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Aviation History
1929
1929 - 0803.PDF
FLIGHT, APRIL 18, 1929 ?ngine might be criticised in this country, in spite of thepresence of a fireproof bulkhead. Undercarriage An undercarriage of very simple type is fitted, consistingof two vees of steel tubing, with a cross-axle carrying a pair of wheels. As far as can be seen in the photographs, theshock-absorbing medium is plain rubber cord, which is now THE FOCKE-WULF •' KIEBITZ " has folding wings, and makes useof" Jury Wires " as well as of Jury Struts. hardly ever seen on a modern British light 'plane. The trackof the undercarriage is fairly wide, (1 -5 m. = 4 ft. 11 in.), and the whole undercarriage can be taken off by undoing thefour bolts at the top of the vees, and the diagonal bracing cables. The Wings As already mentioned, the wings are arranged in the formof a single-bay biplane, with lift and anti-lift bracing in the plane of the front struts onJy. There is no internal dragbracing, the function of this being performed by a plywood planking on the under surface extending from the frontspar to the rear spar. Ailerons are fitted to both top and bottom planes. Thehinges are set back from the spar on short brackets, and the interconnecting struts run, not as is more usually done in this country from points on top and bottom aileronsbehind the hinge, but from cranks extending forward into slots cut in the main wings. The ailerons, like all the othercontrol surfaces, are ply-wood-planked box constructions. The Tail The vertical fin is of welded steel tube construction andis built integral with the fuselage. The tail plane is of all- wood construction with plywood plank-ing, and owing to the small travel of the centre of pressure of the main wings, thetail plane has been kept quite small, smaller, in fact, than the elevators, whichare also plywood boxes. The rudder has a small horn balance projecting over the topof the fixed fin. Specification and Performance The Focke-Wulf " Kiebitz " has anoverall length of 6-25 m. (20 ft. 6 in.) ; the wing span (of both planes) is 8-9 m.(29 ft. 2 in.), and the overall height 2-25 m. (7 ft. 4 in.) ; the wing area is19-5 sq. m. (210 sq. ft.) The tare weight of the " Kiebitz " is(with Siemens Sh 13 engine) 365 kg. (800 lb.), and the disposable load 220 kg.(485 lb.), giving a total loaded weight of 585 kg. (1,285 lb.). This gross weightgives a wing loading of 30 kg./sq.m. (6-12 Ib./sq. ft.) and a power loading(based on 65 h.p.) of 9 kg. (19-8 1b.) per h.p. The maximum speed is 150km./h. (93 m.p.h.) and the landing speed 70 km. (43-5 miles) per hour. Theclimb to 1,000 m. (3,300 ft.) takes 8 mins., ,and the ceiling is 3,500 m.(11,500 ft.). Finally it might be stated that the " Kiebitz " comes undergroup 5 of the Deutsche Versuchsansta.lt fur Luftfahrt, which is roughly equivalent to the " aerobatics " certificate in thiscountry. Thus the machine may be used for stunting at the gross weight stated, i.e., 1,285 lb. The machine is reported tobe very easy to fly and to have good controlability. It is claimed that it does not readily go into a spin, at least notaccidentally, but that it can be spun quite well if the pilot sets out to do so deliberately ; it then comes out of the spinquite quickly and easily. In view of the fact that a certain British machine with, as far as one can see, a very' similarwing section, and curiously enough with almost identical wing bracing (not that this probably has anything to do withthe matter) was found to spin very suddenly and violently when deliberately stalled, the results claimed for the" Kiebitz " are interesting. American Naval Air ProgrammeTHE Daily Telegraph's Naval Correspondent gives the following report on the American Naval Air Estimates forthe coming year :—" A far-sighted policy is being followed in regard to air power. Compared with the Americanfigures, our own fleet air arm dwindles almost into insigni- ficance. Already the United States enjoys at least a four-foldsuperiority on this side. The new American aircraft carrier displacing 13,800 tons, is to cost £'3,800.000. With thisvessel and the Lexington and Saratoga", the United States will gain a definite lead in aircraft-carrying capacity at sea, asthe three ships will be able to accommodate many more aeroplanes than the total that can be housed in all theBritish carriers. Apart from machines borne in the aircraft farriers, at least two aeroplanes are now carried by everyAmerican battleship and cruiser in commission, while a special small type of scouting 'plane has been evolved forthe equipment' of destroyers and submarines. It is well known that only a few of our battleships and cruisers carryaeroplanes, although an outstanding lesson of the recent manoeuvres in the Mediterranean was the absolute necessity"f adequate and efficient air reconnaissance. On March 1, this year, the American Navy had 867 effective aeroplanes,and the purchase of 273 more is now authorised. At the end of the next financial year there will be 910 aeroplanesin service and 208 on order. This year the British Fleet Air Arm is to be enlarged by two flights—nominally twelvemachines. In addition, two 6,500,000 cub. ft. airships were ordered for the American Navy last October. A similar state of affairs exists in connection with the respective strengths in man-power. While the British navalpersonnel shows a decrease of 3,000, the American establish- ment is to be increased by nearly 2,000. Including Marines,who are being more and more employed on shipboard, the American personnel is larger by many thousands than ourown. In other words, American sea power, as represented by ships and men, is increasing at practically the same ratethat British sea power is declining. Canadian Items ARRANGEMENTS are reported completed whereby theCanadian Colonial Airways, Ltd., and National Air Transport, Ltd., have acquired rights for the use of the new airport, andfacilities, on North Dufferin St., Winnipeg, in connection with the proposed air service between Toronto and Buffalo. Thejourney between the two cities will take 45 mins. The first commercial air service into Peace River countrywas inaugurated on March 7, when a monoplane piloted by " Wop " May—who flew anti-toxin to Fort Vermilion fordiphtheria sufferers awhile back—left Edmonton for Grande Prairie, a distance of about 350 miles. The service is a tri-weekly one, the round trip being made in one day. It is interesting to note that the mail carried in the first'plane to Aklavik, in the North-West Territories, on the air mail service inaugurated on March 25, reached its destinationten days ahead of the regular mail which left Edmonton per ordinary methods on January 22 !High-Speed Flight at Calshot THE R.A.F. Hign-speed Flight was officially transferredfrom Felixstowe to Calshot on April 15. It is in training for the Schneider Trophy race in September. 321
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