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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0112.PDF
1'LIGHT, FEBRUARY 6, 1931 A busy time lies before the works of the Super- marine and Rolls-Royce firms. The engines of the " R" type are now giving much higher horse-power than they gave in 1929, which was to be expected. Engineers always find plenty to do in the last seven months before a race. Between now and September ways may be found to get still further power out of the " R " engine, and we may expect that well over 2,000 h.p. will be produced. There are in existence two Supermarine-Rolls Royce S.6. seaplanes. It is only reasonable to pre- sume that they will be reconditioned, and to some extent modified. By the time they come to face the starter, they will, we may be sure, embody the results of the two years' experience which has been acquired while flying these machines at Felixstowe. The machines will be old types developed, but they will embody the latest results of research, and may well be regarded as 1931 types. But, despite their new features, they have experience behind them, and they may inspire a confidence which cannot always be accorded to an entirely new type. We remember that in the last two contests only one Italian seaplane finished the course, and that was a two-year-old machine flown at the Solent by Dal Molin. In both contests the new types produced by the Italians failed in some way. We do not suggest that such a thing will always happen ; but the record is such that the use of tried types, even though reconditioned, gives a feeling of confidence. The contest this year will be of a different character from any held for some years past. Both the sea- worthy tests and the speed test will take place on one day. This has one great advantage in that only one fine day is needed to get the whole contest through. Even in Italy two consecutive suitable days cannot be reckoned upon, and in 1927 the speed test could not be held on the advertised day, a Sunday, as the surface of the Adriatic was too rough for safety if one of the racing seaplanes had to alight through engine trouble during the race. This caused great disappointment to thousands of quite poor people who had poured into Venice from all parts of Italy to see the race. In Great Britain the weather is even less dependable. In September, 1929, we had quite extraordinarily good luck in the weather, two consecutive days being absolutely ideal for flying high-speed seaplanes. The same can be said of 1923, when the race was also held over the Solent. We could hardly expect British weather to behave itself so well a third time. In 1919, at Bournemouth, the whole contest was got through in one day, the seaplanes being obliged to make su many landings during the actual raw- This ruled out any possibility of establishing speed records, though in other respects there was much to be said for this way of making an interesting spectacle and testing the skill of the pilots. This year the competing machines will have to go through their tests of taking off and alighting, and then will start on the speed course. This means that the ' will have to go through the take-off and landing tests with enough petrol on board to carry them round the speed course. In the last two contests at least, that is to say, since enormous speeds have been attained, and enormous loads of petrol have had to be carried, no British pilot has ever had to land his machine with a full load of petrol on board. They practised landing with fairly heavy loads, but never with full loads. The nearest thing to a landing with full load effected by any pilot was the landing of Lieut. Monti in his second lap in 1929. Though IK was suffering from scalds, he put his machine down quite safely. It was a fine feat of piloting, though in difficulty and danger it was certainly not such an amazing performance as when Flight Lieut. Carr landed his Horsley at Martlesham with enough petrol on board to take him to India. So we may conclude that the rules for the 1931 contest do not ask an impossibility from the pilots, though they do demand a very high degree of piloting skill. As for the choice of British pilots, nothing can be said at present, and speculations cannot take us anywhere. Squadron-Leader Orlebar is at Felix- stowe, but is commanding the Flying Boat Develop- ment Flight. Flight-Lieut. Waghorn is also on the staff at Felixstowe, but it is most unlikely, and against all precedent, that the last winner should be allowed to fly again in the contest. The experi- mental flying has been carried out by three other officers, but that does not necessarily mean that they will provide the new team. The prob- ability is that a new team will be selected. The Royal Air Force has plenty of suitable pilots, and one of the benefits of entering for this race is that it gives a number of officers experience of high-speed work. It is well to give this experience to as many as possible. The most important person in a high-speed flight is the CO. He does not race himself, or at least he has not hitherto done so, but success depends to a great extent on his personality. No one could have filled that difficult post better than did Orlebar; but we hope that another officer as good as he will be selected. That we can find three pilots as good as any who have appeared in the race in the past there is no manner of doubt. The pilot of an aeroplane had a remarkable escape last Monday when his machine struck an overhead electric cable in a fog and caught fire. This draws attention to a serious danger to aircraft. For some years past overhead power cables have Aircraft a"d been spreading rapidly over various Cables parts of Europe, and recently they have begun to make their appearance in Great Britain. It cannot yet be claimed that tin1 utility of aircraft is so great as the utility of electric power, though the time may come when the positions will be reversed. But we may point out that there arc certain advantages in laying the cables underground. The original laying will be more expensive (in one case in England it has recently been claimed to cost no more), but the costs of maintenance and the ri^ of damage are much less. The disadvantages of tK" overhead system are beginning to be realised in De':- *mark and Scandinavia. There is still time lor Grct Britain to consider the point, and the safety of air- craft is certainly a matter which should not be dis- regarded . 108
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