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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0816.PDF
FLIGHT, AUGUST 12, 1932 Aero Industry In Portugal By LESLIE H. HOWARD A " JUPITER " ON Alverca. The Bristol ' M O private organisation for the construction of air craft or aero-engines exists in Portugal. Indeed, aviation is limited, for all practical purposes, to the Military and Naval Air Forces. Civil aviation is yet an aspiration, there being not more than three or four civil and commercial aero planes in the country. One is a D.H. " Moth " ('* Gipsy I," 80-h.p. engine), belonging to the Aero Club de Portugal. Another is a privately-owned craft, a D.H. '* Moth " (" Gipsy II," 120-h.p. engine), belonging to a member of the Aero Club. The third machine is a Farman 190 (230-h.p. Salmson engine), owned by the Companhia Portugueza de Aviacao, which is the Luso-French concern holding the monopoly of air transport in Portugal and her colonies and possessions. The fourth machine is a B.F.W. M.18c monoplane, fitted with a 125-h.p. Walter engine, and is the property of an aerial survey concern recently established. Therefore, at the moment there is no scope for aero nautical construction as a private enterprise. The workshops of the Military Aeronautical Force, known as the Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronautico (The General Aeronautical Material Workshops), situated at the Alverca Aerodrome, which, by the way, is the International Landing Ground for all aircraft visiting Portugal, produce aircraft and aero-engines under licence. The manufacture of the famous and ubiquitous Bristol " Jupiter " is carried out under the direction of Monsieur Charles le Gac, a French engineer of the Societe des Moteurs Gnome & Rhone, holders of the Bristol licence. M. le Gac has been at Alverca for just over three years, and has developed the workshops from a mere project until now it is a very efficient plant. The production figures are not high, and one is not permitted to state the number of engines made, modified and now under con struction. They are not numerous, but they leave nothing INTERESTED ONLOOKERS : The tall figure in this group is that of M, Rene Lapray, the Gnome-Rhone engineer. On his left is M. Charles le Gac 760 TEST : View of the torque-reaction test bench at ' Jupiter " engines are built in Portugal under licence. to be desired in the way of finish and performance. The workmen are civilians, and some Sergeant-Mechanics of the Portuguese Military Aeronautical Force are charge- hands and foremen. The workshops are very well equipped, and are adequate for the volume of work they are called upon to handle. A careful system of checking and testing, under the super vision of Engineer-Officers of the Aeronautica Militar, together with an elaborate costing system, is employed. Work is inclined to be spasmodic, because the annual and supplementary grants to the Aeronautica Militar are not sufficiently large to permit of constant and continuous working, although a cadre is always maintained. The testing of the engines after constructions is carried out under the direction of Monsieur Rene Lapray, also an engineer of the Gnome-Rhone Company. M. Lapray has put up a torque-reaction testing apparatus which is quite one of the most modern and up-to-date apparata of its kind in existence, he having incorporated many ingenious devices of his own adaptation (if not invention) not found on normal test-benches. One learns that an engine constructed at Alverca costs no more than the imported engine, although of course in a military establishment overheads and on-costs are not of such importance as they would be in au industrial concern of a non-military character. Alverca also possesses an effi cient workshop for wooden wing construction, and another for the manufacture of wooden airscrews. Airscrews are supplied to the Military and the Naval Air Forces. As regards aircraft, several types are constructed under licence, the most notable being Potez XXV, of which a fair number have been built during the last two years. Vickers " Valparaisos " embody ing modifications bringing them more up to date are also built. Replacements and repairs are carried out at Alverca, and the standard of workmanship is very high, particularly when it must be remembered that the Portu guese are not exactly a mechanic ally-inclined race. The majority of the engines in the aeroplanes of the Military Air Force are Bristol " Jupiters " and all of this make have either been totally constructed at Alverca, or else part constructed from parts imported in the rough and machined up and assembled in the Alverca workshops.
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