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Aviation History
1935
1935 -2- 0703.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER. . AND AIRSHIPS fmsiAERONAUTICALIXEEKLY IN THE^WOPLD .• FOUNDED IOOO Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I Telegrams : Truditor, Sedist. London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (60 lines). HERTFORD ST.. COVENTRY. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry.Telephone: Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS. NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2971. 260, DBANSGATB, MANCHESTER, 3. . Telegrams: Uiffc, Manchester.Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 2«B, RENF1KUI ST., GLASGOW, C.!l. Telegrams: llifle, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION KATES : Home and Canad.-i : Otbei Countries: Year, (]Yea,. £1 13 0. 16 0. 0 monttu, 10i. 6d. C mouths, I7a. Oil. S months, 8a. Oil. :i months, be. 9.1. • No' 1408. Vol. XXVIII. DECEMBER 19, 1935 Thursdays, Price 6d. i"*_ The Lettsfield Crash, OME years ago, before the war, several Christmases were made sad by bad railway accidents in the North of England which almost threatened to become annual events.. More recently, about ten 3?ears ago, there was a bad aeroplane crash near Croy- doft, just before Christmas, and now once more a number of homes will be filled with mourning at the festive season by the loss of a Sabena machine in the valley of the North Downs between Tatsfield and Biggin Hill. It is some consolation that an aeroplane crash takes fewer lives than does a bad railway disaster, but in this case Great Britain has to mourn the loss of a distinguished man in Sir John Card en. i Until the wreckage has been inspected by experts one can only speculate on the cause of the crash. It is known that on that evening other aeroplanes were troubled by the formation of ice on the wings. It is also manifest jthat happier situations for a pilot may be imagined than iclimbing in the dark up a steep valley in the hills to reach an aerodrome on the summit—if that is what was happening. It would not be difficult in such a case to hit a tree with a wing. ; There are, of course, many other possible explanations bf the accident. A slight error in altimeter reading may account for a pilot being somewhat lower than he thinks, and the nature of the district in which the accident occurred is such that a small deviation from the course, coupled with an unsuspected error in altitude, might well have resulted in the accident. The wind at the time is believed to have been very variable. This may have resulted in the ill-fated machine being some few miles short of the location esti- mated by the pilot; it is possible that he was coming down, thinking that he was nearer to Croydon than, in fact, he was. D/F. wireless may at times show consider- able error, particularly at dusk., and this cannot be en- tirely ruled out as a possible contributory cause. There seems no lesson to be learnt from this traged ', unless it is proved that ice did form on the wing. That is by no means certain, but some explanation is needed as to why an experienced pilot was Trying so low. If he found ice-forming conditions higher up, that would be sufficient explanation. Once he had got into the valley he may have found his difficulties increased by down- currents of air. In the dark he may have seen the lights of houses below him at the bottom of the valley, and have been unaware of the proximity of the sides of the valley. The results of ice forming along the leading edge of the wing have been frequently explained in Flight. Briefly, the crust of ice alters the wing section and interferes with the flow of air. Ice formation in the car- buretters "is another possible cause, and would result in loss of power, which would account for. the low altitude at which the machine was flying. Methods exist which will safeguard an aeroplane from the ice danger. More than one country has given earnest consideration to the problem, and devices are available for combating the risk of ice forrnation on parts of the aircraft and in the carburetters of the engines. PlasticsO PINIONS appeared somewhat divided at the dis- cussion between members of the aircraft and the plastics industries, reported in this issue of Flight. Shortcomings in the modulus of elas- ticity came in for criticism, and the cost of tools was generally admitted to be a stumbling block until such time as the " number off ' is considerably greater than at present. The need for closer co-operation between the two in- dustries was stressed by more than one speaker, and there is no doubt that much can be done to improve the present position, once the aircraft designers let the plas- tics manufacturers know their exact requirements. To us it seems that, generally speaking, the representatives of the aircraft industry were inclined to think rather too much in terms of the present type of girder structures.
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