FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1201.PDF
MAY 6, 1937. FLIGHT. 440 One of the most popular commer cial aeroplanes of its day (1922) was the' De Havilland D.H.34 with Napier Lion engine In 1926 the De Havilland Company produced their first civil multiengined aeroplane, the type D.H.66 "Her cules." With three Bristol Jupiter engines this machine carried fourteen passengers at a cruising speed of no m.p.h., and with one engine stopped it could carry on at 95 m.p.h. The type gave very good service, and it is believed that one is still in use in South Africa. The next De Havilland multi-engined machine came along in 1932, and was designed specially to fulfil the requirements of the late Mr. Edward Hillman, whose aim was to bring airline travel within reach of the masses. Called the Dragon, it bore the series numbers D.H.84, and was a very remarkable aeroplane in that with two Gipsy Major engines of 130 h.p. each it carried up to eight pas sengers at about no m.p.h. cruising speed. The Dragon was, in its day, the most efficient small commercial aero plane built. In the D.H.86, or Express, the De Havilland Company produced their first four-engined commercial aeroplane. The type is now in extensive use, and nothing need be said about it, as it is well known in many parts of the world. The same remarks apply to the D.H.89, or Rapide, which may be described as a smaller twin-engined version of the D.H.86, or, alternatively, as an improved and faster Dragon. Of the very latest commercial D.H. type little may be disclosed at the moment. A photograph will be found on page 439, from which it will be seen that the D.H. Albatross might be described as a scaled-up "Comet" with four engines. No performance figures are available, and to speculate as the Press has been doing lately is rather futile. The first Handley Page commercial aeroplane was the W.8, built in 1919. At one time this machine held the world's height record with 14,000ft., carrying a load of 3,690 lb. With two Napier Lion engines of 450 h.p. each it was designed to carry 15 passengers. Entered in the competition for commercial aeroplanes organised by the Air Ministry in 1920, the W.8 received the first prize in the large class. The Handley Page W.io was a 14-passenger biplane with two Napier Lions, and had a cruising speed of about 100 m.p.h. It was generally similar to the W.8 and still showed traces of its ancestry common with that of the o / 400 night bomber. In the H.P.42 a complete breakaway from previous "lines" took place. The Hannibal, as the first of the class was called, is a biplane with a very unusual arrange ment of. its four Bristol Jupiter engines, two of which are placed outboard on the lower wings, while the other two are suspended, rather closer together, under the top centre- section. The 42 carries up to forty passengers in great comfort, the number depending upon the flying range used. It has served Imperial Airways well for many years, but, with its cruising speed of about 105 m.p.h., is getting a little too slow for modern times. The first large commercial aeroplane to be supplied by Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth to Imperial Airways was the Argosy type. Fitted with three Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar engines of 385 h.p. each, that machine had accom modation for twenty passengers, and it carried them at a cruising speed of about 95 m.p.h. It was in its day (1926) considered a very economical aircraft to operate, and gave excellent service. Compared with modern standards, its comfort was not of a high order, and the engine in the nose of the fuselage tended to increase the noise in the cabin. In 1931 was produced the Armstrong Whitworth. A.W.XV Atalanta. This machine is an all-metal high- wing monoplane powered by four Armstrong Siddeley Serval engines of 340 h.p. each, mounted in line along the leading edge of the monoplane wing. The machine was originally designed to carry nine passengers only, as it was intended to carry a very large mail load as well. Its cruis ing speed is 130 m.p.h., and machines of its class are still in use on certain routes of Imperial Airways. Now on order for Imperial Airways are a number of new landplanes of the A.W.27 or Ensign type. This will be a four-engined high-wing monoplane, driven by four Arm strong Siddeley Tiger engines of 800 h.p. each. Comfort able accommodation will be provided for twenty-seven pas sengers in the daytime and for twenty at night. The cruising speed will be about 160 m.p.h. With the exception of the Scylla class, a landplane con version of the Kent flying boat, all the types contributed The Handley Page W.8 of 1919 showed traces of its 0/400 parentage. The engines were RoHs-Royce Eagles of 350 h.p. each
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
