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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0441.PDF
Flight, May 13, 1932 AIRCRAFT ENGINEER AND AIRSHIPS First Aeronautical Weekly in the World. Founded January, 1909 Founder and Editor: STANLEY SPOONER A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM No. 1220. (Vol. XXIV. No. 20.) MAY 13, 1932 r Weekly, Price 64. LPost Free, 7|d. Abroad, Sd. Editorial Offices: 36, GREAT QUEEN STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C.2. ^Telephone; (2 lines), Holborn 3211 and 1884. Telegrams: Truditur, Weetcent, London. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Free. United Kingdom .. 33s. Od. United States .. $6-75. Other Countries .. 35s. Od. CONTENTS Editorial Comment: Greater Efficiency No. 40 (Bomber) Squadron Increasing Speed Range Turnbull Variable Pitch Airscrew Sky Writing Increasing Safety in the Air Private Flying and Gliding Airisms from the Four Winds Airport News Air Transport The Industry Book Reviews Royal Air Force Air Post Stamps PAGE 409 411 -417 4 1 vi 420 421 422 424 426 427 429 4*1 431 432 DIARY OF CURRENT AND FORTHCOMING EVENTS Club Secretaries and others desirous of announcing the dates of important fixtures are invited to send particulars for inclusion in this list;— 1932 May 14. Coventry Ae.C. Air Pageant. May 14-15. Skegness Air Pageant. May 16. Northamptonshire Ae.C. Annual Pageant. May 16. Hertfordshire F.C. Air Display at Wheathampstead. May 16. Shanklin Flying Display. May 16. Southend F.C. Air Display. May 16. Air Display at Wallingford Aerodrome. May 18. Household Brigade Flying Club Meeting, Heston. May 21. " Morning Post " Cross-Country Air Race, Heston. May 21-23. Scottish Flying Club Display, Moorpark, Renfrew. May 22-30 Conference of Transoceanic Aviators at Rome. May 25. Opening of Royal Tournament, Olympia. May 26. " New Methods of Research in Aeronautics," Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture, by H. E. Wimperis, before R.Ae.S. May 28. London-Newcastle Air Race for " Newcastle Evening World " Trophy. May 27-28. G.A J».A.N. Civil Air Display, Brooklands. May 31. R.A.F. (Middle East) Dinner at R.A.F. Club. June 4. Henly's Rally and Gymkhana, Heston. June 4. Bristol Airport Summer Flying Meeting. June 4. Leicester Ae.C. Flying Display and Motor Gymkhana at Ratcliffe Aerodrome. June 7. Junior Ae.C. Dinner at Ham Bone Club, W. June 11. Close of Royal Tournament, Olympia. June 12. Herts and Essex Ae.C. Meeting at Broxboume. June 12. Ae.C. of Germany Air Pageant at Tempelhof. June 17-18. Night Flying Display at Ratcliffe Aerodrome June 18. Hull Air Display. June 18. Reading Ae.C. At Home, Woodley Aerodrome. June 21. Aero Golfing Society. " Flight " Challenge Cup. Bramshott G.C. June 21-28. Blackpool Air Pageant, Stanley Park. June25. R.A.I . Display, Hendon. June25-26, International Tourist Rally, Boulogne. July 8-9. King's Cup Air Race, start and finish Brooklands. Aug. 19-21. Fourth Annual Canadian Air Pageant, St. Hubert, Que. Nov.25-Dec. 11. Parts Aero Show. Greater Efficiency EDITORIAL COMMENT N spite of the ideal set up before us by Professor B. Melvill Jones of Cambridge some years ago, with what he termed the ideal streamlined aero plane, in which there should be surface or skin friction only on such components as were not actively con cerned with lift, it is found, if one looks around at the world's aviation work, either via the foreign technical Press or through any other means at one's disposal, that but little serious progress has been made. Certainly there has been a general tendency of recent years towards a '' cleaning up '' of aircraft. The unsightly and drag-producing excrescences which marred the appearance and the performance of aircraft ten years ago are disappear ing with becoming modesty into the interior of the machine, and the components which must project are now given better shapes, while the subject of interference drag is being given much more atten tion than was formerly the case. But all these things can legitimately be classed as mere detail refinements. Of attempts to alter radically the general conception of an aircraft there have, on the whole, been but few successful cases. Those which come readily to mind include the " tailless " aeroplane (such as the Westland-Hill " Pterodactyl " and a few German experimental machines) and the aeroplane with retractable under carriage, of which the United States have produced a number, while in France Bleriot has been experi menting with a monoplane in which this feature is incorporated. The tailless machine should have a lower drag than the orthodox, as the drag of a separate tail is avoided, and because, when designed as a pusher, the smaller nacelle is not in the airscrew slipstream. The aeroplane with retractable under carriage scores, of course, very considerably also, since the drag of the exposed undercarriage may be anything from 15 to 20 per cent, or so of the total drag. That the drag reduction has to be paid for in extra weight and complication goes without say ing, and it is likely that in several instances the net gain is so small as to make the scheme hardly worth A2
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