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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0156.PDF
, .FEBRUARY 15, 1934 of 292 lb. may be carried. " Selective " and " salvo "release levers may be fitted in the pilot's cockpit or in the front or rear gunners' compartment. . The Martin 123 Bomber C*EW military aircraft have caused more comment in the F U.S.A. in recent years than the Martin 123 bomber. Only the experimental model of this aircraft has been tested, and complete detailed weights and performance figures are not yet available, but it is claimed to have shown a superiority in maximum speed and rate of climb over any bombing type so far developed in America. It has been repeatedly rumoured that the top speed of the machine is about 200 m.p.h. A quantity of aircraft of this type is now being manufactured for the U.S. Government for Service tests. The machine is a mid-wing cantilever monoplane with the wing in three sections. The centre section is built into the fuselage and carries the two engine nacelles in the leading edge. The outer sections are detachable. The wing structure is of riveted aluminium alloy with highly-stressed fittings of heat-treated steel, and aluminium alloy stressed skin covering. Riveted aluminium alloy fuel and oil tanks are carried in the wings. Balanced ailerons are fitted. The fuselage is a riveted aluminium alloy monocoque structure, the shear loads being taken on the smooth side skin, and the top and bottom compression loads by corru- gated sections of sheet metal covering. The structure is in three separable units, the nose section, the centre section, built round the centre section wing, and the tail section. Bombs are internally stowed in a bomb bay closed by doors controlled by the bomber, or, in an emergency, by the pilot. The fin and tail plane are of full cantilever structures of riveted aluminium alloy with aluminium alloy sheet covering. The rudder and elevator are fabric covered and are fitted with trailing edge " tabs " for trimming, which are adjustable in flight from the pilots' cockpit. A mechanically retractable landing gear is fitted with the retracting controls in the pilots' cockpit. Oleo shock- absorber struts and brakes are used and the tail wheel is of the swivelling type. Part of the Martin bombers to be delivered to the U.S. Government will be equipped with two Wright " Cyclone " geared and supercharged radial engines, and the rest of the machines will use two Pratt & Whitney geared and super- charged " Hornets." Electric inertia starters are provided. The airscrews are of the three-bladed adjustable-pitch type. In the nose of the fuselage is a cockpit equipped with bomb sights, bomb-release controls and movable gun mounting. A transparent cupola,, one section of which is omitted to allow for a machine gun, revolves with the gun ring. The pilots' cockpit is just forward of the leading edge of the wing. A compartment for the wireless operator is inside' the fuselage aft of the pilots' cockpit. Behind the wings is a third cockpit equipped with auxiliary flight controls and mountings for a movable machine gun on top of the fuselage and for a downward firing gun in the floor. The Douglas Yio-43 QIMILAR in general design to the Douglas Y10-31, this »-5 new observation aircraft for the U.S.' Army Air Corps incorporates a number of improvements. The " gull " wings of the earlier type have been dispensed with and wire-braced high wings have been fitted in their place. The machine is fitted with a Curtiss " Conqueror " V-1570 direct-drive Prestone cooled engine delivering about 650 h.p. A very neat single-strut cantilever landing gear with streamline low-pressure wheels is fitted in place of the older and more conventional split type. The mono- coque fuselage is covered with sheet duralumin, as are the majority of aircraft now being built for the U.S. Army Air Corps. Other interesting features are the three-bladed metal airscrew and the cockpit hooding which commences at the pilot's windscreen and finishes halS-way over the observer's cockpit. It may be noted in the photograph that there is a deepening of the fuselage under the observer's cockpit. This is to give the rear gunner a good firing position when standing up. Tail plane and elevator are mounted above the fuselage on the fin, probably to avoid blanketing of the rudder during a spin. Perform- ance figures are not available, but it is rumoured that the top speed is in the neighbourhood of 200 m.p.h. A HOT HOUSE : Two views of the Martin 123 bomber, described above. 156
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