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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 0782.PDF
2g8 FLIGHT. MARCH 25, 1937. In the engine test department. On the extreme left of the fuel station are the main cocks. .In the back- is the control board determines quantities and mixtures for each engine. It indicates electrically the flow of each type of fuel, the feed lines in the diagram lighting up automatically. control intake ground which about the body which creates it. This is an ocular demonstration that there is a peculiarly high resistance to a body passing through the air in the region of 743 m.p.h. At speeds which greatly exceed the speed of sound, however, resistance is reduced. From this one can infer with reason able certainty that a very great in crease in horse-power will be required to increase aircraft speed from, say, 700 to 800 m.p.h. Thereafter the relative power increase required to increase speed will not be so great. So, per haps, we may hope that one day it will become feasible to fly at speeds in the order of 1,000 m.p.h., provided the power required to get over the initial air wave created at the speed of sound can be produced. From the supersonic wind tunnel department we passed to the engine test department. The latter comprises a number of different sections, each designed and equipped for a specific purpose. One test shop is equipped with dynamometers (both hydraulic and electric) of various types for the' testing of engines of small and large power output. The plant includes dynamometers made in England, Germany, and America. Engines under test ranged from the 1,000 h.p. Fiats (both liquid- and air-cooled) to the 200 h.p. air-cooled Isotta Fraschini. Engine designs ranged from twelve- cylinder, liquid-cooled vees to eighteen-cylinder, double- bank, air-cooled radials ; they included the products of the Fiat, Piaggio, Isotta Fraschini and Alfa Romeo factories. In a separate test house engines were mounted for en durance tests under load imparted by airscrews. In the laboratory of the engine test department I saw a single-cylinder fuel-testing engine and plant, and another test engine with an adjustable cylinder head to give vari able compression ratios. Outside was an open hangar in which two 1,000 h.p. Fiat engines were mounted side by side driving through gearing a single metal airscrew. New types of metal air screws are tested on this plant. Overloads can be applied on account of the ample horse-power available, and con crete walls and heavy steel nets ensure safety. . The last shop we visited contained a vibration testing apparatus to determine the effective life of flexible fuel feed tubing. The fuel fed to the different engine stands is controlled throughout the whole engine test department from a cen tral master control station. Three different fuels—petrol, benzol, and alcohol—are employed, mixed in varying proportions to determine the best results. Each of the three fuels is fed from the underground storage tanks through master control cocks to the control board at the end of the control house. This board enables the exact mixture to be fed to every engine unit. A diagram of the fuel feed lines indicates the flow of fuel from the con trol house to each test station. When the controls are operated, the channel ways on the diagram automatically light up electrically, so that the mechanic operating the control station can see instantly, as can any inspector who visits the control station, precisely what type of fuel is being fed to any given engine, and that the flow is functioning satisfactorily. From the engine test house we drove to the mesa (mess), just within the entrance to Guidonia, for lunch. [The next article in this series will describe Monlecello Aerodrome and the Caproni Works at Milan.] For Service Rescue Work ASBESTOS fire-rescue suits are now being extensively adopted by the Royal Air Force. An order for nearly 200 has just been placed with Bell's Asbestos and Engineering Supplies, Ltd., of Slough, and when delivery has been made, two of these suits will be allocated to each Service aerodrome. When flying is in progress, two of the airmen detailed for duty with the fire tender will wear the lower portion ol these asbestos suits as a precautionary measure. In the event of a crash they will quickly slip on the top portion and will then be able to work for as long as two to three minutes in heat of great intensity. New Rules F OR the benefit of those who did not see the paragraph in the issue of March 4, pilots are reminded that various new rules, given in the Air Navigation (Amendment) Order, 19^7, come into operation next Thursday.
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