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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0028.PDF
JANUARY 15, 1925 SPAN . . . 42-0" LENGTH . .. 27-II" WING AREA.291 OSQ.FT 8 :0 -EET FOCKE-WULF MONOPLANE 75rP-SIEMENS-HALSKE ENGINE THE FOCKE-WULF A.16 : General arrangement drawings, to scale. In order to simplify construction the spars run parallelthroughout the span, more or less forming a rectangular section box. Wood is the material employed, not only inthe wing, but throughout the machine with a very few excep- tions. The wing is covered with fabric, while the fuselageis of the flat-sided monocoque type with three-ply covering. The bottom of the fuselage is flat, but the top has a deckfairing extending aft to the tail plane. Over the central portion of the fuselage, where the cabinis situated, the walls are of double-planked three-ply, with the structural members enclosed between the two plankings, thusleaving the cabin walls perfectly smooth. The interior is finished in mahogany, and the three seats for the passengersare comfortably upholstered. Access to the cabin is through a door on the port side, and owing to the design of the machinethe passengers can step into the cabin direct from the ground without the use of steps, the height of the door-step abovethe ground being only about a foot. Two windows in each side give an unobstructed view in most directions, as the wingis placed above the fuselage. As already mentioned, the pilot's cockpit is placed aheadof the wing, and owing to his proximity to the engine, com- bined with the downward slope of the cowling, his view isparticularly good. In fact, it would be almost impossible to think of any way of improving the view. The smallradial engine obstructs it to a very small extent only, and the narrow width of the fuselage just aft of the engine enablesthe pilot easily to look over either side. The one objection to this placing of the pilot, i.e., the possible risk of injury incase the machine turns over, seems to be met by the presence, immediately behind the pilot's head, of the very substantialand deep front wing spar. The 75 h.p. Siemens-Halske radial air-cooled engine ismounted on a steel engine plate attached to stout ash frames forming the forward extension of the longerons. A fireproofbulkhead is interposed between the engine and the cockpit and cabin, and as the petrol tank, with a capacity for four hoursat full throttle, is placed out in the starboard wing, the fire risk should be very small. It is claimed that this tank positionnot only enables direct gravity feed to be used, but that the weight of tank and fuel serves to counteract the engine torqueas well. The undercarriage is of the wing-stump, cantilever type, and is built, in the Focke-Wulf A. 16, injthe form'of^a boxinside which the divided axle rests. The outside of the box is streamlined with three-ply. The whole undercarriage isbuilt up as a unit and can be detached from the machine by undoing six bolts. A somewhat similar arrangement isemployed in the case of the wing and tail, both of wMch can be removed as complete units by undoing a few bolts.Controls are of the usual type, but a refinement has beeii introduced by the employment everywhere of ball bearings.This, it may be recollected, is now a feature of all de Havilland machines, where the use of ball bearings has been found toresult in a marked increase in the lightness of the controls. In the Focke-Wulf A. 16 only a small portion of the controlcables is exposed, the greater portion being taken inside the fuselage In order to facilitate inspection of control cables,etc., the deck faring of the fuselage is easily detachable, and when it is removed, the cables and fuselage structure can bereadily examined. • tDuring the official test flights at Adlershof (which corre- sponds roughly to our Martlesham or Farnborough) theFocke-Wulf A. 16 attained a top speed of 135 km./h. (84-4 m.p.h). while the rate of climb was 0-92 metre per second(181 ft'./min.) at a height of 3,000 ft This is not. of course, a very spectacular performance, but in view of the relativelyheavy loading is about all that could be expected. These figures, by the way, relate to the machine fully loaded, withpilot, three passengers and fuel for four hours. It is stated that the stalling speed is about 60 km./h. (2>1\ m.p.h.). Themachine takes off in about 160 yards and pulls up in about 55 yards, once the wheels have touched. It has, however, thesame characteristics as light 'planes in landing, i.e. it " floats " along a considerable distance before settling down.Following are the main data of the Focke-Wulf A. 16, the overall dimensions being given on the G.A. drawings :Wing area, 291 sq. ft. Weight empty, 570 kg. (1,254 lbs.) ; useful load (pilot, three passengers and four hours' fuel),400 kg. (880 lbs). Total loaded weight, 970 kg. (2,134 lbs.). Power loading, 28-5 lbs./h.p. ; wing loading, 7-33 lbs./sq. ft.).Duration 4 hours. Range approximately 550 km. (350 miles). It is of interest to note that the ratio of useful load to grossweight is \\\ per cent. Looked at in another way, for a useful range of, say, 300 miles at 80 m.p.h., the paying load(i.e., 3 passengers) is 6-7 lbs./h.p. A Singapore Air Base IN connection with the naval base at Singapore, thequestion of establishing a large air station there also is, we understand, under consideration. Air Liner Defies the Fog DURING the dense fog which covered London last Sundaya feat unprecedented in the history of civil aviation was accomplished by G. P. Olley of Imperial Airways. Olleyleft Paris at poon in one of the Handley Page W.8's with a full load of passengers and freight, and after flying through amixture of fog and sunshine eventually arrived over Croydon at schedule time (2.30 p.m.). The aerodrome, however, wascompletely enveloped in dense fog—visibility on the ground being about 5 yards ! Guided by rockets, the tops of thewireless masts, and control tower, etc., the pilot succeeded in bringing the machine safely to earth, making a perfect landingon the 'drome. The ground staff, it appears, had some difficulty in locating the machine after it had landed !
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