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Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0733.PDF
Flight, December 6, 1923 AIRC&AFTBNGINEEFL First Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor : STANLEY SPOONER A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Loeomotion and Transport OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM No. 780. (No. 49, Vol. XV.) DECEMBER 6, 1923 rWeekly, Price 6d. L Post free, 7d. L The Aircraft Engineer and Airships Editorial Offices: 36, GREAT QUEEN STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C 2 Telegrams : Truditur, Westcent, London. Telephone : Gerrard 1828 Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free : United Kingdom .. 30s. id. Abroad .. .. 33s. od* These rates are subject to any alteration found necessary under abnormal conditions and to increases in postage rates * European subscriptions must be remitted in British currency CONTENTS Editorial Comment PAGE Welded Tube Construction 733 Cantilever Wings .. ., ,. ,. ,. ., 4 734 Development of High-Speed Aircraft 734 Kinner " Airster" Sportplane 73s Royal Aero Club Official Notices 736 Light 'Plane and Glider Notes .. ., .. ., ., ,. 737 R.A.F. Memorial Fund ,. ,. .. .. ,. ., . 738 Twelve Years' Welded Steel Tube Construction and the Development of Cantilever Wings .. ,. ,, ., .. ., .. 739 Development of High-Speed Aircraft. By Major R. H. Mayo .. 743 Royal Air Force .. .'. 745 R.A.F. Intelligence 745 Correspondence .. .. ,, .. .. .. .. 745 Air Post Stamps .. .. .. ., .. ., ,. .. 746 DIARY OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS Club Secretaries and others desirous of announcing the dates of important fixtures are invited to send particulars for inclusion in the (ollowing list :— 1923 Dec. 12 .... "Air Strategy," by Wing Cmdr. Edmonds, before Royal United Service Inst. Dec. 14 .... "Leader Cable Systems for Electrical Steering of Aeroplanes," by J. Gray, before I.Ae.E. 1924 Jan. 9 "Water-Cooled Aero Engines," by A. 3. Rowledge, before Inst. of Automobile Engineers Tan. 10 .... " Materials from the Aeronautical Point of View," by Dr. Aitchison and Mr. North before R.Ae.S. Jan. 24 .... "Fabric and Dopes," by Dr. Ramsbottom, before R.Ae.S. Feb. 7 .... "Airmanship at Sea," by Sqd.-Ldr. Maycock, 0-B.E , RAF., before R.Ae.S. Feb. 21 .... " Aerial Photography and Survey," by Mr. H. Hamshaw Thomas, before R.Ae.S. Mar. 1 .... French Aero Engine Competition Mar. 6 .... " Sound Detection," by Major Tucker, before R.Ae.S. Mar. 20 " The Report of the Aeronautical Research Committee's Panel on Scale Effect," by Capt. W. S. Farren •-: EDITORIAL COMMENT. HE paper read by Mijnheer Fokker before the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers on Friday of last week was one of more than ordinary interest, and the Institution is to be congratu- lated on having secured, for the first of its annual lectures by a foreign designer, such a distinguished speaker. A condensed report of the paper is published else- where in this issue of FLIGHT, from which it is hoped readers will be able to follow the main Wf!ded points touched upon by the lecturer. Construction The first part of the paper dealt with the subject of welded steel tube con- struction, and the second with the development of cantilever wings. On the subject of steel tube construction, Mijnheer Fokker gave a brief statement of the reasons which led him to adopt this somewhat unusual form, and it is of considerable interest to note that although so many Fokker machines were built in Germany during the War (something like 8,000), welded joints working in tension were not permitted when Fokker started work—and are not permitted now except, apparently, to Fokker, for whose benefit a special exception was made. Welding has long been dis- trusted in this country, and especially for joints or fittings upon which tensile stresses of any magnitude may be thrown. Thus we have here an extraordinary example of one solitary constructor who seems to have been able to make use of methods which are theoretically unsound and yet in practice have demonstrated that they are satisfactory. The simplicity of the Fokker system of fuselage welded tube construction cannot be denied, nor can probably the advantage claimed for it of non-breaking and non-splintering on a crash. Durability and accessibility are also features of this system, and altogether the simplicity and undoubted cheapness of production make it very attractive. The question then naturally arises whether, with all these ad- vantages admitted, and the safety and strength demonstrated over a very long period of years, the theoretical objections have been proved wrong. Frankly, we do not think they have. In spite of the
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