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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0794.PDF
DECEMBER 3, 1925 IKe Rot/al &ero Clu of the, United. Kii\gdo OFFICIAL NOTICES TO Monthly House Dinner THE next Monthly House Dinner will be held at the Royal Aero Club, on Wednesday, December 16, 1925, at 7.30 p.m.' The subject for discussion will be " Civil Aviation " and the debate will be opened by Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker, K.C.B. The Duke of Sutherland, the Chairman of the Club, will preside. The number will be limited to 60 and seats will be allotted in order of application. Apply Secretary, Royal Aero Club. Offices : THE ROYAL AERO CLUB, 3, CLIFFORD STREET, LONDON, W. 1. H. E. PERRIN, Secretary "AMERICAN AVIATION" R.Ae.C. First Monthly House Dinner a Great Success % As we ventured to forecast in our Editorial Comment last week, November 26 did prove a red letter day in the history of the Royal Aero Club. The first of the Monthly House Dinners was a very great success indeed. It was well attended, the speeches delivered were among the brightest ever heard, at an aviation gathering, and the general tone was j ust exactly what it should be. If subsequent House Dinners maintain the very high standard set last week, we feel quite certain that a very great deal of good will be done, and in addition to being amusing, these evenings will prove highly instructive. On Thursday of last week His Grace the Duke of Sutherland, Chairman of the Royal Aero Club, presided, and after the loyal toast asked Mr. C. R. Fairey to open the discussion with an address on " American Aviation." Mr. Fairey said he wished to make it clear from the start that he did not in any way pose as an authority on American aviation, which was a very large subject indeed. He would confine himself to giving a few impressions gathered on his recent visits to the United States, and to a brief outline of the events which had led up to the British defeat in the Schneider Cup Race. Considering impressions, Mr. Fairey said America was a country in which one could gather any impression one went to seek. Religious enthusiasts went to the United States and came back with the impression that America was a very devout nation. Those in favour of prohibition went there and came back filled with enthusiasm at the manner in which prohibition worked there. And so on. One could go there " in blinkers," determined to bring back the preconceived opinions one cherished when leaving these shores, or one could go there with one's eyes wide open, intent on learning as much as possible. As a result of his visits, Mr. Fairey had formed certain very definite impressions of American aviation, which had made him realise that they had a few facts to face, and that instead of adopting an ostrich attitude it was necessary to face these facts as they were. They all remembered that during the last few years America had captured most of the notable world's records, and he recalled that in addition the Americans had been the first to make the flight around the world, while quite recently they had won a decisive victory in the seaplane race for the Schneider Trophy. As a result of their racing experience they had developed the scout type of machine to a point where it was superior to any other. Mr. Fairey then recalled briefly the post-war history of air racing", pointing out how, during the first years after the war, nearly all records were held by France, and how the very slow increase in top speeds (about 212 m.p.h. by 1921, coupled with a landing speed of probably over 100 m.p.h.) led to the impression being formed that they were beginning to approach the limit in top speed, the increase of one year's speed over that of the previous year becoming gradually smaller and smaller. About this time stories began to come across from America recording phenomenal speeds. At first these stories were received with incredulity. He himself was sceptical. In Europe the position was that French and British aircraft designers were limited by the large cross-sectional area of their fuselages, by projections of various kinds, by exposed radiators and by wooden propellers, which had about reached their limit as regards tip speeds. The old form of construction, •with two spars and fabric covering, was still employed for the wings, and some difficulty was experienced with the fabric at the speeds then being attained. Then arrived in this country, in 1923, the American Schneider Cup machines, which, as they all remembered, the Americans piloted to victory. He had been among those privileged to examine the American machines and engines at Cowes, and very quickly realised that here new brains had been at work. The exposed radiators disappeared and had been replaced by wing surface radiators. The old wooden propellers, with their maximum efneienev of 74 per cent, or so, had given way to all-metal propellers of thin section, running at tip speeds hitherto considered impossible and giving efficiencies in excess of 80 per cent. The wings showed multi-spar construction, and were covered with wood instead of fabric, and had safety factors round about 12, without any accompanying extra structure weight, as compared with factors of 4 or so for European racing machines of that time. The Curtiss D.I2 engines were of narrow Vee form, and enabled the fuselage cross-section to be reduced to the minimum which would accommodate the pilot and the fuel. From 1923 onwards the story of speed, Mr. Fairey said, moved to America. New world's speed records were set up, and whereas previously the increases had become smaller year by year, when the Americans began to attack world's records, the " bites " taken each year got larger and larger, showing that so far from the speed limit being approached, the slope of the curve did not commence to flatten out. When it was remembered that, so far from these great increases in top speed being accompanied by an increase in landing speed, they were attained with a lower landing speed, in other words, that they represented a vast increase in speed-range, it would be realised what a technical achievement had been accom- plished. The limit on landing speed imposed by the regula- tions for the Pulitzer race was 75 m.p.h., and if a machine exceeded that figure by a very low margin (Mr. Fairey was not quite certain but thought it was by but two miles per hour) it was automatically disqualified from taking part in the Pulitzer. The designer of the Curtiss machines, Mr. Gilmore. had informed Mr. Fairey that with the present landing speed limit he (Mr. Gilmore) saw no reason why top speeds of 285 m.p.h. should not be reached, while if the limit on landing speed were removed, at least 300 m.p.h. should be attained. From what he knew of the machines, Mr. Fairey saw no reason to doubt the accuracy of Mr. Gilmore's statement. If one examined the means whereby these great achieve- ments were attained, it was found, Mr. Fairey stated, that there had been no revolutionary change in design. It was all a matter of recognising their old friend (or enemy) KSV8. It was known that the resistance of the air varied as a constant, the value of which did not matter for the moment, as the surface, and as the square of the velocity. This was a natural law, and when man pitted himself against nature, his first aim was to discover the natural law governing the particular object he had in view. Having discovered that law, he tried to obey it, and the degree of his success was a measure of his obedience. It came down to this, then, that the reason for the present American superiority was that American designers had recognised this fundamental law, while European designers had not, or had failed to heed it. Turning to the British Schneider Cup machines, Mr. Fairey paid a tribute to the Napier engine, of whose outstanding qualities we British might be justly proud. In design, in construction, in quality of workmanship and in running, the engine was excellent. There was just the one fact of the 794
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