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Aviation History
1929
1929 - 0186.PDF
JANUARY 31, 1929 and this increased both size and weight, factors which in turn reacted on the aircraft. Captain Irving, the designer of Major Segrave's racing car, and Mr. Fedden, designer of the Bristol aero engines, both advanced the views that, given sufficient encouragement, the compression ignition engine could be developed, Mr. Fedden, expressing the opinion that if the capital necessary for develop- ment were forthcoming there was no reason why, in three years' time, a 1,000 h.p. compression ignition engine should not be produced having a reliability as great as that of the petrol engine. His estimate of the weight, under these conditions, was three pounds per horse-power. Major G. P. Bulman pointed out that with the small nozzles and rather delicate pumps required by the compression ignition engine, the fuel specification for the heavy oil would have to be quite as carefully designed as that of the present-day petrol. Tempting as looks the possibility of being able to burn, in our aircraft engines, fuel costing some £5 per ton, one should not lose sight of the fact, as pointed out during this discussion, that as soon as the demand for crude oil increases as a result of general use, the price will certainly go up, and the present price difference will tend to be greatly reduced. Consequently we think one should not stress too much the question of relative cost. Rather should one look to other factors for weighing up the pros and cons of the two types of engine. To us it seems that both types will undoubtedly have their uses. For airship work, for instance, the compression ignition engine will undoubtedly score. Airships are pre- eminently long-distance craft, and consequently the greater initial weight of the compression ignition engine is soon outweighed. That is to say if one counters Captain Wilkinson's argument, by assuming that his special petrol engine of low fuel consumption may have its counterpart among the compression ignition engines. The question of fire is also an important one, and it is usually claimed that the heavy oil is less dangerous than is petrol, as it gives off no vapour at ordinary temperatures. Colonel Tizard, we think, summed up the general opinion very well by pointing out that this country cannot afford to neglect a type of power plant which is receiving a good deal of attention abroad. It may supersede the petrol engine or it may not. That it has possibilities cannot be denied, and its develop- ment would seem to be a logical corollary of the development of the rigid airship. Many years ago FLIGHT lamented theThe Long- fact that Great Britain had droppedDistance . , . , ., . , ,, rf. Attempt "ght out of the picture m the matter f I i hf ih g p of world's records. It is therefore with considerable satisfaction that we are in a position to describe briefly this week, and illustrate, the new Fairey monoplane with Napier " Lion " engine which is now undergoing tests preparatory to making an attempt to beat the world's duration and distance records. The machine has been specially designed for the purpose, a fact which incidentally establishes something of a record in itself, as with the exception of the Schneider seaplane machines, no British air- craft has been specially designed for such purpose for very many years, if ever. A most interesting point in connection with the Fairey machine is that the model tests carried out in the wind tunnel tallied almost exactly with the previously calculated figures, and better still, when the machine was flown, the full-scale tests agreed with the model figures to a surprising degree. The engine tests have also, we understand, been very satisfactory from the fuel consumption point of view, so that altogether it looks as if the new British attempt starts with very good prospects of success. And best of all, the duration and distance records are among the few really worth while records. •;• •;• The The fact that our aviation language Missing is so full of " slang " was responsible Engine some years ago, for a newspaper reporter getting into print with the story of an engine that had dropped out of the machine, when actually the engine was only " missing " in the sense we normally use the expression. Recently, however, it seems that an engine has fallen out in real earnest, but under circumstances which deserve to be made quite clear, in order that the accounts of the daily news sheets shall not spread an erroneous impression. The facts, as reported to us, are that a young flying pupil, it appears, was flying his machine, a D.H.9 very low, and in so doing struck a tree, smashing the propeller and more or less wrecking the engine, which this time was " missing " from the machine in the sense of the expression conveyed to the re- porter years ago. The important point to make quite clear is that the engine "fellout" of the machine after the argument with the tree, and that the accident was due not to the engine falling out, but to the low flying. U.S. Airship Base MR. WILBUR, Secretary of the Navy of the U.S.A., has recommended to Congress that a naval airship base costing ;£1,000,000 should be established on the Pacific coast, and he suggested that an initial appropriation of £400,000 be made for the work to be commenced. Aircraft on Instalment Plan A 5,000,000-DOLLAR company is to be formed in America to finance sales on all classes of aeroplanes on the instalment plan. New Caproni Military Machine A REPORT from Milan states that a new Caproni military aeroplane of very large dimensions is nearly completed. Its weight is reputed to be 15 tons and estimated speed is 120 m.p.h., with fuel capacity for 70 hours. If adapted for civil work, 100 passengers could, apparently, be accommodated. Safe Aircraft Competition FIVE British aircraft companies have entered for the Guggenheim Safe Aircraft Competition, which closes on October 31, 1929. They are : De Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd. ; Handley Page, Ltd. ; Vickers, Ltd. ; the Gloster Aircraft Co., Ltd.; and the Cierva Autogiro Co., Ltd. Six American companies have entered. They are : the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co.: Schroeder-Wentworth Associates of Glencoe, Illinois ; Charles Ward Hall, Inc., of Buffalo, New York ; Heraclio Alfaro, of Cleveland, Ohio ; J. S. McDonnell, Jr., and Associates of Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; and the Brunner Winkle Aircraft Corp., of Brooklyn, New York. The Societa Italiana Ernesto Breda, of Milan, is the only Italian entrant so far. Institute of Metals ON March 13 and 14 next, the Institute of Metals— which was founded in 1908—-will be holding its " Coming-of- Age Celebrations." The Annual General Meeting of the Institute will be held on March 13, followed in the evening by a dinner and dance, at which one of the speakers will be Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for Air. On both days a number of papers will be read, and the proceedings will conclude with a Conversazione and Exhibition at the Science Museum. The dinner will be held at the Trocadero, Picca- dilly, while the meetings will take place at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate, Westminster. 76
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