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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 1155.PDF
FLIGHY, NOVEMBER 17, 1932 the two-seater " Hart," a high-performance day bomber, also fitted with the Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine. The same clean design as characterised the " Fury " was found in the " Hart," and it was not long before that also was adopted in considerable numbers, and for various purposes. As there appears to exist a good deal of confusion con cerning the various Hawker types, it may be of assistance if we outline briefly the purposes for which the various types are used. Beginning with the " Fury," this was, as already men tioned, the first modern Hawker aircraft, and in its stan dard form is the interceptor fighter. For use as a fleet fighter, operating from aircraft carriers, a slightly modified version known as the " Nimrod " is now produced, and various carriers are now in process of being re-equipped with this machine. In the two-seater class we may begin with the " Hart," which in what may be termed its standard form is a day bomber. As a two-seater fighter the " Hart " is known as the "Demon," and when the "Hart" is equipped for Army co-operation it is known as the " Audax." The " Osprey," although generally similar to the " Hart," is regarded as a distinct type, and is a fleet fighter reconnaissance machine, and can thus be regarded as the " opposite number " in the two-seater class of the " Nimrod." George Parnall & Co. Yate Aerodrome, Gloucestershire A LARGE number of experimental aircraft types have been built by George Parnall & Co. during the last ten years or so. Some of these have been built to the order of the Air Ministry, while others have been civil types, mostly of small size and low power. The Parnall " Elf " (page 1071) is a two-seater light biplane fitted with Cirrus-Hermes engine, and is chiefly remarkable for its unorthodox wing bracing, which is in the form of struts arranged in a Warren girder, and has the advantage of requiring no rigging after the machine leaves the shops. The " Elf " has an overall length of 22 ft. 10 in. (6,97 m.), a wing span of 31 ft. 3 in. (9,53 m.). and a wing area of 195 sq. ft. (18,1 m2.). The tare weight is 900 lb. (409 kg.) and the loaded weight 1,500 lb. [682 kg.). The maximum speed is 116 m.p.h. (187 km./h.) and the cruising speed 103 m.p.h. (166 km./h.). The range at cruising speed is 400 miles (645 km.). three-seater and the engine a Hermes IV of 130 b.h.p. only. The main data of the Percival '' Gull " are: — Length o.a. .. Wing span Wing area Tare weight . . Gross weight Maximum speed Cruising speed Range 24 ft. 8 in. (7,52 m.) 36 ft. 0 in. (10,8 m.) 169 sq. ft. (15,7 m!.) 1,170 1b. (532 kg.) 2,050 lb. (932 kg.) 145 m.p.h. (233 km./h.) 125 m.p.h. (201 km./h.) 700 miles (1 125 km.) Redwing Aircraft Co., Ltd. Gatwick Aerodrome, Surrey RESIGNED to be really easy to fly, the " Redwing " side-by-side two-seater was designed by Mr. John Kenworthy to incorporate such features as low landing speed, good controllability to enable the slow landing to be made in safety, good stability at all speeds so that the machine should not be fatiguing to fly, and with a wide undercarriage track to ensure stability on the ground and to avoid risk of blowing over in a strong wind. The " Redwing " has been in use by various schools and clubs for a considerable period, and the aims of its designer appear to have been fulfilled. Mr. Kenworthy believes that the side-by-side seating arrangement is the logical one, not only for school work, where the pilot and instructor can converse without the use of telephones, but also for private use, as the side-by-side seating is more sociable (p. 1079). The engine fitted as standard in the " Redwing " is the Armstrong-Siddeley Genet, of 80/88 b.h.p. With this engine the petrol consumption is approximately 5 gall. (22.7 litres) per hr., so that at cruising speed the " Red wing " does approximately 20 miles per gall. (56.5 km./ litre) of petrol. The petrol tank has a capacity sufficient for 3£ hr. at a cruising speed of 85 m.p.h. (137 km./h.), giving a range of about 275 miles (440 km.). The maxi mum speed of the " Redwing " is 96 m.p.h. (155 km./h.), and the landing speed reaches the very low figure of 30 m.p.h. (48 km./h.). The " Redwing " has a length of 22 ft. 3 in. (6,8 m.) and a wing span of 30 ft. 6 in. (9,3 m.). The wing area is 250 sq. ft. (23,2 m.2). For a tare weight of 870 lb. (395 kg.) the " Redwing " has a disposable load of 580 lb. (263 kg.), giving a gross weight of 1,450 lb. (660 kg.). E. W. Percival 20, Grosvenor Place, London, S.W.I A WELL-KNOWN firm is now building for Mr. E. W. Perciyal the very fast little " Gull " three-seater cabin monoplane, the first specimen of which put up such a splendid performance in the race for the King's Cup last summer, when the machine averaged 142.75 m.p.h. (230 km./h.) over the whole course. The Percival " Gull " is a low-wing monoplane, mainly of wood construction, with a tapered cantilever wing faired into the fuselage, and a very simple type of undercarriage attached direct to the wing. That the design is very clean aerodynamically is proved by the high performance, which is unusually good in view of the fact that the machine is a THE PERCIVAL GULL " : A private owner's three-sealer with Cirrus-Hermes IV engine. (FLIGHT Photo.) 1077 A. V. Roe & Co., Ltd. Newton Heath, Manchester "TIE name A. V. Roe goes back to the earliest days of aviation in Great Britain, and Sir Alliott V. Roe was a pioneer of British design and construction. It is worth recalling that at the beginning of flying, when almost all the rest of the world's experimenters were developing the " pusher " type of aircraft, Mr. A. V. Roe (as he then was) foresaw the advantages of the tractor type of aero plane, the type which was destined later to become almost universal. Sir Alliott V. Roe is no longer associated with the firm which bears his name, the company having now been included in the group of firms presided over by Sir John D. Siddeley. Almost from its earliest days the Avro firm has specialised in training types of aircraft. Con siderable numbers of other types have been produced from time to time, but it is the training type which has brought the Avro firm world renown, and there was thus poetic justice as well as good common sense in the decision made by the British Air Ministry recently, when the question of re placing the good old Avro 504 arose, to award the order to A. V. Roe & Co., Ltd., and to stan dardise the Avro 621 as the train ing machine of the British Royal Air Force. The 621 is known also as the " Tutor " (p. 1078).
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