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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 1184.PDF
FLIGHT. APRIL 28, 1938. Two new. types for Air France : (Top) The Bloch 220 and, below, thetrimotor Dewoitine D.338. gone far toward restoring some of the valuable prestige Great Britain has unfortunately lost in the production of civil aircraft. Incidentally, the more powerful Bristol Britain First with 1,700 h.p., although justly described as the fastest civil aeroplane in the world (the top speed being just over 280 m.p.h.), could hardly be regarded as a commercial proposition except for specialised duties. The success of the economical D.H. 86 four-engined biplane has been most encouraging. De Havillands have announced no replacement type in this class, but the Potez concern has just completed a low-wing monoplane The characteristic silhouette of the Heinkel He.ill . „ . of Lufthansa. :,--;:::: with four 220 h.p. supercharged Renaults. A cruising speed of 186 m.p.h. is estimated. Cal- culations have been made for a strengthened version with four of the new 700 h.p. Gnome Rhone Mi 4 engines. These compact radials are expected to confer a cruising speed of 248 m.p.h. A comparable type is the four-engined Heinkel He. 116 of the type which it is intended to use for transatlantic mail carrying. This machine is about as fast as the lower-powered Potez, and has four 240 h.p. Hirth inverted vee-eights. For the sake of simplicity we may delineate the next category to be considered as main-line types carrying 15 to 30 passengers. It is in this group that some of the most distinct technical advances have been made in recent times. The race for efficiency was really started by the Douglas D.C.I and the Boeing 247 which, incorporating " all modern conveniences," turned quite topsy-turvy many preconceived notions about commercial flying. Emphasis was on speed, though silence and comfort, particularly in a larger Douglas, were of an outstandingly high order. In spite of the encroachments of Douglas D.C.2S (14 passengers) and DC.3s (21 pas- sengers) there has still been a very pronounced demand for something with a rather higher safety factor provided by three engines, at the expense of some aerodynamic efficiency. A fixed undercarriage was also countenanced. The best examples of machines of this sort are, of course, One of the fastest commercial machines in the world is the264 m.p.h. Savoia Marchetti S.83 with Alfa-built Pegasus engines. I- \
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