FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1935
1935 -2- 0152.PDF
138 FLIGHT. AUGUST I, 1935. "THE OTHER AVIATION" Some of the British " Pou-du-Czel" Aeroplanes Take the Air : " Pou " News iix. S. V* Appleby took off from Heston aerodrome in his Carden-engined " Pou " Mi•ISFOKTCN'I-: has attended .some of the early flights ofHritish-built " 1'ous." Mr. S. V. Appleby turned his, machine on its back just outside Heston aerodrome lastThursday, and Air-Commodore J. A. Chamier came a cropper while trying his machine at Hendon recently. " Pou " enthusiasts need not become unduly alarmed by these first mishaps. In France some fifty " I'ous " have been completed and flown, and a good many of them have suffered u similar late. This does not necessarily mean that this type of aeroplane is tricky or dangerous, but merely that piloting it demands a technique rather different from that of the orthodox machine. In his book M. Henri Mignet warns prospective pilots against taking the machine off in what he terms " the second regime " —that is to say, in a more or less stalled attitude. To do so is not always dangerous, for the "Pou," unlike the ordinary aeroplane, does not go into a spin after such treatment. Sometimes a "Pou " may get off in a stalled condition due to the centre of gravity being in the wrong place; the machine seems to be fairly sensitive to the e.g. position in relation to the front wing. Other difficulties that have been encountered have been traced to faulty rigging, so that the machine had a tendency to "drop one wing," i.e., to fly with port or star- board wing tip lower than that on the opposite side. :" -:i: - The Take-off But even granting that the machine has been correctly rigged and has its e.g. in the right place, there is something to be learned about taking it off. With an orthodox tractor aero- plane the pilot has his style of take-off well under control. By pushing the stick forward slightly he can "hold the machine down" as long as he likes. With the "Pou" it is rather different. When sufficient speed has been attained, the sear wing will lift the tail off the ground, and there is nothing that the pilot can do about it. As the angle of incidence of the rear wing is fixed, it will be obvious that the extent to which the machine lifts its tail during the run to take off depends upon the loading of the wing and upon the speed. The loading can be increased by having the wheels of the undercarriage farther forward, or by moving the wing its«lf forward on the fuselage. For a given angle of incidence, determined by the slope of the fuselage decking, the speed attained before the tail comes up will depend upon the loading. As the speed increases during the take-off run, the tail will rise more and more. By keeping the stick forward, the pilot will prevent the front wing from lifting and will thus keep the machine on the ground, but if too great speed is reached the rear wing may raise the tail so high that the airscrew strikes the ground. One believes that M. Mignet has broken many an airscrew in this way. So long, however, as this is not likely to occur, and assuming, of course, that the run available is sufficient, there is much to be gained by getting up a good speed before taking the machine off, and there is less likelihcd of getting iato the "second regime" accidentally. In this connection one is irresistibly reminded of the take-off tactics employed by Mr. P. W. S. Bulman in the Hawker "Cygnet" at one of the Lympne competitions. It was a question of getting the machine over a tape stretched on poles some 20ft. up. Most competitors yanked their machines off in the shortest possible run and then began the climb, which, as often as not, resulted in a slow sinking just as the poles were approached. Not so "George." Holding his stick well for- ward during the run, and keeping it there until he had nearly reached the foot of thtl poles, he was able to get up a good speed, which he used to carry him over the tape in one terrific "zoom." That is not to suggest that "Pou" pilots should zoom, but that the tactics are as undoubtedly correct for the "Pou" as they were for the "Cygnet" in the competition. * * * Readers of Flight will be glad to learn that the English ver- sion of M. Mignet's book on the " Pou-du-Ciel" has now been published. It is a slightly abbreviated version of the original French book, and all the half-tone illustrations have been omitted, a single photograph used as a frontispiece taking their place. One cannot help feeling that the inclusion of a few photographs of the "Pou" from different viewpoints would have been an advantage to prospective constructors. On th>- whole, the translation has been well done. The original book was full of slangy French, and one does not envy the trans- lator his job of turning this into equally slangy and yet under- standable Lnglish. A feature which will be welcomed is the inclusion in the book of a list of suppliers of materials, parts and engines. The title of the English version of the book is " The Flying Flea," the publishers are Sampson Low, Marston and Co., Ltd., 100, Southwark Street, London, and the price is 7s. 6d. net. « * * Mr. W. Laidlaw has nearly completed a "Pou," which, it is hoped, will be fitted with an Anzani engine. This little aeroplane was on view at the At Home held by the R.N. and K.E. Flying Clubs at Mr. Laidlaw's aerodrome, West Mailing, near Maidstone, last Saturday. • * • Sir John Carden, Bart., states that he and Mr. L. E. Baynes have arranged to manufacture parts for the "Pou" and that they are prepared to supply to prospective constructors any or all of the "bits and pieces," or, to anyone who so prefers, the complete machine ready to fly, fitted with the Carden-Ford engine. Enquiries should be sent to Abbott-Baynes Aircraft, Farnham, Surrey. • • « Mr. Alfred Richard Weyl writes that Zander and Weyl, of Luton Road, Dunstable, are now constructing parts for the "Pou" and that they are prepared to meet all demands oi private constructors for wooden and metal parts, and also for the complete machine. ) — and landed in an allotment just outside. The plough furrows proved his undoing. On grass he would probably have landed safely. Even as it was, surprisingly little damage was done. (Flight photographs.)
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
