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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 1907.PDF
b FLIGH FIRST of the EMPIRE BOATS Finished but Unfurnished Machine Out for Engine Runs : Early Test Flights to be Followed by Return to Works for Installation of Equipment FRIDAY last was something of a red-letter day in the history of Short Brothers. The first of the twenty- j eight flying boats which this firm is building for I Imperial Airways was brought out of the construc tion shed at Rochester where it has been built, and, after being securely moored on the slipway, its four Bristol Pegasus engines were given trial runs to test them and to make sure that the petrol system was in proper working order. It seems likely that as soon as a few minor details have been attended to, Mr. J. Lankester Parker. Short's test pilot, will make the first flying tests. In fact, it is not at all unlikely that by the time this issue of Flight appears, the machine will have made its first flight. A Fine Piece of Work Until it is lowered into the Medway, it is difficult to form any real idea of the new flying boat. The impression on the slipway is one of towering size, due no doubt to the use of a very deep hull in which crew and passengers are to some extent accommodated on two decks. The work manship and finish of the primary structure are good, as might have been expected from a firm of the standing of Short Brothers. It is remarkably good in view of the fact that the firm has had to get together very large numbers of workers (a total of some 3,500 are now employed at Rochester) not previously accustomed to aircraft construc tion, and Mr. Bibby, the works manager, is to be congratu lated on the results. The four Bristol Pegasus engines drive three-bladed variable-pitch airscrews., and are enclosed in long-chord cowls with controllable flaps for varying the cooling. No petrol is carried in the hull, all being contained in tanks in the wings. For working on the engines when the machine is at irest on the sea, platforms are provided which, during flight, form portions of the leading edge of the wing.
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