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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0022.PDF
FLIGHT, JANUARY 9, 1931 were laid down in 1929, but which did not emerge until 1930, we had, from the Supermarine works, the " Southampton X " and the air yacht, from Saunders-Roe, the civilian types Cutty Sark, Wind- hover and Cloud, in amphibian form as well as plain flying boat, and the A.7 service type. Shorts at Rochester gave us the Singapore II, one of the fastest flying boats in the world, the " Valetta " twin-float monoplane, and the " Calcutta " service type, as well as beginning construction of the large four-engined boats for Imperial Airways. And the Blackburn firm produced the " Sydney " three- engined monoplane flying boat. Truly a rather remarkable output for one year. In the service class of aircraft, the outstanding event of the year was the production of a number of interceptor fighters, some of which were actually designed and built before 1930, but were mostly completed and tested last year. Ultimately, the Hawker " Fury " was the type chosen, and is now being built for the R.A.F. Other firms who, although not succeeding in winning the competition, produced remarkable aircraft in this class were : Bristols, the De Havilland Company, Fairey Aviation Co., Glosters, Parnall's, Vickers, and Westlands. Of other high- performance machines which reached the squadrons during the past year may be mentioned the Hawker " Hart " bomber, which also, like the Fairey " Fox," was experimentally fitted with a steam-cooled engine. Of civil aircraft, a whole host appeared during 1930, ranging from small, single-seater light 'planes to 40-seater commercial aircraft. No detailed refer- ence to the various new types is necessary here, as they have all been described and illustrated in FLIGHT, but the mere mention of type names will probably surprise by the extent of the list. Of machines for the private owner, marketed during 1930, there were : The Avro Avian Sports, the Comper " Swift," the de Havilland " Puss Moth," the Desoutter Mark II, the Hendy 302, the Robinson " Redwing," the Segrave " Meteor," the Southern " Martlet," the Spartan " Arrow," and the Watt D.W7.2, not to mention certain experimental types which have not yet been offered to the public. Among the larger and more powerful types, designed for commercial rather than private flying, the year saw the introduction of the Handley-Page 42, the Vickers " Viastra I," " Viastra II," and " Vellore II," and the building in considerable numbers of the Westland " Wessex." Among the " unorthodox " aircraft which have undergone development during the year, it may be said that the Cierva " Autogiro " principle has now reached a stage of development where a machine can be built which comes within measurable distance of the performance of the more normal type, while the non-stalling, non-spinning and steep descent qualities are such as to be equalled by no fixed-wing aircraft. In the aero engine world it may be said that the outstanding innovation of 1930 was the introduction of the Napier " Rapier" 16-cylinder air-cooled engine. The Armstrong-Siddeley Company brought out several new types during the year, thus closing the, actually very small, gap which previously- existed in their range of engines. The Rolls-Royce firm, by providing three distinct propeller-reduction gear ratios, two compression ratios, a normally aspirated type, and two degrees of supercharging, have provided no less than 12 varieties of their " F "- type engine, and the Bristol Company has produced two geared and medium supercharged commercial " Jupiters," designed to fill the gap between the naturally-aspirated engines and the fully super- charged as used in certain types of service aircraft. The de Havilland company marketed during the year the " Gipsy II " and " Gipsy III " engines, the Cirrus Company's " Hermes II " came into extensive use, while the inverted " Hermes " was fitted in a few machines. The aero engines being developed by Sir William Morris have not yet been placed on the market, but will doubtless find their way to the front during the present year. All that may be said of them at present is that they are radial air-cooled. Aero engine development of the imme- diate future promises to be chiefly in the direction of the compression-ignition engine. For British airships the year was a lamentable one, the successful flight of R 100 to Canada and back scarcely counterbalancing the terrible calamity which overtook R 101 and resulted in the loss of so many valuable lives. Many notable flights were made in 1930, such as that of Captain Barnard and the Duchess of Bedford to the Cape and back, Barnard's flights, first to Malta and back in two days, and then to Tangier and back in two days. Kingsford Smith's flights from Ireland to Newfoundland and, later, his flight from England to Australia in less than 11 days must also rank among the successful flights of the year, although FLIGHT has never disguised its disapproval of long transoceanic flights in landplanes. The flight of Mr. Caspareuthus from London to Capetown in 9^ days also showed what can be done in the way of quick air transport by a determined pilot. The aircraft specially designed to carry air mails for which FLIGHT has been agitating, did not materialise during 1930, but we have hopes for 1931. NEW YEAR HONOURS THE following are amongst the names included in the New- Year Honours list, issued on January 1 :— Order of the Bath C.B. (Military Division) Air-Commodore Patrick Henry Lyon Playfair, M.C., R.A.F. Order of the British Empire • :,..-. (Civil Division) . O.B.E. ^ Robert Stanley Capon, Esq., Superintendent of Scientific Research, Royal Aircraft Establishment, Air Ministry. M.B.E. Stuart Davey, Esq., Staff Officer, Air Ministry. Awards to Airmen Air Force Cross Sqdn.-Ldr. John Allan Cecil Wright, T.D. (Auxiliary Air Force). Flight-Lieut. Gilbert Edward Nicholetts. Flight-Lieut. Edward Simeon Colbeck Davis. Air Force Medal 361911 Sergt, Alfred Victor Bax. - , • British Empire Medal (Military Division) For Meritorious Service 155288 Flight-Sergt. Edward Victor Hibberd, R.A.F.
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