would climb above the Alps, which would be a test of any machinefitted with engines of many times the power of that of the sturdy little 35 h.p. Green. That it was accomplished isa magnificent testimony to the engine and the machine, not to mention the courage of the pilot in tackling a flightover such mountainous country where a landing, should the engine have failed, would almost certainly have had highly-unpleasant results. ' . The Possibility of a Non-Stop Flight On the face of it, it would not appear to be in the realmsof possibility to make the flight non-stop for such a small THE AVRO BABY : Three-quarter Front View vary as the fuel was consumed) is about 65 to 70 m.p.h.,there would not appear to have been time for Mr. Hinkler to land en route in order to replenish his fuel supply. Itis, of course, to be taken for granted that part of the journey must have been made with a following wind, but, even so,it is almost certain that the flight must have been a non-stop one. Considering that an engine of 35 h.p. only is fitted tothis splendid little machine, the performance, whether non- stop or not, must rank amongst the finest in the historyof aviation. One scarcely knows which to admire most, the machine, the engine, or the pluck, determination, andendurance of the pilot. Not the least meritorious part of the flight is the final machine. This possibly explains the silence of the dailyPress regarding the flight. Let us briefly review the figures of the machine. The wing area is 180 sq. ft., and for ordinaryuse the machine carries 8 gallons of petrol, or sufficient for a distance of 200 miles at cruising speed. The duration isabout 3 hours. In order to cover the distance from London to Turin without a landing, it would be necessary to carryanother 17 gallons or so. This would means an extra weight of about 130 lbs. Add to this about 15 lbs. for oil, andapproximately 20 lbs. for extra tank weight, and the extra load to be carried is brought up to 165 lbs. In its standardform the machine weighs 860 lbs, in flying trim. With the extra load this would be increased to 1,025 H?S. This figure. THE AVRO BABY : Three-quarter Rear View f 614
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