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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0961.PDF
FLIGHT, SEPTEMBER 11, 1931 ine navigability and seaworthinesstrials, and had" to be removed from its buoy to prevent it from sinking,it would thereby be disqualified from taking part in the contest. All thesix seaplanes passed the tests without trouble. The 1929 Machines Four aircraft were ordered by theBritish Air Ministry for the 1929 Schneider Contest, two SupermarineS.6 all-metal monoplanes with Rolls- Koyce " R " type racing engines, andtwo " Gloster VI " monoplanes with Napier racing engines. As eachcountry is entitled to send but three machines into the contest, this meantthree machines to be selected, with one in reserve. The Supermarine S.6machines were ready first, and but for certain minor troubles with porpoisingtendencies, which were overcome, re- quired practically no modifications.The " Gloster Napier VI " monoplanes were completed rather later, and whenthey came to be tested, certain troubles with the induction wereencountered. It will be realised that high-speed forced induction racingengines are liable to be very sensitive to such items as size and arrangementof air intakes, not to mention the con- siderable difficulties which may beencountered in the operation of blowers for forcing into an engine alarger amount of charge than the engine would normally aspirate.Time was too short for remedying these difficulties, and the two" Gloster Napier VI " monoplanes had to be left out of the contest.This was a cause for the most sincere regret, as the Gloster and Napier com-panies had always been .well to the fore in racing aircraft, and had done agreat deal towards maintaining British prestige in this direction.However, there was no help for it, and one of the Supermarine-Napier S.5monoplanes built for the 1927 contest "as nominated to take its place in theteam as third machine. The 1929 Supermarine Rolls-RoyceS.6 was an all-metal twin-float mono- plane, with the wing placed low on thefuselage, and braced by streamline wires to top of fuselage and tofloats. Fuel was carried in the floats, and was lifted to a small gravity tank by engine-drivenpumps. As the distance which the fuel had to be lifted was considerable, and as centrifugal force during a turn issuch •as virtually to double or treble that distance, the pumps would fail to supply the necessary quantity of fuelduring a turn, and the gravity tank in the fuselage was relied upon to supply the engine during a sharp turn, untilthe pumps were able to resume their-work when the machine straightened out. The wing surface radiators were a new feature, and wen-made as the wing covering. They consisted of two thick- nesses of Duralumin with a very narrow waterway betweenthem. The lubricating oil was cooled by being passed alongspecially constructed oil coolers forming the Sides of the fuselage. The oil tank was housed in the vertical tail fin,"hich, being in the propeller slipstream, contributed con- siderably to the cooling. The 1929 Supermarine S.6 machines had a wing span ofm ft., a wing area of 145 sq. ft., and weighed 4,030 lb. •-mpty. They carried in the contest, in addition to thei'l'ot, 115 gallons of petrol and 10 gallons of oil, and a '•wtain quantity of cooling water, which brought the grossweight up to 5,250 lb. and gave a wing loading of 36.2 THE WINNER: Flt.-Lt. Webster crossing the finishing line on the Supermarine-Napier S.5 at Venice in the 1927 Contest. (FLIGHT Photo.) Developed from the 825-h.p. Rolls-Royce " H " engine,the Rolls-Royce " R " engines of 1929 were 12-cylinder water-cooled engines with the cylinders placed at an angleof 60 degrees to each other. They had a cylinder bore of 6 in., and a stroke of 6.6 in., and "weighed 1,535 lb., whichgave a specific weight of only 0.805 lb./h.p. A special supercharger of entirely novel design was developed forthese engines, and proved entirely successful. Small frontal area was another feature which contributed to theirsuccess, while a reduction gear gave very high airscrew efficiency.The machines sent by Italy included two Macchi M.67 monoplanes, a Macchi M.52 monoplane, a Savoia-Marche.ttiS.65 twin-engined monoplane and a very diminutive Fiat low-wing monoplane.After various troubles and tribulations with the latest types, the captain of the Italian team was obliged tonominate for the actual contest the two Macchi M.67 machines and the old Macchi M.52, on which de Bernardihad established a world's speed record some time before. The 1929 Contest The six pilots and their machines, in the order ofstarting, were: 1, F/O Waghorn, Supermarine Rolls-Royce •>?-/sq. ft. During the race the Rolls-Royce engines were S.6 ; 2, Marshal Dal Molin, Macchi M.52 (Fiat) ; 3, Fit. Lt.giving 1,900 h.p., so that Ihe power loading became D'Arcy Greig, Supermarine-Napier S.5 ; 4, Tenente Cad- v 76 lb. /h.p. only. ringher, Macchi M.67 (Isotta-Fraschini) ; 5, F/O Atcherley, 899
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