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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0926.PDF
FLIGHT, AUGUST 28, 1931 FLYING BROTHERS : Herr Wolf Hirth (left), who secured second place, discussing things with his brother, Hellmuth Hirth, the famous German pioneer pilot who designed the engine in Hirth's machine. it is considered that hitherto German makers have ex-celled in the production of ultra-lightweight machines. Of nineteen competing planes, only a single one could beallocated to the small class. All others weighed in excess of 708 lb. This may partially be due to the BayerischeFlugzeugwerke having become bankrupt. It was this com- pany that had built the light BFW planes, which were sosuccessful in the European Circuits of 1929 and 1930. Had it still been working, it is probable that moremachines of the ultra-lightweight class would have parti- cipated. But it is by no means certain, for the latestproduction of the company in this line of airplane was a machine of the heavier class, which actually started in thepresent event. Apart from these considerations, however, the present regulations considerably handicap the smallmachines, as high requirements relative to equipment and speed are made, which are not reconcilable with very lightweight. In fact, if these regulations are going to be adhered to, it appears highly probable that the smaller ofthe two eligible classes of planes is doomed to disappear. Of the planes competing in the German trial, fifteenwere Klemms, of which eleven had four-cylinder Argus engines. Since last year's international trial, the poweroutput of the Argus engines has been raised from 100 h.p. to 125 h.p., mainly by increasing enginespeed, and many of the Klemms in this trial were fitted with the new engines. As,however, the planes had not been altered to suit the larger available power, thegain in speed was not considerable, and •some of the competitors overstrained theirengines. Three further Klemms had Siemens & Halske engines (SH13), whichdeliver approximately 90 h.p. There were two old Arado machines with Argusengines, and only one Junkers machine in the trial (Siemens engine). Theo Croneiss,managing director of the second largest German air transport company, theDeutsche Verkehrsflug A.-G., flew the new BFW machine already referred to. Thisplane, by the way, looked the finest and fittest of all machines entered for the trial,but, probably owing to the fact of Herr Croneiss being more accustomed to thehandling of large transport planes, he lost heavily in the technical and performancetests, to make up for which losses he after- wards over-strained the Argus engine,which caused him to retire during the race. All these machines belonged to the heavier category. The only one of the small class was an old Klemm, owned and piloted by Wolf Hirth. This machine was •equipped with a new inverted four- cylinder air-cooled engine designed by Hellmuth HirthWolf s brother, who is a well-known engineer and pioneerpilot. The engine is of 65 h.p., and has a number of very interesting features. The first technical test was dismantling and re-erectingthe machines, and was similarly conducted as that of last year. By far the fastest time was achieved bvCroneiss with his new BFW, which he dismounted for transport and refitted for flight in exactly 1 min. 39 7 secThis is probably a record. The BFW is provided with a patent wing lock mechanism with one lever beneath eachwing root, admitting of two bolts being withdrawn at one pull, leaving the wing hanging on a single universal jointaround which it can then very easily be turned fiat against the fuselage. This brought Croneiss five points, a numberonly reached also by Hagen with his Arado, who, however actually required 2 min. 43.3 sec. Also, the engine starting tests were similar to those oflast year. Machines with engines that can only be started by turning the propeller were not allowed to take part inthe competition at all. For the method of starting, and the starting device, up to four points were to be allocated,and for the time required to set engines going, three points. Barring the three planes fitted with Siemens &Halske engines, which were not provided with any kind of starting device—the others had starting handles allcompetitors received three points for the starting method. Most pilots also succeeded in getting their engines run-ning within 15 seconds, so they secured the maximum number of points. The starting test was in each case re-peated five times, the first time with cold engine, and the award was made on the average time. The equipment and comfort test brought Croneiss 16points for his BFW, the highest number anyone secured out of a possible 30, which could be allocated as follows: General comfort 5 Cabin for the whole crew 3 Visibility 4 Fire prevention fittings beyond those requiredby the regulations 2 Third comfortable seat 5Possibility of adjusting stabiliser from pilot's seat 3Possibility of adjusting stabiliser from the ground 1Mooring fittings for all-metal planes 1 Good arrangement of instruments 2Specially progressive features, such as slot ailerons, canard type wing or taillessarrangement 5 Next-best after Croneiss was Dudenhausen with hisjunkers plane, for which he secured 11 points. Mainly on account of their cabin arrangements the two Arados eachreceived 10 points, while most of the others received 5 to 9 points. Whereas in last year's event most of the German THIRD MAN HOME AGAIN: Adolph Kneip greeted on his arrival atTempelhof upon his getting third place in the " Deutschlandflug." 864
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