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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0074.PDF
38 FLIGHT. JANUARY IO, 1935. WING ARE\ 170 Sa. FT MILES "FALCON" 3-4 SEATER CABIN MONOPLANE 130 H.P. D.H. " GIPSY MAJOR " ENGINE LENGTH SPAN - HEIGHT WING AREA 25 ft. o in. 35 ft. o in. 6 ft. 6 in. 174-3 sq. ft. past, Mr. Miles now employs one which actually slopes forward. He has already tried out this design in " mock-up " form, with gratifying results and an increase of speed of approximately 4 m.p.h. The small front panes are at a sharp angle, and fine rain or snow should not collect upon them. The top part of the screen, over these panes, is of " Rhodoid," moulded to the correct shape. The general theory of this screen, as evolved in the United States on certain of the larger high-speed com mercial air liners, is that the air in front of the screen is pushed forward and forms a cushion which tends to streamline all that part of the machine, so that the flow comes from the nose of the machine over the windscreen and flows aft, unbroken, behind it. With the sloping form of screen the air is shot steeply upwards over the screen, creating eddies above and behind it, thereby creating more drag than in the former case. The internal arrangement of the " Falcon " has also been somewhat redesigned. It is now slightly wider and will provide extremely com- * fortable seating for fovir people. Dual control has been arranged in a neat manner which obviates th- necessity for having two control columns or a change over wheel type of control. This has been achieved by jointing the stick well above the bottom pivot, as is done in some military aircraft; reference to our sketches will show the details. An arm-rest will be arranged between the seats, thus allowing the pilot in the left-hand seat to fly with his right elbow on the rest, in which position the stick comes comfortably to his hand. Very considerable interest has been aroused by this machine, and although at the time of writing it has not yet flown, several orders have been placed. It is Details of the central control box, carrying the hinged con trol column and the support for the two pairs of pedals. Hingeing of the column in this manner provides full aileron movement without incommoding the passengers, although the column is between them. hoped that the cruising speed will be in the neighbourhood of 125-130 m.p.h. with the " Gipsy Major " 130 h.p. engine. With the "Gipsy Six" which can be fitted if a smaller payload can be accepted, the performance will be sub stantially higher. The balanced flaps, which have already achieved such success in the '' Hawk Major,'' will be used, and for the present, at any rate, their operation will be very much the same, though the question of hydraulic operation is under consideration. All the " Hawk " series are substantially the same as regards their construction, that is to say, the spars are boxed up with spruce booms and plywood webs, and both the wings and fuselage are completely covered with plv- wood, which is secured io the appropriate members bv glue. It will be remembered that in a description of th^ "Hawk " when it first came out. Flight commented very favourably upon the method by which Mr. Powis ensured perfect glueing while at the same time doing away with all pins or screws. This was by the use of a form of office " stapling " machine with the turn-over mechan ism removed, so that the small wire staples, of the kind normally used for clamping sheets of paper to gether, were forced straight into the plywood and through to the member underneath. This can be done exceedingly quickly, and when the glue is dry the staples are removed. Mr. Miles believes in an adequate margin of strength, and his aircraft are, therefore, considerably stronger than the Air Min istry regulations require, so that for special circum stances a great deal more load can be carried. It is understood that this feature is being made use of in a subsequent type which will carry five people, and for which orders have already been accepted.
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