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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 0789.PDF
33& Private Flying FLIGHT. MARCH 26, 1936. An Indian Appointment FLT. LT. W. H. BURBURY left for Delhi by Imperial Air ways on March 15 to take up a position as special charter pilot and deputy chief pilot to Airwork's associated company, Indian National Airways. Fit. Lt. Burbury is to deputise for F/O. A. G. M. Cary, the I.N.A. chief pilot, who is at present home on sick leave and will share with him the privilege of piloting the Viceroy, whose Avro 642 is maintained and operated by I N.A. A Paris-Saigon-Paris "Air Liner" Race T HE Aero Club de France has recently issued the details of the long-distance handicap air race which it is organising for next October. Machines must carry an operating crew of two men, or one and an automatic pilot. Competing aircraft must be capable of flying 2,312 miles without landing; they must be of the multi-engine type, capable of flying with full load on one engine at a height of at least 6,560ft. ; they must, in addition to the pilot or pilots, carry at least four passengers and a certain quantity of freight. The outward journey, which will begin on Sunday, October 25, will be; Paris, Baghdad, Allahabad, Saigon (6,655 miles), and the homeward route: Saigon, Allahabad, Baghdad, Cairo, Paris (7,060 miles). The handicaps will be based on a formula taking into account the speed, the total payload, wing area, cabin capacity, and the engine horse-power. Entries at 2,000 francs (about ^26 14s.) per machine—half of which will be refunded to all competitors leaving the starting point— will be received up to May 25 next by the Commission d'Aviation de l'Aero Club de France, Paris, from whom full onrticulars of the event can be obtained. Back to the Present " England Have My Bones," by T. H. White. Sons and Co., Ltd., 8s. 6d.). (W. Colli, IF I were a newspaper film critic and England Have My Bones were a film I should undoubtedly give it so many stars that two lines would be needed for these alone. It is the personal journal of a man who is intensely interested in a thousand and one features of life in the country. He chats charmingly about flying, hunting, shooting, fish ing, darts and pet snakes. Even the most energetic opponent of blood sports will learn to see, at least, partly eye to eye with the killer. Mr. White does not pretent that the fox enjoys the experience. To me, of course, and to most flying people, the sections of the diary devoted to a course of training at " Credon " are in tensely interesting. The author has managed to convey the feelings and experiences of the pupil in a way that can hardly have been equalled. I derived the greatest possible, if unfair, pleasure from pinning-down the personalities and places. Did not his " Johnny Burns " give me my first half-hour of dual instruc tion at another club several years before, and did he not sav similar things to me? He is so much more well known now. and "Credon" has changed—perhaps irrevocably. When Mr. White went over to '' Handley '' to see the Auto- giros he was forewarned not to "say anything against them. They are all unbalanced about them." Let us hope that they continue to be so enthusiastic that they are said to be " unbalanced." He went up with " Mr. Sedge," and Mr. Marsh (none other—and this is my only "give away") ob tained another convert. INDICATOR AN UNUSUAL TWO-STROKE ENGINE Rotary Valves With Novel Features : i Ib.jh.p. Hoped for in Sixteen-cyUnder Aero Unit SOME unusually interesting features are to be found in a new two-stroke design now in pro cess of experimental manufacture for aircraft and other engines. The object of the designer, Mr. Cuddon-Fletcher, is to produce double the horse power of an equivalent four-stroke engine. A Zoller com pressor (or possibly two) is employed to sup ply mixture through piston-operated inlet ports in the walls of each of the cylinders. In order to induce turbulence the ports are formed like a series of turbine blades. A form of rotary valve, which demands special description, allows the exhaust gas to escape through a water-cooled internal mani fold, and the port openings are of such large area that with an opening of 72 deg. early a time-area diagram of ample proportions can be obtained, even if the closing point is about bottom dead centre. Thus, if the gas pres sure is maintained at the same level as that in the cylinder at the point of inlet-valve opening, the whole of the up-stroke will be available for compression. It will be gathered that while the ports are open the exhaust gas forms an upwardly moving column, and the cylinder walls are swept by a rotating swirl of incoming gas, a condition in which there is the least chance of mechanical mixing. The theory underlying the design of the rotary valve is most ingenious. As the designer points out, there is no likeli hood of the oil film, in a bearing, breaking down under explo sion pressures, provided that the oil supply and bearing areas are sufficient. Actually, the bearing area of the rotary valve is more than sufficient, and a pressure oil feed is applied approximately half way up the circle in the direction of rota tion, excess oil being removed by a scraper edge and scavenge pump at a point approximately opposite the feed. It is in regard to the methods of sealing that the greatest ingenuity is displayed. If a sleeve, split along its top edge and surrounded by a solid tube, be subjected to sufficient pies- sure at the bottom the lower edge will be flattened inwards and the remainder of the sleeve will tend to open out against the walls of the tube. This is the principle of which the designer has made use, for A section through the cylinder and rotary exhaust valve. the gas pressure on the exposed part of the rotary sleeve valve tends to dent the sleeve inwards at the lowest point, and to expand it against the sleeve housing elsewhere. It is obvious that as the sleeve rotates, and the split with it, the application of pressure will move farther avvav from a point opposite to the split until the desired sealing action is no longer attained. To counteract this there are no fewer than three concentric sleeves of light sections. All rotate together as a single valve, but the splits are so disposed that there is always a sealing action when desired. The splits are not continuous along the whole length of the sleeve, but are arranged in oxer- lapping lengths so as to avoid leakage. The split in the outer sleeve is so arranged that it does not interfere with the oil seal when the valve is under pressure. In order to protect the internal diameter of the valve from the exhaust flame, an inner water-cooled exhaust passage is provided hav ing a definite clearance of several thousandths of an inch from the sleeve. This water-cooled passage is supported from the. ends only, but, being inherently stiff in form, and subjected to only moderate pressures, it should not suffer appreciable deflection. Further, such ex haust gas as can leak between the passage and the in net' diameter of the valve causes no loss of compression, and be comes inert as it enters the constricted annulus, and thus can not cause overheating. As outputs of no less than 200 h.p. per litre are expected it is obvious that cooling methods will be all important. In this connection the water-cooled engine will be assisted by Cross linerless aluminium cylinder and aluminium heads. A four-cylinder-in-line engine is in the course of construction after preliminary experiments on a single-cylinder and four- cylinder units. In the case of a proposed aircraft engine sixteen cylinders will be employed in four banks set in cruciform arrangement, and it is hoped that the dry weight of the engine will be h'?5 than 1 lb. per h.p. Mr. A. Cuddon-Fletcher's address is Somerton Hall, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. ax
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