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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1213.PDF
FLIGHT, NOVEMBER IS, 1931 Focke=Wulf " Ente" S it was illustrated and described in detail in FLIGHT of January 2, 1931, there is little need to enter into a discussion here of the fea- tures of the Focke-Wulf " Ente " or " tail- first " machine which is at present visiting England. It will suffice if we recall that the idea underlying the design is a wing arrangement which precludes spinning, be- cause the small leading plane is so designed, placed and loaded that it will stall before the main wing, thereby bringing the nose of the machine down and preventing the main wing from reaching stalling angle. The forward wing is of triangular plan form, and the elevator is so hinged to it as to leave a slot between them. This slot is not of the Handley Page type, which varies in size in accordance with thi- angular setting of the flaps, but remains sensibly constant in size, no matter at what angle the elevators are placed. We had the opportunity on Saturday last of making a flight in the " Ente," with Herr Cornelius H. Edzard as pilot, and a few impressions of the flight may be of interest. The tiny cabin has seats for two pas- sengers, side by side, and in the forward wall, near the starboard side, there is a small window com- municating with the pilot's cockpit. On this occasion we had hoped to be in the right- hand seat so as to be able to watch the control movements made by Herr Edzard during the various manoeuvres. Un- fortunately this was not pos- sible, and so the impressions of the flight are not nearly as , conclusive as they might otherwise have been. As in other cabin ma- chines, one's view forward is ; not very good, neither is it possible" to see the ailerons and so get an idea of the : amount of lateral control used. The engines cut off 'the view, The take-off is somewhat emotioning, as lie machine climbs in a rather alarming attitude, although the actual flight path fol- lowed by the machine is probably not very much above normal. In flight the machine behaves exactly as does any orthodox aircraft, and is capable of all the normal manoeuvres, such as x"' steeply-banked turns. We believe the machine has never been looped, but there is no reason why it should not be capable of looping. The landing appears to be just what the pilot likes to make it. When the machine is brought in at low speed, i.e., with the nose well up, it is a little strange at first to feel the nose drop suddenly when the main wheels have touched and the pilot applies his wheel brakes. The one demonstration which we wished to see was not given. This consisted in throttling the engines and gradually pulling the machine up until, at a speed corre- sponding approximately to the minimum flying speed of the forward wing, the nose dropped. We should verv much like to see what sort of attitude the machine then assumes. If it is very steep, the " Ente is in the position of the normal aircraft which stalls near the ground but does not spin. If the attitude is not very steep, the machine should have a good chance of gliding on to the ground without doing very much damage. AN OLD IDEA REVIVED: Three views of the Focke-Wulf " Ente" during its visit to Hanworth. In the upper photograph the machine is climbing, but not nearly as steeply as it did on some occasions. (FLIGHT Photos.) 1137
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