FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0282.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 27, 1931 SERVICE HEN British flying-boat Launched on February 20, 1928, the firstyg firms first began to buildall-duralumin flying-boats there was little or noknowledge available concerning the likely life of a machine so built.Corrosion was something of a bug- bear, and although experiments had of the Short " Calcuttas " has now com- pleted three years of flying, and has in that period completed 1,160 hours of flying and covered 104,400 miles. The machine is still in excellent condition. terror. Mr. Short has had the courageof his convictions, and he is now reaping the reward of his faith inmetal construction. The first Short "Calcutta,"G-EBVG, made its first flight on February 20, 1928, and has been inservice with Imperial Airways, indicated that the anodic treatment might reduce corrosion Limited, for more than two years, first on the route fromrisk quite considerably, there was still some uncertainty about Genoa to Alexandria, and later on the route from Athens its effectiveness under actual operating conditions. Much to Alexandria. During that period the machine has flown would also depend upon the care taken by the operating for 1,160 hours, and has covered a distance of 104,400 miles,company in inspecting the machine frequently, and in washing The machine is now about to come off the service for its annual down with fresh water any part which had been scratched. We overhaul, and it is worthy of note that apparently it is inthink that in this connection it is worth while reminding our excellent condition. Not only is the metal hull itself still readers that as long ago as 1926, in the first number of thoroughly sound, but the wing covering, doped with THE AIRCRAFT ENGINEER (Technical Supplement to FLIGHT),Mr. Oswald Short pointed out that no single word had done more to delay the adoption of metal construction than " Corrosion," and that this was due chiefly to a failure to gy" Cellon," is also in very good condition. G-EBVG has never been in a hangar since it left thiscountry, and for more than two years the machine has, when not flying, been moored out day and night, subject to ex-d idli h diigrasp the fundamental fact that "corrosion" was merely tremes of temperature an widely-varying weather conditions.gp y another word for " rust." With his usual foresight Mr. Shortrealised that if we could only come to regard corrosion in the same way as we regard rust, it would lose much of its p yygThere is every reason to believe that G-EBVG is good for several years to come. The Short "Calcuttas," it will berecollected, are fitted with three Bristol " Jupiter" engines. THE SCHNEIDER TROPHY High Speed Flight Selected 'HE Air Ministry announces that the following pilotshave been selected to commence special high-speed flying training after Easter :— Flight-Lieutenant E. J. L. Hope, A.F.C.Flight-Lieutenant F. W. Long. Flight-Lieutenant J. N. Boothman.Flight-Lieutenant G. H. Stainforth. Lieutenant G. L. Brinton, R.N. (Flying Officer, R.A.F.).Flying Officer H. H. Leech. Flying Officer L. S. Snaith. From these officers the final team of three will be selectedto represent Great Britain in the Schneider Trophy contest. Squadron-Leader A. H. Orlebar, A.F.C., will be in administra-tive command. Flight-Lieutenant W. F. Dry has been selected as the Engineer Officer. Flying Officer M. F.Tomkins will be the Stores Officer. This team of seven flying members, apart from three officersconcerned with administration and equipment, is surprising on account of its size. The teams of 1927 and 1929 consistedonly of a CO., an engineer officer, and four flying members. This team of seven comprises one member of the 1929team, three officers who have been practising for the past year on high-speed aircraft at Felixstowe, and three newmembers, about whose qualifications very little is generally known. Stainforth, of course, was in the 1929 team. That he didnot fly in the race was not due to any inferiority in his skill to that of Waghorn and the rest. Stainforth was reckonedby the experts as good as our best ; but he had devoted himself to the Gloster Napier 6, and had never flown theSupermarine Rolls Royce S6 at all. As his machine could not race, neither could Stainforth. But he put up a world'srecord on it which stood for about half an hour, until it was beaten by Orlebar. We are very glad that Stainforth isto have another chance. For the past year there has been no official High-SpeedFlight, but Boothman was at Felixstowe for the express purpose of flying the racing seaplanes for experimental pur-poses. Unofficially, Long and Linton Hope have also gained experience of flying these machines, and it is only reasonableto put these three officers into the Schneider team. Linton Hope was one of the pilots who went with Wing CommanderPulford on the first Cairo-Capetown flight on Fairey 3D machines in* 1926. Brinton, Leech, and Snaith are the actual new-comers.Snaith has become known to some extent by some fine demonstration flying of Comper "Swifts" and "Avians."He has lately been a test pilot at South Farnborough. Leech has been at Felixstowe. Brinton comes from the FleetAir Arm, and is actually a naval officer with temporary rank in the R.A.F. This is the first occasion on which an 266
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
