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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0997.PDF
DECEMBER 23, 1926 HHHEHHHH a The S.E.C.M. 150 T commercial machine, of which only the centre portion was ex- hibited (in skele- ton). The wing construction is somewhat simi- lar to the Junkers. f" IM.ICMT " Photograph H 13 a H 0 0 a 0 H E H0000000 is a single-engined night bomber two-seater with 600 h.p.engine. Like all S.E.C.M. products the machine was of all- metal construction, the fuselage being built up of metaltubing, whilst the wings had " N " girder spars of the type produced by this firm for several years. The machine waschiefly remarkable because of the fact that it was, in spite of its large span, a single bay biplane, the interplane strutsbeing raked outwards at a very pronounced angle, due to the fact that the lower plane is of very much shorter span thanthe top. As distinct from so many French aeroplanes having a short bottom plane, the wing bracing is of orthodoxtype, and does not show the usual arrangement of lift wires running from the lower plane to the undercarriage, whichseems to be so popular with French designers at present. Of the second machine of this stand only the centre portionwas shown, and this was exhibited in skeleton. It is to be a large commercial Vee-engined machine with three Hispano-Suiza engines. The fuselage is of typical S.E.C.M. tubular construction, in which the joints between struts and longeronsare formed by wrapping metal sheet around the struts and longerons. This is a form of construction which the S.E.C.M.Company has developed to a high art, and which is certainly beautifully carried out. although it is a little difficult to seethe necessity for this complication. The wing structure looks at first glance, somewhat like the well-known Junkers type withmultiple tubular spars, but in reality it is quite different. To begin with, the main wing structure does not extend over theentire chord as is the case in the Junkers machines. It stops short aft at approximately mid-chord, while in front there is aseparate leading edge formed of sheet metal. Moreover, when the structure is examined in detail, it is found that thetop and bottom tubes of the spars occur one above the other, whereas in the Junkers construction a top tube occurs approxi-mately above the midway point between the two lower tubes and vice versa. The method of joining all the varioustubes together is also quite different from that used by Professor Junkers, and takes a form similar in general prin- ciple to that employed in the fuselage construction, with sheetmetal wrapped around the joint. One such joint was exhi- bited on the stand, and showed a large number of tubesmeeting at a point. It was impossible not to admire the skill and craftmanship which had enabled this joint to bemade, but it is difficult to discover the necessity for going to such complicated methods of joining tubes together. Fromwhat will be gathered by inspecting the centre portion of this machine, the cantilever monoplane wing will have a verypronounced taper. The undercarriage appeared to be of the type in which the axle itself is rigidly mounted, but it wasnot possible to see whether or not shock-absorbing gear was incorporated inside the wheels. A photograph of awheel, however, showed shock absorbers incorporated, although one doubts whether this type of wheel was actuallyused on the machine as exhibited. VILLIERS Two machines were exhibited by Francois Villiers, a compara-tive newcomer to the French aircraft industry. Of these one, the Villiers type No. 11 C.2, was an avion marin of the typedesigned to be able to alight on the sea in case of engine trouble. This machine is similar to other French machinesof its class in that the undercarriage, a wood structure, is watertight so as to provide sufficient flotation to keep themachine from sinking until it can be picked up. The bottom plane, which is of smaller span and chord than the top plane,is attached to the watertight fuselage approximately halfway up the sides, or roughly at the level of the water line, and twowing tip floats provide lateral stability when the machine is at rest on the water. The undercarriage can be dropped beforealighting in the sea, the propeller being locked in a horizontal position. The machine is otherwise of orthodox design, theonly unusual feature being necessitated by the purpose for which the machine was designed. Owing to the raising of thebottom plane up to the centre line of the fuselage, the top The Villiers'' Avion Marin '' has a very smallbottom 'plane. Note the wing tipfloat and the Lamblin radiatoron the leading edge. The under-carriage can be dropped, part ofthe release gear being visible inthis sketch. [" FLIGHT "CopyrightSketch 853
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