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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0535.PDF
JULY 29, 1926 THE GERMAN SEAPLANE COMPETITION Preliminary Technical Results CERTAIN changes have taken place in connection with the will succeed in doing so later is, perhaps, doubtful, but if the machines taking part in the German Seaplane Competition at Warnemunde. A late entry which reached Warnemiinde at the eleventh hour is a new" Udet, the U.13, with B.M.W. Type VI engine. This engine, incidentally, is the latest production of the Bavarian Motor Works, and is a 12-cylinder " Broad Arrow " of some 500 h.p. It was this type of engine which was fitted in the Dornier monoplane which established seven world's records recently. It is regretted that at the moment no photographs of the Udet machine are available, but we gather that it is a biplane fitted with slotted wings. Owing to the late arrival at Warnemunde of the machine, it has naturally been somewhat late in carrying out the various tests, and at the moment no official information is to hand concerning the results of its performance tests. Of other changes, it may be mentioned that the two Dornier machines (Nos. 14 and 15 in the competition) have been scratched, no reason for this being given. They are reported to have arrived at Warnemunde and to have been placed at the disposal of the organisers of the competition, but will not take part in the competition. No. 13, the Gerbrecht three-engined machine, was not finished in time, and so is automatically eliminated. On the evening of July 16, No. 16, the Junkers A.20, entered by the Severa Co., had a slight mishap in the speed tests. Owing to the breakage of the crankshaft casing, the machine had to make a forced landing on the sea. When the machine did not return within a reasonable time to Warnemunde, a Junkers F.13 went out to look for it, located it on the sea, and came back and reported, after which a motor cruiser went to its assistance and brought it back to Warnemunde. It was found that the A.20 had a damaged float, and this was sent by air to the Junkers works at Dessau for repairs, arriving back again in a very short time, also by air, so that the machine should soon be in flying trim again It may be of interest to mention that the high-speed course, which was also used in the fuel-consumption tests, was a rectangular one formed by Warnemunde-Ahrenshoop- Gjedser Rev-Brunshaupten. This course has a length of 230 kms. (143 miles), and had to be covered twice in the petrol consumption trials. In the accompanying table we give such technical results as were available up to the time of going to press. It should be mentioned that the figures in the table are based upon official bulletins issued by the organising committee of the competition, and that, naturally, in the original the metric system was used throughout. For the benefit of English readers we have, however, thought it better to convert these figures into English units of weight and speed. In the text accompanying the official table no explanation is given of the reasons for the absence from the table of certain machines Jther than those already mentioned, and it is therefore assumed that these machines had not at the time of posting the official bulletins passed the various tests. Whether they information arrives after going to press with this week's issue of FLIGHT we propose to publish^the late results in next week's issue. Concerning the table itself, little need, we think, be said, as the figures are self-explanatory. It will be observed that 1he machine with the highest measured speed is the Heinkel H.E.5 fitted with Napier " Lion " engine. The machine with the greatest range is the Heinkel monoplane with " Jupiter " engine, the next longest range being that of No. 7, the Junkers W.33, which has a Junkers L.5 engine. The best climb recorded (this climb was measured from 3,300 to (5,600 ft.) was that of the Heinkel-Napier, which took only 4.25 minutes for the 3,300 ft., while the next best climb was scored by the Junkers W.34 with Bristol " Jupiter " engine. It may be recollected that in our notes on the Seaplane Competition published in last week's issue, reference was made to the fact that empty weight was used as a basis for judging the quality of the construction of the machines, and in the table published herewith figures are given for ratio of useful load to empty weight. The highest value of this ratio is that of No. 3, the L.F.G. V.61, with Bristol " Jupiter," closely followed by the Heinkel H.E.5 with Gnome and Rhone " Jupiter." In the competition machines are required to carry a service load of 880 lbs., in which figure are included the weights of pilot, engineer, equipment, etc., but not the weight of the fuel. Although the figures for useful load vary very con- siderably in the different machines, presumably this difference is accounted for by the greater or smaller quantity of fuel carried, and so presumably the figure for fuel consumption per mile can be taken as a direct measure of the economy of the competing machines for the service load given, although it seems possible that in some cases machines are carrying a considerably greater service load than that stipulated. Just as we are about to go to press with this week's issue of FLIGHT a few further particulars came to hand. In the performance tests, which were passed by 10 out of the 18 machines entered, the following " figures of merit " were obtained : (the first figure is the number of the machine in the competition) ; 8,0-657- 10 0-629; 16,0-622; 7,0-587; 9, 0-584; 3, 0-456; 12, 0-444; 17, 0-392; 2, 0-378; 11, 0-358. Note that the machine leading in this section is the Junkers W. 34 with Brist-il " Jupiter " engine. A fatal accident has marred the competition. During the coastal flight the pilot of No. 2, the L.F.'G. V. 60 biplane with B.M.W. IV engine, Herr Haase, was drowned. It appears that he had to alight on the sea for some adjustment, and was washed overboard by a wave. His passenger was picked up by a lifeboat from the island of Fehmarn, and the machine was salved. In the coastal flight reliability trial the Heinkel H.E. 5 monoplane with Napier " Lion " engine was awarded a gold cup for the fastest time from Warnemunde to Hamburg. PARTICULARS OF TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE TESTS IN GERMAN SEAPLANE COMPETITION •^ Machine and • Engine. 2 L.F.G. V60-BMW 3 L.F.G. V61-Jupiter 5 Rohrbach-BMW . . 7 Junkers-L.5 8 Junkers-Jupiter 9 Heinkel-Napier 10 Heinkel-Jupiter 11 Heinkel-BMW 12 Heinkel-BMW 16 Junkers-L.5 17 Heinkel-Rolls Royce Weight loaded (lbs.). 4,400 5,040 7,150 4,625 4,725 5,500 5,500 4,580 4,670 3,900 5,450 Weight empty (lbs.)". 2,970 3,240 4,460 3,110 3,135 3,600 3,340 3,110 3,050 2,510 3,740 Useful Load (lbs.). 1,430 1,800 2,690 1,515 1,590 1,900 2,160 1,470 1,520 1,390 1,710 Useful Load. Weight empty. 0-484 0 • 656 0-602 0-486 0-476 0-530 0-650 0-475 0-532 0 • 556 0-458 Top Speed (m.p.h.). 91-3 110-5 — 120-5 125-5 1260 1210 — — 122-3 1120 Take-offSpeed (m.p.h.). 46-0 52 1 — 55-3 51-5 65-3 54-6 — — — 52-2 Climb from 1 to 2 kms. (mins.). 9-05 6-6 — 5-93 3-6 4-25 5-7 131 7-6 4-95 8-65 Fuel Con- Maximum sumption (lbs./mile). 0-843 — — 0-768 1-193 1 • 527 1-43 1 • 395 1143 0-998 1-845 Range (miles). 563 — — 743 503 586 890 357 578 449 393 R.A.F. Flying Accident THE Air Ministry regrets to announce that as the result of an aeroplane accident at Hinaidi Aerodrome, Iraq, to a Vickers Vernon of No. 45 Squadron, Hinaidi, on July 26, 1926, Flying Officer Oswald Kempson Stirling Webb, one of the two pilots of the aircraft, Sqdn.-Ldr. Eric Miller Pollard, Flight-Lieut. Reginald Carey Brinton Brading, D.F.C., No. 155685 Sergt. Edgar Kennedy, and Mr. Francis Crawfurd Inglis (Works and Buildings Department) were killed. Pilot Officer George Percy Mee, the other pilot of the aircraft, and No. 345662 A.C.I Horace Leslie Davis were severely injured, the latter dying of his injuries shortly afterwards. No. 128624 A.C.I James Douglas Henderson, the remaining passenger, was uninjured. No. 354222 A.C.2 Edgar Whittle, who was working in a shed on which the machine crashed, was alsojkilled. 465
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