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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1319.PDF
MAY 20, 1937. FLIGHT. 493 The Outlooks A Running Commentary on Air Topics Thanh You for Little L AST week's announcement by British Airways to the effect that prospective passengers by their services to the Continent will in future be able to book in the normal way through the principal travel agents comes as good news to the initiated. To the ordinary member of the travelling public, however, such a statement must ap pear to be a very strange one. What are the travel agents for if not to book passengers by any route or service pre ferred by the traveller himself ? He is obtaining a '' gift " which, in fact, should already be his. For some considerable time, in and out of season, Flight has attacked this ridiculous anomaly wherein, British travel agents have not been able to book passengers on services operated by their own nationals. Constant dripping may or may not wear away a stone, but the amusing part about this affair is that the general public, whose servants the railway companies are supposed to be, have shown so little interest in their natural rights. Even as it is, however, the " gift" is an extremely small one. It is still apparently impossible to book on British Airways' own subsidiary internal routes or on the interna! and future external routes of any British company other than Imperial Airways, Railway Air Services and Jersey Airways. According to Schedule r HAT it is possible, in spite of the many difficulties which arise out of the R.A.F. expansion scheme, for an aircraft firm to be up to, or even slightly ahead of, schedule is indicated by an article in this issue dealing with the production of the Handley Page Harrow heavy bomber. Although the structural methods employed are totally different from those of early Handley Page machines there is probably significance in the fact that the Harrow has been designed and built by the firm which championed the large aeroplane in the early days, when it was held by most that the "cube law" would result in a large aeroplane being less efficient, from a structural point of view, than a small one. Mr. Handley Page's reply to that argument was that the larger size of components made possible a number of refinements which were impracticable in smaller machines, and that this fact more than out weighed the "cube law" obstacle. Mr. Handley Page must have been just as convincing a talker in those days as he is now, for he succeeded in con vincing the powers that be to the extent of getting an order for a large machine, which was built and flown some where in 1916, and from which grew the famous 0/400. In the Harrow the Handley Page company has im proved upon the original argument in that not only has a large machine been built which has a very good ratio of gross weight to tare weight, a ratio which Flight has for many years used as a figure of merit in relation to struc tural efficiency, but this ratio has been secured in spite of the employment of structural designs which place ease of production ahead of sheer strength-weight considerations. Unfortunately, actual figures may not be quoted at the moment, but the Harrows are leaving the factory in a steady stream, and are being delivered to R.A.F. Squadrons well on time. This seems to be the best possible vindication of the design policy followed in producing the type, especi ally as performance is well up to the standards expected in a machine of this class. Cheating the Atlantic D ICK MERRILL and Jack Lambie may be said to have double-crossed the Atlantic by leaving New York on Sunday, May 9, flying to London and returning to New York by May 14. Actually, the expression is fairly just, since it indicates cheating, and that is still what these spectacular nights amount to. The two airmen have won the just admiration of the world for their double dash across, and have shown that with a properly equipped aero plane, handled by a trained crew, the flight between New York and London, and vice versa, can be made in certain weather conditions. Apparently these conditions were none too good, but, on the other hand, it would be unwise to jump to the conclusion that the flight can always be made. Much experience will be needed before it is possible to say with certainty on how many days of the year the flight can be carried out. In the meantime it can be said that this was the first really bona fide charter flight across the Atlantic. Dick Merrill and his partner brought over films of the Hindeii* burg disaster, and they were to have taken films of the Coronation back to America. Owing to some hitch, the films were not, apparently, delivered to them in time for the return journey, and they had to be content with " stills," but, except for the fact that Merrill's revenue was probably sadly diminished as a result, this does not really affect the argument. There is, of course, a great deal of difference between such a charter flight and regular services which have to operate day in and day out all the year around. In the one case it is permissible to take chances ; in the other com plete safety must be aimed at, or at least safety comparable with other means of transport. Ad Astra 5 UBJECT to official homologation by the F.A.I., Italy has captured from us the world's altitude record established last year by Squadron-Leader Swain on a Bristol monoplane with Bristol Pegasus engine. It is to be expe'cted that the Bristol monoplane with Rolls-Royce engine will soop be put to the test, and technicians will watch with interest the information thus gained. There is a school of thought which holds that, for extremely great heights, the liquid-cooled engine scores over the air- cooled in that there is obviously a limit to the extent to which the fins of air-cooled cylinders can be increased, while the liquid-cooled engine can be given a radiator of any size within reason. The Italian record was established with a biplane fitted with a two-row radial air-cooled engine ; the British record was also established with an air-cooled, and the previous Italian record with a British air-cooled built under licence in Italy. Thus, from practical experience the air-cooled seems to have done most of the work so far, but that, of course, is not necessarily proof that the liquid-cooled cannot, when specially adapted to the purpose, do even better. In fact, we believe that some Italian authorities share this view, and that the use of an air-cooled in the last attempt was dictated by considerations of what was immediately available rather than by what may ultimately be evolved. Thus, there is quite a possibility that, should Great Britain succeed in beating Lt.-Col. Pezzi's record with a liquid-cooled, Italy may retaliate with a still later type of engine of this class. DIARY OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS—PAGE 500
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