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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0116.PDF
FLIGHT, FEBRUARY 6, 1931 GLIDING THE BRANT "SCUD" INTER- -,• MEDIATE GLIDER AFEW weeks ago we made brief mention to the " Scud "glider, manufactured by Brant Aircraft, Ltd., ofCroydon, and this week we are able to give further details, together with general arrangement drawings, of thisglider. The " Scud " has been designed as a British attempt tomeet the requirements of gliding clubs and private owners for a practical glider of greater efficiency than the primary orZogling type, and capable of soaring, but without the high first cost and practical difficulties of operation of the super-efficient sailplanes as produced in Germany for record purposes. It is a machine for the " B " or " C " licence pilot who issufficiently skilled to appreciate and take advantage of really effective controls, and who wants to practice soaringflight as distinct from gliding down a hill on a machine with little or no control. It is at the same time a machine whichembodies features of a practical nature, such as ease of operation, handling on the ground, and dismantling and easeof repair. This has been achieved by a design which results in a verymuch smaller machine than contemporary German machines, and of little more than half the weight. One of the advan-tageous results of this feature is that the machine has not the sluggishness of control usually characteristic of gliders,caused by their relatively large moment of inertia and low air speed. From a practical point of view a small light craft has alsomany advantages; it is possible, for instance, for four persons to carry the machine with ease, and to facilitate thisfour hand holes are provided, the weight to be carried by each person being only about 26 lb. A further advantage of a light machine is the smallerlaunching party required. Furthermore, the small size of the machine, obviously, has many advantages from theall-important dismantling and stowing point of view, and a good deal of care has been taken and many featuresembodied in the design which should greatly facilitate this usually very tedious part of glider operation. The attachment of wing to fuselage, for instance, is suchthat the complete wing may be detached by the withdrawal of four bolts locked by wing nuts, the struts remaining inposition on the fuselage and the wing stowed as either one unit, of the wing may be separated into two halves by dis-connecting the centre joint, as when it is necessary to pack the machine in a trailer. In the latter case the struts mayalso be folded down against the fuselage ; moreover, when taking the wing off it is only necessary to withdraw twopins in order to disconnect the aileron controls from the Front view of the " Scud " showing the triangular fuselage. (FLIGHT Photo.) fuselage, and on separating the wing into two halves it itnot necessary to make any further disconnection in the aileron control, as the ailerons are operated by independent shaftsin the wing connected to push-and pull rods from the fuselage. Provision is made on the push rods for adjusting ailerontrim, if necessary. There are no wires in either the wing truss or aileron controls. The complete tail unit may be dismantled with even greaterfacility and without disconnecting any of the controls There are no fixed surfaces, and the two elevators and ruddermay be withdrawn from the short stub tubes which project from the fuselage by pulling out two draw-pins provided oneach unit, and which are normally held in position by leather straps—the controls remaining attached inside the fuselageto the stub tubes. The complete tail unit may therefore be dismantled without the use of tools in about three minutes. The elevator and rudder control cables run inside tinfuselage direct to the controls without pulleys being neces- sary, and provision is made for ease of access in the eventof adjustment being necessary. The fuselage is an extremely simple and robust design,which in the event of damage should be very easy for the amateur to repair. It consists of a flat-sided rectangular-box construction, having four ash longerons and ply covering. and is arranged in a diagonal diamond-like position suchthat one corner of the square section forms the keel, to which SPAN. .: 25-3$ LENGTH 13-4' HEIGHT. ..., 4-0i* WING AREA 85-0 SQ.FT. THE BRANT "SCUD" 0 12 3 4 6 6 112
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