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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0089.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 13, 193;i The Technical Aspect From a technical point of view, this year's King's Cup Race was a triumph for British light aero engines. Out of the 35 starters but two were put out of the race by engine trouble. Of these the one at least was a very minor trouble in that it was merely a tappet rod jumping out. This was in the " Cirrus III " of the Miles " Hawk," flown by Wing Commander Probyn, and may conceivably have been caused by running the engine at high speed, which may have caused valve bounce. We do not say this is what happened, but it is a likely explanation, and in no way detracts from the normal reliability of the " Cirrus III." The retirement of Mr. Lip ton, who was flying the " Gipsy Moth " flown by Hope last year, fitted with a " Gipsy III " instead of the " Gipsy Major," was due to the propeller breaking, an accident which is not, strictly speaking, to be classed as an engine failure. The only other retirement, that of Mr. Walker, who crashed on landing, was not due to engine failure, but to the pilot forgetting to pump petrol into his service tank from the main petrol tank. Altogether, therefore, British engine manufacturers may be very proud of their products. The three " Gipsy Majors " in the " Leopard Moths " and the two in Broad's " Dragon," stood up to the complete course of more than 830 miles at full throttle. The " Gipsy III " in Leech's Arrow " Active " also went through the full distance with out any trouble. All the other " Gipsy Majors " and " Gipsy Ill's " stood up to their work for longer or shorter periods, according to the heats in which they were eliminated." For the " Pobjoy " engines the day was a distinct success. This engine was not in the winning machine, it is true, but a " Pobjoy R " 'finished second in Edwards' " Swift," and another " Pobjoy " completed the full course in Henshaw's " Swift." In this connection it is interesting to place on record the fact that the engine in Edwards' machine was by no means a new one, having been built in November, 1931. The "Pobjoy" engine in Bannister's " Swift," which got as far as Heat 11, Round III, was actually the original type-test engine, which has been flying pretty regularly ever since. Not a single " Pobjoy " engine broke down, although all of them were being hard pressed. The four Napier " Javelin " engines had hard luck in that the Percival " Gulls " in which they were fitted were eliminated during the heats, not certainly because of any mechanical defect in the engines themselves, but because the machines were too slow for their rivals, and did not come up to the 163 m.p.h. advertised in the programme. A similar fate befell the three Wolseley A.R.9 engines, only one of which got as far as the semi-final. Again it was a question of aircraft speeds and not of engine reliability. In point of fact, the three Wolseley's sounded as if they would have enjoyed going the whole course. Of the various " Hermes " engines in the race none caused any retirement due to mechanical trouble, and the outstanding example of reliability was provided by the " Hermes II " in Capt. Ayre's Desoutter, which went through the whole course without a splutter. This machine has done 1,000 hours' flying, and the engine has seen real hard service. The fact that it got through the whole race speaks well for the engine overhaul shops of National Flying Services, Ltd., which are in the charge of Capt. Ay re himself. Aluminium alloys play a very important part in the modern aero engine, and the fact that the King's Cup engines stood up so well to the hammering they received is an eloquent testimony to the quality of the aluminium alloys of High Duty Alloys, Ltd.,. of Slough, who has supplied a great deal of material for the various engines. The three de Havilland " Leopard Moths " and the " Dragon " were all fitted with the Simmonds-Corsey control, as was also the Monospar ST.6 flown by Schofield. (WuMmkwm, thz 3cm UPuuU Mr, Mattern Found NEWS from New York states that Mr. Mattern has been found at Anadyr, Chukotski, in North Eastern Siberia. Mr. Mattern left Khabarovsk, Siberia, for Nome, Alaska, on June 14, since when nothing had been heard of him. On July 7 two messages were received, one in New York, the other in Moscow, stating that he was safe and well. It is not known why he landed at Chukotski, but during the period that he was missing many machines were searching for him. Another Australia-England Flight ANOTHER attempt on the Australia to England record is being made by Mr. J. Woods, a pilot of West Australia Airways. Flying a " Gipsy Moth " named the Spirit of Western Australia he left Broome, Western Australia, just after midnight, on Friday, July 7. He arrived at Batavia in the evening of the same day, and proceeded to Alor Star, Malaya, the same day. After an hour's rest he carried on to Victoria Point, Burma. Leaving Victoria Point on Sunday, July 9, he started off for Rangoon, but was compelled to turn back by rain. Mr. Ulm's Progress MR. C. T. ULM, who left Sydney on June 24 in an attempt to establish a new Australia to England record (whose rifrgress was reported in FLIGHT for July 6), amved W^PP0 from Basrah on Tuesday, July 4. He took off again later and arrived in Rome on Wednesday evening, July 5. On Thursday, July 6, he continued his flight to England, but was forced down by engine trouble near Lyons. Eventually on the evening of Monday, ir. 10' he arrived at Heston. Mr. Ulm, with Mr. G. L. Allen and Mr. P. G. Taylor, left Australia at midnight on Ne v ^Une 23, and ^y next Pr°p°se to fly on to The Italian Formation Flight fl . As reported in our last issue, the 24 Savoia-Marchetti ,l™3 boa*3> nnder the command of Gen. Balbo, were owing to unfavourable weather conditions, to leave unable. Londonderry for Iceland on July 3. It was not until July 5 that a sudden start was made shortly after noon, Gen. Balbo having decided to take off after a consulta tion with the weather experts. The 24 machines, led by Gen. Balbo, took off one by one at 12.40 p.m., and at 4.59 p.m. Gen. Balbo's machine alighted at Reykjavik, followed at intervals by the remaining 23—the last alight ing at 5.28 p.m. The journey was uneventful except that they passed through thick fog at about 3 p.m. The next stage was to Labrador, a distance of about 1,500 miles, but bad weather again held up the " Armada "—and at the time of writing they were still waiting for favourable weather conditions. CoL Lindbergh's Survey Flight COL. AND MRS. LINDBERGH, who (as was reported in FLIGHT for June 29) are making a survey flight for Pan- American Airways, left New York on July 9 to fly by easy stages to Greenland. Owing to fog they were forced to land near Rockland, Maine, on their way to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Death of Georges Guynemer THE identity card of Capt. Georges Guynemer, the French pilot who brought down 53 German aeroplanes, has just been sent by Dr. Knauss, of the Deutsche Luft hansa, to the Farman Aviation Co. Dr. Knauss states that he obtained it by chance from a German war pilot, and he also says that Guynemer (who was lost on Septem ber 11, 1917) was brought down to the north of Ypres behind the German lines. The area was evacuated owing to the heavy British bombardment, but was afterwards re- occupied by the Germans, and then Guynemer's identity card was picked up. At the time King Alfonso made special inquiries about Guynemer's death, but could obtain no precise information. Prince, Aviator, Ambassador THERE are few who realise to the full the amount of work through which the Prince of Wales has to get. There are fewer still who give just appreciation to the wonderful 699
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