FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1939
1939-1- - 1022.PDF
316 P \©m OCTOBER 19, ig-^ Like the Martin 167 shown on the previous page, the Douglas DB-7 was ordered by the French Government before the war in con siderable numbers. The machine is believed to do 300 m.p.h. with two Twin-Wasp engines of 900 h.p. each. A note worthy feature of this machine is the tricycle undercarriage. This would entail learning a new take-off and, particularly, landing technique. for the class called for half a ton of bombs, plus a very considerable ammunition load, and presumably all meet the requirement. The first Douglas, as ordered by the French, is powered with Wright Cyclones of 1,100 horse-power each. The power-plants for the 375-mile-an-hour modification have not been officially revealed, but I understand they are likely to be Pratt and Whitney Twin Hornets, though Double-Row Cyclones may be used. The Martin 167 is fitted with Twin Wasps, rated at 1,100 horse-power ; the North American with Double-Row Cyclones ; and the Stearman with Twin Hornets. Pursuit Types Among existing American pursuit plane types, as regards European interest, three are likely to prove outstanding. Most conventional is the Curtiss P-40, now being made in large quantities for the Army. The P-40 is a refined XP-37, the Curtiss Hawk 75A type purchased by France, fitted with the 1,000 horse-power Allison engine. Second is the Lockheed XP-38, the twin-engined single-seater in which Lt. Ben Kelsey "loafed" across the Continent last January at 356 m.p.h. (flying time) on 60 per cent, of throttle. Most unusual is the P-39, the slim Bell plane in which the pilot sits on the front end of the gear box, with the engine behind him and the propeller-shaft passing between his legs. (A similar arrangement was tried in a British (Westland) fighter several years ago.—ED.) Both the Lockheed and the Bell ships are tricycle landing-geared. The P-40 is about as fast as the Hurricane, while both of the more radical types, in the words of the War Depart ment, are capable of sustained speeds substantially in excess of 400 miles an hour. As I recall, the P-40 is in production, while factories are being readied for the other two, and bugs are being ironed out of the planes themselves. All three are Allison- powered. The unusual length of the Allison (95m. be cause of its deliberately long gear box to make an improved nose fairing) may mean that if the planes are bought with out Allison engines, and Merlins or similar types are in stalled, some slight modification of the planes or special installations will be required. The XP-38 is fitted with an unusual array of automatic equipment, including automatic engine synchronisation, in order that one man will be able to handle the plane and still have enough energy and time left over to carry out his mission. Chief bug of the P-39 is the problem of cool ing its middle-of-the-plane-position engine. The unique placing of the engine allows for an unusually clean and slim design, but the air scoops, one on each side amidships, apparently do not cool the Prestone engine coolant suffi ciently. There are dozens of other ships available, of course, but most of them probably will not meet European require ments, although that is not for me to judge. Just to mention them, they include: New heavy twin-engined bombers by Douglas and Martin (comparable to and re placements for the Douglas B-18, Air Corps standard, but with slightly reduced bomb load, much bigger engines, cleaner design and 275 miles an hour top speed); B-17-Bs (Boeing '' flying fortresses '' with two-speed superchargers and other adaptations for sustained flight at altitude, top speed something over 255 miles an hour) and a similar type which has not yet flown ordered from Consolidated ; and the Bell XFM-i, the Airacuda multiplace fighter (whose present situation is something of a mystery, as 13 of them the first Service quantity, were ordered in June, 1938, for delivery last March and haven't been delivered yet; by now their 375'm.p.h. speed is a little slow for a fighter nowhere near Service use). I have assumed throughout that England and France will each install their own armament. I understand that the R.A.F. also installs its own standard radio equipment. That is just as well, for several reasons. In the first place, private armament manufacturing facilities in the United States are definitely limited through the fact that in peace time the Services make practically all their own equipment. Secondly, our calibres are somewhat different from England's ; our Brownings are 0.30s, as compared with 0.303s used here. The only shell-gun actually mounted on a military plane owned by the U.S. Government is the 37-mm. type of the Airacuda. Thirdly, little use is yet made of the power-operated turret and consequently no manufacturing facilities can be immediately available. American Motors I had intended to go into American motors when this article was started, but I have already overrun my space. So, on motors, we'll have to let it go with the comment that anything ranging up to 1,500 horse-power in the radial family can be made in quantity by both Wright and Pratt and Whitney. Larger engines, the Wright "Duplex Cyclone" (18 cylinders, 2,000 horse-power claimed by the manufacturer) and the " Double Wasp " (18 cylinders, rated at 1,600 horse-power by the Army 150-hour test), have both been flown, but some months will pass before they are in quantity production. Allison's 1,000 horse-power 12-cylinder Vee engine is the only large in-line power-plant now being made in the States and it isn't exactly available because the Allison company has its hands full ironing the wrinkles out of the engine (which still suffers from the bugs that infest every new high-powered engine) and out of a new plant and production set-up. Besides, why should an England that has a Merlin go across the Atlantic to buy the headaches that will inevitably accompany introduction of another and still young type into the R.A.F. ? A Soviet International Speed Record NEW international speed record w£te recently set up by the Soviet pilots Nikolai P. Shabanov and Vladimir A. Matveyev, and the radio operator Nikolai A. Baikuzov, when they flew non-stop over a 5,068 kilometre (3,149 miles) closed triangular course in 12 hr. 30 min. 56 sec, averaging 404-93t> kilometres (251.615 miles) per hour. The plane in which they covered this route—Moscow- Sverdlovsk-Sevastopol-Moscow—was a Stal-7 passenger ma™w of Soviet manufacture, fitted with two 960 h.p. engines, lhej carried no pay load. ,-t The record for this category previously stood to the cr of the French pilot, Rossi, who, on June 8, 1938, flew a tm • engined Amio 370 plane at an average speed of 400.810 metres (249.051 miles) per hour.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
