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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0703.PDF
MARCH 28, 1935. FLIGHT. 339 FOREIGN AIRCRAFT FOR LONG-DISTANCE RACING " Benny " Howard's Monoplane : Fuel of Three Octane Values Carried MR. " BENNY *' HOWARD, whose famous racers Ike and Mike are familiar to thousands of visitors to the National Air Races at Cleveland, Ohio, has designed a most inter esting long-distance racing monoplane which he has called Mr. Mulligan. The machine is a high-wing strut - braced monoplane with a Pratt and Whitney "Wasp " SE engine of 500 h.p. giving a top speed at 17,000 feet of 312 m.p.h. Wood is used for the wings, which have plywood cover ing and internal bracing. The fuselage is of tubular con struction with fabric covering, and the undercarriage is of very clean design, having no axle but being braced with wires. Control surfaces are large and unbalanced. A carefully designed N.A.C.A. cowling is fitted over the "Wasp " SE engine, which has a 14:1 supercharger Mr. "Benny" Howard's latest racing machine, drive ratio, 6:1 compression ratio, and is rated at 500 h.p. (2,200 r.p.m., 11,000 feet). One hundred gallons of fuel are carried in the fuselage, 50 gallons in the centre section and 25 gallons in each wing. The fuel in the fuselage tank is of 80 octane, that in the centre section of 87 octane, and the wing tanks contain 100-octane fuel. The idea behind this arrangement is that high octane fuel should be used for take-off, climb and emergency, and that the cheaper fuel should be used for cruising, especially at high altitudes. It is said that the machine, when fully loaded, takes off in less than 670 feet and climbs to 15,000 feet in fifteen minutes, using 62J per cent, full power. The initial rate of climb is 4,000 feet per minute, due, no doubt, to the special fuel. TOWARD THE "FLYING WING" •XP. An artist's impression of the " Crusader." The undercarriage is shown extended. AN exceptionally interesting four-seater low-wing mono- Z_\ plane, of unorthodox layout, built by the American * * Gyro Co., of Denver, is at present being tested. With tcve exception oi wing tips and control surfaces it is of all-metal construction, 17ST aluminium alloy being the material employed. The centre section embraces the two engine nacelles, under carriage, fuel tanks and cabin structure, and the cantilever wing, 36ft. in span, which is of the " semi-stressed-skin " type, has two easily detachable outer panels, secured by four heat- treated taper pins. Manually operated trailing edge flaps extend outboard from the fuselage to the mass-balanced ailerons. Flush riveting is used for the covering of the fuselage (which, in plan form at least, seems of excellent shape), and, in fact, for all other metal surfaces. The average cabin width
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