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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0781.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEERAND AIRSHIPS FIRST AERONAUTKAL~WEEKLY IN THE^VORLD , FOUNDED WOO Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET Telegrami: Traditur, Sedist, London. HERTFORD ST.,OOVENTKY. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry.Telephone: Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS.NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham.Telephone: Midland 2971. HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.I -Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (SO lines). 2«B, BBNPIELD ST.,GLASGOW, C.2. Telegrams: Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. 260, DEANHCiATB, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams: Iliffe, Manchester.Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. SUB8CEIPTI0NRATES: Home and Canada: Year, £1 13 0.Other Countries: Year, £1 15 0. 6 months, 16a. 6*1. 6 months, 18s. Od. 3 months, 8s. 6d.3 months, 9s. Od. No. 1526. Vol. XXXIII. 24, 1938. .;»-*•-. i "i' Thursdays, Price 66 The Outlooks King's Cup Air Race "/'_-: -•" AT long last the Royal Aero Club has announced the /-% date and general conditions for this year's race for <*• -*• the Cup presented by His Majesty the King. The date is July 2 (a Saturday) and the course is to be a short one based on Hatfield. From the time of the first King's Cup Race we have experimented. We have had short courses and we have had long -courses ; we have flown to handicap and without handicap; and we have, once, flown to a formula which enabled anyone who knew the performance of the machines to say beforehand who would be the winner, provided only that the engine did not fail. For some years now the race has been a two-day affair. Sometimes the first day's flying was a circuit of Britain without handicap, and the second day's a handicap race for the survivors around a relatively short course. Last year the whole race was a circuit of Britain, but the first day was an eliminating contest, and the survivors con- tinued the course next day in handicap order. Bearing in mind that the times in which we live make it unlikely that a great race to Australia, for instance, would meet with the necessary support, the Royal Aero Club has probably done the best thing possible by choosing a short -course (50-mile circuits) and making landing com- pulsory after every five laps. Machines will certainly be arriving and departing while others, whose turn to land has not yet come, are rounding the pylon on Hatfield aero- drome. Thus the spectacular side seems to have been catered for. It is, however, true to say that in flying there is no spectacle without risk. In this case the risk is that of collision. It may well happen that the wind is in such a direction that machines taking off and landing are cross- ing the track of those arriving, and the lanes will have to I* very carefully arranged if the risk of collision is to be kept within reasonable limits. If that is done the raceS , ^ provide an intrinsically thrilling spectacle which ,^,,..1 on danger for j s attraction so far as the public is concerned. ^Whatever may be the merits of this year's regulations, 'hey do have the advantage, compared with previous races, that the slower machines are not in a hopeless position from the very start, as was the case when the first day'sflying was unhandicapped. This year the slow machines are kept out by the much more logical process of not handi-capping at less than 140 m.p.h. This Issue •'I N the pages which, in this special issue, are devoted to British light aircraft types, there is food both for optimism and pessimism. Remembering that the air- craft industry, as a whole, is intent on the business of rearming, it is encouraging to find that so many different types are available and only depressing to realise that those firms which might and could produce just those machines which the private owner and club require are at least temporarily prevented from so doing. As the Cadman Committee pointed out, the problems of civil aircraft production and demand lie in a tight, vicious circle. Until owners and clubs show signs of demanding a reasonable number of machines no manufac- turer feels inclined to risk the cost of preparation for the production of a large batch; and until this preparation is made there can De no reduction in price. Nevertheless, the future of private flying waits largely on the courage of those firms with a cast-iron reputation. Some of the machines which are described are merely in prototype form, but production, on a small scale at least, can be expected in due course; and among them are one or two examples which show original ten- dencies. Another new type—from a well-known firm in this case—cannot yet be described. And yet another, pioneering all-metal stressed-skin construction in the small class, has had necessarily to be put on one side until financial considerations permit its manufacture. On the whole, however, there is little to grumble about. The private owner and the club have at least as wide a range from which to choose as they ever had. Showing the Flag AMONG the four elements in air transport which theCadman Committee considered it necessary toL associate and co-ordinate was mentioned '' the aircraft operator—giving practical effect to the Govern-
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