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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0167.PDF
FLIGHT, FEBRUARY 19, 1932 ?ft\fl Tnriu/fflgy BUILDING GLIDERS "ID KITISH AIRCRAFT CO., I -S. LTD., at Maidstone, is one of |ll r) the few companies success fully facing the reaction which came inevitably after the little boom of last year. There are, for example, 24 clubs using B.A.C. equipment. Auto-Towing Mr. Lowe-Wylde (designer and man ager of B.A.C.) can really be called the pioneer of auto-towing in this country, and it is due to his initiative that this method of launching has been developed so rapidly. Both he and the indefatigable Mrs. Green, with her " Bentley," visited over 52 different fields last year and gave over 1,300 people joyrides in their two- seater B.A.C. 7, a particularly sturdy job. which will stand an unlimited amount of hard use. For example, in the hands of Mr. Lowe-Wylde, one B.A.C. 7 has done 23 hours' flying. and when it is realised how short the average glider flight is it will be seen that the number of flights this machine has made is really stupen dous. It is also a reasonably efficient sailplane and has been soared for 1 hr. 37 min. Aeroplane towing is another of its uses, and several long flights were made with it in this manner during last year. Construc- tionally, it is a glued-up job from start to finish. This makes it par ticularly strong while remaining light, and obviates any chance of the smaller members such as ribs and struts split ting when being nailed or screwed. One might be inclined to fear that the ply panels would pull away from the longerons in the event of a crash, but this is not the case, and we have seen a fuselage with the fore part of it pretty severely damaged where, although the ply panels were broken up completely, there was practically no evidence of the glued joints having parted. With such a method a tar better joint can be made where the ply has to be laid on a curved sur face, for here, as in most other places, the glued joint is held down by means of thin strips of ply which are very lightly tacked down over it until such time as the glue is hard, after which these strips are pulled off and the joints smoothed down. Mr. Lowe- Wylde has not, in his works at Maid stone, made any attempt to produce super-efficient machines, and has con tented himself with one good wing which can be attached to a series of different fuselages according to what is required from the machine. Thus we have this same wing used for the Bat Boat, which was illustrated in FLIGHT for December 11 and 25, 1931, when flying at Ilendon on the Welsh Harp ; for the single-seater B.A.C. 4, which has soared for some 2 hr. 13 min. ; or for the B.A.C. 7 two-seater. Gliders in Parts A new departure has been evolved b r the company in order to meet the desire which clubs have to obtain machines in a cheap manner. This is to supply complete sets of parts from which they can build up their own machines. All these parts are finished and carefully numbered. We saw the first of these sets being packed for delivery to a member of the Ports mouth Gliding Club who is taking it out to Palestine with him. Another advantage of this method is that the cost of delivery abroad is very greatly reduced, as all the parts can, with the exception of the wing spars and lon gerons, be packed in one case. During the coming summer work in the factory at Maidstone will be con fined to the production of machines to fill actual orders, for Mr. Lowe- Wylde has undertaken to appear in connection with the tour which Sir Alan Cobham is arranging and both he and Mrs. Green will be more than fully occupied taking up joyriding pas sengers. Incidentally, they have now got this down to a fine art, and many little improvements which they have learned from experience will be incor porated in their latest outfit. On the car a new type of towing drum will be used which can be controlled by a brake and which is driven by a small electric motor for rewinding the towing cable immediately the aircraft has cast loose. On the aircraft will be both air brakes and wheel brakes, thus enabling Mr. Lowe-Wylde to land, when necessary down wind, with safety, and so obviate having to be towed back to the starting point. A Miniature Sailplane The B.A.C. 9 is built in an extremely simple manner, and although not yet out of its experi mental stage, it certainly looks as if it should be exceptionally suitable for club use where it is necessary to dis mantle the machines before they can be accommodated in small hangars. There is not the slightest doubt that gliding is going to grow in popularity, for it is the first and obvious stepping stone to flying power-driven machines. Already we. have had evidence of this where three different gliding pilots without previous knowledge of flying power-driven aircraft have been taken up and in ten minutes' instruction or so have arrived at a point which would have taken the normal pupil several hours' dual instruction to reach. Gliding must therefore un doubtedly be looked upon as a source from which the flying schools proper will be able to draw their pupils. LINEN AEROPLANE FABRIC "CINTONA" is the trade name of *~* the fabric used largely in the aircraft industry, being sold through- GL1DERS IN THE MAKING : A corner of the B.A.C. factory at Maidstone. All the men employed here are experts In working ply-wood. 159
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