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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 1328.PDF
FLIGHT, DECEMBER 18, 1931 CANAL SURVEYING FROM THE AIR • " III HE use to which aeroplanes can be put to assist(^ III land survey work was successfully proved on III June 1 this year, when the Directors of a Canalin the East Midlands employed a Westland " Wessex " 3-engim-d monoplane for this purpose. The ideaoriginated from the fact that Mr. Harald Peake, a Director of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Company,had on many occasions made use of his private light aero- plane to visit the less accessible lengths of the waterwayand to keep in touch with the progress ui work, and it was in order to enable the other Directors of the Company,together with the General Manager, to examine the canal development schemes that the use of a larger machine wassuggested. The " Wessex," with its three engines, its reli- ability, speed and accommodation, together with a clearand unrestricted view and general comfort, was considered to be particularly suitable for the work. The monoplane type is very well adapted for such surveyowing to the excellence of the downward view. Through the kindness of the Westland Aircraft Works, Yeovil, thedemonstration Wessex was placed at Mr. Peake's disposal. To suit the convenience of some of the Directors, andwith the consent of Sq.-Ld. Anderson, the Commanding Officer of the R.A.F. Aerodrome at Hucknall, it wasarranged that the flight should start from and terminate at this point. The machine, which had taken part inthe Sherburn Meeting on May 30, arrived at the pre- arranged time, with Mr. C. Byron, Sales Manager of West-land Aircraft Works, and the pilot, Mr. F. J. Brunton, who reported that the weather was very heavy overSheffield, although at Hucknall there was a clear sky and brilliant sunshine. After the minimum of delay for discussion of the route,etc., the party embarked and the flight started, the route followed being from Hucknall to Sheffield, where the Canaiwas picked up and followed throughout its course to the River Trent. The course followed the River Trent to theTrent Falls and from there down the Humber to the site of the proposed new Humber Road Bridge, the schemefor which is now before Parliament. From there the route Directors of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Co. preparing for their survey flight in a Westland " Wessex " over their canal area. The group includes Mr. C. Byron (left) and Mr. F. J. Brunton, pilot (fourth from left) of Westland Aircraft. was up the Humber and along the River Ouse to Goole,where it again followed the course of another canal over several miles, the original route was crossed near Don-caster. From this point the return journey was made to Hucknall Aerodrome. It was perhaps fortunate, from the point of view oftesting the Wessex, that the weather was exceptionally bad, for almost immediately after leaving the Aerodromethe machine flew into the edge of a severe thunderstorm, and, although the pilot avoided the worst of the stormand skirted round it as far as possible, it was not possible to avoid it altogether, owing to the necessity of followinga definite line of route. It was not surprising, therefore, that there was, tostart with, a certain amount of " bumping," but the bumps were much less than one would have expected, andno inconvenience or discomfort was caused. The machine undoubtedly is very stable in such rough weather condi-tions, far more so than light planes, and is, therefore, to be recommended to those who wish to fly but dislike theidea of the lightly loaded and cramped " Sports " machine. The passengers were able to move about in the Wessex,from side to side, to look out of alternate windows, and one of the passengers, who was in the air for the first time,stated afterwards that he was surprised at the steadiness of the machine, which he said compared very favourablywith the rear seat of even the most comfortable motor car over good roads. With the three engines, not only wasthere no cause for apprehension with regard to safety, even under the worst conditions, but the Wessex couldbe brought down to comparatively low altitudes for observation. The easy handling of the machine enabledsmall bends to be followed so that the objective was always in view, and to get a larger " map " of the country, arapid rise to a higher altitude could be made when required. The Wessex used was of a type similar to those ownedby Sabena Air Lines and used by them on their Conti- nental and cross-Channel air routes. However, the machinewas equipped with three 7-cylinder Armstrong-Siddeley Genet Major engines, giving atotal H.P. of 447 instead of the 330 H.P. of the smaller 5-cylin-der Genet. In this form the Wessex has an even better per-formance than before, and the top speed has been increased from 108m.p.h. to 118 m.p.h., and this at the expense of a petrol consump-tion increased by only 6$ gall./ hour. The ceiling has been in-creased from 12,300 to 14,900 ft., whilst it is possible to maintainheight on any two engines up to 6,000 ft. In addition to the accommoda-tion for the pilot and navigator, very comfortable seats arearranged on each side of the cabin, commanding an uninterruptedview over a large tract of country. Easy communication exists be-tween those in the cabin and in the cockpit, and there is ampleroom for the study of maps, etc. The provision of three engineseliminates the risks attached to engine failure at low altitudes. The actual flight was carriedout under exceptionally adverse conditions, but no criticism couldbe made of the performance o! the machine, apart from noise,which is fairly general in aircraft at the present time. There is one advantage of sur-vey from the air as compare" with any other means which w
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