FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1820.PDF
iG FLIGHT. JULY I, 1937. ENGINES An Alvis Pelides Major (1,000-1,050 h.p.) was shown with a " dish-pan " cowling. Cooling gills (not shown) form the rear end of the cowling. THE smallest engine to be seen in this year's " static " was the Aeroiica J.A.P., which gives 36-38 h.p. Finned oil sump and " Y "-shaped exhaust in corporating a hot-spot air intake are the characteristic features of this small hori zontal twin, which appears to be un changed. Making their first public appearance, the Alvis models, the Pelides and Alcides (which were recently described in detail in Flight) caused great interest. The Alcides is a very large two-row eighteen- cvlinder radial with full complement of accessories. Power figures give +he take off output as 1,700 h.p. for the uioder- ately supercharged version and 1,550 for the Major. The weight is 1,670 lb. Thus the Alcides is the first production engine to give more than one h.p. per pound weight. The rating of 1,650 h.p. is given at 5,000 ft. A moderately super charged two-row fourteen-cylinder model was also shown—the Pelides, which gives 1,000-1,050 h.p. at 5,000 ft. Alvis, Ltd., have recently laid down their own foun dry for casting cylinder heads, and samples of these most complicated cast- Hub of the new Fairey infinitely variable-pitch airscrew. It is hydraulically operated. ings weie exhibited. The Alcides is shortly going to be type-tested with two- speed supercharger. Armstrorig Siddeley Motors were repre sented in the large category by the Tiger VIII, a very modern two-row fourteen- cylinder' radial with a power rating of 810 at 14,000 ft. This is the first engine in production with a two-speed super charger. The seven-cylinder Cheetah X, which gives 340 h.p. at 7,100 ft., and the low-compressioned unsupercharged Chee tah VA, were also to be seen oh the stand. Internal details must be withheld, but a two-speed supercharger housing and wheelcase were shown as a separate exhibit for external examination. In the Cirrus engine section of Black burn Aircraft, Ltd., the four-cylinder, inverted in-line brothers Minor and Major were to be seen. The latest Major, we hear, has now flown for many hours powering training types. As impressive a Bristol display as one could wish for was made up of the Pegasus XVIII and the sleeve-valved Hercules, Perseus and Aquila. A first appearance of p Bristol two-speed super charged engine giving 800 h.p. at 15.500 ft.—the Pegasus XVIII—was in itself of great interest, while the new Perseus in duction system and location of acces sories with remote drive gear box were at once apparent. In a recent type test the moderately supercharged Perseus gave a rated output of 715-745 b.h.p. at 6,500 ft. at 2,400 r.p.m. Maximum power was 860-890 at 7,000 ft. The two- row Hercules, Bristol's largest is of 38.7 litres capacity and moderately supercharged gives 1.325-1.375 h-P- maximum and 1,150 normal h.p. at 5,000 ft. The Aquila displayed was the civil-rated version of the engine, which is at present undergoing intensive development. Every unit of the Gipsy Major II could be examined separately on the De Havilland stand, while a complete engine, its familiar lines having a speci ally refined look with v.p. airscrew equipment, was also shown. A com bined power figure of 125-140 h.p. is given officially for the modified unit, which weighs 5 lb. more than the Series 1 without its airscrew boss. Besides various sizes of airscrew a Series II Gipsy Six was also on view. A centre of interest was the Napier E.108 modified Dagger, with a raised and ribbed airscrew shaft and housing equipped for v.p. operation. The super charger is completely redesigned, and, although in this example it is shown with a single stage, it has dual induction intakes. Accessories are housed differ ently and the S.U. carburettor is of a new design. Napier engine parts were to be seen in a separate showcase. A cowled example of the Niagara V seven-cylinder radial could be examined en the Pobjoy stand, and separate crank shaft, connecting rod and reduction gear and drive assemblies showed the excel lent workmanship put into the moving parts of this little unit. The long, sleek lines of the Rolls- Royce Merlin F with Rotol v.p. airscrew equipment attracted many admiring onlookers to the stand, which also held a supercharged Kestrel XVI engine. This latest member of the long Kestrel range gives 690 h.p. at 11,000'ft., and is also available with v.p. airscrew equip ment, when the rating is 710 h.p. at 12,000 ft. The weight is 955 lb. for Kes trels XIV, XV and XVI, the only differ ence in which is reduction gear ratio. The large diameter of the Merlin super charger and the multiple accessories and controls always give rise to comment. LAST TUESDAY'S FLYING DISPLAY Mr. G. A. V. Tyson up, the Avro Anson general reconnaissance mono plane (two Cheetah IXs) set things mov ing with some steeply banked circuits of the aerodrome, following up with some plain and fancy diving and climbing. Having collected a few dozen knots in one dive past, Mr. Tyson eased the machine up into the smoothest and prettiest of loops, revealing a side of the Anson's character which is not familiar to everyone. The slow fly-past was well received. Throughout the Anson's de monstration the announcer proffered well-timed tit-bits of information about the machine and its characteristics. Continued on page 19.) The Hawker Hen ley's cockpit enclosure. In ternal bracing pro tects the pilot in the event of a nose- over.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
