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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0390.PDF
: \ JUNE 2, 1927 GLOSTER "GAMECOCKS" FOR FINLAND " THE LAND OF A THOUSAND LAKES," or " Suomi " to give Finland its native name, has comparatively recently com- menced seriously to interest itself in the establishment of an Air Force. Once it did decide upon the formation of such a force, however, there were no half-measures about it. It was laid down as a governing principle that in as f; r as finances would permit, the best obtainable flying material •was to be obtained. Finland scores over most other countries, from an air force point of view, in having at the head of its air force men who are all comparatively young, men who are not, therefore, hidebound by ancient traditions in other services, and best of all, men who are practical flying people and who thus know what to aim at, what is good, and, last but not least, what is practical instead of what is mainly of theoretical value. Knowing a little of the history of the Finnish Air Force, one is not surprised to learn that an order has recently been placed by Finland for a batch of Gloster " Gamecock II " single-seater fighters, and thus very shortly the Finnish Air Force, or rather a part of it, will be mounted on really up-to-date machines worthy of the splendid personnel of which the force is composed. Before commencing a description of the " Gamecock II," it may be as well to point out that in the general design of this machine one may trace quite easily an ancestry dating back through the Gloster " Grebe," and the Nieuport " Night- hawk " to the S.E.5A, with the design of which latter Mr. H. P. Folland, now Chief Engineer and Designer of the Gloster company, was concerned at the Royal Aircraft Factory (as it then was) of Famborough. Thus Mr. Folland has had very lengthy experience of designing single-seater fighters, first at Farnborough, then with the British Nieuport Company, and during the last six or seven years with the Gloster Aircraft Company. During that period Mr. Folland has designed, and the Gloster Company produced machines of various other types, it is true, but in the main one may say that the firm has specialised in single-seater fighters or in closely related types such as racing land and seaplanes. The " Gamecock II " therefore represents the accumulated experience of Mr. Folland, his chief assistant, Mr. Preston, and the rest of the technical staff of the Gloster company, and that the Finnish Air Force is not acquiring an experiment but a well-tried type will be realised when we point out that the " Gamecock I " has been in use in the British Royal Air Force for a long time, while the " Gamecock II " as delivered to the R.A.F. is still on the " secret list." In this connection it should be pointed out that the R.A.F. " Gamecock II " differs from the type delivered to Finland mainly in that it is fitted with a British Bristol " Jupiter " Mark VI, while the Finnish machines are equipped with the Gnome-Rhone " Jupiter," which is less powerful, and thus may be expected to give a rather lower performance. Also, the Finnish machines have painted on their sides the Swastika in place of the circles of the British " Gamecocks," but it is not thought that this greatly affects the performance ! The machine was demon- strated by Capt. Saint, at the Finnish Air Pageant held at Helsingfors from March 20 to 27 this winter, when it " put up a very fine show " and was greatly admired. As the " Gamecock I " will be familar to many of our readers, perhaps it may be of assistance to outline briefly the main differences between it and the ' Gamecock II." To begin with, the fuselages are almost identical, as are also the wings with the exception that instead of the two top plane halves meeting on the centre-line of the machine, attached to a form of cabane, a centre-section has been inter- posed, supported on struts from the fuselage. This has had the double effect of throwing the two halves of the top plane outwards somewhat, and of very greatly improving the view from the cockpit. As a result of the outward displacement of the top planes, the inter-plane struts have been raked outward, while yet another slight change in the wing arrangement is found in the ailerons, which are of narrower chord in the Mark II machine, and the struts separating them have beeen moved outward and now occur in the centre of the ailerons. Structurally the wings have only been changed in so far as the aileron false spars have been supplanted by spars running the whole span of the wing, giving a more rigid support for the ailerons. The " Gamecock II " has been " cleaned up " by altering slightly the proportions of the petrol tanks carried in the top plane. In the Mark I machine these tanks were fairly narrow from side to side, but projected below the aerofoil section considerably. The new tanks of the Mark II are somewhat wider, but lie more nearly flush with the wing surface, so that thedrag of them may be assumed to have been reduced a good deal. The wind screen of the " Gamecock II " is of a different type from that of the Mark I, and has been found to disturb the air flow over the tail to a much smaller degree. The result has been that the Mark II machine has better control under all conditions. Of the structual features of the " Gamecock II " there is little which need be said. The methods of construction followed throughout are those employed by the Gloster company for several years. The fuselage is the usual girder type, with ash longerons and spruce struts, braced by tierods, while the wings have spruce spars, struts and ribs, and internal tierod drag bracing, with external streamline wire lift bracing. The new centre-section is, however, made of steel in view of the heavy loads imposed upon it. The undercarriage is of the oleo-damped type, with rubber rings absorbing landing loads in compression. The engine installed in the Gloster " Gamecock II," as delivered to the Finnish Air Force is, as, already mentioned, a Gnome-Rhone " Jupiter," normally developing 420 h.p., and a maximum of 454 at 1,800 r.p.m. The two petrol tanks, carried in the top plane and giving direct gravity feed to the engine, have a capacity of 26 gallons each, while the oil tank, housed in the deck fairing aft of the engine, has a capacity of 5£ gallons. The load factors to which the " Gamecock II " is designed are 5| on the rear-wing truss and 1\ on front-wing truss, working to a stress of 5,500 lb./sq. in. for spruce members. The fuselage has a factor of 5£ for front portion, and for rear portion with landing loads. The undercarriage and tail skid have factors of 5. Provision is made for fitting 2 Vickers guns lying in the sides of the fuselage and firing " through " the propeller by means of the usual synchronising gear. There is space for 1,200 rounds of ammunition, and if desired racks can be fitted to carry 4 bombs weighing 20 lbs. each. The main dimensions of the " Gamecock II " are shown on the accompanying general arrangement drawings. The following itemised weight data may be of interest:— Power Unit lb. kg. Gnome-Rhone " Jupiter " .. 800 364 Propeller 55 25 Oil (5J gallons) . . . . 55 25 Petrol (52 gallons) . . . . 595 291 Piping and exhaust pipes .. 40 18-2 Gas starter, magneto, &c. .. 25 11-35 Total weight of power unit . . 1,570 lb. Structure Weight Wings, struts and wires Fuselage Gun mounts, &c.Fins, rudder, tail and elevator Controls Tail adjuster Undercarriage Tail skidFairing, cockpit and seat Main petrol tanksOil tank and cooler Miscellaneous parts Total structure weight . . 450 172 25 42 26 6 115 8 120 50 18 20 1,052 1b. Military Load Pilot Electrical equipment OxygenInstruments Guns, ammunition, sights and C.C. gear 180 15 21 26 190 734 • 55 kg. 205 78-2 11 • 35 19-1 11-8 2-73 52 • 3 3-6454 • 5 22-7~8-2 91 478 • 62 kg. 82 6-8 9-5511-8 86-4 Total military load .. 432 1b. 196-55 kg. Total loaded weight of machine, 3,054 lb. (1,409 kg). Wing loading, 11-6 lb./sq. ft. (56-8 kg./sq. m.). Power loading (normal), 7-27 lb./h.p. (3-3 kg./h.p). The following performance figures are conservative, based upon the first machine, and have since been considerable improved upon :— Maximum speed at sea level 150 m.p.h. 233-7 km./h. 10,000 ft. 140 „ 221 15,000 ft. 135 „ 204-6 „ Absolute ceiling, 22,000 ft. 6,770 m. Stalling speed at sea level, 50 m.p.h. 80-5 km./h. Climb to 10,000 ft. in 7 mins. ; to 15,000 ft. in 12-23 mias. 352
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