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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0015.PDF
JANUARY 3, 1935. FLIGHT. 7 direction and in proportion to the amount of rudder applied. Last, but not least, we come to the Vickers system. Here compressed air is adopted, because, say the makers, it is light and clean, can readily be stored under pressure, and its expansive properties permit its use at closely governed pressures, and enable relay valves with light operating loads to be used. The chief components are: (a) the hand brake lever, which may be mounted on the control wheel or column, and is connected to the relay valve which governs the brake pressure and provides for differential braking for steering; (b) the parking control, which locks the brakes; (c) the wheel brake units ; and (d) the air-storage reservoir, pipe lines, pressure gauges, hand air compressor, and engine-driven air compressor. The hand brake lever may be fitted to any type of con trol wheel. It operates directly on the mechanism of the brake controller, which is, in effect, a sensitive duplex relay valve. This valve admits air to the port and star board brake groups at a pressure corresponding to the load on the hand lever. The valve is also connected to the rudder bar, and during a turn the pressure in the brakes on the outer wheel is released. The maximum pressure which can be admitted to the brake motors is governed by adjustable stops. Often it is necessary to use very high braking pres sures in order to hold a machine against the engine thrust when "running up." Special stops are provided on the valve with which the independent or parking control oper ates in conjunction. This parking control is kept in dependent of the normal hand control to prevent inadvert ent use. The wheel-brake units are of the two-shoe auto mobile type, the cam being operated by an external motor. All adjustments may be made externally. This type of brake, the makers state, will give maximum retardation up to 30 per cent, of the weight of the machine, and it is possible to increase this figure to 40 per cent, for parking and engine testing. These, then are the leading systems, and the foregoing notes will serve to show how great is the progress made in the last few years. Perfection of existing details, rather than a search for entirely new methods, seems likely to mark braking development in the immediate future. BY "COMET" TO THE CONGO Another Successful Flight : Mr. Ken Waller and M. Maurice Franchomme Fly from Brussels to Leopoldville and Rack in Forty-five Hours CARRYING 3001b. of Christmas mail in the Reine Astrid, Bernard Rubin's renamed D.H. "Comet," Mr. Ken Waller and M. Maurice Franchomme reached Leopoldville on the Saturday before Christmas and were back in Brussels on the following Friday, December 28. The eight thousand miles were covered in less than forty-five hours' flying time. They left Brussels at 10.45 a.m. on December 20, and arrived at Oran, Algeria (1,118 miles) that afternoon, after averaging 235 m.p.h. On the fol lowing day their average was rather lower (209 m.p.h.) to Niamey, French West Africa, and they reached Leopold ville at 2.50 p.m. on December 22, having covered the whole distance m 22 hr. 35 min. flying time. Actually, some two and a half hours were lost in storm conditions during the last stage, when they found it advisable to land near Black Point- where the aerodrome is a mere 400 yards square—for fuel. Soon after leaving Niamey, while flying in the dark, the storm provided them with " bumps " in which altitude changes were as great as 2,000 feet at a time and with a fifty-mile-an-hour head wind. Nothwithstanding the extraordinarily high average put up over the first section of the outward journey, the weather then was all but impossible. The " Comet " was flown out of Brussels aerodrome with a visibility of less than a mile and under a 700-foot ceiling. The pilots flew blind for an hour and a half up to 13,000 feet and then for yet another hour up to 15,000 feet. Thereafter, apart from a solitary mountain-top. Barcelona was the first sign they saw of Mother Earth. The Mediterranean was crossed at an average of 280 m.p.h.! At Leopoldville they received a telegram of congratula tion from the King and Queen of the Belgians, and Mr. Waller spoke for the benefit of the Brussels broadcasting station. At 4.0 a.m. on the following Wednesday the Reine Astrid left for Brussels, carrying 4,000 letters and a silk flag from the people of Leopoldville, and arrived again at Mr. Ken Waller, whose remarkable flight to the Congo is described on this page (Flight Photograph.) Niamey at 11.40 a.m. The airmen had averaged 195 m.p.h. for the 1,525 miles. After being forced back with slight engine trouble that afternoon they left at 6.40 a.m. on the following morning, and, making a stop at Colomb Bechar, flew over the Atlas mountains to Oran. The last stage—of 1,118 miles was flown on Friday at an average speed of 224 m.p.h., and the " Comet " was landed at Evere, near Brussels, at 12.14 p.m. At the aerodrome Waller and Franchomme were mobbed by an en thusiastic crowd (see photograph on page 2), and it was some time before the British Ambassador, Sir Esmond Ovey, could approach and offer his congratu lations. Gen. Gilleaux, commanding the Belgian Air Force, congratulated them on behalf of King Leopold, and on the following day it was announced that the Order of the Lion of Africa, Belgium's highest honour, would be conferred upon Mr. Waller. By comparison, and apart from the trouble at Niamey, the return journey had been without incident, though Mr. Waller found it necessary on occasion to fly right down '' on the deck '' when following the motor track across the Sahara, owing to bad visibility. The flight was particularly interesting in that it showed what could be done with a fast machine flying in com paratively easy stages. The average daily hourage was no more than eight, yet the whole journey was accomplished in six days. Tremendous enthusiasm was shown at all places; people were particularly interested in the English D.H. " Comet " and in facts rather than in "thrills." Only at Lympne, apparently, did the newspapermen ask for " human interest." King Leopold himself asked technical questions which all but baffled Mr. Waller! The "Comet" is now to be prepared so that it will be fit to undertake any high-speed charter work at a moment's notice, and, until that moment arrives, will be kept at Lympne, where Mr. Ken Waller is an instructor of the Cinque Ports Flying Club.
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