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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 1863.PDF
JUNE 30, 1938. FLIGHT. 639 COMMERCIAL AVIATION IN SERVICE : The first of D.L.H.'s new Focke-Wulf Condors puts in an appearance at Croydon afler teing brought over on the normal morning service from Berlin. Obviously the airport residents do not often have a chance of seeing something really new; they are still waiting for the first Ensign—though this should be putting in an appearance any day now. A CONDOR AT CROYDON Impression of D.L.H.'s New High-speed Transport : Berlin's New Terminal AFTER a large number of years of good serviceD.L.H.'s Junkers JU.52S are to be supplemented,^ but by no means replaced, by a larger, more com- fortable, and very much faster machine. This is the Focke-Wulf 200, or Condor, and D.L.H.'s second ex- ample was brought over to Croydon last Saturday for the first time. By way of a start, half a dozen of these machines are being built with the old type of B.M.W. Hornet engines and two- position v.p. airscrews, but next year a further batch will probably be put into service with the more powerful B.M.W. 132 Dc. engines and three-blade constant-speed airscrews. In due course the Condor will replace the JU.52S on the Berlin- London and other services on which a machine of this size and performance can be usefully worked. On Monday, to show its paces, another Condor was due to leave Berlin for a flight, with one stop at Athens in each direction, to Cairo and return; it was hoped that this two- way journey would be made in a good deal less than twenty- four hours. D.D.L., the Danish company, has ordered one, with the probability of two, and this should have been de- livered by now. • ; , - •'-• --• Comparisons Last Saturday we had • a chance of flying in this rather remarkable machine between Berlin and London, and it must be admitted that from the passenger's point of view the Condor is a tremendous improvement on the Ju.52, which is, after all, almost a ten-year-old design. Not only is it quieter, but there is much more room, and its size permits the carriage of the buffet equipment which is such an important feature on non-stop services of considerable length, and services which, moreover, overlap in their schedules the more normal human feeding times. Previously no machines used by D.L.H. (except the almost defunct G.38) have carried either food or a steward to dispense it, and the fast one-stop Berlin- London service, which is operated jointly with K.L.M., cer- tainly justifies the slight loss of payload involved in such luxuries. Actually, stewardesses, the first to be employed by D.L.H., will be carried in the Condors. The importance of putting the machine on this particular service is all the greater because K.L.M. have been operating D.C.3S, which are jnore commodious and a good deal faster than the JU.52S. It is, perhaps, fair in this case, to compare the Condor with the D.C.3. "Decibelly" speaking, the two seem to be almost identical, and the only criticism which can be. directed against the Condor in this matter concerns the slight vibra- tion apparent in the front, or smoking, compartment, which is in line with the power units. This vibration is not in the least personally noticeable, but it causes cups and saucers tc walk gently up and down the tables. - In the matter of speed the Condor is undoubtedly superior. Even with its present engines, which may be considered in the light of temporary expedients, the Focke-Wulf has a cruising speed of 205 m.p.h. at 9,850ft., and with the new engines this figure will be increased to 230 m.p.h. On the section between Tempelhof (Berlin) and Schiphol (Amster- dam) the Condor covered the 583 km. in 2 hr. 22 min. from tarmac to tarmac, giving an average speed of 247 km/h. (153 m.p.h.). A glance at the weather report, handed to the pilot, Count Siegfried von Schack, before leaving Berlin, showed that the wind speed at reasonable operating heights was 60 km/h (37 m.p.h.), and its direction meant that it was almost directly against us. When allowance has been made foi this fact the actual cruising speed worked out at 190 m.p.h. This wind, incidentally, was rather less strong at ground level, and for the first ten minutes of the journey the pilot endea- voured to make the best of a bad job by flying fairly low; unfortunately, the bumps at 1,000ft. were such that he was eventually forced to climb up above the cloud layer to about 5,000ft., where the wind velocity was at least 40 m.p.h. To some extent the layout of the passenger accommodation is c cross between that of the Ju.52 and of the D.C.3. The fuselage forward of the main spar is partly partitioned-ofi to form a smoking compartment (Ju.52 fashion) for nine pas- sengers, while that aft of the spar accommodates seventeen passengers. The buffet department lies between the smoking compartment and the control and radio cabin. On the port side of the pantry is the baggage compartment. The seats are arranged in pairs on the port side (D.C.3 fashion) and in single seats on the star-board side. •••.•• The Condor was described -in Flight of December 23, but those ordered by D.L.H. have one or two interesting special features. For instance, they are fitted with an Askania auto- matic steering gear (or directional automatic pilot) for which the compass-operated unit lies just aft of the main spar. Additionally, • the production Condor has several standard features which are worthy of mention. The trimming tabs for the elevators, rudder and ailerons are electrically operated, that most often used, for the elevator, having its control switch in the form of a twist-grip on the left side of the first pilot's control spectacle. Not only does this device remove all the labour of fore and aft trim adjustment, but it also permits instant and easy adjustment during those periods on a long flight when it appears (at least to the pilot) that every single one of the passengers is walking up and down the gangway. The airscrew, shafts are fitted with brakes so that, in the case
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