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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0390.PDF
196 FLIGHT. FEBRUARY 21, 1 935- A FAST TWO-SEATER The Latest Hendy "Heck" : Top Speed of 170 m.p.h. : Slots and Flaps Give Noteworthy Low-speed Characteristics E NGLISH aeroplane designers have consistently led the world in light machines. For many years they remained true to biplanes, but recently they have turned more toward the monoplane type This tendency was, per haps, brought about in the first place by a desire for more speed, but almost coincident with it came the demand for machines which would not only stand knooking about, but which had no wires and struts lor the private owner to true-up The monoplane form offers a solution of many of these problems; it has thick wings which can be made very rigid so that they can be used for pushing the machine about on the ground: it facilitates the use oi a retractile undercarriage, as the thick wing forms a convenient receptacle for the retracted wheels: and it was realised, when monoplanes came into general use, that the proximity of the wing to the ground produced a decided '' squashing effect'' when landing, attributed by some to compression of air between the wing and the ground, which gave slower and more gentle landings than with the biplane. There are many advantages claimed for the biplane which, in some designers' eyes, make that type preferable to the monoplane, and the monoplane versus biplane controversy depends almost entirely on each de signer's idiosyncrasies for its solution in each particular case, but the above are a few of the reasons why so many of our modern light aircraft are now monoplanes. The Hendy "Heck,' . ol which Flight gave a preliminary description on July 12, 1934, is a two-seater tandem cabin low-wing monoplane, designed to the order of Mr. Whitney Straight (who is, perhaps, best known for his motor racing successes) by Mr Basil Hender son, of the Hendy Aircraft Co.. Ltd , and built at the Westland Aircraft Works at Yeovil The machine has a "Gipsy Six" 200 h.p. engine, and with a wing loading as high as 17.5 lb./sq ft. the speed range in the air is probably greater than has been achieved in anv similar machine which has not primarily been built for competition work; that is to say the 'Heck" i^ a rugged machine designed in every way The underside of one wing, showing the flaps in the "down " position, the aileron mass balance, and the recess into which the undercarriage is re tracted. (Flight photograph.) for hard work, but it has nevertheless a performance which a few years ago, would have been credited only to machines like those built especially for the International Touring Compe tition and which were, in so many cases, of little use for practical work. A top speed of about 170 m.p.h. is at present attainable but when arrangements have been made with the engine manufacturer which will allow the electric generator and the venturi tubes of the navigating instruments being placed inside, out of the slipstream, Mr. Henderson confidently expects that he will obtain several more m.p.h. This speed has been achieved by clean aerodynamic design, involving the use of the Henderson retractile undercarriage, which wa« described in last week's issue, and a heavily tapered wing ol small area and drag. The bottom end of the speed range is, perhaps, almost more interesting, the stalling speed being as low as 40 m.p.h.. while a two-mile speed course has been flown over in each direction without loss of height at 44.8 m.p.h. These low figures are largely attributable to the use ol slotted flaps and automatic leading-edge slots of the Handler Page type. The flaps, forming the inner portion of the trail mg edge of each wing, can be depressed 40 deg. from the
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