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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0360.PDF
ANHMHHBwnaaiK The centre-section tank of the Hawker " Horsley." useful speed a consumption of somewhere in the neighbour-hood of 20 gallons was required. This much having been proved, it remained for Mr. SydneyCamm to carry out stress calculations of the aeroplane structure so as to determine whether the machine wouldhave reasonably high load factors with the terrific weight that had to be carried. Stress estimates proved this to bethe case, the machine being quite safe with a total loaded weight of 14,200 lbs. Sir Hugh Trenchard and Sir John Higgins forthwithdecided that the attempt should be made, and work on the modified machine was at once commenced. The problemof how to house more than 1,000 gallons of petrol without spoiling the lines of the machine was a very difficult one. Anumber of external tanks would offer a great deal of extra head resistance, and for a machine to be able to cover longdistances aerodvnamic efficiency is an essential condition. MAY 26, 1927 At the very outset, therefore, it was decided that whateverhappened, the machine was to be kt-p. clean." The views of the actual machine published in the present issue, as wellas those which we gave last week, show that this resolution was rigidly adhered to. With the exception of the oil tank,slung underneath the nose just behind the radiator, not a single excrescence was- added due to the extra fuel tanks.In fact, the only objects added externally were a compass on top of the fuselage and brackets on the sides of the rearcockpit for the drift indicator. The first test flight of the actual machine was made abouta month ago, and everything was found to be in order. A good deal of testing was still required, however, and Flight-Lieutemmt Bulman was hard at work for a while. These tests included full-load taxying across the aerodrome atBrooklands, a severe test for the undercarriage. The Palmer wheels and tyres stood the tests well, although later on, whilethe machine was standing in the shed, a tyre burst. It will be realised that the problem of designing wheels and tyresto carry a load of, roughly, 7,000 lbs. each, is no easy one, especially since factors of safety capable of taking care of theshocks to be encountered during taxying over more or less rough ground have to be attained. As usual, however,Palmers proved equal to the occasion, and the " Horsley " got out of Cranwell Aerodrome without damage in the actualtake-off. The Machine IT will probably be known to the majority of our readersthat the Hawker " Horsley," designed and built by the H. G. Hawker Engineering Company, of Kingston-on-Thames,of which Mr. T. O. M. Sopwith and Mr. F. Sigrist are managing directors, is the standard day-bomber of the Royal Air Force.The service type is fitted with the Rolls-Royce " Condor " engine of 650 h.p. The design of the machine is somewhatunusual, and is characterised by a biplane cellule of which the top plane has considerably greater span and chord thanthe bottom plane. The wing-bracing is of the two-bay type, with the undercarriage attached to the lower plane at thejunction of the inner pair of inter-plane struts. This arrange- ment, in addition to providing a free space for a large bomb,or even a torpedo, has the advantage of giving a very wide wheel track, so that the machine is not easily overturnedon the ground. The wing section is somewhat unusual. We have no exact information concerning it, but it appears tobe one of, or a slight modification of one of, the German Gottingen " tadpole," or Schoukowsky sections, characterisedby considerable depth near the leading edge, fining off to a very thin trailing edge with, however, a fairly pronouncedmean camber. These sections have proved very efficient, with a good maximum L-'D ratio and a reasonably highmaximum lift coefficient. A feature of them is that the centre of pressure is fairly far back at normal flying angles THE PETROL TANKS OF THE " HORSLEY " : On the left, the decklfairing tank. In the centre, the aft fuselage tank, and on the right the front fuselage tank. ; ^ : 328
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