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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0469.PDF
FLIGHT, MAY 20, 1932 THE TAIL WHEEL : This is of the castoring type, and is centred by the rubber cords. certain sections were most suitable for seaplane operations, others calling, by geographical reasons, for an aeroplane. In view of the fact that the air route from Cairo to the Cape covers all manner of country, it had been generally assumed that when this air route was opened by Imperial Airways the " Valetta " would be put on certain sections of the route, first as a seaplane and later as an aeroplane. This, however, was not done—for what reason we do not know—and it was left to Sir Alan Cobham to try out the machine in its seaplane form on an African tour which he made last year. Sir Alan returned from that tour full of enthusiasm for the " Valetta," but, in spite of this fact, it is not, we understand, the intention of Imperial Airways to make any use of the machine. As the " Valetta " was built to the order of the Air Ministry, and is still the property of the Ministry, it may be assumed that any further work will probably be of an experimental nature, and the machine has now been fitted with its wheel undercarriage and was tested in flight on Friday last by Mr. Lankester Parker, Short's test pilot. The " Valetta " looks curiously large on an aerodrome, much larger than she did as a seaplane on the Medway. And, of course, she is not a small machine—with a wing span of 107 ft., a wing area of 1,382 sq. ft., and a gross weight of 21,850 lb. On Friday last the machine was, of course, flying with but a small load, but the ease with which she left the ground seemed to indicate that even when carrying full commercial load, the take-off should be good. The landing run was short, in spite of the fact that Mr. Parker made " seaplane landings," i.e., with the tail well up. Probably the Palmer wheel brakes had something to do with this. Some criticism was levelled at the height of the cabin door above the ground, but it should be remembered that the machine was designed primarily as a seaplane, and that the height of the engines, etc., above water level is then a very desirable feature. The machine deserves to be put to some useful work, and it is to be hoped that the powers that be will see that this interesting experiment is not wasted. A detailed description was published in our issue of July 25, 1930. UNUSUAL BRACING This front view shows the arrange ment of the rigid strut bracing, which distributes landing loads in an unusually complete way. 437
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