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Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0035.PDF
JANUARY 18, 1923 THE JUNKERS ALL-METAL MONOPLANE 180 H.P. B.M.W. Low-Compression Engine ... IN our issue of last week we published a brief resumd of the paper on " Metal Aeroplanes " read before the Royal Aero- nautical Society by Mr. Stern on behalf of Professor Junkers, who was prevented by illness from being present. At the conclusion of the lecture it was announced that permission had been obtained for one of the Junkers machines to fly to this country in order to give members of the R.Ae. Soc. an opportunity of examining Professor Junkers' method of metal construction. The machine arrived on Thursday of last week (January 11), and by permission of the Junkers representatives (and greatly assisted by Mr. Stern, of the Air Ministry Laboratory, South Kensington, who acted as interpreter), our representatives were allowed to examine the machine in detail for the purpose purposes. We have always understood that the experiencewith these machines was not a very happy one, but we were informed by the Junkers representatives that the originalmakers had nothing to do with the machines after they left the Dessau works, and that alterations were made to them,so that the J unkers firm feel that they should not be blamed for anything that went wrong. They stated that of themachines used in Germany, under the supervision of the original makers, not a single one gave any trouble. Fundamentally the Junkers monoplane is a cantileverwing machine, with the wing placed low on the fuselage (" tiefdecker " is the German name) in the place usuallyoccupied by the lower plane of a biplane. The reasons for this arrangement were outlined in Professor Junkers' paper, THE JUNKERS MONOPLANE : Three-quarter front view. of compiling the following notes, and in order to obtain the accompanying sketches and photographs. The particular machine which visited Croydon was one taken from the regular service. So far as could be ascertained it was built in 1921, but had not been in constant use all the time since, having, apparently, spent some of the time as one of many " confiscated " by the Inter-Allied Commission. Certainly the metal showed no signs whatever of corrosion externally, but as the length of time during which the machine has been in actual service is not known, this fact does not really enable one to form an opinion. We were informed by the pilot that one of these machines which had been in service in Sweden for over a year had been left out in the open habitu- ally, had been in the sea (it was a seaplane), and generally had been very far from receiving careful treatment, yet the metal nowhere appeared to have suffered from corrosion, in spite of the fact that it was built of Duralumin throughout. The exact treatment of the metal is not known, but it appears that some form of aluminium paint is coated on all the parts before they are assembled, and the whole structure then given one or two coats of varnish. In type the Junkers monoplane which visited Croydon is not new, a considerable number having been in use in Germany, while others were purchased for America by Mr. John Larsen, and were used in that country for various the wing roots, fuselage, etc., forming one solid unit to which all the heavy loads and the wings themselves are attached. Aerodynamically this arrangement has been found to "i>e slightly inferior to the more usual arrangement in which the wing is placed above or on the top of the fuselage, but Professor Junkers considers that the slight loss is more than made up for by the rigid structure resulting from the low position. During the War a few all-metal Junkers machines were captured, and one or two were, at one time, on view at the exhibition of enemy aircraft at the Agricultural Hall, Islington. The armoured biplane was briefly described and illustrated in FLIGHT of November 28, 1918. The monoplane, the Junkers D.I, was described and illustrated in our issues of April 1 and April 8, 1920, while a commercial machine, very similar to the present specimen, was illustrated in FLIGHT of October 30, 1919. The latter machine was the one which reached an altitude of 6,750 metres with eight people on board, as mentioned in Professor Junkers' lecture. The engine used on that occasion was one of the 185 h.p. B.M.W. over- dimensioned, high-compression engines, which maintain their power up to a height of about 15,000 ft. The machine at present under review is fitted with one of the low-compres- sion B.M.W. engines, as the high-compression type was not permitted by the Inter-Allied Commission. 1 THE JUNKERS MONOPLANE : Three-quarter rear view. 35
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