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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 0082.PDF
-32 FLIGHT. JANUARY 14, 1937. Correspondence The Editor does not hold himselj responsible /or the views expressed by correspondents. The names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters intended for publication in these columns. THAT MASS-PRODUCTION IDEAL I WAS very pleased to read Mr. P. Fletcher's letter headed "The Mass-Production Ideal," suggesting that a light aeroplane could be produced for £100. This, I think, is cutting things too fine, at least for the present. In my humble opinion the reaj-on of the cost of aeroplanes being so high is the outrageously high prices of the engines. In the Janjary 7 issue of Flight a well-known engine was described and the price given was /750. We are aware that this engine would not be' used in an " ultra-light" but, quite apart from that, I cannot see why an engine of this descrip tion, perfectly simple, and straightforward in design, should cost anything near this figure. Just imagine: for say, £500, we get a high-class car with four-speed synchromesh gearbox, a body that is a masterpiece, and electric starter, dynamo and numerous refinements and, ves, a six-cylinder engine that just goes on and on for thousands ot miles with no attention other than a spot of oil ; and this engine, in design, will not look crude against the aero in-line engine. What we want is an aero engine, four-in-line air-cooled, developing 50 h.p. for, say, £70. An airframe could then be built round it and the whole thing sold for ^200 for a start off and I believe that we should have as safe an article as is reasonable to expect, and that without mass production. The only engine I know of that in any way approaches this sells at the (small print, Mr. Editor, please) very modest price of £275 for 80 h.p. I expect tha: some pukka aero firms will think that I am talking through my hat, but can they deny the fact that the aero movement is kept very '' aloft'' ? I have studied light aircraft quite a lot, but have done little constructing as I am a motor engineer. We are often called upon to make or obtain an engine part for some machine that is out ot production. This we can generally do, and the price is not about four times the normal cost, as appears to be the case when comparing aero engine prices with car engine prices. I hope I have not trodden on any one's corns, and if I am wrong perhaps someone will correct me. High Wycombe. S. H. BUTLER. YOUR correspondent Mr. P. Fletcher wonders why it is not possible for the aircraft industry to produce a two- seater aeroplane for £175-/185, or any sort of aeroplane for /100. It is not the mass-producing that constitutes the trouble. That, to the aircraft industry, is just the very simplest of very simple things. If Mr. Fletcher pauses to think for the space of one minute, it will occur to him that if an article, such, for example, as an aeroplane, is to be mass-produced, there must, of necessity, be a mass-market to absorb the pro duct. That is the first maxim of elementary business. No person of more than one year's experience in the aircraft in dustry is so silly as to think there is likely to be a mass-market for a cheap aeroplane now, or in the near future. Let us, therefore, briefly examine the position from a non-technical standpoint. Mr. Fletcher remarks, "what is required by the masses" (italics are mine) "of people who want to fly . . ." But the question is, do the masses want to fly? From some twenty- nine years' experience of the aircraft industry, the writer is (and was, many years ago) forced to the conclusion that the "masses" most certainly do not want to fly; and that, Mr. Fletcher, is just the reason why the aircraft industry does not mass-produce a cheap aeroplane for them. Again, your correspondent remarks, "then the average man or woman might be able to fly." Let Mr. Fletcher put on his thinking cap for the space of just one more minute. Does it not occur to him that there is a wide, wide gulf fixed be tween passing the tests to drive a car and passing the tests for a pilot's certificate? Does it also not occur to him that the "average man or woman" is never likely to fly (as his or her own pilot) for two very good reasons, and quite apart from financial ones, (1) they are not phvsicall- fit for the job, and (2) they could never pass for a pilot's certificate for reason No. 1 ? Mr. Fletcher should remember that the average man or woman is somewhere about C3 in army medical category, and an aircraft pilot should be Ar, not C3. Add to the foregoing the fact that the average man and woman (the type that crowds into the cinemas o'nights) evinces little or no practical interest in flying, and we begin to gather some idea where our mass-market for a cheap aeroplane is likely to be—the scrap-metal merchant. To get down to brass tacks, what your correspondent is really asking is for some philanthropic aircraft firm to mass- produce a cheap aeroplane for the benefit of a handful of enthusiasts who might, or again might not, buy it. Further more, we would remind Mr. Fletcher that the "average man and woman'' are much too concerned with the safety of their own necks to risk said necks unnecessarily in £~ioo aero planes. If your correspondent does not know the financial history of the great American aircraft boom of 1928-30, and the sub sequent cataclysm of bankruptcies that followed it, we of the aircraft industry do, and that is quite sufficient to cool our ardour when it comes to a question of mass-producing a cheap aeroplane for the multitude. There is just one other aspect of the case before we leave the subject. Rather a humorous one, perhaps. The Editor himself drew attention to the relative utility of the cheap mass- produced car and an aeroplane produced on similar lines. In this connection we can scarcely imagine "young Mrs. Jones," or "that Mrs. Brown" from over the way, donning a chic flying outfit and flying around the local shopping centre to make their usual domestic purchases. Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Brown do, however, use hubby's cheap mass-produced and hire-purchased car for that purpose. Need we go any further along this line ? E. V. HAMMOND. London, S.W. RELATIVE RELIABILITY LOOKING back on aviation in 1936 I am struck by the large number of failures in long-distance attempts and record flights of all kinds, and am forced to the rather alarming conclusion that the majority of these are due to inefficiency in the preparation of the machines for the task they are to undertake. • This opinion is not just carping criticism, but the considered opinion of one whose qualifications include a period of service as a war-time Ack-Emma, tuning and riding racing motor cycles, and a long experience of Diesels from 1,000 h.p. down to 85 h.p. Without counting failures due to bad weather exhausting the available tankage, which is a risk that can hardly be avoided, you will be aware of the large number of piston failures, oil pump troubles, etc., which have occurred. Against these I would quote many cases of oil-engined eight- wheel commercial vehicles carrying a pay-load of 16 tons which regularly do 10,000 miles and more without any attention. Considering that these engines are governed at 2,000 revs., have a compression ratio of 17 :1, and are subject to accelera tion and deceleration stresses that an aero engine is not called upon to withstand, it is obvious that something is radically adrift in the aero unit or its servicing. I am not pitting oil against petrol, as vehicles with petrol units are known to be as reliable as the cases I mention, but having no actual experi ence of these I refrain from bringing them in. At the other extreme, note the low percentage of engine failures in the big motor cycle races, or, nowadays, in that most gruelling test of an engine, dirt-track racing. I have been responsible for engines that have gone on producing something round 37 b.h.p. from 499 c.c. for a whole season without bursting anything in a race, and in my summer engage ments use three machines, the youngest of which is dated 1925- These have a hard time of it, pulling a low gear and having the taps turned hard on from a " tick-over," etc., but they never let me down during a performance. [Our correspondent is a professional motor cycle trick rider.—ED.] The secret?
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