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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 1275.PDF
FLIGHT, DECEMBER 15, 1932 Hinkler and his famous "Karohi" w ANDERLUST has seized ran him to earth in " Bert " again. We the hangars of Maj. Savage's Skywriting Company at Hendon, and found him, as usual, hard at work on " Karohi," the de Havilland " Puss Moth " on which he flew from New York to South America, across the South Atlantic, and from West Africa back to England. The machine still carries its Canadian registration letters CF-APK, and is again airworthy after a period in " cold storage." The great little pilot was busy installing a number of those ingenious devices which always distin guish Hinkler's machines from others. On being asked the reason for all this feverish activity, Hinkler favoured us with one of his winning, but sometimes rather enigmatic, smiles, and pointed out that Christmas was approaching, the weather was cold, flying in England was not all that it might be, what with one thing and another, and sunny skies were to be found elsewhere without going to 20,000 ft. or so. Altogether, there were plenty of reasons for going, and not very many for staying, and so " Karohi " was being groomed for another flight. There is no telling where we might go," Hinkler said. (He always refers to himself and his machine as "we," like that other great pilot Charles Lindbergh.) But the machine bore traces of careful preparations. The " Gipsy III " engine had been removed, and in its place one of the new " Gipsy Majors " had been installed. This should give Hinkler a somewhat higher cruising speed, and as his petrol tankage is large, he should be able to make some very long and fast " hops," in whichever direction he decides to go. The petrol system remains identically what it was on the Atlantic flight, but Hinkler has added a very useful " flowmeter " of his own. On the right-hand side of the cabin, in the angle between the windscreen and the win dow, he has mounted a glass tube on which are painted two red lines. The lower end of this tube connects with the main petrol system via a cock. If it is desired to check the petrol consumption, Hinkler lets the glass tube run full up to the upper red line. He then times with a stop watch the time it takes for the petrol level in the tube to sink from the upper to the lower red line, and consulting his note book he sees that his consumption is so many gallons per hour. On a long flight the question of engine lubrication becomes important, and Hinkler has installed a very in genious scheme for supplying fresh oil to the tank to replace that used up. An inverted glass bottle with screw- on cap is clipped to the window frame opposite the flowmeter. The bottle connects via a tube with the oil tank low down on the port side of the machine. A length of steel tube inside the lower end of the flexible tube enables adjustment of length to be made. The end of the steel tube is, at the start, submerged a short dis tance below the oil level in the tank. As the bottle at the upper end is air tight, no oil runs down into the tank so long as the pipe is submerged. When, however, the oil level falls, and the end of the pipe is exposed, the oil can run down into the tank until the lower end is again sub merged. In this way fresh oil is con stantly being fed to the tank. When one bottle is empty, Hinkler unscrews it from its cap and substitutes a full bottle. Thus, instead of having a large quantity of oil in circulation, which is gradually deteriorating, the quality is maintained, and the engine is being as kindly treated near the end of a long flight as it was at the be ginning. Hinkler contemplates some rather long " hops," and night flying is not altogether excluded. To illuminate his instrument board without getting glare from the wind screen, he has rigged up a small flexible hood, inside which is fastened the socket for a small flash-lamp bulb. The bulb is blue and gives but a faint light, but it just suffices to make the instruments readable. The bulb itself is the switch of the circuit, a turn in one direction switching the current on, and a turn in the opposite direction switches it off. The sketch on this page shows the oil bottle, petrol gauge and hood, as well as the oil cans from which the bottles are replenished. On his Atlantic flight Hinkler carried a reserve of oil in gallon cans. These were placed on the floor, and during the flight two of them happened to lie in such a position that they just touched each other, thereby producing a very fair imitation of engine knock. " Bert " is not taking any chances of that happening again and giving him a mauvais quart d'heure. He has made up a frame of plywood into which the cans fit snugly, and to facilitate replenishing the bottles he is this time using half-gallon cans. The rest of the equipment of the " Karohi " remains much as it was when Hinkler flew the machine across the South Atlantic. Long experience in solo flying has taught " Bert " many little tricks, which the man who relies upon an engineer to maintain his machine and engine would never think of. This fact crops up in all sorts of little ways in " Karohi." For example, Hinkler has found that it is a good plan to carry a spare petrol filter. The filter on the " Gipsy Major " is one of the Tecalemit star-shaped type, and " Bert " carries a spare in a container, which is a standard container with all the excrescences knocked off. As the smooth casing would be difficult to hold firm in one hand while unscrewing the cap with a spanner, " Bert " has made a spanner out of sheet steel and mounted it on one of the engine bearers. Inserting the nut of the cap in this spanner, he can grip the container with both hands and easily unscrew the cap. 1191
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