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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1314.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD •• FOUNDED 1909 Editor G M. P0UIJ5EN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, Sf .1 Telegrams : Traditur, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (50 lines). 8-10, CORPORATION ST., COVENTRY. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 5210. GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST., BIRMINGHAM, 2. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 2071 (5 lines). 260, DEANSGATB, MANCHESTER, 3. Telegrams: Iliffe, Manchester. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. 26B, RENFIELD ST.. GLASGOW, (J.2. Te!es;rams: Iliffe, Glasgow Telephone: Central 4857. SUBSCRIPTION RATES; Home and Canada: Other Countries: Year. Year, £1 13 0. £1 16 0. G months. 16a. 6d. 0 months. 18s. Od. 3 months, Ss. 6d. 3 months, 9s. Od. No. 1584. Vol. XXXV. MAY 4, 1939. Thursdays, Price The Outlooks More Atlantic Difficulties O UR Editorial remarks in last week's issue have drawn from Sir Alan Cobham a long letter, which is published on our Correspondence page (p. 450). Sir Alan has slightly misunderstood our intentions with that Leader. He is, if we may so express it, thinking only of the tanker's end of the problem. We had in mind the fact that it takes two aircraft to make a refuel ling, just as it takes two men to make a fight, and for the purpose of judging the problems of refuelling as a system it does not much matter at which end of the pipe line the difficulties arise. Sir Alan Cobham, in his letter, stresses the fact that he is ready to refuel anyone anywhere. We do not doubt it. But he will scarcely deny that there have been snags. We hear different stories or, rather, different ver sions of the. same story. One has it that when a flying boat is being refuelled one of the tanks will fill up before the others and petrol pours out through the vent; accord ing to the other, the trouble has apparently been that when the tank is full the petrol overflows into the jetti son system. We do not know which is the correct ver sion, nor does it matter very much for the purpose of the argument that there are still teething troubles to be over come before refuelling is a practical proposition. One cannot contemplate with equanimity petrol flowing about on or in the aircraft which is being refuelled. Without a doubt these troubles will be overcome, but in the meantime there does appear to be a possibility that the Atlantic flights may not be able to start on the schedule date. That depends upon how soon things can be put right. More than a year ago Flight, in a review of all the possible forms of assisted take-off, expressed the opinion that the future would probably show that there was room for all. That view we still hold. But we equally believe that detail problems still remain to be solved in refuelling, as in any of the other systems. The Larger Questions P ROBLEMS like the even filling of tanks during re fuelling, and the prevention of loose petrol flowing over a machine, are matters of detail. They will be solved in time, without a doubt. But what we have to do now is to look a little farther ahead and try to visualise how the future is likely to shape. Flight has for very many years held and expressed the view that on our long air routes mails and passengers should be segregated. That need is now more urgent than ever. It is common knowledge that on most of their trips the Empire boats carry only a few passengers, the rest of the disposable load being taken up by mails. That is unsatisfactory in two ways: It deprives potential pas sengers on the Empire routes of the advantages which air travel has to offer, and it means carrying mails in aircraft with hulls which are unnecessarily large and which, therefore, offer avoidable air drag. To us it seems that the obvious solution is to take the mails away from the Empire boats, leaving these free for their legitimate function of carrying passengers, and to entrust the mails to much smaller, but very much faster, mail-carrying aeroplanes. One of the great desiderata of any mail service is its frequency. For a given quantity to be transported that means smaller aircraft leaving at more frequent intervals. To get really high speed, very high wing loading will be necessary, although the fact that a machine was designed for carrying a very concentrated load, such as that pro vided by mails, would in itself enable the designer to provide extra efficiency and higher speed. Surely the time has come when we should be think ing of air mails in terms of route speeds of the order of 250 m.p.h. If it is found necessary, in order to attain this, to use some form of assisted take-off, then let us by all means do so, and let us use that form which is (Continued on p. 440, after the special drawing of ifie H. P. Hampden ovzrleaf.)
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