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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0406.PDF
15° FLIGHT. FEBRUARY 16, 1939 THE OUTLOOK (CONTINUED) whole outlook on the subjsct is wider, more "prac tical" and somehow less "academic" than in this country. And the reports and notes of the N.A.C.A. are issued quickly—and at a price which everyone can afford. In this country the reports are mostly out of date when they are published, and then they seem to be regarded as worth their weight in gold, the prices charged being quite ridiculously high. Why-that should be so we have never been able to understand, especially when it is remembered that those excellent Air Ministry handbooks on aero engines are sold at a very low price. American Equipment W E cannot give here a list of American research equipment, but just as an example of its com pleteness may be quoted the wind tunnels which the laboratories oi the N.A.C.A. control. There is an 8ft. 500 m.p.h. wind tunnel; the full-scale wind tunnel with a throat measuring 60ft. by 30ft.; a 20ft. airscrew tunnel; a 5ft. variable-density tunnel; a 7ft. by 10ft. tunnel; a 4ft. by 6ft. vertical tunnel; a 15ft. free-spin ning tunnel; and two high-velocity jet-type wind tunnels of 11 in. and 24m. throat diameters respectively. The N.A.C.A. has recently had constructed three new pieces of research equipment: A 19ft. pressure wind tunnel which will permit the investigation of large models under almost free-flight conditions; a refrigerated tunnel for investigating ice formation, and a free-flight wind tunnel, 12ft. in diameter, for studying stability and control characteristics of aeroplanes. In addition to these wind tunnels the sub-committee on aircraft structures has recommended, and the main committee has approved, that a laboratory for research on aircraft structures should be provided. In this country we rely on the work done by a small section of the R.A.E. and at some of the universities for this sort of research. It would be well if research—scientific and practical—at home could be given more support than it is at present receiving. In addition to the problems of the immediate future, and they are many and varied, there is a great need for long-range research, upon which it will lafgely depend whether, in five or ten years' time, we are ahead of or behind other nations in the quality of our aircraft. owards an Ideal R ECENT reports from America paint in glowing terms a new process said to have been invented by Col. Virginius Clark (of Clark Y wing section fame) by which aeroplane fuselages and wings can, it is claimed, be built of plastic materials in two hours by nine men. One need not take the reports too literally, as the evidence was given before the Monopoly Investi gating Committee, and it was the patent phase which was being investigated. There is little doubt that Col. Clark, and his associates of the Bakelite Corporation and the Haskelite Manufacturing Corporation, have evolved a method of production which is rapid and cheap. Exactly how rapid and how cheap time will show. In the meantime it is well to remember that we are not standing still in this country. Dr. Norman de Bruyne has been doing excellent work on plasties at Duxford, and the Airscrew Company of Weybridge is doing some very interesting and promising experimental development work with reinforced wood. Last September we published an article in Flight describing a new process for impregnating and improv ing wood, developed by Moulded Components (Jablo), Ltd., and since then hollow wooden airscrew blades have been manufactured of laminated impregnated and compressed wood. In many ways this is an even greater achievement than making a fuselage or a wing, because the stresses imposed by centrifugal force are far greater than any encountered in the structure of the fuselage or wing. Allied to but different from the problem of airscrews is that of rotor blades for gyroplanes. In this particular field Great Britain may be said to be well ahead, as rotor blades made of impregnated and compressed wood have been flying for some months and have given complete satisfaction. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that when we come to make engines of 2,000 h.p. or more, the only way in which we can use them practically will be by fitting to them airscrews of a material which not only will have good weathering qualities, but which is graded in density so that the strength is everywhere proportional to the local stresses. The hollow compressed and im pregnated airscrew blade seems to have these qualities, and manufacture is certainly no very difficult matter. For fuselages and wings the density need not be so great, and consequently the pressures required can be a good deal smaller, a fact which will facilitate manu facture. There is no fundamental reason why a complete aeroplane should not be built in accordance with this system. If the fuselage is made of symmetrical cross- section, the number of dies required for the quadrants is not great, nor are the total areas to be pressed, so that presses of relatively modest dimensions would suffice. Forthcoming Events Thurs., 16th. Fri. 17th. Sat., Tues., Thurs. 18th. 21st. , 23rd. Fri., 24th. FEBRUARY. R.Ae.S. Lecture* : " Ignition Problems," by Dr. G. E. Bairsto, M.I.E.E., F.Inst.P. Manchester Civil Air Guards : Dance, Sale Lido. R.Ae.S. Portsmouth Branch Lecture : " Steel Tubes lor Aircraft," by Walter Hackett. Cinque Ports Flying Club : Annual Dinner and Dance, Majestic Garden Hotel, Folkestone. Rugby : R.A.F. v. Royal Navy at Twickenham. R.Ae.S. Lecture : " Duct Design," by Mr. G. N. Patterson, Ph.D., A.F.R.Ae.S. R.Ae.S. Portsmouth Branch Lecture : " Vari able-pitch Airscrews," by F. C. Lynam, A.F.R.Ae.S., A.F.I.Ae.S. York and Leeming Flying Club : Annual Ball, Harrogate. D.H. Technical School : Annual Ball, Hyde Park Hotel, Knightsbridge, 9 p.m. Tues., 28th. Thurs., 2nd. Tues., 14th. Thurs., 16th. Thurs., 20th. Hampshire Aeroplane Club: Annual Dinner and Dance, South Western Hotel, Southampton. R.Ae.S. Isle of Wight Branch Lecture : " Manu facture of Steel Alloys," by J. G. Hopcraft, M.C., A.M.I.Ae.E. MARCH Lysander in and R.Ae.S. Yeovil Branch Lecture : India," by F. W. Burnard. R.Ae.S. Lecture* : " Testing Stability Control," by Ing. A. G. von Baumhauer. R.Ae.S. Belfast Branch : Film on Steel Making, with commentary by J. G. Hopcraft, M.C., A.M.I.Ae.E. R.Ae.S. Lecture* : " Relative Merits of Car buretters and Direct Petrol Injection," by J. E. Ellor.F.R.Ae.S., and F. M. Owner, F.R.Ae.A. APRIL. R.Ae.S. Lecture* : " Possible Steel Develop ments," by Dr. T. Swlnden, F.R.Ae.S. AU these lectures take place at 6.30 p.m. at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate, London, S.W.I.
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