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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1217.PDF
MAY 6, 1937. FLIGHT. 457 Private Flyim ^M^?*®»3S^^(| *V.: * ^A^8^' ^1 AN OUTSTANDING VISITOR 77*e B.F.W. Taifun in England : Preparing Jor the Anglicised Version AS the type which took both second and fourth plac« /\ in the Oases Circuit—the general efficiency trial * * held during the meeting in Egypt a couple of months ago—the B.F.W. Me. 108 (Taifun) might be expected to exhibit some outstanding qualities. Last week a number of people at Croydon, Heston, Hatfield and Reading had a chance of examining this interesting German machine for the first time. In fact, however, this was not its first visit to England, since one was brought over for the Week-end Aerien last year. The Taifun, which is a stressed-skin, four-seater, low-wing cabin monoplane, has already been described in Flight, and it may.be remembered that A.F.N., Ltd., of Isleworth, makers of the Frazer-Nash and English B.M.W. cars, have obtained the agency for the machine over here. Mr. Aldington's idea is to offer a really outstanding aeroplane, at least by way of an experiment. Although the price in this country will be high—in the region of ^3,000—he has good reason to believe that a fair number of private owners will be prepared to spend that much money in order to have the pleasure of flying some thing which certainly has no complete counterpart, as yet, in this country. An all-metal machine which cruises at 162 m.p.h., yet lands at 45 m p.h., is easy to handle and is fully controllable at 50 m.p.h., deserves some attention. Last week's visit was concerned largely with a little '' measuring up '' by De Havillands for the Series II Gipsy Six and v.p. airscrew with which the English version will be fitted—the visiting machine had a 240 h.p. Argus AS 10-C inverted vee-eight engine—and with which the performance is expected to be even better. First Impressions The Taifun arrived at Croydon on Wednesday of last week, after flying non-stop from Frankfurt in about three hours (135 m.p.h.) against a 25 m.p.h. headwind, and on the fol lowing day I was given the opportunity of helping to find the way thence to Heston in visibility of the mile-or-less order, and, later, of discovering what the machine would really do. Herr O. H. Brindlinger, the B.F.W. chief test pilot, was fly ing the Taifun and the other passenger was Herr Waldemar von Perthes, a director of the company. Even on this short cross-country, during which I was much too occupied in pick ing up hazy landmarks as they were passed at 150 m.p.h. or so, it was possible to gain some idea of the machine's qualities. Once the engine is throttled back to cruising revolutions, for Instance, the cabin is extremely quiet, the noise being limited almost entirely to the inevitable airflow "flutter." The range of vision is good, and there is ample room in the four seats. A full-bore steep turn, made on arrival at Heston, showed something of the machine's control capacities. Later investigation proved, not only that the ailerons are light and powerful, but that keel surfaces and so forth are sufficiently nicely proportioned for turns up to the vertical to be possible by using the stick alone. In level flight it is perfectly stable How the two doors of the Taifun open to leave the entire cabin clear for entry and egress. (Flight photograph). and can be flown hands and feet off in reasonably smooth air. Most interesting of all are its flying qualities at low speeds with the. flaps down; these are of the straightforward type, and ai-e supplemented by "free" slots. In the normal ap proach at about 65 m.p.h. the glide is usefully steep, but the machine is under full control at an indicated 80 km.h. (50 m.p.h.) when the attitude is more nearly level and the sink quite pronounced. The speed of the touch-down is in the region of 70 km.h. (44 m.p.h.)—remarkably low for a machine with such a comparatively high cruising speed and giving a speed range of something better than 4 to 1. Several features in the control layout make for handling ease. The centrally disposed hydraulic pump lever for under carriage retraction, for instance, has a self-locking, twist-grip action for the change-over, and the operation demands some twenty light strokes. There is an indicator beside it and a hooter gives due notice if the throttle is closed before the undercarriage is fully down. The flaps are mechanically operated by means of a wheel on the pilot's left and the stabiliser wheel lies directly beside it, so that the two may be turned together during the approach. Incidentally, for the take-off the flaps are adjusted to be about ten or fifteen degrees down to obtain the best results. Finally, the arrangement of the cabin doors-cum-roof de serves special mention. Each door swings wide open towards the engine, leaving the entire cabin free for entry or exit, and there are quick-release levers permitting their complete dis integration in case a be-parachuted exit or an abnormally rapid ground departure is necessary H. A. T. The lines of the Me. 108 are well shown in this Flight photograph, taken at Reading—with P. and P. employees " seeing how.'
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