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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1177.PDF
MAY *, 1937. FLIGHT. 443 •JKJJS As early as 1911 Short Brothers realised the advantages of more than one engine. The upper pictures show a Short biplane with two Gnome rotary engines, of which the rear drove a pusher airscrew while the front drove two tractors via chain gearing. On the right is one of the Empire boats. was the first really effective night bomber, was the design chosen for the big night bomber programme of late 1917. The Vickers Vimy came rather later and remained in service for many years after the end of the War. Its military load varied, of course, with the fuel tankage provided. With a range of 835 miles, the military load was 2,870 lb. Increasing the range to 1,080 miles reduced the military load to 2,150 lb. The ceiling was, in both cases, 10,500 ft., and the speed 98 m.p.h. at 5,000 ft. By the end of 1917 it was decided that improved aircraft range had brought Berlin within bombing dis tance of England, and the Handley Page V/1500 was designed specific ally with this objective in view. The long flight and low speed meant that the machine could not cover the whole double journey in darkness, so a fairly large crew (seven) with defensive armament had to be carried in addi tion to the bomb load. Four Rolls- Royce Eagle engines were fitted, arranged in tandem pairs, one of each pair driving a '' pusher '' airscrew and one a tractor. Three days before the Armistice two of these machines were standing by, ready for the attempt, which was never made. Marine Aircraft The Wartime development of British marine aircraft is, of course, closely linked with the history of the Royal Naval Air Service. When war broke out in 1914 the R.N.A.S. had some 50 seaplanes, of which approximately one-half were ready for service. They were a somewhat heterogeneous col lection, but on the whole were farther advanced than the aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps, particularly in the matter of engine power, armament and the use of wireless. At Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, Short Brothers had done a great deal of experimental work on seaplanes, first with their older pusher types with floats substituted for the wheel under carriage, and later with tractor biplanes fitted with floats. The Sopwith com pany also had been experimenting, and had the distinction of having won the Schneider contest at Monaco with a tiny float biplane piloted by Mr. Howard Pixton. Samuel White, of Cowes, had produced the Wight sea plane, designed "by Mr. Howard Wright. Generally speaking, the floats of these early seaplanes were mere flat boxes of wood, with the bottom curved upwards in front and the deck curved downwards at the stern. There were no steps, and the floats were usually so short that -.a, third float, placed under the tail, was used for prevent ing the machine turning over back wards. An exception was the Wight seaplane with 200 h.p. Salmson radial wafer-cooled engine driving a pusher airscrew. This machine had very long floats with .steps and no tail float. A. V. Roe had produced tractor sea planes, in fact an Avro machine was the first seaplane to get off the water in this country, but did not specialise "on the type as did some of the other firms, notably Short Brothers. The flying boat was just beginning to make its appearance. The Sopwith company had designed and built a so-called " Bat-boat" on which, in 1913, Mr. Harry Hawker won the Mortimer Singer Prize by making five flights from the land, alighting on the sea, taking off and alighting on the land again, the machine being an amphibian. The feature of the design was that the boat hull itself wt *, quite
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