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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 1094.PDF
FLIGHT, NOVEMBER 30, 1933 QjiA ^'til4 J4)GJut 8- @OU/J4A£/ueZ. NEW MACHINES FOR K.LM. /'"TIT—HE Fokker F.XX, Zilvermeeuw (" Silver Swal- ^ I low"), fitted with three Wright "Cyclone JIL F " engines, is now temporarily in service on the Amsterdam-London route. The machine made her first trip to Croydon last Thursday, when, carrying both passengers and mails, she took the place of the usual F.XII. Leaving Schipol (Amsterdam) at 9.25, the F.XX made a short stay at Rotterdam on the way. Even so, the trip to Croydon took but 1 hr. 45 min., which means an average speed of 160 m.p.h. Smirnoff, the pilot, said he had the engines throttled back to keep them in good condition for a trip to Batavia on December 18. On this occasion the Zilvermeeuw will be used as a supplemen tary machine to carry the Christmas mail, It is hoped to make the journey in five days, which is two days less than the time taken by the F.XII's and F.XVIII's which normally are used for the Batavia service. In the summer of next year the machine will operate the London- Amsterdam-Berlin service. It was foggy at Croydon on Thursday, so the F.XX was unable to demonstrate her high performance to CLEANNESS : That the F.XX has a top speed of 186 m.p.h. can be well believed when looking at this view. The trailing edge flaps, here seen lowered, take 9 m.p.h. off the landing speed. (FLIGHT Photo.) THE EMPENNAGE : The tail plane is strut braced on the top side only. In .the older Fokkers bracing was used above and below the tail plane. A retractable tail wheel is fitted. (FLIGHT Photo.) advantage. Although fitted with trailing edge flaps, she seemed to " float " for some distance when coming in to land. Certainly she is fast. As the result of lengthening the engine nacelles and making other improvements, the speed has been raised by 5 m.p.h. since the machine was built. The top speed is given as 186 m.p.h., with a cruising speed of 154 m.p.h. This latter figure, for such a high top speed, seems on the low side. It is rather interesting to compare the speed of the F.XX with that of the American Boeing 247 ten-passenger monoplane (two " Wasps "). In top speed the American machine if about 4 m.p.h. slower than the Fokker. But her cruising speed is 16 m.p.h higher! Like most machines fitted with powerfu American engines driving metal airscrews the machine is somewhat noisy when heard from the ground. We are assured,_ how ever, that for the passengers she is thi least noisy of all the K.L.M. fleet. Doubly walls, lined with a very effective sound proofing material, are used for the cabin. A COSMOPOLITAN UNDERCARRIAGE : British Dunlop wheels and brakes, and French Messier oleo legs retract into nacelles behind the American engines of this fast Dutch machine. (FLIGHT Photo.) 1196
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