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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0869.PDF
NOVEMBER 25, 1926 DOMINION PREMIERS AT CARDINGTON WEDNESDAY, November 17, was a drizzly and windy day, At the foot of the mast, in addition to the machinery and the members of the Imperial Conference who visited house, there is an underground tank which will hold the Royal Airship Works, at Cardington, had once again 10,000 gallons of fuel, with a pump capable of raising 2,000 to endure some of the worst rigours of the climate of Great gallons an hour. There are also two pumps for pumping Britain. Three Prime Ministers (Mr. Bruce, of Australia : ballast water up at the rate of 5 00<l gallons an hour. Mr. Coates, of New Zealand ; and Mr. Mackenzie King of A 12-in. gas main also runs up the mast. A similar mast has been erected at Ismailia, and another is about to be erected at Karachi. From the mast, the party turned to the shed Canada], were present in person, and there were also repre- sentatives of South Africa, India, and Newfoundland. The weather was not merely uncomfortable : it interfered with the Again it programme. It had been intended to show R. 33 moored was difficult to gauge its size by the eye. but when one got to the new mast, and temporary gear to take the old-fashioned inside and saw how small a space inside was taken up by " dew-drop " of our one serviceable rigid had been attached R.33, one began to get some idea of its vast ness. At Pulham to the mast head. But the wind in the morning was so strong R.33 looks "a right big airship, and one almost forgives the that it was not possible to bring the ship out of the shed. This, however, provided a useful object lesson in the value of mooring masts for airships, for once out of the shed. R 33 would have been quite safe at the mast head. popular papers which habitually describe her as a "mammoth. But at Cardington she looks' very small beer. A diagram showed that Bush House could be tucked comfortably away inside this shed. Yet the shed at Karachi is to be even larger. In the afternoon the wind abated somewhat, and Major G. The dimensions are : Cardington length 81'' ft • height '•-'•— ' " "" ' .i- , , • . 157 ft.; width, 180 ft. Karachi—length! 850 ft.' ,: height! 170 ft. ; width, 180 ft. At one end of the shed the duplicate central bay of R.101 reared itself almost to the roof. R.33. with her cars, could fly right through the centre of this bay. The bay was constructed to afford practice in assembling, and also experi- H. Scott took R. 33 up for a flight, intending to drop two Grebes, which were fastened underneath, Squadron-Leader Baker and Flying Officer Mackenzie-Richards went up in the ship, ready to take the Grebes off. But at 700 ft., R. 33 was lost to sight in the clouds, from which she occasionally emerged, looking like a wraith. Though the pilots declare cp, and the bay will be dismantled. Some sections will then be tested to destruction. Not much may be said about the methods of construction, which have departed entirely from that they can practically fly away from the ship from the inents in resisting static stresses. The bay has been clamped very instant of release, still 700 ft. does not give much margin to the end of the shed, all supports removed, and a gas-bag for error, and the Premiers all .declaring for " Safety First," has been inflated inside it. The tests have now been completed, the dropping of the aeroplanes was cancelled. But though the display had thus to be curtailed, the visit was full of interest. The party were able to inspect the new shed, the mooring mast, and the experimental duplicate bay Zeppelin practice. Stainless steel is largely used for th< of R. 101, any one of which would have well justified a visit girders, as it is lighter, strength for strength, than duralumin, but certain intermediate members are made of the latter metal. Both metals are treated so as to resist corrosion. The stainless steel is sand-blasted and covered with grey lacquer, or else zinc-plated. The duralumin is treated by a process known as the " anodic " process which has been developed at the R.A.E.. Farnborough. The diameter of to Cardington. The mast was inspected first. Though it i 201 ft. high, it does not look its height, partly because, stand- ing as it does out on a plain, there is nothing near to give a scale to the eye, and partly because of the width of its base, which has a diameter of 70 ft. It is a steel frame structure, with a lift which holds a dozen people, running up the centre bil if i il h th•while round the lift run ib a circular .staircase. When the this bay, which is the largest, is 131 ft. 7 in. The overall height party arrived at the foot, the lift was temporarily misbehaving itself, but Mr. Bruce is not a man to be deterred bv a little y g of the ship will be about 140 ft., and the length 730 ft. This first ship does not aim at the ultimate ideal in everything like that, and he promptly set out to walk up the stair- direction. Some desiderata have had to be postponed for way, followed by a party of steady-headed stalwarts. From the lift one disembarks on to a closed-in platform, from which a short stair leads to the embarking platform. This is open, and gives a fine view, with the Chiltern Hills away to the south. The gangway and steps will conform to the motion of the ship as she rides at the mast, but swaying at this point will always be very slight, and it will further research. One such matter is the provision of a substitute for goldbeater's skin in the gas bags. It would not be worth while to hold up the ship pending the result of the research now in progress. High commercial performance has likewise not been placed in the forefront of the programme. That can be dealt with later. But all energies have been concentrated on safety and on the comfort of passengers. be no more difficult to enter the gangway than it is to embark The great thing is to prove the principle, to get the airship on a. tube escalator. Above the embarking platform is the chamber which houses the mechanism of the massive moving arm. Very •careful design work has evidently been expended upon this arm, though the actual mechanism appears to be simple recognised by the commercial world as a useful and desirable vehicle of travel. The arrangements for the comfort of passengers are quite surprising in their elaboration. The whole of the quarters will be situated inside the hull, at the bottom of the central part of the frame. The control car and straightforward. The arm itself is a mighty mass of will project below. Provision is being made for 100 pas- metal weighing 45 tons, and when it is locked solid with the mast, the two will withstand a pull of 30 tons in any direction. When a ship is mooring, the arm will be free to swing through an angle of 30° from the vertical. The operation of mooring commences with one cable being dropped from the nose of the ship and another from the head of the mast. The ends will be coupled on the ground, and then the main winch at the foot of the mast takes in the slack. The ship is manoeuvred until its nose is 600 ft. above the masthead, and then two side guys are dropped from the nose of the mast. These are secured to anchor blocks on the ground, of which there are 24, situated in a circle 750 ft. distant from the mast, so as to provide for any direction of wind. These guvs are controlled by two more winches at the foot of the mast, but in future masts it will be possible to control sengers. The quarters will be arranged in two storeys. On the upper deck will be the lounge, the dining-room (to seat 50 at a time), and the main part of the sleeping accommo- dation. Promenades will run along each side, to give an opportunity for walking exercise, while it will be quite possible to hold dances in the lounge. Wireless, bridge, and perhaps a kinematograph will all help to dispel boredom. On the lower deck will be the smoking-room, the rest of the sleeping cabins, the kitchens, and the crew's quarters. Water will be condensed during flight and shower baths will be provided, the condensation balancing the fuel consumption. Manufacture of the parts by Messrs. Boulton and Paul, Ltd., will begin at once, and the actual assembling of the airship is expected to take only a few months. It is hoped that she will be ready for trial flights early in 1928, or perhaps both by one winch. All three winches can be operated b - a little earlier. Perhaps by then some of the Dominions will remote controls on the embarking platform under the direction of the mooring officer at the masthead. The ship passes through three stages between complete freedom and complete have erected standard mooring masts, and. after the trial flights to India both R.100 and R.101 will probably visit such Dominions as possess masts. Once airships have been :aptivity, all provided by the mechanism of the moving established in principle their future looks bright. In this arm. When the cone on the nose of the ship has engaged connection it is useful to recall the words of Sir Alan Anderson the receiving cup on the arm, the arm is locked in a vertical of the Orient line at the Air Conference in 1923. He said position, but the receiving cup remains free to rotate hori- " Prove that these ships will do. not all that is zontally, while the airship cone is carried on a universal asked of them, but half of what is asked of them, that they joint, and the ship thus has freedom of motion in all directions. are reasonably safe and reasonably regular, and I believe The mooring wire is then replaced by a slipping pennant. you will have any number of people wanting to travel as well When about to "sail," the locking pins of the receiving cup as wanting to run them." •are first withdrawn, and the pennant is then slipped. F. A. DE V. R. 769
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