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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 1396.PDF
MAY 28, 1936. FLIGHT. 57i the engine installed at present is the Bristol Pegasus X, which will deliver 975 h.p. to a V.P. airscrew for take-off. At the moment a three-bladed Fairey is fitted. The production Wellesleys are likely to have the Pegasus XVIII supercharged engines with two-speed gear. Without having recourse to figures, the Wellesley strikes one as having the span of a Heyford, and the initial climb, when flying light, at least, of a 1930 interceptor. But that may be just the impression one gets from the gunner's cockpit. It was a revelation to sit there, surrounded by curved diagonal members and secrecy, and to watch the great wings, with the peculiar criss-cross marks, take up an incredibly steep angle as Martlesham shrunk below the tail. The Pegasus, be it said, was astonishingly smooth in spite of the fact that something like 100 h.p. was being taken from each of its nine cylinders. The agility of the Wellesley (demonstrated at 10,000 ft.) and slow, gentle land ing with flaps down seemed almost as remarkable as the super lative load-carrying ability which the machine is known to possess. Another type in which the writer flew, and which, for a machine of its class, has an outstanding performance, was the Hawker Hector—the latest army co-operation type to be adopted by the R.A.F. Although essentially one of the prolific Hart family, it has certain features which are not to be found among its relatives. Foremost among these is the Napier- Hulford Dagger III engine. " Engine " seems a clumsy word for such a piece of mechanism (one cannot help thinking of Puffing Billy), for its twenty-four cylinders and high r.p.m. give it some of the more desirable characteristics of a dynamo. With the altimeter showing 5,000 ft. (the Dagger Mk. Ill as fitted to the Hector is moderately supercharged), and the tachometer indicating 4,000 r.p.m., the A.S.I, reading is in the region of 200 m.p.h. Martlesham is all set to receive some of the new monoplanes. The Hawker fighter, of course, has already been there (one was told of the terrific reverberation felt in every building on the aerodrome when the Merlin was first opened up on the ground) and the Supermarine, also with a Merlin, should have been delivered in time to be demonstrated on Empire Air Day. The Fairey Battle, A.W. Whitley and Bristol Blen heim are all awaited. The most modern twin-engined machine on the station the other day was the Armstrong Wrhitworth 23 bomber-trans port monoplane which is being tested with a pair of the new Armstrong Siddeley Tiger IXs and V.P. airscrews in place of the Tiger Vis, in which form the machine is known to the public. It is said that with the original installation it was not considered advisable to attempt a full-load take-off from the manufacturers' aerodrome at Whitley but that, in its new form, the great monoplane can be flown out at maxi mum gross weight with impunity. In the same hangar as the big A.W. was a Vickers Vilde- beest, its Pegasus fitted with an American Curtiss electrically operated variable-pitch airscrew. The blades of this ingenious piece of mechanism are turned to the required incidence by a £-h.p. electric motor through a 13,400:1 planetary gear. Armament Testing Unfortunately, one was unable to see some of the most modern devices for improving the accuracy of gunnery and bombing Turrets, bomb racks, releases and sights are con tinually being tried out. This work often entails flying at great heights and in extremely low temperatures. A gadget which may function admirably at 10,000 feet may freeze up solid at the heights to which modern military machines are able to climb. Incidentally, the lowest temperature recorded by a Martlesham pilot was at 33,000 ft., when the thermo meter showed —66 deg. C. - The Armament Testing Section solves many of its bombing problems over at Orfordness, where there is a special aero drome and instruments for measuring results. Some miles round the coast, at Felixstowe, is the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment—the Martlesham for seaplanes and flying boats—commanded by Group Captain A. J. Miley, O.B.E. Machines from Felixstowe made anti submarine patrols during the war over the North Sea and convoyed merchant ships plying between England and the Hook of Holland. To-day the duties of the M.A.E.E. are to test all new types of flying boats and float-planes intended either for civil or Service use. Apart from this, a great deal of purely experimental work is done with hulls, floats, marine It was not possible to show the public any actual torpedo dropping at Gosport on Empire Air Day, but this picture, secured before hand, depicts the " tinfish " a moment after its release. (Flight photographs.)
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