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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1945.PDF
640 Commercial Aviation 0 @OT JUNE 22, 1939 The Indian Ocean Survey AFTER completing a survey of the Cocos Islands, taking photographs and making detailed soundings in the lagoons, Capt. P. G. Taylor left for Diego Garcia, 1,725 miles away, at 10.25 G.M.T. on June 13. His. machine, a special Consoli dated PBY, reached its destination after an uneventful flight vi 14 hr. 17 min., at an average speed of 121 m.p.h. After a survey had been carried out, the Cuba left Diego Garcia at 12.40 a.m. (G.M.T.) on June 15 and arrived at Mahe, in the Seychelles, at 8.42 a.m. (G.M.T.). Apparently, according to a message sent by Capt. Taylor to the Australian Government, there will be no difficulty in laying out an aero drome at Diego Garcia and the lagoons there should make natural bases for flying-boats. The Seychelles are only about a thousand miles from Mombasa, the next stop, and by the time this issue appears the machine may have reached this point. The Hoogly Accident THE Imperial Airways boat Centurion, carrying four passen gers and a crew of five, crashed and sank while landing on the Hoogly river on the evening of June 12. According to the official statement a sudden north-westerly wind lifted her tail and caused the machine to nose into the water. It seems more likely that the extremely gusty condi tions caused the machine to stall during the final part of the approach. At any rate, the hull was seriously damaged and the machine sank. One of the passengers suffered a fractured thigh. Atlantic Passengers On June 17, the Boeing 314, Atlantic Clipper left Port Wash ington on the first passenger-carrying trans-Atlantic service. The passengers in this case, however, were not of the fare-pay ing variety. Sixteen were journalists or broadcast experts, and two were P.A.A. officials. The remaining twelve persons making up the total of thirty on board consisted of the Boeing crew, headed by Capt. Culbertson. The machine left at 3.54 p.m. and arrived at Horta, in the Azores, at 7.02 a.m.—these being New York summer times. Lisbon was reached on the evening of June 18. The first true passenger service will start on Wednesday, June 28, and the regular service will be between Port Washing ton and France, via the Azores and Lisbon; the machines will not fly on to Southampton. In the meantime, a third Boeing, named Dixie Clipper, has been put into service and has made one return crossing. On our own side, the first of the 3iJ-ton "G " class Short boats was launched at Rochester last Saturday. This particu lar machine, Golden Hind, has been laid out purely as a mail- carrying machine. Its maximum non-stop range will be some thing more than 3,000 miles. Practical Fog Dissipation ALTHOUGH the expense involved in so doing may be some what prohibitive, it has at least been proved that it is possible to dissipate certain types of fog by artificial means. " Radiation " fogs still, apparently, remain immovable, but fogs caused by the inflow of damp, warm air over a cold sur face, which have a measurable speed of motion, can be reduced or even removed by the application of local heat treatment along a line to the windward side of an aerodrome. According to Prof. David Brunt, in an article which he has recently written in The Journal of Scientific Instruments, dissipation by heat is a practical method. On the assumption that 5 per cent, of the moisture in a fog of this type is in the form of droplets, that the temperature increases between the base and the top of the fog layer by 5 deg. C, and that the rate of drift is r metre per second, he calculates that by burn ing 7,500 cubic feet of domestic gas every minute—or 20 gallons of paraffin—a space 100 metres high could be cleared to leeward. Apparently only 13 per cent, of the heat produced is needed for evaporating the droplets, the remainder being required partly to secure a reversal of the temperature gradient in order that the upper layers may be heated by convection, and partly to counteract the addition of further moisture through the combustion process. Such a large use.of gas from the ordinary supplies would not normally be possible, and Prof. Brunt favours the idea of lay ing down paraffin pipe-lines with burners arranged three or four metres apart. Preliminary expeiiments appear to have yielded practical results, though whether these results justify the out lay and running costs of the system is another matter. An Imperial Retirement I N September, Mr. H. L. Hall, who has been chief engineer of Imperial Airways during the last fifteen years, will re tire from active service, though continuing to serve as a con sultant to the company. He entered the Royal aircraft fac tory at Farnborough in 1912, after twenty-two years' previous experience of engineering and factory organisation, and is iu his sixty-third year. Difficulty in Australia ANSETT AIRWAYS, the Australian transport company, have had to discontinue their Sydney-Melbourne service, largely because of competition and the loss sustained when one of the company's three Lockheed loAs was destroyed in a hangar fire at Melbourne. After the loss, Ansett attempted to maintain schedules with a chartered D.H. Rapide, but this obviously could not compete favourably with the Douglases of Australian National Airways. Also, Ansett's last financial report showed a heavy loss, and the company is, unlike A.N.A., unsubsidised. Ansett's are continuing, however, to operate services from Sydney to Narrendera, Mildura, Broken liili and Adelaide ; from Melbourne to Broken Hill; and from Melbourne to Hamilton. It had been hoped that, under the Civil Aviation Depart ment's scheme of avoiding uneconomic competition, Ansett and Australian National could have been amalgamated. Nego tiations towards this end were carried on for nearly a year without success. The company is still awaiting the Civil Aviation Department's long-promised review of the allotment of subsidies. DC.4 Figures N OW that, after a year of flight-testing, both privately and officially, the Douglas D.C.4 has received its Civil Aero nautics Authority approved type certificate, it is possible to give some final and definite performance figures—at least with the engines fitted to the prototype. The top speed is 245 m.p.h.; the cruising speed, at 65 per cent, power, is rgg m.p.h. ; and the landing speed, with full load, is 70 m.p.h. ; service and absolute ceiling are 22,800 ft. and 24,600 ft. respectively. Other figures are:—Span, 138ft. 3in.; length, 97ft. 7m.; height, 24ft. CJin.; all-up weight, 60,000 lb. (65,000 lb. on production models); and useful load, 20,000 lb. General arrangement of the Douglas D.C.4 For daylight operations the D.C.4 is designed to carry forty- two passengers and as a sleeper, thirty or thirty-two, according to the layout—with a crew of five in each case. The engines of the prototype are Pratt and Whitney Twin Hornets which give 1,400 h.p. for take-off. Later machines may have Wright two-row Cyclones.
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