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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0073.PDF
JANUARY 12, 1939 FLIGHT. 37 TOPICS of the DAY Mainly About Civil Flying—" Indicator's " Weekly Commentary ENTER THE STRATOLINER : A first view of the Boeing 307-s high-altitude transport which rejoices in the registered trade name of Stratoliner. The cabin will be equipped to maintain a pressure differential of 2| lb., and the machine will normally cruise at 16,000ft. with 33 passengers. The first three Stratoliners will probably be delivered to Pan-American Airways, and one example may be developed for transatlantic work. Transcontinental and Western Air are interested in the machine. The engines are Wright Cyclones driving Curtiss fully feathering electrically variable airscrews. The Atlantic Again I F it were not for the immense incidental importance of Atlantic experiments one might almost say that this time of the year was the perennial silly season for optimistic statements. Usually the excitement occurs rather later, but this year a somewhat early statement has been forced (by criticism in one of our leading newspapers) from the Air Ministry, and everybody is, consequently, on tip-toes to see the daily 9.22 airliner leave Foynes for Botwood and New York. Those with money to burn and a passion for new things are imagined to be queueing up for passenger berths on the giant Atlantic air boats. Actually, 1939 is merely another year of continued experi ments. Mails will undoubtedly be carried, and the ser vices will, as far as possible, be operated to a weekly schedule, the date of departure from each side depending, however, entirely on the state of the weather and opinions of the meteorological experts from day to day. Atlantic flying is still something of an adventure, and it is ridiculous to talk of real scheduled services when our own experience, for instance, amounts to only twelve crossings by three picked pilots. America has only made six crossings, though Pan-American pilots have had a very fair experience of long-distance over-water navigation while operating the Pacific service to Manila and Hong Kong. Nevertheless, and without belittling this experience, one of the P.A.A. Pacific flying-boats was lost completely and without trace last year in the North Pacific, and another, almost without trace, in the South Pacific while making an experimental trip to New Zealand. We certainly cannot afford to lose good pilots, navi gators and radio operators at that rate—or for that matter machines, mail and, least of all, trusting passengers. Even for us, Capt. Powell's last trip to Newfoundland in 1937 might very easily have ended in disaster since, I believe, radio contact was lost and only by good D/R navigation and luck did he hit the southernmost point of Newfoundland in weather which was far from good. If that sort of thing happens with a picked crew and in the summer, when the weather conditions may be expected to be at their best, it is optimistic yet to talk of passenger services, or even of regular mail transport. Real Value FOR some reason or other the idea of clockwork passeijger * and mail services across the Atlantic has always cap tured the febrile imagination of the populace. Certainly, the ability to operate such a service with regularity would finally prove the stability and usefulness of air transport, and nowadays the Atlantic has a particular fascination because it forms the last gap in regular round-the-world flying. Until the loss of the airship Hindenburg it was actually possible to make this circular trip—though why anybody should want to fly from New York to San Fran cisco via India and the Philippines is something of a mystery. Possibly, if I had the money, I might want to do it myself. The real and generally overlooked value of Atlantic experiments is in the development of bigger, better and faster machines with an economic range. Without the fillip given by expansively energetic international competi tion over the oceans, the development of long-range flying-boats and landplanes would be definitely slower. The fact, too, that no ordinary aeroplane can be made to take off with the sort of load necessary to fly nearly 2,000 miles against a head wind of 40 m.p.h. or more while carrying a payload other than the commander's toothbrush, has meant that designers have had to think hard of ways and means by which a grossly overloaded machine can be got into the air. Hence the composite aircraft, the catapult, and the refuelling experiments. Take-off Aids THE composite idea has proved its worth, but the Mercury-Maia duet is still but an interesting experi ment, and the real value of the system will only be seen when time and money have produced two units designed specifically for the job in hand. It is generally understood, though no official statements have been made on the sub ject, that a new version is in progress of design or con struction, utilising a modified A.W. Ensign as the mother- ship. The trouble with the system is that it is always the smaller machine which is being sent off, while the real problem to-day is to get very large machines into the air. Presumably, the final developments will give designers a chance to produce something fabulous in the way of flying-ships. With five years' experience on the South Atlantic mail run and some three years of fairly extensive work over the North Atlantic, D.L.H. have probably brought the cata pult idea to a state of almost final perfection. But until somebody develops a catapult in which the accelerations are no greater than those experienced during a normal take-off with v.p. airscrews, the system cannot decently be used with passengers. \Cont. oi>erleaf
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