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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0706.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 10, 1931 village, a landing was made in thedark, and after some trouble the machine was brought in and held tothe steep bank by the villagers. After a search a mooring place of sorts wasfound between some barges, where the "Cutty Sark " was left for thenight, the crew walking to the village of Shabac. The following morningthe machine took off the Sava river without difficulty, and arrived at theBelgrade aerodrome, where the day was spent in cleaning up. From the civil aerodrome at Belgradethe " Cutty Sark " flew to the military aerodrome at Novi Sad,where arrangements had been made to demonstrate the machine beforethe General commanding the Division, the Commandant of the Air Force,and technical representatives. Practic- , ally the whole day was occupied intaking up people and in making demonstrations, taking off the aero-drome, alighting on the river, taking off the river and landing on the aero-drome. Many of the local pilots were allowed to fly the machine. The nextday was spent at the Belgrade civil aerodrome, giving demonstrations :SELS 'COLOGNE G ER MANY •• ^ NURN6ERG •. CZECHO " ~^7 SLOVAKlV FRANCE ~. RUMANIA - CORSICA SLAVIA SARAJEVO Sketch Map of the route followed by the " Cutty Sark." before the British Minister, the managing director of theYugoslav Air Navigation Company, technical officials, and members of the Belgrade Aero Club. The next day the excellent aerodrome at Budapestwas reached, and on the following day the flight to Vienna had to be made in continuous rain. Owing to the poorvisibility the river Danube was followed at a height of about 50 ft. On April 21 the return flight was begun. Flying viaLinz and Nilrnberg, Frankfort was reached that day, and the night spent there. The next day a start was madeat 11.30 a.m., and in very bumpy weather the flight was made down the Rhine to Cologne, where the travellerslunched. In the afternoon, owing to very bad visibility, a compass course was set for Brussels, which was dulyreached, and after petrol for the engines and coffee for the crew the journey was continued to Lympne. There wouldhave been time to get to Cowes that night, but as the Customs Official had left for the night, the last stage, toCowes, was not flown until the following day. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by correspondents The names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters intended for insertion injhese columns.] STRENGTH OF THE PUSS MOTH[2755] In view of the cuiTency of certain rumours con- cerning the Puss Moth, the Directors of the De HavillandAircraft Company, Limited, feel it desirable to make the following statement to correct any inaccurate impressionswhich may exist. As originally designed, the Puss Moth complies with thestrength requirements of its class. This has been verified by a series of static tests and in the most thorough mannerand is not open to doubt. During the past twelve months approximately 200 machines of this type have been sold,and have done upwards of two million miles' flying in all parts of the world. Two accidents have, however, occurred, in which it wasfound that the wing structure had failed. The first happened in Australia in October, 1930, and, although theevidence available was very scanty, there appeared some indication of wing flutter having developed. As a result ofthis accident, however, it was decided, after consultation with the Air Ministry, to incorporate certain modificationsto the wings and ailerons in order to eliminate the possi- bility of " flutter " insofar as this is possible from themost recent knowledge of this phenomenon and its cause, and all Puss Moths now embody these modifications. The second accident took place in South Africa recently.For reasons outside the responsibility of this Company, the machine in question had not been modified as referred toabove; it was flying overloaded and in weather of an exceptionally violent nature. In this instance the evidencedisposed of the likelihood of wing flutter. While much experience is available which shows that theexisting scale of primary load factors is entirely satis- factory, the continually-widening conditions under whichaircraft are being used may give rise to trouble in direc- tions which cannot readily be foreseen. It may be pointed r- ,:C; 660 out, for instance, that the degree of maintenance andattention which aircraft receive, is a variable quantity, and it is found that in some parts of the world bracing isallowed to become very slack, that constant overloading may be indulged in, that wings may be folded withoutjury struts in position and then roughly man-handled, that minor accidents on the ground may strain a machine. Allthese, and many other things can cause deformations in the structure, which may alter the distribution of loads ina way that is difficult to predict, and, while it is obviously not possible to guard against every kind of misuse or acci-dent, the Company consider it desirable to introduce modifications which generally stiffen and strengthen thewing structure above the normal requirements. These modifications, incidentally, have the effect of substantiallyincreasing the primary load factors in some of the most important members, but their main object is to add alarge measure of security against what may be described as secondary causes of trouble. In view of the conditions which have been shortlyreferred to above, the Company would strongly urge all owners of Puss Moths, in their own interests, to have thesemodifications incorporated as early as possible. We should also be extremely grateful if you would give this suggestionthe fullest possible publicity, because, so far as we are aware, no Ground Engineers' Notice is being issued. The Company is prepared to make special arrangemenvswhich will enable these modifications to be carried out with the minimum of expense and inconvenience to the owners. C. C. WALKER,Director and Chief Engineer. The De Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd., ^;,Stag Lane Aerodrome, •::.. . r::: Edgware, Middlesex. .":'
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