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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1051.PDF
FLIGHT, OCTOBER 2, 1931 The Supermarine S.o B Monoplane Main Particulars Published for the First Time "ITHERTO it has not been possible to publish thedata relating to the S.6B. monoplanes designed and built by the Supermarine Aviation Worksfor the 1931 Schneider Contest. The general appearance of the machines has been shown in theinnumerable photographs which have been published all the world over, but essential data, such as weight, etc.,have been kept secret. It has now become permissible to the difficulty lay not so much in transferring the heat fromthe cooler to the air as in transferring it from the oil to the surface of the cooler. Eventually, as a result of ex-tensive research work carried out by the Supermarine Aviation Works and by the R.A.E., it was found possibleto increase the efficiency of the coolers by as much as 40 per cent. This was done by sweating small vanes intothe oil ways, but a great deal of experiment was necessary give such data, so that, taken in conjunction with the before the type and pitch of vanes could be^ determined.article on the Rolls-Royce " R " engines on pp. 989-995, it is now possible, for thefirst: time, to form a true picture of the achievementof all concerned in the pro- duction of the British 1931Schneider defenders. It has already been re-corded in FLIGHT that,when Lady Houston came forward with her magnifi-cent offer of £100,000 for the building of newmachines and engines for this year's Contest, timewas getting so short that neither the SupermarineAviation Works nor Rolls- Koyce, Ltd., had time toproduce entirely new de- signs, but had to do thebest possible in the time available with the 1929machines and engines. Some of the difficulties en-countered by the Rolls- Ro\xe firm are set out inthe article referred to above. In the followingwill be found a brief outline of the improvements made by the Supermarine Aviation Works, and which resulted inthe production of the 1931 S.6B. monoplanes. Although the 1931 machines were generally similar tothe 1929 type, it was found that detail improvement in the following items could be made: The oil system, thewater system, the fuel system, the floats, and the aircraft controls.The Oil System.—In the S.6B. machines the oil system is, as before, housed entirely in the fuselage. When theoil leaves the engine, it is forced along the fuselage side coolers to the top of the fin tank. By an arrangement ofribs and gutters, the oil is kepi in contact with the shell as it falls to the normal level and passes through a filterinto the return (suction) cooler, which is built on the same lines as the side coolers, but is of greater section. Oilcooling had to be improved considerably in order to cope with the increased engine power, and it was found that VICKERS-SUPERMARINE S 2,300 h.p. Rolls-Royce ' Dimensions WTing span Wing chordWing area Weights Weight emptv PilotFuel (135 gals. = 614 litres) Oil (15 gals. = 68 litres) Weight fullv loadedWing loading Power loading By way of comparison it may be machines had a tare weight of 4,030 .6 B MONOPLANE ' R " Engine 30 ft. (9,15 m.) 5 ft. Sin. (1,73 m.)145 sq. ft. (13,5 ma). 4,560 lb. (2 070 kg.) 160 1b. (73 kg.)1,125 lb. (512 kg.) 150 lb. (68 kg.) 5,995 lb. (2 723 kg.)41-3 lb./sq. ft. (202 kg./m*)2-6 lb./h.p. (1,18 kg./CV.). stated that the 1929 S.6 lb. and a gross weight of 5,250 lb. The wing area was the same. Excessive restriction in the flow increased tile pressure-difference between inlet and outlet by an enormousamount. The gutters in the fin tank performed asimilar duty, and the capa- city of the tank itself wasgreatly increased to carry the additional oil required.In actual practice, the tem- perature drop between oiloutlet and oil inlet reached 60 degrees C, a figureprobably never before approached on any aircraft.The Water System.—In order to keep the newengines at the correct tem- perature, it was necessaryto dissipate approximately 40,000 British ThermalUnits of heat per minute from the cooling surfaces.The efficiency of the wing radiators could not be im-proved appreciably, and, therefore, more surface hadto be provided somehow. The only extra surface available was that presented by the topsides of the floats.These were covered with radiators instead of the usual shell plating, and the addition of this extra cooling surfacewas very effective. A new type of header tank with a steam separator was designed to prevent any loss of water.In other respects the water system was unaltered. The Fuel System.—The fuel is carried inside the floats,and is delivered to a small pressure tank in the fuselage by engine-driven pumps. Normally the engine is fedfrom the pressure tank, but this is of small capacity and intended only to be adequate for the short period whenthe aircraft is doing a steeply-banked turn and when, due to centrifugal force increasing the weight of fuel, thepumps are unable to supply the engine. The starboard float carries much more fuel than the port, in order tooffset the tremendous engine torque during take-off. The effect of full engine torque is to transfer a load of approxi-mately 500 lb. from one float to the other. EVOLUTION: On the left, one of the 1931 S.6 B machines. Next to it one of the 1929 S.6's. - .-•;.. one of the 1<?27 S.5'a. (FLIGHT Photos.) • mx . . . ,. And on the right
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