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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1592.PDF
FLIGHT, May 25, 1939. Sir Alan Cobham's \ System Explained : \ 1,000 Gallons in Less Than 15 Minutes ~ • •••••••• . • •• ..• ••- •• • .. :: •.:•• : • ••., . FUELLING in the AIR By C. M. POULSEN (Illustrated with "Flight" photographs) THAT some form of assisted take-off will be universally employed for long-range aircraft in the future may now be taken for granted. To realise that this is so one has only to read the very able report written by Mr. Marcus Langley, in which he examines the effects of in creased wing loading on range and pay-load. We hope to deal with that report on another occasion. For the present it will suffice if we quote from it one rather astonishing conclusion: the difference in range and pay-load between an aircraft taking off under its own power with its full load of fuel and one fuelled after it has got into the air is the difference between Ireland-Newfoundland with no pay-load and Southampton-New York with a pay- load of 7,000 lb. The effect on the / s. d. of Atlantic operation is too obvious to require comment here. Accepting Mr. Langley's figures (and he gives chapter and verse for them in an appendix to the report), the obvious conclusion is that assisted take-off is bound to come. The question still remains to be settled which particular form of assisted take-off? As we have stated on several occasions, Flight believes there is room for all the three main groups—catapult, composite and fuelling in the air (which is only indirectly assisted take-off). It all depends upon the particular use and the particular conditions which form is most suitable. How It Has Developed Flight has previously dealt at considerable length with both catapulting and with the Short-Mayo Composite. And now it has become the turn of fuelling in the air. We prefer to use that expression in preference to '' refuel ling '' because—at present, anyway—it is intended to "top up" the tanks at the start of a flight, and not for replenishing them after a long flight has been completed. In so doing we may be slightly out of step with Sir Alan Cobham, who has called his company, "Flight Refuel ling Ltd.," but that is a risk we must take. Before describing the present system of fuelling in the air it may be of interest to recall briefly the steps by which Sir Alan Cobham has arrived at it. It all began with Sir Alan trying to analyse his feelings after many famous flights involving long " hops," such as England to South Africa, England to Australia, and so on. What," he said to himself, "is it that has caused me the most anxiety? " On thinking it over he came to From Harrow to A.W. XXIII : The combination of two views gives a good idea of fuelling in the air. The nozzle of the hose pipe is near-ing the cone in the tail of the A.W., drawn by the cable, whichis shownslight-ly thickened to make it discernible. By no means the whole length of hose had been reeled off when the picture was taken. the conclusion that the answer was another question: Have I got enough petrol to get there ? '' And the sleep less nights when worrying about the chances of getting off next morning with the big load of fuel on board for the next stage. Then the Americans—in the pole-squatting era—started the seemingly senseless stunt of fuelling in the air in order to see how long an aeroplane could be kept aloft. In that Sir Alan was not interested, but he was interested in the possibility which the system offered of making very long non-stop flights with the aid of fuelling in the air. As early as 1931 he began toying with the idea, but for various reasons it was not until the next year that he was able to get down to ordered planning, and it was in 1933 that he began actual experiments. These were of necessity somewhat crude, relying on manual dexterity in catching the end of the hose and making it fast to the aircraft to be fuelled. Sir Alan succeeded in getting the Air Ministry interested, and in 1934 he was planning on making a non-stop flight to India. He bought an Airspeed Courier and had it fitted up for air fuelling. A W.io was sent to Malta to fuel him there, and various R.A.F. machines were to fuel him at Alexandria, Basra and Karachi. He and Sqn. Ldr. Helmore crossed France (without seeing it until Mar seilles was reached) and arrived over Malta, where the Courier was successfully fuelled. Then, a few minutes after breaking away, it was discovered that the throttle control had broken! The engine died away gradually and just enabled them to reach Malta and.make a landing with the wheels up and all the petrol on board. Sir Alan c
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