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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0955.PDF
APRIL 7, 1938. FLIGHT. 335 CIVIL FORMATION : A pleasant impression of three of the new Percival Q.6 monoplanes, specially " posed " by their pilots forFlight's photographer. The nearest, which is painted flame and yellow, is for King Ghazi; next is the demonstrator ; and third is Sir Philip Sassoon's. The Q.6 is a feeder-line, charter or luxury private-owner type, and is fitted with the Gipsy Six Series II. year. Again, it is only in the normal course of events that some of them should rise to the rank of Squadron Leader and be given the command of squadrons. Of course, they are not eligible for employment in any but army co-operation squadrons. It would be an improvement if the military rank of these officers were to be shown in brackets in the lists of squadrons in the Air Force List, as is done in the case of naval officers of Fleet Air Arm squadrons. The Army rank of the officers is only shown in the gradation list, and it would make the Air Force List more convenient if it were shown in both places. Perhaps it was this arrange- ment which confused Mr. Perkins. To Strat or Not to Strat ?W HATEVER the conclusions that will be arrived at as a result of experience, the American experi- ments with " stratoliners," described elsewhere in this issue, are of great interest on this side of the Atlantic also. The new Boeings represent a compromise between what is immediately attainable without too much trouble and the ultimate gain which may be attained some day, when the technique is more developed. Estimates from the Boeing engineers indicate that, on the score of performance only, the " Stratoliner " may or may not be worth while. Apparently the fully supercharged version is expected to cruise at 240 m.p.h. at 20,000ft., compared with the 215 m.p.h. of the moderately super- charged machine at 10,000ft. on the same power. The gain of 25 m.p.h. is worth having, certainly, but it may well be nullified by the increased strength of the headwinds at the greater height. With a tail wind the gain is, of course, well worth having. It would appear that the greatest benefit is likely to come not so much from performance but from passenger comfort. Over=RumblingQ UITE apart from the fact that the modern design of transport aeroplanes makes at least a partially motored approach quite inevitable, the airline com- panies also feel that passengers are very much happier if the pilot keeps his throttles open until the machine has crossed the aerodrome boundary, or is, in fact, on the point of landing. Nevertheless, this much-discussed " rumble " technique seems to be overdone to an almost dangerous degree by the majority of transport pilots. It is all very well and comforting to be brought in with a shade of motor, but it is quite a different matter when the machine is allowed to descend almost to the chimney- pots about half a mile from the aerodrome and is then Hown level on about half-throttle for the rest of the distance. Such tactics cannot possibly be necessary with any machine, and are certainly more frightening to the inex- perienced passenger than even the steepest approach. Much of it is plainly the result of poor judgment or simple laziness, and the fact that the pilots of at least one Continental company usually manage to bring their unrlapped machines in all the way through a half-circuit of the aerodrome without touching the throttle shows that such an approach can be made. We are not mini- mising the difficulty of judging an approach with a modern machine, or forgetting that a little engine is often neces- sary in order to retain full and efficient control, but the rumbling technique should involve a gradually and pro- gressively reduced throttle opening, and not either a some- what wild series of bursts or a powerful burst for the last ten or fifteen seconds while the undercarriage drags along the housetops. It would be more than unfortunate if any of the exponents of the level-flight-at-zero-altitude approach so much as touches one of these urban obstructions. In such circumstances everything would be set for a parti- cularly grisly accident.
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