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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0359.PDF
MAY 10, 1928 AT THE DETROIT SHOW : The Hamilton all-metalresembles the Junkers machines in construction and in general design. undercarriage and V-type interplane struts. The Crusader is built by the Gillis Aircraft Corp. like a biplane edition of the Fairchild cabin monoplane, and is offered at §7,950 with •a 90 h.p. Siemens engine. The Pheasant, of the Packard Flying Service, is a conventional biplane selling at $2,650, with an OX engine. The three-seater Aero-Coupe of the Aerocraft Co. turns out at $6,500 with a 7-cylinder 110 h.p. Warren motor. The Lincoln-Page, of the usual one-bay biplane type, is priced at $2,900 with an OX engine. The Taylor parasol monoplane, with three-strut wing-bracing, is listed at $4,750 with the 90 h.p. Siemens. The Paramount Aircraft Corp. also shows a cabin biplane of ordinary type, and offered at $6,985, this time with a 110 h.p. Scarab motor. The Hamilton all-metal monoplane, which has already met with some success, looks like a duralumin edition of the Fokker type, and sells at $21,000 with the Wasp engine. Several low-wing monoplanes are exhibited, such as the E. P. Hurd, which is the work of the German designer Hueb, who has been with the Albatros and Heinkel firms, and also acknow- ledges the DH 53 and Avia as prototypes. Fitted with a 60 h.p. Le Blond engine, it sells at $3,000. The Gold Tip of the Niles Aircraft Corp. looks much like the Ford Flivver, and is offered at $1,850 with a 3-cylinder Szekely S-R-3 motor. The Mohawk Aircraft Corp. has another touring model of this type on show with the pilot's and passenger's seats in offset tandem arrangement The Simplex Aircraft Corp. Red.Arrow open and enclosed two and three-place monoplanes with struts to the under- carriage, are fitted with the 100 h.p. 5 cylinder Kinner aero- engine, and sell at $3,750, ?3,950, and $4,500 respectively. The Keystone and Sikorsky firms exhibit only photo- graphs ; the latter specialises now in an enlarged edition of its amphibian with two Wasps, the first of the Whirlwind- engined prototype having been sold to the Andean National Corp. in Columbia. At the Curtiss stand, only literature is to be seen of the new Robin three-place cabin parasol mono- plane with large fairing of the wing struts, which is to replace the Jenny and sell at $4,000 with the OX engine, of which the monoplane the Fokkers concern, together with the Robertson firm ofSt. Louis, holds 1,200. Further pictures are shown of two new aircooled Curtiss enginesnow completing the type tests. FLIGHT isprivileged to bring the first preliminary particulars about them. The smaller oneis of 170 h.p. developed in six cylinders arranged in two rows of three. The weightis 420 lbs., the number of revolutions per minute 1,800, and the engine will be knownas the Challenger. The other is an interest- ing addition to the types of air-cooledradial engines, being the " Hex " now to be named "Chieftain." It has beenproduced with the co-operation of the U.S. Army, and has 12 cylinders, arranged eachtwo in line. Thus a front view gives the appearance of a six-cylindered engine, andit is claimed that no difficulties have been experienced in cooling the rear cylinders.600 h.p. is developed at 2,100 r.p.m. The weight is 900 lbs., and the overall dimension45 in. There are two inlet and exhaust valves each per cylinder. Packard labels its 24-cylinder model theworld's most powerful aero engine. The normal rating is 1,200 h.p.., or 1,500 h.p.when supercharged. A comparison of the Pratt and Whitney Wasp and Hornet modelsshows that they are identical but for the different cylinder dimensions. The Cyclone,exhibited at the Wright Aeronautical Corporation stand, develops 525 h.p. at1,900 r.p.m. for a weight of 760 lbs. and has nine cylinders of 6 in. bore by 6| in.stroke with a total cubic capacity of 1,753 cub. in. The compression ratio is 5,4 : 1. Just as the conversion ofthe Le Rhone rotary engine into a stationary radial model has been undertaken by one or two American firms, the con-version of the 260 h.p. Salmson watercooled engine into an air-cooled radial, retaining only the crankcase, crankshaft andconnecting rods, has now been carried out with the stock in America by the Menasco Motor Co. of Beverly Hills, Cal.A specimen of this " Super-Salmson " developing 260 h.p. at 1,550 r.p.m., is on view at the Alexander Eaglerock stand.A newcomer to the aero engine business is the Velie Auto- mobile Co., while Le Blond is the erstwhile Aircat and isproduced with three cylinders at 40 h.p. selling for $785, as a six-cylinder model of 60 h.p. listed at $985, and theseven-cylinder type of 90 h.p. costing $1,285. Amongst the clients the Vulcan Aircraft Co. of Portsmouth, Ohio, is givenwith their American " Moth " parasol monoplane. Edot Brewster and Hamilton duralumin floats are to be seen atvarious stands such as Fokker and Vought, and fitted amongst others to the Waco, Laird, Hamilton, Eaglerock andSwallow biplanes. Actually makers of military aircraft were not barred fromparticipation, but it is understood that firms like Boeing and Curtiss were too busy to prepare show machines. ChanceVought is thus alone in upholding war honours with the Corsair in its land edition. This standard two-seater obser-vation fighter N-strut type biplane with " Wasp " engine, has a maximum speed at sea level of 151 and 147 milesrespectively as land and seaplane, while the corresponding figures are 48 and 50 m.p.h. landing speed, initial climb p.m.and in 10 min. 2,100, 1,900, 13,900 and 12,000 ft , service and maximum ceiling 22,500, 21,000, 27,500 and 22,900 ft.The range at cruising speed is 580 and 520 miles. The most noteworthy feature is the mounting of the twopetrol tanks on the fuselage as visible in the picture, which the makers maintain to be a less vulnerable position than theordinary one. Provision is made for the fixing of two non- synchronized guns in the cabane outside the propeller area. <$> <$> Shanghai Bombed THERE was a brief air raid on Shanghai on May 3. A northern machine appeared over the city unexpectedly and bombed an arsenal, but no one was killed. Two seaplanes were sent up to attack. "Jockey Pilots "OUR American contemporary Aviation in a recent issue made a novel suggestion regarding the size of future airpilots. It pointed out that, while designers devoted countless time and effort in refinements in design which would save a few pounds weight and would cut off a few inches from the frontal area of the machine, yet they had to design their 'plane to fit a pilot probably over 6 ft. high and weighing over 200 lbs. ! They therefore suggest that in the future pilots should be selected from men having the same general charac- teristics as horse-racing jockeys, and refer to the results obtained in England with the D.H. " Tiger Moth "-cum- Capt. Broad. In time, no doubt, a special " breed " «jf " jockey pilots " could be developed especially for high-spee^d aircraft ! 323
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