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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1103.PDF
FLIGHT, OCTOBER 16, 1931 Two New Military Aircraft e1 Span Overall length HeightTop chord Bottom chorddap (mean) . . Area of main planesTail plane area (total) Elevator areaRudder area Fin area kOMING from the Coventryfactory at the Whitley Abbey aerodrome of theSir W. G. Armstrong- •\Vhitworth Aircraft Co., Ltd., thenew Atlas II and the A.W.XVI are bound to be of interest. The former is a new version ofthe well tried Atlas which has been used lor so many years in our ownKoyal Air Force. The latter is an even more redesigned version ofone of our foremost single-seater fighters, the " Siskin." Both havebeen described fully in FLIGHT atvarious times, and it will only be necessary now to deal with themajor points of difference to the older versions. The A.W.XVI Single-Seater Fighter Described by the makers as " the fastest air-cooledsingle-seater fighter in the world," the A.W.XVI is quite noticeably a great improvement over the " Siskin " fromwhich it originated. This new aircraft has been cleaned cleaner than anyArmstrong-Whitworth aircraft we have seen, resulting in a machine which not only has a really fine performance, butalso looks the part. The first things which catch the eye are the cleanliness of such parts as the undercarriage andtail units, while the absence of excrescences is of note. As in the Atlas II, although we imagine il is really thelessons learnt in A.W.XVI which have been applied with such good effect to the Atlas II and not vice versa, theelectrical generators and navigation lights are now fitted in such a manner that they cause practically no dragat all. It is a single-bay biplane with steel strut interplanebracing of streamline section. The air-cooled engine, an Armstrong-Siddeley Jaguar Major, geared and super-charged, of 525 h.p., is cowled with a Townend ring fitted DIMENSIONS OF THE A.W.XVI AIRCRAFT (10,0,6 m.) (7y26 m.) (3>0 m.) (1,52 m.) M.29 m.) 33 ft.25 ft. II ft. 6 in.5 ft. 4 ft. 3 in. 4 ft. 11 -2 in. (1,51 m.)261 sq. ft. (24,25 m2.) 31-9 sq.ft. (2,89 m2.)15-1 sq.ft. (1,40 m2.) III sq. ft. (1,03 m2.)4-43 sq.ft. (0,41m2.) Z on flexible brackets. The fuelfeed is by gravity from a tank in the fuselage having a capacity of60 gall, and situated in the first bay behind the engine mounting.The engine bay is faired in by detachable panels, giving veryeasy access to such parts as the magnetos, fuel filters, oil-tankfilter, etc. The first bay behind the engine is, as is usual, the onewhich contains the fuel tank. It also has below it the oil tankwith a dome on it to obviate any possibility of oil frothing troublesin hot climates. Below this tank is the Vickers-Potts oil cooler,projecting into the slipstream underneath the machine. Abaft and above the oil tank is the mounting for thetwo high-pressure oxygen bottles, and abaft them again come the chutes for the used' cartridges from the twoVickers guns situated in the top part of this bay and directly in front of the pilot. These guns fire straightahead through two grooves in the decking just over the top of the engine cowling, and, being in this position, areexcellently arranged to hand, for the pilot to clear a jamb should this be necessary. Behind the pilot's cockpit is thewireless equipment. This is mounted on a tray in the upper part of the tail fairway, which may slide outcomplete when required for adjustment or renewal. The fuselage is of the standard steel tube type, with tie-rod and ball-ended vertical steel strut bracing, and is faired for the most part with aluminium panels which areeasily detached. The pilot's cockpit is large and comfortable, as befits amachine which has to be used for high-altitude fighting. It would be impossible in an article of this size todescribe all the controls and fittings in this cockpit, and it must suffice to say that everything which a pilot of asingle-seater fighter must have to hand is thus arranged THE A.W.XVI: The well faired undercarriage and the efficient Townend ring engine cowling ate particularly noticeable in this view. (FLIGHT Photo.) 1033
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