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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0556.PDF
184 FEBRUARY 22, 1940 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents. The names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. THE BIOLOGY OF AIRCRAFT A New Kind of PolygamyM R. J. D. NORTH'S article in Flight of February 8 was of special interest to me, a biologist at present con- cerned with aviation. It is at all times difficult to decide where the organism stops and the environment begins. This difficulty is responsible for the shady character of the hermit crab. And yet, unless a boundary is defined, discussions like that initiated by Mr. North will remain nebulous. He extends the limit to contain the entire machine. In this generalisation important characteristics of living organisms are lost; such as healing up of wounds—unless the entire servicing organisa- tion is included as well. Here, as in many other cases, the field of biological associations, like symbiosis, would prove, I think, more fertile. I should like to point out, in connection with Mr.- North's stimulating idea on the parentage of the plane that, from the point of view of the designer of the gun, it is the plane which is the cumbersome excrescence imposed by the male parent (the customer), who is, therefore, guilty of polygamy of a new kind: he begets from several wives one and the same defiant child ! J. COCHERN£. Plymouth. THE "VISUAL" LINK A Life end Money SaverI N your issue of February i, 1940, you published some interesting pictures showing the new system of using the Link Trainer. I think perhaps you would like to know who is responsible for the development and perfection of this scheme. It was Squadron-Leader N. Roy Harben, D.F.C., now in charge of the Training School at Derby Airport, who, by his practical genius, perfected the system of training now in use by the RAF. It is a remarkable thing that the Link Trainer not only saves the country enormous sums in cost of flying training and petrol consumption, etc., but also saves a great many crashes and lives of young trainees, and in the end produces a better and more efficient pilot. It is still more remarkable that an American invention was first really made serious use of in Great Britain, due to the imagination and initiative of the authorities in the Air Ministry. It is interesting to know that all countries are following us in our use of this remarkable device. It is a fact that this country saves millions of pounds a year by its ever-increasing use. P. F. M. FELLOWES, D.S.O., Aston Clinton. Air Commodore (Retired). CONVERTIBLE AIRCRAFT " Flight's " Scheme Elaborated THE Editorial in your issue of February 8 raised some in-teresting points. By designing commercial aircraft and adapting them to suit military purposes, we could have a valuable fleet ready for the restoration of peace. They could probably4'be changed to commercial aircraft in a very short time, a much shorter time than it would take to build from scratch. Some commercial types already exist, on the drawing board, in the factory or in the hangar, which could be very well adapted to suit the R.A.F., and would certainly be more suitable than certain foreign types, with their different metal gauges, screw threads, etc. For instance, the Fairey F.C.i, which is lying dormant at the moment, could be introduced as what might be called a " Morale Destroyer " without a great deal of difficulty. Its duties would be to make flights, over Germany at its service height to places such as Warsaw, Vienna and Berlin, descend- ing to the necessary height to drop '•' Clergyman's Bombs," and climbing back to the sub-stratosphere. The moral effect should make the experiment worth while, provided such flights were carried out fairly often. As the F.C.i's operating height will be fairly high, there would be little danger of attack from either A.A. guns or fighter aircraft. Its only moment of danger would be in the descent to drop the leaflets. For armament, a power turret atop and a " power bin " below, fairly far forward, and perhaps a fixed gun for the pilot, should suffice. As the undercarriage is of the nose- wheel type, the " dust bin " need not be retractable, in which case hinged fairings could be fitted. Supplementary fuel tanks might be carried in the cabin. The use of the F.C.i for such duties as the aforementioned would release valuable types like the Wellington and the Whitley for work which they will, no doubt, be required to do in the next few months. : The Flamingo might be adapted for use as a Coastal Recon- naissance machine also, and would be a worthy successor to the Anson. The Coastal Command has a very small selection of types for operation from aerodromes. This small selection may, of course, be an advantage. Surely the Flamingo can be produced in almost as large quantities as the Hudson, as it was designed from the beginning for quantity production. Types such as the Albatross or the Short 14/38 landplanes could be used, almost without any alteration whatever, for transport of troops, supplies, spares and for ambulance work. Man perfected the aeroplane for carrying passengers and goods, not for dropping bombs and machine-gunning fisher- men, and the sooner the whole world realises this the better for all concerned. Ross INGRAM. Dundee. •• MOORE-BRAB'S." FIRST AEROPLANE Further Comments by Sir Alliott Verdon-Roe SO, after all, it transpires that Short Brothers did supplymost of Moore-Brabazon's first machine, which consisted chiefly of i|in. diameter ash rod and canvas. Therefore, there was good ;r>ason for me to have " thought " that Short Brothers had built this machine. I surmised, in my last letter on this machine, that they were in no way responsible for the design and structural strength. Likewise, it was quite excusable on my part to " believe " that Short No 1 and No. 2 were made " under arrangement with Wright Brothers," in view of the fact that Rolls obtained No. 2 Certificate on a Short-Wright biplane, and that of the fiist five Certificates obtained on Short machines, four were called " Short-Wright " biplanes, Moore-Brabazon's being the only exception. In the above circumstances, surely the attitude taken up by Oswald Short was quite unjustified. In any case, there was not the slightest intention to insinuate that Short Brothers were only capable of building aeroplanes from drawings sup- plied. I have trom the early days looked upon their design and workmanship as being of the highest order, and nobody admires their latest products more than I do. Neither in referring to Barnum's quotation was I sug- gesting that Oswald Short should be pleased to have publicity at any price. 1 was trying to introduce a little cheerfulness into a matter which I considered he was taking too seriously. Hamble. A. VERDOX-ROE. ESCORT FIGHTERS Contra-props and Turrets MUCH discussion in your columns has been caused by thearticle on escort fighters, and several of your corre- spondents have suggested that the contra-prop method of using two engines has great advantages over the more usual method of installing the engines in the wing. I agree, but would not the same apply to the ordinary type of fighter? Mr. Barty, in his letter, said that far too many aircraft have a blind spot under the tail. This, he says, could be removed by putting a power-driven turret in the tail. I think thit; could also be done in the case of the two-seater fighter. The machine I have in mind would use two Merlins in tandem, driving contra-props. The covering over the pilot's cockpit would terminate in the turret for the gunner. Fixed guns for .the pilot would be fitted, as I think this a better policy than no guns for the pilot, as in the case of the Defiant. Such a machine would, I admit, be difficult to balance, but I do not think it would be an insurmountable difficulty. Either single or twin fins could be used, but as the turret would have to be close to the tailplanes a single fin would give a better field of fire. The great objection is that the tail turret considerably spoils the lines of the machine1. But the extra power from th<- two engines should, according to my calculations, give a top speed of about 420 m.p.h. The plan view of the fuselage would look rather like a much- scaled-down Wellington. Such a machine would be ugly to modern eyes, but the increased fire power should make the experiment well worth while. " UNORTHODOX." London, N.7.
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