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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0919.PDF
DECEMBER 2, 1926 to 2,000 m. in 5 mins. 10 sees. ; to 3,000 m. in 8 mins. 30 sees. ;to 4,000 m. in 12 mins. 50 sees. ; to 5,000 m. in 19 mins. 20 sees. Service ceiling, 7,600 m. It will be seen that forits power the Aero A. 11 has a very good performance. The Aero Tovarna A.30 is a long-distance reconnaissancebiplane fitted with 450 h.p. Lorraine-Dietrich engine. Other power plants of approximately the same weight and powercan, however, be supplied. Particular care has been taken in the arrangement of the pilot's instrument-board in thismachine, so that such instruments as have to be constantly watched are so placed as to be easily seen without the pilothaving to turn his head to any great "extent. The fuselage is of steel-tube construction, but welding is not employed in parts that have to resist any se\'ere stress. The enginemounting, also of steel-tube construction, is easily detachable. The wing construction is the usual, with spars and ribs ofwood, and internal drag struts of steel tube, the drag bracing being by wire. The armament of the A.30 is the usual, i.e., a fixed Vickersgun firing through the propeller, and two Lewis guns on a rotating gun ring for the observer. A form of compensatoris employed in order to relieve the air pressure on the aft guns when flying at high speed. A wireless outfit is carriedin the observer's cockpit. Parachutes, fire extinguishers and oxygen apparatus are also carried. No performance data are available. "THE FIRST WORLD FLIGHT" As sportsmen, we have from the first given our whole-heartedand envious admiration to the four gallant American lads who made the first circuit of the world by air ; and our,;equally sincere sympathy to the other four who set out but did not get round. These young followers of Odysseushave been fortunate in finding a' worthy Homer to tell of their wanderings, in the person of Mr. Lowell Thomas, whosedelightful lectures at Covent Garden are still fresh in the memory of Londoners. For of the eight adventurers onlyone, Leslie Arnold, had any gift for expressing his thoughts by tongue and pen. Mr. Lowell Thomas has made of therecord a delightfully vivacious book of adventure, enjoyable by all ages and both sexes. It goes without saying that a review in FLICHT mustlook first for the technical lessons of the flight as told in the book. The outstanding point of this nature is the wayin which the Douglas World Cruisers stood up to the gruelling- task which was set them. The Americans admitted, whenthey met Locatelh in Iceland, that his Dormier Wai flying- boat " appeared to be the most efficient plane for long-distance flying that we had ever seen " ; but none the less, the Douglas machines did all that was asked of them. TheLiberty engines sometimes let them down, but the Douglas biplanes never. There was occasional damage in a heavy sea,, but it wasusually repairable on the spot. The machines were heavily loaded and slow, and at Haiphong, for example, in a deadcalm on a river, it took the pilots three hours to get off the water, and even then they could not get on their steps untilthey had taxied 12 miles down the river, dodging the native shipping, to reach the ripples in the Gulf of Tongldng. Butof mechanical breakdown in the aeroplanes there was none. The Liberty engines did not stand the strain so well.The story of the engines is briefly as follows : The first set of engines flew from Seattle to Japan, some 3,000 miles. Thesecond set were installed at Kasumigaura. When flying between Haiphong and Lourane in French Indo-China. theengine in Lowell Smith's machine, the " Chicago " developed a leaky radiator, over-heated, and practically broke up.A con. rod came through the crankcase. Smith landed on a lagoon, and a new Liberty was brought from Saigon, andwas installed . Between Allahabad and Ambala, the engine in Nelson's machine, the " New Orleans," developed a leakycylinder. A new cylinder was obtained from the British store at Lahore and was installed. When approachingKarachi, this same engine commenced to fly to pieces in the air, from some cause which was never ascertained, andNelson only just struggled into Karachi. At Karachi, the third set of new engines was installed. This set took themsuccessfully to Brough, where the fourth set of Libcrtys was installed. Flying from the Orkneys to Iceland, the oilpump in the engine of the " Boston," Leigh Wade's machine, failed. He alighted on a very rough sea, and though themachine was found and taken in tow by the U.S. cruiser Richmond, it was battered to pieces by the waves and sank.At Ivigtut, in Greenland, the two survivors installed their fifth set of engines—at least, it was the fifth for the " New-Orleans," and the sixth for the " Chicago." Flying from Greenland to North America, Lowell Smith in the " Chicago,"found both his petrol power pump and his wind pump out ., of action, while an oil leak also developed. His companion,Arnold, worked the hand pump for three hours, and they made America. Ten miles beyond Baltimore, the engineof the " New Orleans " stopped dead, the timing gears having slipped, just above the only possible landing ground formiles. At San Diego, engines were changed for the last time, the " New Orleans " receiving her sixth, and the " Chicago "her seventh. If I have overlooked any other changes of engines, I offer my apologies to the manufacturers of theLiberty motor. Of course, it was great good luck for the world-fliers thatthey found Liberty engines in use by the Royal Air Force in India. One rather wonders whether their legs were pulled bythe R.A.F. men at Ambala, or whether pure Yankeeism is responsible for this passage, which, by the way, is put intothe mouth of Erik Nelson, who is by birth a Swede :—" To our delight, we found the British aviators in India were allusing our Liberty motors—two thousand of them ! And they swore by them, too. This was gratifying, because Europeanengines had long held first place in the aeronautical world. But since the War the Liberty 12 has come to the front." Asa matter of sober fact there are two bombing squadrons in India equipped with the D.H.9A-Liberty, namely, Nos. 27and 60. And if they were to keep 2,000 Liberty's for those two squadrons—well, who would say that it was not a wiseprecaution ? Mr. Lowell Thomas has edited the story of the flight withmuch judgment. We do not want, and we do not get, long accounts of well-known countries, such as India and France._But .lands which are almost unknown to most well-read people, such as the Aleutian Islands and Iceland, are describedin considerable detail. ' Of course, the worst parts of the flight were the two Arctic seel ions ; and so, for more than one reason,the author, or editor, has chiefly expended his descriptive powers upon the North Pacific and the North Atlantic. Infact, Mr. Lowell Thomas has treated his story as a " Travelogue," a story of adventure. Deliberately heemphasises the dangers which were faced and overcome and the hardships which were endured. In doing so, he hasaroused the admiration of his readers for the much-enduring heroes who made the flight ; at the same time he hasemphasised the uselessness of the flight from the point of view of opening up commercial air routes. After reading this bookit is impossible to imagine aircraft ever being put to a useful purpose in the fogs and among the mountains and icebergsof the North Pacific. Major Martin crashed there, and the other three aeroplanes were extraordinarily lucky to escapeunscathed. That is the only real lesson to be drawn from the flight, and it is a negative lesson. Let the reader, therefore,take this book merely as a book of adventure. It is as thrilling as anything in " Herbert Strang's Annual," and thesix—in fact the eight—heroes arc paladins indeed. F. A. DE V. R. * Thr First World Flight; being the personal narratives of Lowell Smith.Erik Nelson, Leigh Wade, Leslie Arnold, Henry Ogden, John Harding, written by Loweil Thomas, author of " With Lawrence in Arabia."Hutchinson & Co., Ltd. Reduction of R.A.F. in Iraq MATTERS having settled down somewhat in Iraq, and, incidentally, owing to the inauguration of the Cairo-Karachi air service", it has been possible to reduce the R.A.F. in Iraq from eight squadrons to seven, as from November 1. No. 1 Squadron (Sq.-Comdr. Cyril Lowe) of Fighters, stationed at Hinaidi, is being disbanded in Iraq, but will be re-formed next year as one of the Home Defence Squadrons. The original personnel will remain in Iraq to fill vacancies inother units out there. " Alan Cobham, Limited " IT is reported that a new private company with a capital of £1,000 in /I shares has been registered under the title of Alan Cobham Aviation, Ltd.," of which Sir Alan Cobham is a director. The business of the company will be the manufacture of aircraft. 791
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