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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 1182.PDF
FLIGHT, NOVEMBER 24, 1932 THE ARMSTRONG-SIDDELEY RANGE : In this view of the stand the " Panther " is on the left, the " Lynx " in the background, the 7-cylinder " Genet Major " in the centre, the " Leopard " to the right of that, and the " Double Mongoose " on the extreme right. rapidly than we with the use of metal (Duralumin) skin coverings. A very marked change has taken place at this year's show in the method of using metal for covering. In pre vious years corrugated sheet, of what may be termed the Junkers type, has been used extensively. This year not a single example of this type of skin is to be seen. The great majority of wing and fuselage coverings are either in the form of quite flat panels or strips, or else show very minute corrugations. A third form of skin frequently seen is fiat sheet with spaced corrugations, rather like that used by Saunders-Roe for flying boat hulls. It is not our intention here to enter into explanations of the reason for this disappearance of the deeply-corrugated skin. That is a problem with which doubtless Mr. H. J. Pollard will deal in the article he is preparing for us on metal construction at the Paris Show. We merely put on record the fact that flat skins are the fashion with French con structors this year. On the aerodynamic side, the show bears little testimony to any serious attempt at improvement. From previous experience, one went to Paris expecting to find a number of machines with retractable undercarriages. One found two, of which, one was on the Bleriot 111 previously exhibited; the other was on a small twin-float seaplane, on which the wheels disappeared into the floats. For the rest, aerodynamic design appears to have come to a stand still. The strut-braced monoplane and the cantilever appear about equally divided. But definitely the mono plane holds the field. Put into figures, the tendency among French constructors may be gauged from the fact that out of a total of 46 aircraft 33 are civil types and 13 military. These are again subdivided as follows: Among the military types there are 8 monoplanes and 5 biplanes. Among the civil types, the biplane has all but disappeared, only two being exhibited. One of these is the Bleriot small flying boat, which is a sesquiplane, and the other the Caudron " Luciole," a small machine for training and for the private owner. The monoplanes number 31 ! Thus we arrive, among the French machines, at 39 monoplanes and seven biplanes. If the foreign (i.e., non-French) machines are included, the proportion is not appreciably altered, since the Italian machines are approximately evenly divided, while the three Polish monoplanes offset the three British biplanes. The disarmament question is on everyone's tongue, and the disarming ingenuousness with which many constructors have omitted armaments from their machines to give them a less warlike appearance is not without its humour. On one stand we were solemnly assured that the machine was a purely civil type, and that certain unusual arrangements were done for the sake of the passengers, the machine being intended for colonial use. Unfortunately, elsewhere, a photograph of the same machine was discovered in THE BRISTOL ENGINE STAND : The sectioned Pegasus " is in the foreground and the " Mercury " on the left. 1104
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