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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0169.PDF
MARCH IO, 192I OUR NEW LARGE FLYING BOATS The Fairey "Titania" and the Vickers-Saunders " Valentia •JUST now the daily press is very busy with reports of the two new " giant " flying boats which are coming along from the Fairey and Saunders works respectively. As regards the " novelty " of the boats, it may be pointed out that both were designed a matter of somewhere about two years ago, and although large, neither the Fairey " Titania " nor the Vickers-Saunders " Valentia " could be described as gigantic. However, this description should probably be accepted as a compliment, since in the eyes of the daily news sheets any aircraft which is large must be good. The fact of the matter is that both boats are fairly large, in the case of the Fairey one might even say very large. They are, however, on more or less orthodox lines, and may therefore be expected to give a good account of themselves, which is more than one has any right to expect from some of the contraptions now nearing completion in certain other countries. Both boats are designed to the order of the Air Ministry, and consequently we have refrained from making any reference to them in our columns. It appears, however, that the daily papers do not observe such niceties, but cheerfully proceed to tell all they know, which, one soon discovers, is not much. As public reference has now been made to the machines, anyway, it may be permissible to publish a few brief particulars. The Fairey " Titania " Four 600 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Condor" Engines The Fairey boat is, as regards its boat hull, of Linton Hope design. It will be remembered that the late Maj. Linton Hope was, up to the time of his death a few months ago, connected with the Fairey Aviation Company, for whom he did a good deal of very valuable work. Although his designs have often come in for criticism, there is no doubt that the late Maj. Linton Hope had an " eye " for boat design, and the P type of hull, with its circular cross section and flexible construction, has already proved its merit in boats of smaller size than the " Titania." That it will prove equally success- ful in the large machine there is no reason to doubt. The " Titania — is equipped with four Rolls-Royce " Condor " engines driving tractor and pusher screws. The weight of the machine is in the neighbourhood of 15 tons, and the wing span is about 140 ft. so that the machine is certainly not a small one. One effect of the large size is to increase the fuel capacity, which, as a matter of fact, is sufficient for a cruise of 1,500 miles. The size of the hull is such that good sea- worthiness may be expected, and consequently the boat should be able to remain afloat for considerable periods at a stretch, taking on board fuel while " sitting " on the sea. It should thus be able to accompany the fleet for weeks, taking its fuel from one of the ships and riding on the sea when not working. It should even be possible to make minor engine repairs without going into dock, at any rate on more or less sheltered waters. If the new machine proves a success, which there is at present no reason to doubt, it or similar types should be able to do a good deal of the work which has hitherto been thought the province of airships. The main drawback to seaplanes has hitherto been their relatively short radius of action, but with a range of 1,500 miles, the machine becomes useful for long-distance sea patrol. If we had had a number of these boats in commission during the war, the air patrol of the North Sea would have been a different affair. The wings are of orthodox design, that is to say of orthodox Fairey design, incorporating the Fairey Patent camber gear, in which the entire trailing edge is pulled down, thus forming a deeply cambered section giving high lift and low landing speed even with heavy wing loading. The ailerons move with the rest of the trailing edge, but retain their differential action. The armament of the " Titania " will, in addition to a useful " nest " of bombs, consist of a number of machine guns, so as to reduce to vanishing point the " blind spot " of the machine. Some of the machine guns will be placed in various positions on the wings, so that an attacking aero- plane will find some difficulty in getting to close quarters with the " Titania." The crew will consist of about seven, so that a fair number will be available for manning the guns, and the old German stunt of attacking in great numbers would probably prove of little avail with machine gunners dis- tributed all over the boat and wings. The " Titania " is now being finally erected and the trial flights will, it is hoped, take place within the next month or six weeks. The Vickers-Saunders •• Valentia " Two 600 h.p. Rolls-Royce "Condor" Engines The " Valentia" flying boat, now completed at the Cowes works of Messrs. S. E. Saunders, Ltd., is partly of Vickers and partly of Saunders design. That is to say, the super- structure, wings, etc., were designed by the designing staff of Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., while the boat hull was designed by Saunders. This applies not only to the lines of the hull but also to the constructional design. As is to be expected, " Consuta" sewn ply-wood is used throughout the hull, even to the wing roots, and this material, which has already proved so successful in the Vickers '' Viking '' amphibian machines, looks extraordinarily well on the " Valentia." For the benefit of those who are not acquainted with the " Consuta " method of construction it may be. mentioned that, briefly speaking, this consists of cementing together several thicknesses of wood, with the grains of one layer at angles to the other as in ordinary ply-wood. The resultant sheet of ply-wood is then sewn on a special machine, the seams running parallel to one another and at an angle with the grain of the wood. Thus one does not have to rely upon the glue only to hold the layers together, but has the extra strength of the stitching as well. Exhaustive tests have shown that the " Consuta" construction is extraordinarily strong for its weight, and there is little doubt that it will be employed to a very great extent in the future. Its uses are practically limitless, not only for the covering of bottom, sides and deck of flying boat hulls, but also for monocoqwe fuselage construc- tion, as for instance in the Vickers Vimy-Commercial. It has" also been used for wing covering in the Saunders " Kittiwake," where it was designed to take part of the wing stresses. Numerous other uses could be suggested, but sufficient has been said to indicate the scope for this material. As regards the " Valentia," she is a twin-engined flying boat biplane, with the engines mounted in a pair of vees between the planes and driving tractor airscrews. The span of the upper plane, which has a considerable overhang, is 112 ft., and the overall length is about 58 ft., while the height is 22 ft. A model of this machine was, it may be remem- bered, exhibited on the Vickers stand at the last Olympia Aero Show. Sufficient petrol is carried for a flight of 8 hours' duration at a cruising^ speed of about 100 m.p.h., so that the range is about 800 miles. The hull is of the vee bottom type, with flat " tumble- home " sides, not unlike that of the famous "Viking" in general lines, although differing somewhat from it in details. Two more machines of the same type are under construction, and the first of the three machines will probably have been completed and flown by the time these lines are in print. We understand that Capt. Cockerell, the famous Vickers pilot, who has been making alighting tests with the " Viking " on the Thames, will test the " Valentias." Committee on Civil Aviation THE Air Ministry announces that the Secretary of State for Air, when introducing the Air Estimates in the House of Commons on March i, stated that he intended to set up forthwith a committee to make proposals for immediate action in regard to the assistance necessary for the mainten- ance of air transport on the cross-Channel service. Mr. Churchill has appointed Lord Londonderry (Chairman), Sir Frederick Sykes and Sir James Stevenson as members of this committee. Several meetings have already been held with leading members of the industry. Lord Londonderry proposes to summon a Special Conference at the Air Ministry on Thursday, 10th instant, between the members of the Committee and all parties interested, when an opportunity will be Riven for the views of the latter to be heard. 6 London-Paris-Brussels Air-Mail LAST week, following the air estimates' Civil aviation debacle, the Postmaster-General announced that temporary arrangements have been made for the continuance of the air mail services from London to Paris and to Brussels. The latest times of posting for these services (at the General Post Office 10.40 a.m. for unregistered and 10.35 a.m. for registered packets) and the amount of the air mail fee (zd. per ounce in addition to ordinary foreign postage) remain un- changed pending further notice. Now the London-Continental service is entirely in the hands of foreigners, we may expect to see at quite an early date the whole of our British mails being turned over to the air-route. It was ever thus. Although maybe this will not occur until the full contract can be handed over to some German-run company.
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