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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0682.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 5, 1934 fs- A " DEAD STICK " APPROACH : Mr. Brie gliding the Autogiro in with the Siddeley " Genet Major " engine stopped. (FLIGHT Photo.) Originality has been displayed in the design of the West-land F.7/30 single-seater tighter (Rolls-Royce " Goshawk " engine). Instead of being placed in the nose, the engine ishoused inside the fuselage, between upper and lower wings, and the pilot sits in front of the engine. A longshaft transmits the power of the engine to the airscrew. Mr. Penrose demonstrated that the G.P. monoplane is verymanoeuvrable, but the fighter could not be shown to best advantage as it has not yet completed its service tests. When the flying demonstration was over the visitorsassembled in a large marquee for a very excellent luncheon. Mr. H. J. Thomas, of the Bristol Aeroplane Co., welcomedthe quests in a very excellent speech, which he afterwards repeated in somewhat abbreviated form in French. Hesaid that from the corners of the five continents the guests had been drawn. Even the League of Nations neverreceived such wide support! Aircraft reduced distance and time and broke down barriers, thus helping to the betterunderstanding of nations and individuals. It was not possible to show in one day all the progress made, but hethought the exhibits were sufficient to show the quality of the products of the British aircraft industry. The rest of the afternoon was spent in passenger flightsand in inspection of the " Static " Exhibition described hereafter. THE "STATIC" EXHIBITION " Static " is something of a misnomer for this part of Ihe display and exhibition because a large number of the stands in the hangar which housed the exhibits of members and associate members of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors carried sectioned engines or models which were by no means static. They were arranged to show their working parts working, and so exposed that no visitor could go away without being impressed by the perfect workmanship which goes into articles of this kind. The exhibition this year was larger than ever and was repre- sentative of every branch of the aviation industry. It Armstrong-Siddeley Motors, Ltd.—Most prominent on this stand was a part-sectioned " Tiger " 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine with an output of 700/770 h.p. at 5,000 ft. An electric drive was arranged so that visitors could see the working parts of this engine in operation. The " Tiger " was fitted to several aircraft at the Display. Other ergines shown were the " Panther VII," a somewhat smaller version of the " Tiger," giving 540/612 h.p. at 12,000 ft. The smallest of the Siddeley series was a " Genet Major " 7-cylinder air-cooled radial of 140/155 h.p. Apart from these engines the stand was decorated with enlarged photographs of aircraft and engines produced by the Siddeley interests. Siddeley engines are made in a variety of sub-types, which can be geared or ungeared, naturally aspirated, medium supercharged or fully supercharged, and full details of these were available in leaflet form. All their engines are particu- larly robust, and designed not only so that production costs can be kept down, but also that the maintenance costs may be kept at a low level. Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd.—Bristol engines havemany times been described in FLIGHT, and are now fittedas standard to aircraft of various types throughout the Royal Air Force. One of the first things to catch the eye on theirstand was a very fully sectioned " Pegasus III " so arranged that it could be seen working with red lights appearingintermittently representing the explosion in each cylinder. The " Pegasus lit " is, like all the Bristol engines, a 9-cylinderair-cooled radial, and its power output is 750 h.p. at 4,750 ft. This is the very latest model of this engine, and is the sameas those which carried the two Westland machines over Mount Everest so successfully. Close behind this was a" Pegasus II " with a power output of 650 h.p. at 2,500 ft. This engine was noteworthy because it was shown with the was possible to examine not only the materials from which all parts of the aircraft and tne aero engines are made, but also to see the manner m which most of these parts are made. The engines in particular were most impressive in the way in which they were got up, although there was a dearth of anything strikingly new in this department except perhaps the Napier-Halford " Dagger." An exhibit which stood out from among xhose concerned with the structural side of aircraft was the wing built by Blackburns fo: the " Segrave " monoplane, which incorporates the new Duncanson single tubular spar. ordinary production and finish and not especially preparedin any way. Bristol finish is, however, so perfect that there was really very little to choose between this and the othermodels. The other engine on the stand was the " Mercury VI " which is similar to the other engines, but of rather morecompact design with small overall diameter, and is intended for use in high performance fighting aircraft which have toattain high speeds at high altitudes. Being fully super- charged, this engine maintains a power output of 645 h.p.at 15,500 ft. It was shown with an exhaust collector ring in front of the engine forming the leading edge to a ring cowling. Cirrus Hermes Engineering Co., Ltd.—A great deal of design work has been done since the Cirrus Hermes Engineering Company was reconstituted with a new Board of Directors and transferred to Brough, where the engines are now being manufactured in the same factory as Blackburn aeroplanes. Two " Hermes " engines were shown on the Blackburn Co.'s stand, one, the " Hermes IV " inverted 4-cylinder in-line air-cooled engine of 120/130 h.p., the other the " Hermes II," similar in every respect but upright. The Company have in hand two other engines, the " Cirrus Minor " which it is understood will be a 4-cylinder inverted engine of about 80 h.p., and the " Cirrus Major," similar to the " Hermes IV," but with the power output increased to about 135 h.p. The " Hermes IV " on the stand was fitted with the Caple starter mechanism, whi:h was also shown dis- mantled, and an accumulator enabled demonstrations to be given of the ease with which it turns over the engine. De Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd.—De Havilland en- gine exhibits were confined to two, the larger, a " Gipsy Si*," an inverted 6-cylinder in-line engine of 184/205 h.p., and the G84
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