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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1671.PDF
JUNE 24, 1937. FLIGHT. 625 -^ami^VAAy^,...,,,^ seat by means of a handle below the dash. When making steep turns in either direction Fit. Lt. Uwins used the trim ming wheel by way of relieving the load on the control column ; since this wheel is so conveniently placed and light in action there would be no hardship in so doing even if it was absolutely necessary. The rudder trim has a sufficiently wide range to allow the machine to be flown feet off with one engine not only throttled back but actually switched off. At something rather less than half the full operating height it is fairly useless to talk of A.S.I, readings, but at 7,000ft. the machine was still accelerating at 230 m.p.h., which, with altitude cor rection, works out at about 260 m.p.h. The official maxi mum speed at 15,000ft. is 280 m.p.h.—a figure which is probably pessimistic. At any rate, there was the pleasant knowledge that I was travelling faster in relation to the earth's surface than I had ever done in my life. The business of preparing for the approach is really very simple. After height has been suitably lost with the cowling gills almost closed, the hydraulic selector control is pushed downwards and the undercarriage valve plunger handle is pressed into the "down" position. A very- gentle shuddering, caused by the irregular airflow over the tail surfaces, disappears as soon as the flaps are lowered in their turn, and the glide then is as steep as one might expect, and the machine is under full control right down to the stall, which appears to be innocuous enough. The normal approach is made at an air speed of about yo m.p.h., and the aerodrome boundary is, if anything, under shot on principle, a burst of motor carrying the machine over the last hundred yards or so. In this case the landing was made with the brakes on Details of one of the undercarriage units showing, in broken lines, the position taken up by the struts and radius rods when the unit is in the half-re tracted position. fairly hard—the control is by a thumb lever extending on the right side of the spectacles in the normal Dunlop manner—and after a full three-pointer the tail merely floated momentarily since what little load there was lay rather far forward. With a full load it should be possible to land with the brakes hard on whenever the surface permits of such tactics. One day, when the possibility of war is no longer on the headlines, the design and production experience which has gone into the development of such types as the Blen heim will enable us to make cheaper, faster and better transport machines. SOME NEW BOOKS Down the Flare-Path, by D. H. Montgomery. John Hainil- .. ton, 6s. T O-DAY, nearly twenty years later, those who fought in the air war of 1914-1918 continue to exhume the past from brain and diary. Down the Flare-Path strikes a refreshingly new note. The author was a pilot in No. roi Squadron, and was engaged mainly on night bombing work in France in F.E.'s. His story of his nightly duties in all sorts of weather in those draughty little pushers, told simply, straightforwardly and with real insight, paints the grim but humour-lightened picture most convincingly. We particularly liked this cameo, one of many : — , Kneeling in his cockpit, which contained, by the way, no seat, ray, observer spread his map on the floor, studying it by the aid of a small pocket torch. Now there is, hinged and fastened to the side of an aerial Lewis gun a bag, designed to catch the ejected cartridge cases, and all unknown to Silvers this had become loose. Passing over the lines, German machine guns opened up, firing at us from below. Keeping his map on the floor with his left foot and right knee, my observer replied, firing downwards over the. right side -of .his cockpit. As the ground receded underneath us, he stood' up to get a better view, firing back under the wing, and from' that moment he forgot his map. It was at this point that the ejector bag slipped from his gun, and a stream of empty cartridge cases passed an inch above my head, beating a tattoo on the radiator and wires. Some passed out through the propeller which revolved behind. " What's that?" I yelled, and Silvers, who had silenced the German gunners with his remaining ammunition, saw at this moment his ejector bag flapping. His face came over the wind screen. " Did you get anv of 'em?" he shouted. Before I could reply his goggles, perched on his forehead, left his helmet and dis appeared like a flash over mv head and through the propeller. Then came the map! Nine square feet of canvas-lined paper! As it passed over his head Silvers made two wild grabs at it, but it eluded him With a shout of " Hold the stick for me a minute," 1 stood on my seat and looked back over the engine just in time to ^ee the- map become dislodged from the centre section cross- bracing wires and travel OH*to the brilliant red exhaust pipe. The now flaming mass of paper was just within reach, and in the terrific draught one push sent it through the propeller. The long-suffering blades had already withstood the onslaught of two dozen cartridge cases and a pair of goggles, and they s« allowed the burning map at a ?ulp By this time the machine had her nose in the air sidew.ivs, and I slid back to my position at the controls. Silvers held on tight to his one remaining possession, the machine gun! The book is illustrated with some extremely good black- and-white sketches by Stanley Orton Bradshaw. Clouds of Glory, by John Moore. Dent, js. 6d. H ERE we have a psychological study of the long-distance record-breaker's mentality—or more accurately, of the mental reactions of two record-breakers, a man and a girl, blessed (or cursed) with far more imagination than most of their kind Sponsored by a stunt-worshipping newspaper pro prietor (Mr. Moore draws the portrait perfectly), the two fly round the world in opposite directions, to be reunited for a front-page marriage. The records are broken, but the news paper's go-getting representative in Australia proves the last straw of the utterly weary hero and heroine; they flee in a tramp steamer—unmarried. The author (his dedication is '' To Dick Northway and G-ABER ") knows his aeroplanes. Signpost—An Independent Guide to Pleasant Ports of Call, by W. G. McMinnies. Simpkin Marshall, 3s. 6d. M AJOR McMlNNIES (who members of the Industry "ill recall as one-time publicity manager to Armstrong Sidde- leys), spends much time in motoring round Great Britain in search of these pleasant ports—hotels, restaurants, road- houses—and in this 340-page guide he tells us about his dis coveries. Everything is beautifully tabulated, and those caravanserais that cater for the flying visitor are clearly indi cated. But we still await the perfect guide-book that tells us which hotels not to call at. The Roadreader—The Easiest Road Map in the World. Ivor Nicholson and'Watson, js. bd. F OR the motorist who has no use for the wealth of topo graphical information given by the Ordnance Survey type of map—he who is too intent upon getting from x to y to be interested by such mundane things as contours—this map- book of England, Scotland and Wales should prove thoroughly handy. It is arranged on the patented Berquist easy refer ence system, by which the continuation of a route on to another page can be instantly followed. Aerodromes are indi cated, and there are throughway maps of large cities.
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