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Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0519.PDF
"AUGUST 30, "1923 25 mins. 8 sees. ; 2, Maneyrol (Peyret), J5 hrs. 9 mins. 53 sees:; 3, Barbot and Descamps (Dewoitine), 10 hrs. 24 miiis 6 sees. ;4, Thoret (Bardin), 5 hrs. 12 mins. 45 sees. Altitude.—1, Simonet (Poncelet), 951 ft. ; 2, Descamps(Dewoitine), 876 ft. ; 3, Thoret (Bardin), 495 ft. ; 4, Maneyrol (Peyret), 464 ft. Longest Distance in a Straight Line.—1, Thoret (Bardin),5 miles 273 yards ; 2, Simonet (Poncelet), 3 miles 109 yards ; 3, Descamps (Dewoitine), 1£ miles Dynamic Flight in Horizontal Wind.—The brothers Landes(Pigeon Bleu), 39 sees. LIGHT 'PLANE CLASSFuel Economy Competition.— 1, Maneyrol (Peyret), 12£ miles, in 22 mins. 23 sees., with 675 centilitres of petrol ; 2, Descamps(Dewoitine), 12£ miles, in 22 mins. 35 sees., with 765 centi- litres of petrol ; 3, Barbot (Dewoitine), 12J miles, in 29 mins.30 sees., with 1,125 centilitres of petrol. Altitude.—1, Maneyrol (Peyret), 12,562 ft. ; 2, Barbot(Dewoitine), 8,036 ft. Highest Speed for 19 Mile's.—I, Maneyroi (Peyret), 19 mins50 sees. ; 2, Descamps (Dewoitine), 24 mins. Highest and Lowest Speed for If Miles and Back.—1,Maneyrol (Peyret), 3 mins. 45 sees, and 10 mins. 42 sees. C FROM the German glider competition in the Rhon moun-tains there is at present little to relate. It seems that up to the present the new glider built for Herr Martens by thePrometheus works looks the most promising. The " Strolch," as the machine is called, is a monoplane, with a span of 46 ft.,a height of 4 ft., and a length of 14 ft., and the area is approxi- mately 150 sq. ft. Incidentally, the sad news has beenreceived that the famous " Vampyr," on which last year Martens and Hentzen put up such wonderful flights, has beencompletely " deleted " by a beginner. As the first machine really to show the possibilities of gliding, the " Vampyr "naturally claimed a great deal of sentimental.affection, and we regret her untimely death. REFUELLING DURING FLIGHT 324 Gallons Transferred to American Aeroplane WHEN the experiment was first tried of transferring petrolfrom one aeroplane to another during flight the performance was generally looked upon as more or less a " stunt." Thatthe refuelling during flight of one aeroplane from another has now reached the stage where it is of very practical use,even if the method can scarcely be said to be perfect as yet, was demonstrated recently in America, when, during a flightlasting close on 24 hours, no less than 324 gallons of petrol and oil were transferred from one machine to another. Forthe following account of this astonishing performance we are indebted to our American contemporary Aviation :— The following interesting particulars are now on handregarding the endurance attempts made June 28 at Rockwell Field, Cal., by First Lieuts. Lowell H. Smith and John P.Richter, A.S., when they remained in the air 23 hrs. 48 mins. While the two fliers did not succeed in breaking the existingworld's duration record of 36 hrs. 4 mins. 31 sees.—made ' with the Army Fokker T.2 by Lieuts. Oakley G. Kelly andJohn A. Macready, April 17-18 last—they set up on June 28 new marks for speed over approved distances, covering2,500 km. in 18 hrs. 15 ;mins. 8J sees., and 3,000 km. in 22 hrs. 3 mins. 414 sees. It is not known whether thisperformance was officially observed by officials of the National Aeronautic Association in order that it may besubmitted to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. Although this flight introduced the novelty of the airplanebeing refuelled in flight, there is no provision in the F.A.I. Rules prohibiting it. Lieuts. Smith and Richter used a special D.H.4, which hadbeen remodelled at the Rockwell Air Intermediate Depot. This 'plane has an extra gas tank back of the rear cockpit,fitted with a large opening to allow gas to be delivered from a 'plane flying above, and gasoline, oil and food can be deliveredwhile in flight. Several tests were made, and gasoline was successfully transferred to this ship from a De Havilland4 B.I 'plane, piloted by Lieut. Virgil Hine, assisted by Lieut. Frank W. Seifert, A.S. The servicing ship is also equippedwith special fittings, and a 50 ft. length of hose, with a quick acting shut-off valve, enables the aviators to make contactwhile flying, 50 ft. above. This was successfully carried out on the morning of June 27, and two contacts were made,25 galls, of gasoline being delivered at one time and 50 galls, the next, but owing to the burning out of the generator on theendurance plane, Lieuts. Smith and Richter were forced to land at Rockwell Field at 10.22 a.m., having been in the air6 hrs. 38 mins. Lieuts. Smith and Richter were very much disappointedover their failure, but determined to accomplish the results for which they had set out, and after installing a new generator and making a few minor changes stood by for the secondattempt, which started at 4.44 a.m. the morning of the 28th. During the first twenty laps of the 50 km. course fuel wasdelivered to them twice, while flying at approximately 90 m.p.h. During the day 294 galls, of gasoline were deliveredto the speeding 'plane and 15 galls, of oil. Water and food were also sent up and successfully passed to Lieut. Richter, andby night-fall everything was working fine and the two aviators settled down for the all-night steady grind beforethem. Fuel enough to run until after 4.00 a.m. of the 29th had been taken aboard late in the evening, and a full moon roseover the city, making the visibility excellent for night flying. Pylon 2 located at the old South Spot on North Island hadbeen connected by telephone, and at this point all messages from the fliers were received, communication being carried onby messages being dropped in small message bags and trans- mitted to Headquarters by 'phone. Messages were also giventhe aviators by the refuelling ship and a'telegram filed in Los Angeles at 9.40 a.m. was delivered to Lieut. Smith in mid-airbefore noon. During the night several messages were dropped reporting everything working fine, and up to 3.00 a.m. nothinghad happened to cause any worry on the part of the fliers or the timer stationed on the triangular course. At 3.00 a.m.in the morning of the 29th, a heavy fog bank rolled in from the sea which caused Lieut. Smith to change his course from the50 km. certified speedway to an inside course of 25 km. At 4.00 a.m. Lieuts. Hine and Seifert went aloft with fuel, and at4.30 made contact, but owing to the heavy fog, which by this time formed a thick blanket over the entire course, they wereforced to make several attempts before 15 galls, of gasoline could be delivered to the 'plane, and ten minutes later theDe Havilland was forced down on the mud fiats east of North Island, approximately half way between Rockwell Field andCoronado, due to the reserve gasoline tank failing to function properly. Neither of the aviators were injured, and the bigDe Havilland was but slightly damaged, due to the expert handling. During the flight 309 galls of gasoline, 15 galls, of oil andtwo hot meals were delivered to the racing 'plane. Just as we go to press it is reported from San Diego,California,, that Lieutenants Smith and Richter commenced another attempt at the world's duration record on August 27.At the time the report was issued the aviators had already been in the air for about 25 hour.=, and during that time fueland food supplies had been transferred to them from another machine. On one occasion the petrol supply only just reached,them in time, as they were about to descend with their tank nearly empty when contact was made with the " tanker." The Trans-Mediterranean CompetitionTHIS competition, known as the " Course Croisiere de la Mediterranee," opened on Saturday of last week, August 25,and closes on Sunday, September 2. The outward journey will start from St. Raphael, the objective being Bizerta, inTunis, with compulsory alighting at Ajaccio en route. The return jotirney from Bizerta will also be made via Ajaccio,but the machines do not finish at St. Raphael, having to continue on to Berre, near Marseilles. Ten machines havebeen entered for the competition, their main characteristics being as follows: C.A.M.S., two machines, twin-engined,520 h.p. ; weight loaded, 9,000 lbs. One Bleriot-Blanchard four-engined, 720 h.p. ; weight, 8,000 lbs. One Blanchardtwin-engined, 520 h.p. ; weight, 8,000 lbs. One Bellanger Frdres twin-engined, 520 h.p. ; weight, 8,300 lbs. OneBellanger Frfires twin-engined, 600 h.p. ; weight, 8,350 lbs. One Schreck F.B.A. single-engined, 180 h.p. ; weight,.2,500 lbs-. One Scbreck F.B.A. single-engined, 140 h.p. ; weight, 2,460 lbs. Two Societe Adronavale, type Liore et-Olivier twin-engined, 280 h.p. ; weight, 5,500 lbs. 519
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