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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1126.PDF
APRIL 20, 1939 FLIGHT. 395 THE NEW SPEED RECORD How the HeinkeUs 463.9 tn.p.h. was Established and Timed The pilot, Dieterle, was promoted to Flight Captain on breaking the record. F 1URTHER details have now become available concerning the world's speed record established by the German pilot Dieterle on March 30, x939> to which reference was made in Flight of April. 6. Of the machine, the constructors (Ernst Heinkel Flug- zeugwerke, Rostock) say that it was "a landplane which took off from and alighted on an aerodrome measuring 1,000 m. in length and 1,000 m. in width; the record machine is no racer, but a fighter available for the German Luftwaffe; no special engine was con structed, but a normal Daimler-Benz DB 601 was used." Exactly how much reliance to place on this claim is diffi cult to decide.- Certainly a newsreel shows the machine equipped with its aerial mast and wire, and with Service markings. On the other hand, some snapshots received from Germany, and apparently taken on the day of the record, show a machine without an aerial mast. It is difficult to believe that a machine attacking the world's speed record would be anything approaching a standard fighter. Again quoting the manufacturers, the record machine was a direct descendant "of the He.70, the He.in, the He.112 and the fighter type He.112 U." On the last named General Udet established a speed of 635 km./h. (394.6 m.p.h.) over a 100-km. course. This is how the Heinkel people describe the evolution of the record-breaking machine: " By further refinement of the aerodynamic form, and by improvements in the V.D.M. airscrew, we succeeded in materially increasing the performance without increasing the power of the engine." By the beginning of March the machine was in readiness at the Heinkel aerodrome at Oranienburg, near Berlin, but weather conditions were unfavourable and would have interfered with the accuracy of the timing. On the morning of March 30 the weather cleared and preparations were made for the record attempt. The F.A.I, regulations stipulate that for speed record purposes the flight must be made over a course 3 km. (1.86 miles) long This is the distance over which the machine is timed, and while traversing it the aircraft must not exceed a height of 75 m. (264ft.). Before entering the 3,000 m. course the machine must pass through an approach 500 m. (1,640ft.) long, on which also the height must not exceed 75 m. The timing is done in two flights in each direction and the average speed of the four runs taken. While turning at the end of each run the pilot may fly as wide as he likes, i.e., any radius of turn may be used, but the machine must not at any time during the turn exceed a height of 400 m. (1,312ft.). Other aircraft flying at exactly 400 m. are used for checking that this stipula tion is observed. On the day of the record flight the preparations were completed by 5.15 p.m. and the aeroplanes carrying the official observers went up. Dieterle took off at 5.23 p.m. After completing his two runs in each direction he made a perfect landing 14 minutes after the start. Although the official speeds of the runs could obviously hot have been known to him, he must have been certain that he had beaten the record, for on leaving the machine he turned three hand springs in the exuberance of his youth (he is only 24). When the speeds had been worked out it was found that the average was 746.66 km./h. (463.953 m p.h.) The machine CameraE A Camera B r. 1*1 S H jL : Comparison B A /(/SOOrhsec. Markings Istc. Markings by Chronometer On the left are shown the film and oscillographs Strips and the method by which the time is read off against the image of the machine. On the right is a diagrammatic representation of the Askania timing system. The distance between the posts is not, of course, to scale.
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