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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0175.PDF
FLIGHT, FEBRUARY 26, 1932 Sqd. Ldr. Oswald Robert Gay- ford, D.F.C., Chief Pilot of the Fairey Long-Range Monoplane. (FLIGHT Photo.) Cranwell- Capetown Flight At the time of going to press the long- range monoplane is at Cranwell ready to start for Capetown. The weather has been unfavourable both locally and in North Africa. A start may be made in the next few days; otherwise it will be postponed for a month Fit. Lt. David Lindsay Gordon Bett, Second Pilot of the Machine. (FLIGHT Photo.) / fll—'HE Fairey (Napier) long-range monoplane has (p I already been described in FLIGHT. It is not III appreciably different from the former monoplane in which the late Sqd. Ldr. Jones Williams and Fit. Lt. Jenkins flew non-stop from Cranwell to Karachi in April, 1929, and in which they crashed on a mountain near Tunis in December, 1929. As a result of the lessons taught by that crash, the instrument equipment of the machine has been improved. Three altimeters have been fitted, so that there should be no danger of the pilots flying into a mountain in bad visibility through thinking that they were higher up than they really were. Perhaps the chief improvement is the installation of the automatic pilot, a gyroscopic device which keeps a machine on a set course in all conditions of visibility. If the machine swings off its course the automatic pilot brings it back more quickly and more accurately than a human pilot is able to do. It has been thoroughly tested by units of the Royal Air Force, notably by No. 7 (Bomber) Squadron, which will fearlessly fly its " Virginias " in formation into a cloud bank, when other squadrons would not dare to run the risk of collision by doing so. The only draw back of the device seems to be that it corrects too suddenly for comfort in bumpy weather. Over 1,000 gallons of petrol will be carried in the tanks in the wings. The all-up weight of the machine on this flight is about 17,000 lb., which is an increase of 1,000 lb. on the weight of the former machine on the Karachi flight. The " Lion " engine gives 530 h.p. Its carburettors have been tuned for economy, and slightly larger compression ratio pistons have been fitted. The machine is a pure cantilever monoplane. The plane varies throughout its span in thickness, chord and incidence. It has a very high lift coefficient, and there is no sudden stall after ihe angle of maximum lift has been reached. The tail is also a cantilever, the only external bracing wires on the machine being those to support the fin. Some previous types of cantilever monoplane which have not been covered with wood or metal have experienced trouble from the wing twisting when aileron has been used. In this Fairey machine torsion of the wing is obviated by special patented internal bracing. The undercarriage is of normal type, with a very wide track. The wheels and tyres are of a specially strong type. The wheels are mounted on roller bearings, to assist the take-off, and are faired with metal " spats." The main dimensions are: —Span, 82 ft. ; length, 48J ft. ; chord at centre line, 16 ft. ; mean chord, 11 ft. ; height, 12 ft. The cabin is totally enclosed, and wind screen wipers have been fitted. These worked very satis factorily during the flight to Karachi in 1929. All the windows are triplex, and can be opened for ventilation. The navigator can look downward through the wings and through windows in the side of the cabin. A drift sight can be fitted in the floor, and a hatch in the roof allows the taking of sextant and compass bearings to check the course. A deck lounge chair is provided for the reserve man, and a folding table is also fitted. The provisions to be taken are what were shown to be most suitable on the flight to Karachi. They include two chickens, sandwiches, chocolate, oranges (4 doz.), apples, bananas, dry dates, dry figs, dry raisins, lump sugar, barley sugar, chewing gum, sweets, black coffee (eight quarts) and Horlick's milk tablets. The aircraft is fitted with a short-wave W/T transmitting The Fairey (Napier) Long-Range Monoplane taxying at Cranwell before the Flight to Egypt. 167 (FLIGHT Photo.)
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