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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0751.PDF
322 FLIGHT. MARCH 26, 1936. quite buried inside the wing. A warning device is fitted which, when the engine is throttled back, shows the word "wheels" in lights on the dashboard, and an electric horn blows. As the undercarriage begins to extend, the word disappears and the horn ceases to blow, while a red light appears instead and remains until the wheels are fully down; a green light then appears. The undercarriage is hydraulically operated by an engine-driven pump, a hand pump being provided for emergencies. The power plant used in the Fairey Battle is a Rolls-Royce Merlin. This twelve-cylinder engine is of the vee type, with liquid cooling. Its small frontal area can be gathered from the photograph on p. 320. The engine drives a three-bladed Fairey metal airscrew, and during the demonstrations it was obvious that with the Battle a speed range has been reached at The undercarriage of the Fairey Battle retracts upwards and backwards into recesses in the wings. A fairing helps to streamline the uncovered portion of the wheel. (Flight photograph.) At the demonstration (left to right) : Fit. Lt. C. S. Staniland, chief test pilot ; Mr. C. R. Fairey, constructor of the Battle ; and Lt. Col. M. Ormonde Darby, of Rolls-Royce, Ltd., whose Merlin engine is used. (Flight photograph.) which a V.P. airscrew would materially improve the initial acceleration from standing start to take-off. With flaps down, the approach was steep and the speed at which the Battle hung in the air remarkably low. But the machine dees definitely seem to need the V.P. airscrew before it can give the very best of which it is capable. Given that extra refine ment, one feels that it could operate from quite small aerodromes. Little may be said of the military fea tures of the Battle, but an examination of the illustrations shows that the crew are so placed that they obtain a very ex cellent view. The pilot is almost over the leading edge, and the gunner is in line with the trailing edge of the wing roots. Single-seater fighters would not find it too easy to attack a formation of these machines, even if the fighters had a con siderable reserve of speed. All control surfaces of the Battle are fabric covered. The rest of the machine has a metal skin. The trimming tabs can be seen on the left, while the other shows a student of design doing poojah to the trailing-edge flaps. (Flight photograph.)
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