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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0163.PDF
FLIGHT, FEBRUARY 20, 1931 A NEW WIND DIRECTION INDICATOR THE old " «ind stocking " is a| useful aidto the pilot coming in to land or aboutto start, but at night, its usefulness ceases " Landing Tees " are usually big and cumbersome affairs, which cannot easily be mounted on roofs or towers. A new type of wind indicator, for use by night as well as bv day, has just been brought out byMr Martin, of the Martin Aircraft Works, HHier Denham, Middlesex. Mr. Martin has produced, in collaboration with Captain Baker, the chief instructor at Heston, a novel design of aeroplane which will make its appearance in the spring, and the new wind direction indicator was built at the Martin aircraft works. The indicator consists of a steel frame- work with an arrow-head at one end and " feathers " at the other. The indicator is mounted on Hoffmann ball-bearings, and a damping device is incorporated to prevent " hunting." The indicator incorporates an ingenious device by which, when the wind drops to zero, the arrow automatically returns to some predetermined position, so that in a calm, pilots may land in the direction most suitable to the particular aerodrome. The whole " arrow " is quite light, and may be mounted either on a small lattice tower on the ground, or on the roof of a hangar or other convenient high point. Electric bulbs are provided on arrowhead as well as tail, four on the former and six on the latter. For use on the top of towers, the " fuselage " of the indicator is hinged in the centre, so that when an electric bulb has to be replaced, etc., the body is folded around its hinge, and the lights can be reached in comfort. The Martin indicator should become popular for all aero- dromes where occasional night flying is done. THE ALL-METAL AIRSHIP AS our readers may be aware, some experiments havebeen carried out in America with all-metal airships.One of these, which apparently has met with a certain amount of success, is the small airship ZMC-2, produced by •Jie Aircraft Development Corporation of Detroit for the S. Navy in 1929. This airship—which was purely experi- mental, to try out the results of five years' research on the •roblem of all-metal construction for airships—was completed M August, 1929, and the following month successfully completed its flying tests at Lakehurst. The ZMC-2 is of 200,000 cub. ft. capacity, having a length of 149 ft. 5 in. and a maximum diameter of 52 ft. 8 in. Its covering consists of 0-0095-in. thin Alclad alloy sheets sewn together by the Aircraft Development Corporation riveting machine in a series of rings. Each of these rings has the shape of the frustum of a cone, and together closely approxi- mate the curvature of the hull ; there are 142 such conical surfaces from bow to stern. This covering in turn is riveted to a supporting structure built up of transverse frames and longitudinals, and as it forms the envelope of the airship, the seams of the sheet covering have to be made gas-tight. This is achieved by a gas-sealing compound which is applied on the seams. We hope to give fuller details of this airship on another occasion, but meanwhile it may be of interest to record that— apparently as a result of the trials with the ZMC-2—the U.S. House of Representatives has made an initial appro- priation of §200,000 for the construction of a £4,500,000 metal-clad airship for the U.S. Army. Experimental and thglIfefinn^ W°rk °n this airshiP wil1 start immediately, and following is a report—and by no means a pessimistic °m.' uTlssued by the Detroit Aircraft Corporation. Z *hh r "eW diri§ible will be slightly larger than the GraJ 1-H i '-but wil1 have a higher speed. It will be particu- • •'- • designed to act as an air tender for a large fleet of ^planes, being equipped with devices which will allow ','.anes to attach themselves to the ship while refuelling and o':rVhing CreWS' By this method it will be possible for the t\os i° convey a fleet of bombing or observation 'planes i * of miles, or even across the ocean, without touching , v 1 M^PPed with eight motors of between 600 and 800 h.p. Suffi'-: airshiP wiH have a top speed of 100 miles an hour. ;-m*A'o • and other suPPlies will be carried to allow the ob«e'-v~Jema^ awa>" from its base on a slow bombing or outside s°n mission for 22 days without contact with any -•ymg a crew of approximately 40 men, with com- fortable sleeping and day accommodation for an additional number of passengers, kitchens, lounging and smoking rooms, the ship will have little outward evidence of its tremendous potential destructive power in time of war. " Provision is made for carrying a useful load of 40,(KM) lb. not including the weight of fuel, and supplies necessary for operation of the ship. If this load were made up of bombs, torpedoes, and other military equipment, it is estimated that several cities the size of New York could be seriously damaged in a single raid. Figured at a cost of S4,500,000 each, nine of these battleships of the air could be produced for the price of a single battleship of the present type. " While designed primarily for military purposes, the dirigible can also be used as a commercial carrier, for trans- portation of passengers, freight and supplies, and it is believed the construction of this ship will be the forerunner of the establishment of transatlantic and other long-distance dirigible service. " The new ship will be of entirely different construction from any dirigible of practical size now in existence, but of the same type as the experimental ship built by the Detroit Aircraft Corporation for the Navy in 1929. Instead of the usual highly inflammable fabric covering, it will be covered with a new metal called Alclad, one of the lightest and strongest metals yet discovered. A large part of the stress is carried in the metal shell of the ship, which is further reinforced by sturdy metal circular rings and longitudinal members. "Helium gas will be used for lifting power, which further reduces the possibility of fire or explosion. " The shell of the ship itself will act as the gas container, but this will be partitioned to prevent loss of enough lifting power to effect operation, should the ship be hit by gun- fire from the ground or from the air. " It is claimed that this type of construction, which has been thoroughly tested on the smaller metal-clad dirigible, the ZMC-2, will make the ship strong and fast enough to survive any storm, lower maintenance costs, and have other advantages. " While the initial appropriation of $200,000 will not provide enough money to start actual construction of the ship, it is hoped that Congress will appropriate additional amounts for construction purposes should the details of the design be approved by the Army. Construction and engi- neering will take approximately three years, making the ship ready for service in 1935." [We have a few more years to live, at any rate.—ED.^ 157
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