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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 1047.PDF
FLIGHT. The Outlooks txtinning Comtn^ The Auxiliary Sailplane r HERE must be a large number of "A" licence pilots who, for one reason or another, are not able to use a light aeroplane for anything more than amuse ment, even if educational amusement. At the same time, there must be many glider pilots who have, because of the dual inconvenience of site position and lack of spare time, returned to the power machine. For such people the auxiliary sailplane described on p. 508-9 of this issue may prove to be a godsend. If expec tations are realised, the sailplane pilot will no longer be dependent on locality and motor or human assistance in the initial climb to regions where real soaring is possible. Furthermore, if one useful up-current is lost he will be able to use his auxiliary motor to reach another area of possibilities. The machine is not designed as a serious method of long-distance conveyance, but merely as a soaring machine without the disadvantages which have previously been inseparable from the sport. A Comparison A FTER all, if one really wants to travel quickly from J^-\ A to B an aeroplane would still be used, just as the most earnest yachtsman uses a power-driven vessel on such occasions. But for sheer interest and entertain ment no one denies the charm «ither of the sailing yacht or of the sailplane. • ' "- With this new development it seems possible that the normally experienced private pilot may, with care, learn to handle the efficient glider without the need for long- period instruction, and will eventually, perhaps, learn to find his own soaring areas. Be that as it may, a pilot could not come to any great harm provided that he was working from an aerodrome large enough to allow him to discover the approach angle in various conditions with out resorting to low and, perhaps, flat turns. Certainly, the whole idea, carried out as it is so cleanly, is worth close attention, and it may give the thousand- odd "A" licence pilots who, for reasons of expense, no longer fly, something to think about. Claims of the "Pou" r HE similarity of sailing and " sailplaning " inevitably calls attention to the "opposite number" of the low-power motor boat. Will the Pou-du-Ciel provide this? Time will tell, but at least the signs are promising. Recently M. Mignet, the designer of the Pou, made the first cross-country flight on record in a machine of this type. Armed with a special permit granted by the French Air Ministry, he flew from Paris to Lille via Dieppe and Berck, encountering very unfavourable weather conditions. But he got through, and managed to give demonstrations 0:1 the way, including one of steeplechasing at the Paris- Plage racecourse. Another French amateur constructor, ML Andre Bau- mann has installed a 40 h.p. Salmson in his Pou, and on this M. F. Kohier has discovered an amazing climbing capacity. The speed is already about 100 m.p.h.. and the enthusiastic constructor expects to get this up to about 120 m.p.h. by "cleaning up," fairing, etc. At the same time, an increase in power to the extent of doubling it is not altogether a good thing. The Pou is reported to fly quite well with 20 h.p., and one feels that a really cheap aeroplane of that power cruising at 50-60 m.p.h. is, as a first step, more desirable than spec tacular performance with 40 h.p. When Sir John Carden gets his new four-cylinder water-cooled engine into pro duction, there is quite a possibility of the ^100 aeroplane becoming something more than a dream. (Cynics will say nightmare!) One Pound Per Horse Power r HIS week the Bristol Aeroplane Company has dis closed the results of tests on a "Pegasus X" engine which are little short of miraculous. Weights below one pound per horse power have previously been attained in racing engines. For instance, some of the engines fitted in the Schneider seaplanes weighed about three-quarters of a pound per h.p., but we believe that the "Pegasus X " is the first production engine to get down to near enough one pound for every horse power developed. The first batch of these engines is in hand for delivery in the autumn, intended for "prototype" aircraft, and real pro duction in quantities will be in operation by next spring. Although the normal power of 820 h.p. at normal speed is in itself remarkable enough for an engine weighing but 995 lb., the remarkable take-off power of 920 h.p. is really the outstanding achievement. It has not been obtained by speeding-up the engine, which runs at the relatively low speed of 2,250 r.p.m. at the take-off power, but by increasing the boost pressure. This again, apart from detail improvements in the engine itself, has been made possible by the introduction of 87 octane fuels. As it seems likely that in time fuels of even higher octane values may be sanctioned, one ought to see some startling improvements in aero engine and aircraft performance during the next year or so. World Co-operation / UDG1NG from the figures given in the study of air transport economy published by the League of Nations Secretariat, the need for co-operation among Euro pean air line operators—and for that matter, world au line operators—is as great as that for co-operation in our internal system. Only in this country, Finland and the Netherlands do traffic receipts exceed the amount of the subsidy paid in one form or another. Only in this country, so far as we know, are there any unsubsidised companies which actu ally pay their way—a fact which speaks more volubly for British aeroplanes than any general performance figures can ever do. Of course, a very great deal of the money spent would, in any case, still be spent in general development, but the cost could so much more satisfactorily be divided among the different countries. One has only to take the single case of the two separate companies, Air France and Deutsche Luft Hansa, flying mails across the South At lantic, to realise the hopeless futility of some kinds ot independent development. Yet the difficulties of actual co-operation and of traffic pools are, in the present state of international relationships, almost insuperable, and, while air line safety depends so much on the personal element, passengers will still insist on flying with pilots of their own nationality, and in machines made in ^heir own country.
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