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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0942.PDF
MARCH 30, 1939 FLIGHT. 3I7 Commercial Aviation THE "CAVALIER" REPORT UNUSUALLY soon after the event the report of the Air Ministry's chief inspector of accidents, Wing Cdr. Vernon S. Brown, on the loss of the Imperial Airways boat Cavalier on January 21, was issued last week. No very new facts emerged during the enquiry, but both the crew and the operating company were freed from any attribution of blame,"and the accident seems to have been the result of an unfortunate sequence of events which are not likely to occur again. • • It may be remembered that Cavalier sank after a forced descent some 285 miles south-east of Port Washington, Long Island, and that two of the eight passengers and one of the crew of five lost their lives. The fact of the descent was en tirely due to complete loss of power in the case of the two inner engines and partial loss of power in the outboard engines owing to carburetter icing trouble. The sea conditions were such that a safe landing was impossible and, as a result of damage to the hull, the machine sank in about fifteen minutes after breaking in half. All the British regulations were com plied with. Evidence was taken from the surviving members of the crew and from all the ground and operating personnel concerned, while as many as possible of the surviving passen gers were also questioned. It was found that the local weather conditions and the fore casts fully justified the decision of the pilot, Capt. M. R. Alder- son, to carry out the flight according to schedule and Cavalier took off at 10.38 a.m. About two hours later the captain decided to climb through a high cumulus cloud. Immediately after entering this cloud the radio operator experienced severe static. He duly earthed the aerial, finally wound it in, and, because of the exceptional severity of the static, he was even tually compelled also to earth the fixed aerial. Before doing so he sent a message to Port Washington saying " running into bad weather. May have to earth." In his comments, the chief inspector explains that this message was reported in the Press as, "May have to land," and Capt. Alderson was unfairly criticised for complacency in continuing on his course for forty-nine minutes after the trouble had first been ex perienced. Actually, the machine had been in the cloud for ten minutes befoi • the engine power began to drop. He turned back towards Port Washington, hoping to regain a clear patch and thus cruise in more favourable conditions, but found that too much height had been lost to regain this patch and turned back on to his original course. If he had not done so the chances of rescue would have been reduced and, in any case, the water Test D/F THE difficulties experienced in test-flying really fast military machines, particularly in variable weather conditions, are shown by the fact that a special D/F station is to be installed at Southampton Airport to help Ft. Lt. Pickering and F/O. Quill in their work with the Supermarine Spitfires. Single-seater fighters are normally fitted with two-way short wave equipment, and the new D/F station is specially designed with a waveband and aerial system for use in conjunction with this. Fighters' radio equipment is not usually installed until after delivery to the squadrons, but in this case the sets will be installed during assembly, so that not only will the test pilots have the benefits to be obtained from its use, but also the Service pilots who are taking delivery of the machines. The First Crossing "THE Pan-American Boeing 314, Yankee Clipper, left Balti- -•- more at 2.34 p.m. on March 26 on the first stage of the machine's initial Atlantic crossing. A few minutes less than five hours later the crew reported that the boat had covered 733 miles (showing an average of 146 m.p.h.), and Horta, in the Azores (2,448 miles from Baltimore) was reached at about midday on March 27, after a flight of 17 hr. 37 min. (140 m.p.h.). The machine was due to leave for Lisbon, Marseilles, Southampton, and Foynes on March 28. In all there were twenty-one people on board, and the take off was apparently made in about thirty seconds without any difficulty from calm water. The flight is to be completed at the commander's discretion, according to circumstances and weather conditions. In charge of the machine is Capt. Harold Gray, who will be remembered as the chief pilot of the S.42B. used for Pan-American Airways' Atlantic experimental flights in 1937, and he has eleven operating members of the crew with him. As Government observers there are three officers temperature fell by approximately ten degrees for every hun dred miles nearer New York, and the possibility that any of the passengers or crew might survive the exposure would be progressively less. The report goes on to describe the period after the crash and before the rescue, by the tanker Esso Bay town, some ten hours later. There were twenty-two seat-type and six crew- type preservers on board and, owing to the. "unprecedented train of circumstances," it was only possible to make use of eight of them, four of each type! There was, nevertheless, sufficient flotation gear for everyone. Among the recommendations of the investigating Board were: That the system of throttle and mixture control used must have aggravated the trouble caused by icing and should be studied in the light of this criticism. That flying-boats of this class should be modified so as to give the crew more adequate control of the air temperature, and that for emergency conditions an additional supply of heat should be provided to raise the temperature of the incoming air before it reaches the carburetter jets; as a necessary adjunct, a carburetter or tem perature indicator is essential. Lastly, that passengers should be strapped in their seats at the take-off and landing. One of the passengers who lost his life was severely injured during the landing when he stood up. Previous to the arrival of Wing Cdr. Brown in New York, Group Capt. G. C. Pirie, the Air Attache to the British Embassy' in Washington, had assembled a Board of Enquiry consisting of Sqn. Ldr. J. R. Addams (Air Ministry representative with the Lockheed and North American companies) and Sqn. Ldr. A. Ferrier (of the Royal Canadian Air Force and chief aero nautical engineer of the Civil Aviation Division of the Canadian Department of Commerce). With the Board were two obser vers from the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Authority. After his arrival the chief inspector reviewed the circumstances in con sultation with the Board and interviewed the captain and other members of the crew. In a statement on the report by Imperial Airways, the com-, pany, generally speaking, agrees with the findings and recom mendations. They point out that the weather conditions were particularly bad and that they were, in fact, worse than any experienced during the previous eighteen months of operation on this route. The precautions against carburetter icing, con sisting of three separate heating devices, were incapable of overcoming the exceptionally severe conditions. The company are undertaking research into the problems involved, and the results now obtained indicate that a solution will soon be found to meet such abnormal conditions. of the armed forces and three officials of, the Civil Aeronautics Authority. The other passengers are Mr. J. H. Schildhauer, the operations manager of the Atlantic division of P.A.A. ; Mr. E. Duff, of the Boeing Company; and Mr. A. B. Gaylord, representing the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, the manufacturers of the two-row 1,500 h.p. Cyclones, four of which are fitted. Rapid Refuelling MODERN air transport and Service needs demand not only mobility but large capacity and quick delivery in re fuelling equipment, and the latest thousand-gallon airport service tanker used by Intava is an interesting example of such equipment This tanker can, if necessary, deliver, fuel at the rate of 70 gallons a minute, though, normally, each of the three pumps discharges at a maximum rate of 30 gallons a minute. One of the more unusual features of this vehicle is that the pump drive is made directly from the rear of the power bogie, which is directly below the pump chamber; the neces sity for obtaining a drive from the normal gear box at the forward end of the chassis is, therefore, avoided. The three pumps are driven by silent chains and controlled by a positive clutch operated from the cab. Each of the pumps is of the radial-piston type, with the four pistons operated by a central eccentric while the cylinders are rotated. Thirty feet of hose is available for each pump, and this length is wound in each case on to an automatically operated drum which draws the hose back after use. Consequently, no trouble is caused through lengths of hose lying untidily about the place. As much hose as is required, and no more.ts hauled out by the operator. On the port side of the tanker are hand-pumps and meters for lubricating oil, of which two grades are normally carried, while a power-driven air compressor is provided for dealing with aircraft tyres.
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