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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0858.PDF
seriously of the seaplane, or more particularly of the flying boat. It is true that a travesty of a flying- boat service is still operated over the Southampton- Channel Islands route, but it is difficult to regard this as being other than an expedient to comply with the regulations laid down in the subsidy scheme. Fortunately for the British Empire one or two firms had the foresight to realise that for an Island Empire like the British the seaplane was the logical type, and in spite of lack of encouragement they persevered with the work in which they had made themselves specialists. Progress was naturally slow, but each successive type did clearly and undoubtedly represent an improvement on the previous model, and in due course the promise of the type became so obvious that the authorities were compelled to take notice, and to give their encouragement in the form of orders. At first these were, as was, perhaps, to be expected, of a very modest nature, but gradually they increased, and with them increased both the air and the sea qualities of the machines produced. The seaplane can now be said to have been firmly established, and it is permissible to assume that now there will be, can be, no turning back. Even if the seaplane were slightly less efficient than the land- plane of the same power and approximately the same weight, the type would be worth developing because of the peculiar geographical problems of British Empire communications. Fortunately, however, recently research has indicated as a practical certainty that with just a little more development the seaplane, and in particular the flying-boat, can be made to get off the water with as great a loading per horse-power as that of any aeroplane which has ever succeeded in getting off the land. We do not claim that a flying-boat has yet been produced which will do this. But we do hold that the flying-boat that will do it is in sight. Recent overload trials of various flying-boats have shown that, with existing types, it is possible to " unstick" with power loadings of about 20 lbs. per horse-power. Improve- ments in hull design, and especially in the design of the "steps" will, without doubt enable con- siderably greater loadings to be used and still to be able to get over the " hump speed." At the same time, the tendency in modern hull design is towards smaller, or shallower steps, which is merely another way of saying steps which offer less head resistance when the machine is in the air, so that the aerodynamic efficiency of the flying-boat is catching up with, or even overtaking, that of the landplane. The com- bination of these two factors will make the flying boat a very serious rival of the aeroplane for commer- cial work over Empire air routes, and personally we see in the two great flying-boat flights of 1927. a sign of the realisation of this fact by the powers that be. The Far East Cruise, by four Supermarine- Napier metal hull " Southamptons" under the command of Group-Captain Cave-Browne-Cave, which is now in progress, and the survey flight upon which Sir Alan Cobham is starting next week in a Short Rolls " Singapore," both make use of the metal- hull flying boat of modern design. Both flights will cover large portions of the British Empire where air services are bound to be established in the not very distant future. And, finally, neither flight could have been undertaken by landplanes. Other nations have sent single flying boats out on trips of very considerable magnitude, but never before have such two flights as these been under- NOVEMBER 10, 1927 taken, and it is a matter for justifiable pride that Great Britain should be the first nation to utilise the flying boat in this ambitious way. Thus the flying-boat is distinctly coming into its own, and what is chiefly required now is a strong seaplane policy on the part of the British authorities, civil as well as service. The flying-boat has come to stay, and already Great Britain can claim to have pushed flying - boat design to a stage considerably in advance of that of any other nation. If the proper support is forthcoming, British flying-boat designer? will give this country a lead in this particular branch which will be of immense value in the future. Already we have produced the best flying-boats in the world. In the Schneider Trophy seaplanes, of quite a different type, Britain has produced the fastest aircraft in the world, notwithstanding the new Macchi record. Never in the history of flying has seaplane progress looked so promising. But to reap the fruits of the work already done, it is essential that there should be no slacking off in our efforts. FLIGHT has, we once again repeat, been affectionately dubbed " The Seaplane Paper " on account of our advocacy for years (in and out of season, we are afraid) of this type of aircraft. Events are beginning to prove us right, and we shall continue to support any efforts which we consider to tend towards a strong seaplane policy in the future. The world's speed record for seaplanes Gone-- established by Webster in the Schneider but not for ^ , TI T_ ^i. ii JxLong? Trophy Race, has not been allowed t<> stand for long. Major de Bernardi, Italy's crack pilot, flying one of the Macchi mono- planes with Fiat engines built for the race, has raised the record over the straight-line course to 477 • 876 km. per hour (296-82 m.p.h.). Webster's average speed over the triangular Schneider course was 453-282 km. (281-54 miles) per hour, so that Bernardi's average was some 15 m.p.h. faster than Webster's. In view of the fact that the British record was established over a triangular course, and with a machine having to carry enough fuel for about one hour's flight, there is no need to despair. True, de Bernardi's best speed (presumably down-wind) is reported to have been 504-672 km. (313-46 miles) per hour, and thus he is the first human being to have been officially timed to travel at a speed exceeding 300 m.p.h. All honour to him, and to the Macchi and Fiat firms who built the machine and engine that made this record possible. Nobody will rejoice more sincerely in this Italian triumph than British aviation circles. Italy had very bad luck in the Schneider race, and her magni- ficent effort in getting a machine and engine in trim for a speed record flight so soon after the race is worthy of the greatest praise. At the same time, we warn our very good friends the Italians that Great Britain will not long rest content with second place. It naturally takes some time to get machine and engine ready, but we are confident that the Super- marine S.5, winner of the Schneider Trophy, will be able to beat the Italian record. The Napier engine proved itself very reliable in the race, and it is probably safe to take a few more " horses " out of it for a short flight such as is required for a straight- line record. Minor modifications to the machine mar also add a few miles per hour, and personally we have no doubt whatever that the British machine wilt exceed the Italian performance, magnificent as it is. 774
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