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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1082.PDF
406 FLIGHT. APRIL 29, 1937. SAILOR BEWARE ! A precursor of machines to span the Atlantic with heavy cargoes, the De Havilland Albatross, examples of which have been ordered by the Air Ministry for experimental flights between the Old and New Worlds, is one of the most striking British aircraft to be seen for many a year. (Flight photograph.) that by going all-out for an altitude record one might reach 61,oooft. To complete his set-up of ninepins, Mr. Wimperis examined the subject of ultimate aircraft range. He did not arrive at any very definite conclusions except that range is independent of altitude, that the natural limit to range is dependent in high engine economy, low aircraft drag and low structure weight. Rockfeller and Moore have recently published a forecast that a range of 12,500 miles without refuelling may ultimately be attainable. That, of course, is mainly of academic interest except that at one-half of that distance some sort of pay-load will be available, and at one-quarter one may expect quite a useful pay-load, so that it gives some hope of commercial operation of such air routes as the Atlantic—some day. Analysis shows that the ninepins set up by Mr. Wimperis for future generations to knock down were already sadly depleted when the game started. They were three only, of which the lecturer quoted other people's authority for two: maximum speed 600 m.p.h. ; maximum height 61,oooft. ; and maximum range 12,500 miles. From Shore to Sh ore THE uninitiated public may perhaps be rather aghast when told that the beautiful D.H. Albatross, of which we publish a photograph above and others on page 413, is to be used for experimental flights across the Atlantic. The man in the street has accepted the idea of Caledonia and Cambria, because they are boats. Probably most people have heard remarks to the effect that if the flying boats have engine failure they can come down and float on the water, and comfort seems to be derived from that thought. Actually there is nothing at all comforting in the prospect of a flying boat alighting on the Atlantic ; it is much better to make it certain, so far as human powers go, that there shall be no forced landings at all. In that case it does not matter, while the craft is making its way across the ocean, whether its landing arrange ments are hull or wheels. That factor only becomes im portant at the start and the finish of the flight. None the less, cases may occur when a boat does add to the safety of those on board. When flying non-stop across the Atlantic there are cer tain advantages in a landplane. It must always be possible for designers to make a landplane more efficient from the aerodynamical point of view than a flying boat can be made, and that means that it can carry a greater pay-load than a flying boat of similar size can carry—and pay-load is the crux of the Atlantic question. The fly ing boat gains on those occasions when it is more con venient, and perhaps cheaper, to use a harbour or a lake instead of a land aerodrome. We thus get the apparent paradox that for Empire routes, which are largely across dry land, the flying boat has been judged the best form of aircraft; while for a purely ocean flight the claims of the landplane are to be examined in a series of test flights. In the experimental stage it is certainly wise to try out both classes of aircraft. The future Atlantic route is not necessarily always be tween Ireland and Newfoundland; the Azores-Bermuda route is also to be considered, and at those islands it seems better to use the harbours than to make land aero dromes. On that route the flying boats have an obvious advantage. Large landplanes need large and very firm aerodromes; the water is more accommodating.
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