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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1761.PDF
58o f$ ©m JUNE 8, 1939 DIRECT 1 MAKES The C.40 Aittogiro Now Read for Five : Son* By C. 1 Illustrated tu The C.40 Autogiro is considerably " cleaned-up," as compared with the C.30, by a streamline casing around the upper part of the pylon and a windscreen of generous dimensions in front of the cockpit. In spite of side-by-side seating the machine looks slimmer than its predecessor. LOOKING ahead is a very good thing in all walks of life, and nowhere is foresight more necessary than ^ in flying. This applies in civil no less than in mili tary aviation, and that nation which succeeds in designing ahead of its time may well establish at least a temporary lead, although in the process it may make mis takes which have to be paid for in some way or other. And one must always bear in mind the fact that there may be considerable risk in attempting too much, tech nically speaking. An aircraft with too many new and untried features represents a combination which may prove too ambitious in that if it fails to fulfil the expectations of tKe designer it is difficult to assign the cause. In the field of rotating-wing aircraft great energy is being concentrated on the development of the helicopter, and quite rightly so. The somewhat crude attempts made in recent years, although they do not in themselves repre sent practical solutions, have shown the way to improve ment and have indicated that there is every reason to believe that a really practical helicopter can be produced. But it is to be expected that before this desirable object is achieved there may come to light several snags not anticipated at the moment, and it may well be three years or more before the direct-lift aircraft has got over its teething troubles. In the meantime it does seem a pity not to make use of the intermediate step which is available in the form of the gyroplane. This type of aircraft may not be as efficient as, theoretically, is the helicopter, due to, among other things, the fact that an airscrew has to be used for propulsion and thus introduces a second source of efficiency loss. This comparative inefficiency may be the source of lack of performance, in the aero plane sense, but one can easily visualise conditions in w,hich a relatively low speed is no great disadvantage. For work with the Army, for example, the ability to start from and alight on almost any small field, no matter how rough its surface, must obviously confer advantages which the aeroplane does not possess. And the fact that nearly vertical descent is possible makes the gyroplane a very useful observation plat form, from which movement on the ground can be much more readily detected than from a fast-moving aeroplane. When applied to naval work the gyroplane would also seem to have many uses and advantages. Short- range submarine spotting comes to mind at once, and it is even conceiv able that a gyroplane could not merely locate the submarine but could carry a depth charge and drop it with great accuracy, owing to the gyro plane's ability to sink slowly along an almost vertical flight path. Add to this the ability of the type to take off and land without forward run, and the possibilities of operation from the deck of a naval vessel become apparent. In the latest type of Autogiro, the C.40, we have an aircraft which seems to go a long way towards doing what the helicopter is expected to do ultimately. For certain specialised work the relatively low forward speed is no great drawback; in fact, it might, in some cases, be an advantage. And the jumping start and no-run landing of this machine makes possible opera tion from very restricted spaces indeed. In fact, it is possible to argue that in practice it does everything which the helicopter could do. Take, for example, the case of landing. In a perfectly flat calm the helicopter could descend vertically into any space wide enough to accommodate the diameter of the rotor. But on how many days of the year do we get a flat calm? If there is any wind, and particularly if that wind is unsteady, as it usually is, and always near the ground because of obstacles, then the vertical descent becomes a very delicate operation calling for great piloting ability. The Autogiro C.40, on the other hand, can descend very nearly vertically (in a wind the flight path is vir tually vertical), although for the last few feet of the descent some forward speed is -necessary if a light landing is to be made. The extra space required is, however, so small as to be unimportant, on land at any rate. On board ship there may be some slight difficulty, although
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