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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0395.PDF
FLIGHT, APRIL 24, 1931 THE FOKKER F.32 A tour-engined commercial monoplane produced to meet the demand for a machine carrying thirty passengers on busy air routes. Such a demand was felt in Amend, existing 8-16 passenger machines being unable to cope with increased traffic, and as a result, the Fokker Aircraft Corporation of America produced the F. 32 described below KIEF reference was made in FLIGHT a short whileago to the Fokker F.32 four-engine monoplane, which is employed on certain air lines in America,and which will probably be used on the Dutch East Indies service. This week we are able to give adescription of this machine from information supplied by the Fokker Co., of Amsterdam. As with the majority of Fokker commercial machines,the F.32 is a cantilever monoplane, and has four engines— 575 h.p. Pratt & Whitney " Hornet B "—mounted tandem-wise in pairs under the wings on each side of the fuselage. The wing consists of 2 box spars with section-shapedribs slid on to them. These spars measure 43—31/32 in. (1.10 m.) front and 34—33/64 in. (0.87 m.) deep atthe centre. The leading edge has a sweep back of 56 in. (1.42 m.), and the under surface has a negative dihedralof 3J°. The leading edge of the centre section is cut away, and the roof of the cockpit made flush with thewing's upper surface. The wing is covered with plywood. The wing is secured by means of four bolts, to joints inthe framework of the fuselage. Four fuel tanks are in- stalled between the spars, two on either side of the fuselage. As is customary in Fokker aircraft, the fuselage is madeup of a framework of seamless cold drawn steel tubes autogenously welded together and braced by means of steelwire and tubular diagonals. Under the cabin the frame- work is further stiffened by corrugated dural, on whichthe plywood floor (3/16 in.) is laid. A fuselage tail piece is used to fair the end of the fuselage and made detach-able in order to facilitate inspecting of the interior of the fuselage. In the nose of the machine is the luggage hold,which extends under the cockpit and has a cubic capacity of 120 cu. ft. (3.4 m.3). The walls of this com-partment are lined to a height of 30 in. (75 cm.) with sheet aluminium. Two windows, 8£ in. (22 cm.) in diameter,located one on either side, furnish the daylight. A trap-door, 27 in. (69 cm.) wide by 40—5/16 in. long(1.03 cm.), in the lower wall gives access to the cockpit and luggage hold. When open this door extends into a ladder,having ten steps from the ground to the cockpit. The amount of space available for radio installation is3.4 in. (1.20 m.) long, 3.9 in. (1.14 m.) high, and 7 ft. (2.13 m.) wide, extending under the cockpit from one sideof the plane to the other. On either side there is a round window 8£ in. (22 cm.) in diameter.The cockpit is immediately to the rear of and partly over the luggage hold. The pilots' seats are placed well forward, and the window has an inwardly slanted V frontof 110° included angle. Each section of the V contains a sliding window, while the windows in the side walls arealso made sliding. The top of the cockpit, made of domed sheet aluminium, is flush with the upper surface of thewing. Green celluloid windows are fitted in the aluminium roofing for upward visibility. The instruments are mounted within easy reach of thepilots. On the left of the main instrument board, in front of the pilots, are the compass, the air-speed indicator, thealtimeter, rate of climb indicator, the gyroscopic bank and turn indicator, a transversal inclinometer, and, further,the switches for the navigation lights. In the middle of the board are the tachometers for the four engines, thefour throttle levers (the centre two operating the rear engines and the outer ones the front engine throttles) andthe master cutout switch. The independent ignition switches are mounted on a board under the throttle levers.On the right-hand side of the main instrument board are Plan, front and side views of the Fokker F.32. 363
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