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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 1120.PDF
APRIL 30, 1936. FLIGHT. 463 A REAL FLYING SHOWROOM More than Fifty Instru ments and Items of Equip ment Marketed by Smith's Aircraft Instruments Carried in D.H. Dragon : A Tour Abroad WHEN it leaves England in a few days' time on a tour of the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, the D.H. Dragon purchased by Smith's Aircraft Instru ments will carry almost every type of instrument and aircraft accessory known at the present time. All are makes marketed by Smith's, and the fact that the machine carries more than fifty items is an indication of the scope and range of the material handled by that firm. Among the towns to be visited will, ot course, be Stockholm, which will he reached during the period of the ex hibition. The installation of all this equipment in the Dragon was entrusted to Airwork, Ltd., of Heston, under the supervision (if Mr. H. M. Samuelson, who will pilot the machine on its tour. A number of people interested in the machine and its equipment were privileged to inspect it at Heston last Friday, when demonstra tions were given. The Lorenz blind- landing equipment was not yet functioning, but as far possible the rest of the equipment was demonstrated. Mention can be made here onlv of the principal equipment carried in the Dragon. In the matter of bulk, the automatic pilot (three-axes type) looms largest, followed by the Standard transmitting and receiving radio equipment. Among the I'avigational equipment are Husun compasses, R.C. direction finder and radio compass, floor-type drift sight with control, aa d Addison-Luard course and wind calculator. Provision is made for installing in the floor a Wimperis course-setting i°??!? p8nt which makes a first-class navigation instrument. A "illiamron " Eagle " camera can be mounted over the same opening as an alternative. A large variety of engine instruments are also carried, such as Record " electrical rev. indicators, large-dial rev. iudica- The major part of the equipment of the "Flying Showroom " is arranged imme diately behind what is normally the bulkhead of the Dragon. On the left is ths Standard radio compass, while the various details of the other radio equipment are nearer the cockpit. (Flight photograph.; as tors mounted on the engines, oil temperature and pressure gauges, electric fuel contents gauges, and so forth. The range of Smith's aircraft instruments includes altimeter with pressure g^uge, airspeed indicator, rate-of-climb indi cator, turn indicator, and fore-and-aft and cross levels. Three windmill-driven electric generators are mounted ex ternally, two on the wings and one under the fuselage, and in addition to the tairlead for the ordinary radio there is a short vertical mast on top of the fuselage and a short rail underneath, these being the aerials for the short-wave equip ment. In spitf of these excrescences it is understood that the speed of the Dragon has dropped only about 2 m.p.h. On the left is an interior view of the rear of the Dragon's cabin with the automatic pilots for the three axes in their trans parent covers and the rotating loop for the radio compass. The exterior view above shows two of the three generators, a landing light and the short and long-wave aerial systems. (Flight photographs.)
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