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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1358.PDF
1362 FLIGHT. DECEMBER 20, 1934. FLAPS OVER FOREST HILL Interesting Characteristics of the Piphurst "Pipkin," the First Machine to be Fitted with Split Trailing-edge Flaps on the Upper Surface : An Intrepid Pilot's Seasonable Impressions The "Pipkin" controls. FEW of the present generation ofpilots will remember a designerof the name of Pipehouse, who caused something of a stir in aeronautical circles by his conversion schemes. Soon after M. Bleriot crossed the English Channel Mr. Pipe- house advertised widely in the Press to the effect that he was prepared— at a slight cost—to convert the exist- ing and markedly unsuccessful bi- planes to the more popular mono- plane shape. He had made several successful^ fraudulent conversions before a jealous Government, who saw that their particular biplane racket was being more than seriously affected, bought him off with a large estate on Dartmoor. Now, after a long spell of retire- ment, Mr. Piphurst, as he is now known, has returned to the aircraft industry and is about to float a sink- ing fund for the purpose of putting a really up-to-the-minute private-owner type on the market. If the young men of the present generation of pilots would read their history they would learn not only that world economic events are ruled by the mass movements of the Mongols in their search for grazing grounds, but that no successful flying machine built before the opening year of the present century was fitted with additional aerofoils to spoil the lift of the ordinary supporting surfaces. While Sir Mixam Harim was making experiments with Venetian blinds and lawnmowers, and while our own Air Ministry was spending half a million a year of the taxpayers' own money in futile work on split flaps in a small four-hundred- yard wind-tunnel, Mr. Piphurst, or Pipehouse, as he was then, had realised that an aeroplane which merely rose was not enough ; additional spoilers were necessary to bring it down again. Ingenious Fitments While resting on his estate he perfected a new system of "inverted" split flap, and last week I had an oppor- tunity of trying out his first hand-made type in the air near Forest Hill, London, S.E. Known as the Piphurst "Pipkin," this machine has split flaps extending over the whole length of the upper trailing edge, and a new system of wireless direction-finding perfected by Mr. Stunk, whose ex- periments with wireless-controlled full-size aeroplanes at Langley Field (Va.) kept so many people on the move there last summer. An experienced pilot's most outstanding impression is the ease with which the patent cabin lock can be found to be inoperative when occasion demands. However, while Mr. Piphurst himself was attending to this little difficulty I took the opportunity of making a few practice blind landings with Mr. Stunk in the clubhouse, and emerged feeling quite competent to deal with both the craft and its ingenious fitments. The " Pipkin " bristles with interesting little ideas, many of which must cause trouble to the airflow' and give the machine that very steep approach angle which will make it an ideal type for the novice. These, however, cannot in full flight, with the author of this article at the The flaps are in the position for rapid descent be described until the type has been put on the secret list passed round by the Moldavian representative at the next session of the United Brass Workers' Convention to be held in Blackpool. The " inverted " flaps, explained Mr. Piphurst, are locked in the closed position when the throttle is more than half open, and are only to be used for descent. During the take-off, which is made in the ordinary way with the control column held firmly in the left hand, the machine gathers speed. The whole idea, of course, of the flaps is that the airflow- over the upper surface of the wings, of which there are two, are on each side of the fuselage, should be completely broken when a vertical, or nearly vertical, descent is desired, and the ailerons, which are split and on the under side of the surfaces, remain operative by reason of the negative flow creeping around the slightly ingrowing wing tips, which have an adverse camber to give lateral stability at high angles of attack. Before essaying free flight, Mr. Stunk very kindly ex- plained his direction-finding apparatus. On the dashboard before the pilot's eyes is a dial closely resembling that of the more normal clock face with, however, three hands, each moving at a slightly different speed. When flying along a wireless beam the pilot knows that all is well when —and only when—the three hands are revolving at relative speeds in the ratio of 1—2—3. If the smallest hand slows its tempo, then the machine is to the left of its course ; if the largest slows, then it is to the right of its course. The medium-sized hand revolves always at a constant speed, and another instrument, working on the gyroscopic prin- ciple, tells the curious pilot his position in relation to the nearest landing ground. There are two types of gyro- scope used in flying instruments, free—indicating displace- ment—and not so free—indicating displacement—and the reader will, of course, understand the principle on which this wireless-controlled instrument is founded. It is a question now, explained Mr. Stunk, only for our bone-headed, yahoo-chasing Government departments to
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