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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0184.PDF
FLIGHT, FEBRUARY 27, 1931 THE GLOSTER S.S. 19 A Multi-Gun Single-Seater Fighter ONE of the most interesting single-seater fightersproduced for some time is the Gloster S.S. 19. It isa development of the Gloster S.S. 18 interceptorfighter, and differs from that machine mainly in its armament, which consists of no less than six machineguns, plus four bombs of 20 lb. each. The Gloster S.S.19 has recently completed its tests atMartlesham, and the performance figures are as follows (the figures in parentheses indicating altitude) :—Speed inm.p.h. : 170 (ground level) ; 180 (5,000) ; 188 (10,000) ; 186 (15,000); 176 (20,000). The rates of climb are: At1,000 ft., 1,800 ft./min. ; at 5,000 ft., 1,720 ft./min. • at 10,000 ft., 1,600 ft./min. ; at 15,000 ft., 1,125 ft./min. ; at20,000 ft., 660 ft./min. The service ceiling is 26,100 ft. Climb to various altitudes are accomplished in the followingtimes : To 5,000 ft., in 2 min. 54 sec. ; to 15,000 ft., in 9 min. 30 sec. ; to 20,000 ft., in 15 min. 14 sec. The take-off runis 125 yards, and the landing run 170 yards. The landing speed is 57 m.p.h. The Gloster S.S. 19 is of all-metal construction, incorporat-ing the usual Gloster forms of construction, i.e., steel tube fuselage and corrugated steel strip mam spars and wingribs. Being of the two-bay biplane type, the wings are extremely strong both in bending and in torsion, and it isreported that the machine has repeatedly been dived at its terminal velocity of 320 m.p.h. The armament consists, in addition to the usual twoVickers guns in blast tunnels in the sides of the fuselage, of four Lewis guns mounted in the wings. The muzzles of thewing guns can be seen in the FLIGHT photographs on thispage. It will be noted that they have been neatly housed in the wing structure, so that the extra drag caused by theseguns must be very small, as the performance figures indicate it to be. The wing guns are so mounted as to have theirlines of fire converging on a point some distance ahead of the machine. The machine should thus be a formidableopponent, as a burst of fire can scarcely fail to hit some vita! part of the target. The engine fitted is a Bristol " Jupiter " type VII F,which develops 480 h.p. at 9,000 ft. The fitting of a Townend ring should be noted. Doubtless this contributes in no smallmeasure to the high performance. ?
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