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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 1572.PDF
JUNE 18, 1936. FLIGHT. The Outlooks A Running Commentary on Ait Topics The Future of Brooklands OME weeks ago we announced that Brooklands track and aerodrome was likely to change hands in the near future. Now comes the news that Electrical and General Industrial Trusts, Ltd., have purchased the estate from Dame Ethel Lock-King's syndicate, for a sum said to be in the neighbourhood of a quarter of a million pounds. But the most interesting aspect of the change-over is the plans which the purchasers have made for the develop ment of the property. The original suggestion that it would become a building estate is set aside. Instead, it is apparently the purchasers' intention to make Brooklands not only " the centre of modern motor sport and aviation," but also to develop it as an airport, served, like Gatwick, by a good railway. They announce that the club amenities are to be im proved—such luxuries as squash courts and a swimming pool are to be added—while sites for aircraft and other factories are to be prepared. All this is understandable, but what interests us is the airport proposal. Even though the plans include doing away with the famous—or notorious —sewage farm, the company appears to have set itself a Herculean task. Nobody can call the saucer-like aero drome an ideal one from the take-off point of view, and even if the surrounding trees and the Members' Hill could be razed to the ground, there is still the banked track as a formidable wall round a large part of the perimeter. While the status quo does not greatly trouble the present club and military aircraft, one cannot imagine heavily loaded air liners being happy there. Again, there are the almost annual winter flooding of the River Wey, and the Thames Valley fogs. Possibly the former difficulty could be overcome by modifying the course of the river and, perhaps, covering it over to increase the landing area. Let it not be thought that we desire to pour cold water on the scheme ; we are simply rendered a little breathless by its bold nature and anxiously await more concrete details of the plan of campaign. De-Bouncing the Aeroplane r HE old story of Columbus and the egg finds a modern counterpart in Mr. L. E. Cowey and the B.L.G. landing gear described in this issue of Flight. It is rather necessary to bear in mind that the apparently obvious usefulness of this invention when applied to school machines may quite likely be the least important. Unless and until all aeroplanes are fitted with this type of under carriage little is gained by making life a bit easier for the ab initio pilot if he has to undergo a course afterwards in landing on orthodox undercarriages. Whatever may be the advantages of the new under carriage in school work and on private aircraft, it will, we feel, be in other applications that the real value of the invention is found to lie. The subject of deck-landing aircraft comes to mind at once, and the three-wheeled undercarriage would seem to solve nearly all the aircraft carrier difficulties in one fell swoop. In fact, one might almost regard it as having been sent as a blessing for this particular purpose only. In civil aviation it seems likely that the three-wheeled undercarriage will prove an extremely valuable contribu tion to the blind-landing problem. Aircraft can be guided to the immediate vicinity of the aerodrome by wireless, but the final touch down still requires great skill. If the three-wheeled undercarriage should be found capable of an actual glide-landing following the wirelessly guided approach, obviously a very great step will have been taken, and safe landings in conditions of no visibility may be shorn of most of their terrors. What that may come to mean in the way of regular all-weather operation is not difficult to visualise. The Africa Race GRADUALLY the regulations which are to govern the air race from London to Johannesburg, scheduled to start on September 15 next, are taking shape. The Royal Aero Club, in charge of the organisation, has an nounced that compulsory controls will be established at Vienna, Cairo, Khartoum and Salisbury. This, then, will be the route taken by the competing machines, and the ability of any one to fly longer stages than these will not benefit the machine. Another interesting item is the announcement that the winner of the £4,000 prize for the fastest time in the speed race will not be eligible for the handicap prizes. This means that the most the winner can gain is the £4,000 prize, while in the handicap the maximum is £"3,000. Last week Flight mentioned a number of British aircraft types already in existence which would stand a fair chance in the speed race. To that list might now be added the Miles Peregrine, which has lately been putting up some rather amazing speeds. Poux on Trial / T would appear that the Pou-du del is, after all, to be tested in the full-scale wind tunnel at Farnborough. The decision will be welcomed by many in this country as it should result in deciding once and for all whether one or more combinations of e.g. position, wing stagger and gap can be assumed safe and stable. Also, it is to be hoped that limits may be established for the degree of variations permissible before the risk of serious instability sets in. France has already decided to initiate experiments in the new large wind tunnel at Chalais-Meudon ; it would be well if the two research establishments were to receive definite instructions concerning the particular aspects which each should study, otherwise there is risk of considerable duplication and overlapping, with consequent waste of time and money. Possibly it might be found ieasible to let one establish ment experiment on the effects of wing positions, centre of gravity, and so forth, while the other concentrated more on what one might term the dynamics of the problem. For example, some pilots have found that the machine behaves in a peculiar manner if the throttle is worked at all brusquely. The effect of the slipstream and its sudden appearance or disappearance seems to be considerable, and it is probably this rather than the effect of a somewhat high thrust line which may give rise to difficulties. There are many other problems, and for any one establishment to probe them all would take a long time. That is why Flight suggests that the work should be divided between the two countries in accordance with some prearranged plan.
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