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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0031.PDF
JANUARY 2 0, 1927 AN AMERICAN TWIN-ENGINED LIGHT 'PLANE The " Johnson Twin 60," with Two Bristol " Cherubs " THE multi-engine idea seems to be spreading. From single- engined aeroplanes we went to twin-engined, and from twin- engined to three-engined. Nor has this evolution been confined entirely to very large, powerful machines, although, naturally enough, these were the first to be produced. Thus, in this country, we had last year the Handley Page " Hamlet," a small three-engined commercial passenger machine with such a machine is really worth while is, perhaps, open to debate. To begin with, the twin-engined aeroplane, unless capable of flying on one of its engines, is illogical. In the case of the Short " Cockle " this was not the case, and there was very excellent reason for using the twin-engined arrangement, because with a monoplane flying-boat no other arrangement was possible, or, at any rate, practicable. In the'ease of the A TWIN-ENGINED LIGHT PLANE Side view of the Johnson " Twin 60 "Series III engines. with two Bristol " Cherub three Bristol " Lucifer " engines. We ourselves have sug- gested in FLIGHT that the small machine of this type, with even lower total power than that of the " Hamlet," might be a useful type for certain localities and conditions. In the seaplane class we have had the little Short " Cockle," fitted with two Blackburne motor-cycle engines, which flies very well and is now, we believe, about to be equipped with two Bristol " Cherubs." Thus there is nothing particularly Johnson " Twin 60," however, it is less obvious what was in the mind of the designer. Good view and absence of slip- stream, probably, although the extra complication of the twin-engined principle would appear to be rather a high price to pay. It might have been thought that if these two desiderata were the raisaus d'etre of the " Twin 60," a simple way of obtaining them would have been to follow rather the lav-out of the lnt'e " Albatros L.72," described and illustrated THE JOHNSON "TWIN 60": THREE-QUARTER REAR VIEW: Note the two petrol tanks on'the top plane, the Reed Duralumin pusher airscrews, and the twin rudders. The tail skid has been supplanted by a swivelling wheel to facilitate taxying. The friction thus lost is made up for by a wheel-brake arrangement in the main undercarriage. startling in the general design of the two-seater light 'plane recently produced by the Johnson Airplane and Supply Company, of Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., a machine fitted with two Bristol " Cherub " series III engines. The accompanying photographs show this machine to be a twin-engined pusher, looking in its general lay-out like a small edition of a large twin-engined machine. Whether in FLIGHT of January 28, 1926. That machine was " a flying- boat on wheels," with the Siemens engines mounted behind the top plane and driving a pusher airscrew. That this arrangement necessitated the usual difference between centre of resistance and centre of thrust associated with the flying- boat type was probably of small moment in a machine of such small size and power. 31 B2
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