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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1182.PDF
FLIGHT, NOVEMBER 6, 1931 New British Aircraft Types In the Annual Report on the Progress of Civil Aviation, a Section is devoted to an outline of the Air Ministry's Experimental Programme. It is to be hoped that this programme will not suffer unduly from the economy campaign which we may expect to begin shortly S~m-*WS. Report on the Progress of Civil Aviation, 1930v3 III (published by H.M. Stationery Office, price III 5s. 6d. net), of which a very brief summary waspublished in FLIGHT of October 23, contains a section dealing with the Air Ministry's Experimental Pro-gramme. This section is divided into three sub-sections, of which the first deals with completed aircraft, thesecond with aircraft under construction or ordered, and the third with proposed new types. Under the first sub-section reference is made to theShort " Valetta " twin-float monoplane. It was this machine which Sir Alan Cobham used on his recent flightto Central Africa, and the type, it will be recollected, was produced in order to make possible a comparison be-tween the floatplane and the flying-boat types on sheltered waters, such as rivers and lakes in Africa. Among the new types under construction, or ordered, itis very interesting to learn from the Report that two medium-powered cabin landplanes, one a biplane and theother a monoplane, have been ordered from the Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Co., Ltd., and that construction hascommenced. It is, the Report states, intended to pro- duce these machines in a form suitable for operation athigh altitudes, such as on the African Plateau, and to this end it is hoped to fit supercharged engines. Accommoda-tion will be provided for 10 passengers and baggage, and it is estimated that at an altitude of 11,500 ft. the aircraftwill have the high top speed of over 125 m.p.h. The only other new type to which reference is madeunder the heading " Aircraft under Construction or Ordered " is the six-engined Supermarine monoplane flyingboat, of which it is stated that " actual construction will be commenced shortly," and that it will have an all-upweight of approximately 35 tons. Man Proposes .... Under aircraft proposed, the Report comes out in theopen on one point only. This is with reference to the Vickers " Vellore IV," a slightly modified version ofwhich is under construction for the Air Ministry. It is, the Report states, the intention to put this machinethrough a period of experimental operation as a mail carrier on some suitable route. A somewhat ambiguous statement is made in the Reportin connection with this machine. The paragraph in ques- tion reads as follows: — "As a result of the production of the ' Vellore IV ' ithas been decided to modify the Air Ministry specification for an experimental air mail carrier in the direction ofincreasing the speed and limiting the load while retaining the requirement of long range. The principal requirementswill be a top speed of about 175 m.p.h., a,pay load of 1,000 lb. in addition to a crew of two, and a range of1,000 miles." In the spring of this year the Air Ministry permittedpublication to be made of the specification which had been drawn up for a mailplane, and a summary of thespecification was duly published in FLIGHT of April 10. According to that specification, the machine must havea tankage sufficient for a range of 1,000 miles at a still-air cruising speed of 150 m.p.h., and the mail load was to be1,000 lb. for this range and speed. It is not very clear how the specification has been modified " in the directionof increasing the speed and limiting the load while retain- ing the range." The only change, as far as we can see,is that, instead of quoting a still-air cruising speed of 150 m.p.h., a top speed figure of 175 m.p.h. is now used.The range and mail load appear to have remained un- altered, and actually a machine with a still-air cruisingspeed of 150 m.p.h. would probably not fall so very far short of a top speed of 175 m.p.h. An interesting mention is made of a small passenger ormail-carrying aircraft intended for feeder-line work, the specification calling for ability to land on and take offfrom a space not more than 200 yards in all directions, and surrounded by obstacles 100 ft. high. " Variousdesigns," the Report states, " have been submitted, but although several come near to meeting the requirements,these have not been entirely fulfilled." The Report further states that designs received include gyroplane and heli-cogyre machines as well as aeroplanes of more normal type. Yet another proposed type to which reference is made isan amphibian flying boat of all-metal construction except for the wing covering. This machine, which is intendedfor use on moderately sheltered waters, such as the Nile, must be amphibian and have three or four engines. Themain requirements will be reliability, ease of maintenance, comfort of passengers, and suitability for operating inshallow or restricted waters. A range of 700 miles is called for, and a cruising speed of 110 m.p.h. The pay load isto be not less than 3,000 lb. And the Big Fellow And now comes the real " plum " of the whole Report.The Air Ministry actually proposes a " Trans-Oceanic Flying Boat." Not only so, but it proposes that, althoughnormally the machine will be used on 600 miles' stages or so, it should have a maximum range at cruising speed of2,500 miles, while the cruising speed must not be less than 120 m.p.h. Sleeping accommodation is to be provided forat least 50 per cent, of the passengers who can be carried on a 12-hour non-stop flight. Presumably the theory isthat some of the passengers will be of the sleepless sort, while the rest will stand bunk watches " four hours onand four hours off." As if almost a little ashamed of its own temerity, theReport concludes this section with the statement that other aircraft which have been contemplated, but which are notat present provided for in the programme, include the following:—Air survey machine, crop-dusting machine.Polar transport machine, gold-carrier, and a catapult sea- plane (for transferring mails from ocean liners). The Annual Report for 1930 is refreshing in that it doesshow signs of an appreciation of the possibilities of air- craft types other than the stereotyped three-enginedlandplane. Karachi to Croydon SIR MONTAGUE I>E P. WEBB, C.I.E., C.B.E., late chair-man of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce, writing from Sandgate on October 30, has sent to The Times the follow-ing account of his air journey from Karachi to Croydon in under 5$ days: — " There seems an impression in some quarters that the air mail service between India and Britain is irregular andunreliable. This is not my experience. I have received my air mail from India quite regularly during the last twomonths or more, and in order to test the service I have myself flown here from Karachi in but little over five days-May I, for the benefit of others, give some account of that wonderful journey ? 1106
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