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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0014.PDF
JANUARY 1927 Last week we referred to the fact that tnlfned" the three de Havilland " Hercules " Performance machines which have successfully com- pleted their journeys to the East were, to all intents and purposes, taken straight out of the shops and sent on their long flights. The amount of preliminary testing carried out before the commence- ment of the flights was relatively small, in view of the fact that the " Hercules " is a new type of machine, at any rate as regards the de Havilland Aircraft Company, whose first three-engined aeroplane it is. That all three machines should get through to their various destinations without mishap of any kind is a tribute not only to the company which designed and built them, but also, we think, to the three-engined type in general. While we should be the last to claim that Ihree single-engined machines could not have done the same (as a matter of fact, the four Fairey HID service machines that flew from Cairo to the Cape, back to Cairo and on to England kept to a time-table), it has definitely been proved that the three-engined type does possess a very large measure of reliability, and, personally, we have no doubt that when the regular services come into operation between Cairo and Basra, the same reliability will be maintained. Thus it may be said that British civil aviation has advanced another step forward. Statistics for rive years of regular air route flying show that British aircraft have attained a remarkable degree of safety. It is not too much to hope that we are now in a fair way to have solved also the problem of reliability. Speaking broadly, there remains one more of the three chief factors in real commercial aviation to be achieved : that of economy. In all forms of transport, and perhaps in air transport more than anywhere, the first two are to some extent antagonistic to the last named. Safety calls for thorough and extensive ground organisa- tion, or, in other words, expense. Reliability is to be attained by first-class flying stock, a careful system of inspection, replacement and overhaul, and, last but not least, by the use of machines with ample power reserve. Obviously the problems of safety and reliability overlap to a very marked degree. This applies nowhere more than in the case of a good reserve of power, which enables a machine to get out of a restricted space with its full load. But it is equally essential to reliability, since it is only by being able to add, in exceptional circumstances, several miles per hour to the speed in order to keep to a fixed time-table, that an air line can ever be regarded as a commercial proposition. We have had an excellent demonstration of this fact in the case of sail versus steam. When steamers first began to challenge sail, they had an uphill fight. Doubtless in the early days of steam, cargo rates were more expensive than those charged for transport in sailing vessels. Certainly they are nowadays. But the fact that the steamer is reliable, that it can be counted upon to reach its destination within a few hours of its scheduled time, more than makes up for the cost of the coal, or oil, burned to propel it, as compared with the " free " power of the sailing vessel. To us it seems that those interested in air transport may take courage from this fact. Granted that we must have good flying stock, an extensive ground organisation, highly skilled personnel, ample power reserve. If, by aiming first at these things, we can prove conclusively that air-route flying is safe, is reliable, and saves a very great deal of time, does it not stand to reason that in time the problem of economy will solve itself ? Personally we think the answer must undoubtedly be yes—the more so as it is now admitted that surface transport has reached a stage where it cannot, except at quite dispropor- tionate cost, be very much accelerated. Commercial aviation is gradually emerging from the speculative stage. It is slowly but unmistakably being realised that economy in commercial aviation is not to be attained by loading machines up to the limit of their carrying power (and to the limit of their engine power), but rather by having in hand a good reserve of power capable of dealing with emergencies. That way lies safety and reliability, certainly, and economy probably, because once the safety and reliability have been proved, the extra volume of traffic attracted will automatically work towards better economy. The old basis of horse-power expended per passenger carried was all very well in its way, but so many other factors enter into the question that this simple basis, attractive as it is, is no longer any real criterion. It is for this reason that we do not share the view held in certain quarters that until it is possible to carry, on commercial aeroplanes, 10 or 20 lbs. per horse-power, flying cannot be made to pav. We believe that it can be made to pa ' almost at once, if the routes are carefully chosen. We have little hope of flying being made to pay on the London-Paris route, for instance, but we have every confidence that it will pay on the Empire air routes. That is why we hail the flight to India as likely to prove one of the most important milestones in the history of British Empire Commercial Aviation. By a curious coincidence, almost at the And at same time that the great " Hercules "tl ie ^thfr commercial aeroplane reached Delhi the the Scale *wo de Havilland " Moths " piloted by Mr. Stack and Mr. Leete arrived at their destination, Karachi. Although these two little aeroplanes were not being flown to any fixed time- table, their performance is, in its way, as meritorious as that of the powerful machines. For the first time in history two aeroplanes of such low power have set out in company and have crossed seas and moun- tains, forests and deserts, on a flight of well over 5,000 miles. The two intrepid pilots deserve the thanks of British aviation for their splendid feat. The proof of the capacity of the low-power aeroplane for hard work, coming as it does almost simultaneously with the announcement of a reduction to £730 for the "Moth" fitted with the Mark II "Cirrus" engine, cannot fail to have a very pronounced influence on the future of private flying. Thus, in one week we have the two extremes, as it were, of civil aviation " making good." Truly, the outlook for 1927 is extremely promising. In view of the fact that the " Moth " has not been in existence for more than a couple of years this reduction in price is all the more gratifying, especially as the more powerful Mark II " Cirrus " engine is being standardised which, with more power and less weight, gives the "Moth" a considerably better performance, especially in the matter of take-off and climb. That it has reached the same high standard of reliability as that for which the Mark I was famous seems to have been definitely proved by the flight to Karachi, during which, as far as can be gathered, the " Cirrus " engines gave no trouble whatever. 14
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