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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0068.PDF
SOME CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF THE D.H.54 : 1, The rear chassis strut is attached to the lower longeron by a fork-end and pin ; when the pin is withdrawn, by means of the crank and rod shown, the leg is free to drop ; 2 shows details of the hook attachment of axle to front chassis strut ; while 3 and 4 are diagrammatic representations of the manner in which the undercarriage drops. The front struts remain on the machine, but swing free. 5 gives details of the rib construction, and 6 shows a spar root, with strut attachment and wiring lugs. the view forward and laterally should be quite good. The rc^lllirTfovrifi " Condor Ij engine is mounted on a composite wood and metal structure, and the nose of the fuselage terminates in a nose radiator provided with shutters for varying the cooling. Direct gravity feed is provided, the petrol tank, which is in the form of a deep wing section, occupying the whole of the top centre section, with direct supply to the engine. It is not yet possible to give complete details of the D.H.54, but it may be stated that the total loaded weight will be in the neighbourhood of 11,000 lbs. As the wing area is 1,005 sq. ft., this will give a wing loading of very nearly Airship Route to India AIR VICE-MARSHAL SIR SEFTON BRANCKER, who arrived in Burma by steamer from Calcutta, met the committee of the Burma Chamber of Commerce on February 3, and ex- plained the scheme for a proposed airship service between England and India. On the Rangoon-Calcutta route, he said, a three-engined flying boat is to be tried. He had no doubt that flying was possible during eight months of the year, but he was doubtful of the effect of the very heavy mon- soon rainfall in Burma during the remaining four months. It would be quite easy to establish a daily air service between Rangoon and Calcutta if a private company were formed. If a daily service were not required a weekly service could be arranged in connection with the incoming and outgoing English mail. He had come to Rangoon to select seaplane and aeroplane bases and an airship mast site, as Rangoon would be an important port of call when the air service was extended to Australia. The view of the Chamber of Com- merce is that it is hopeless to expect a private company to operate an air service between Calcutta and Rangoon before the practicability and financial success of such a venture had been proved. It is understood that the discussions on the 11 lbs sq. ft., which seems quite high enough. A top speed of 110 m.p.h. is expected, and a cruising speed of 100 m.p.h. On a basis of 700 b.h.p. the power loading is 15-7 Ibs./h.p., and the power expenditure, for full load, will be only 50 h.p. per passenger, which is a very reasonable figure in view of the high cruising speed. We have not seen the performance curves of the machine, and so do not know what the horse- power required at cruising speed is. There seems, howe\"er, to be reason to believe that this is fairly low, as the machine is of clean lines, and it may therefore be expected that the D.H.54 will be a really commercial machine, and will bring the day closer when civil flying becomes self-supporting. <$> <3> choice of a base in India for the airship service will be settled in favour of Karachi, and that Bombay will be a halting place with a mooring mast. The French Saharan Flight THE De Goys mission, which is flying from Paris to Bangi, via Lake Chad, and back on two four-engined Bleriot biplanes—" Roland Garros," piloted by Capt. Pelleticr d'Oisy and " Jean Casale," piloted by Col. Vuillemin—reached Colomb Bechar on January 25. As slight repairs were needed and spare petrol pumps were required from Toulouse, the flight was interrupted here until January 28, when the journey across the Sahara was resumed at 8 a.m. One of the worst portions was successfully accomplished at this stage, when they covered 106 miles of difficult country, to Beni Abbes, in one a:id a half hours. It is stated that satisfactory repairs had been made without waiting for the spare petrol pumps, which were to be sent on to Adrar by air. On January 30 the Mission left Beni Abbes at 7.30 a.m. and arrived at Adrar, in the Tuat Oasis, 200 miles distant, at 10 a.m. They left Tuat at 10.50 a.m. on February 3 for Wallen, a distance of about 312 miles. 68
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