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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0779.PDF
MARCH 14, 1940 235 SHIP-BORNE AIRCRAFT (CONTINUED) tion and the structure must be specially treated against the corrosive action of the sea air. Hence the increas- ingly wide use of stainless steel. If the fuselage is not made watertight, as in the blackburn machines sup- plied to the Fleet Air Arm, tiotation gear in the form of air bags must be fitted. An inflatable dinghy is another necessity. Although a large per- centage of deck - landing machines in use to-day have a normal type of fixed undercarriage it is advantageous- where possible to incorporate a retractable gear not only to improve performance but to facilitate forced descents on to the water. For many years on some of their larger machines the French have fitted undercarriages which can be discarded completely if a forced descent is imminent. A similar arrangement is incorporated on the new German Fieseler Fi 167 torpedo bomber, though this type lacks the "planing bottom," and wing floats which also characterise the old French Levasseur biplanes. As simplicity and ease of maintenance are desirable, air- cooled engines predominate in naval aircraft though liquid- cooled Rolls-Royce power plants have given excellent service in Fleet Air Arm machines. The sleeve-valve Bristol Perseus and Taurus give Great Britain a marked A trio ot deck-ianding torpedo bombers. On the iett isGermany's Fieseler Fi 167 (Daimler-Benz DB 601A) ; above is the American Douglas TBD-i (P. and W. Twin Wasp) ;and below is the Fairey Albacore with sleeve-valve Bristol Taurus. The Albacore and TBD-I are both standard typesand the Fieseler may be used on the carrier Graf Zeppelin. advantage in this respect. The most modern single- seater, ship-borne fighter aircraft which it is permis- sible to mention are the Grumman and Brewster types adopted by the U.S. Navy. These mid-wing, radial-engined monoplanes have a retractable under- carriage which not only per- mits a performance approaching that of corre- sponding fighters designed for operating over land, but allows the machines to be or set down on the water, in comparative safety should the necessity arise. Outstanding among two-seater fleet fighters is the Black- burn Roc, as used by the Fleet Air Arm. This machine is closely related to the Skua fleet fighter dive-bomber, but whereas the Skua has fixed guns and a manually operated gun in the rear cockpit, the Roc has a Boulton Paul multi- gun power-driven turret similar to that on the Defiant. With its powerful armament a machine like the Roc should be able to engage any type of carrier-borne aircraft on more than equal terms. A particular advantage of the turret- mounted armament is that, were the Roc attacking a low- flying machine, it could be flown alongside, above or ahead of its adversary and bring its armament to bear. As already explained, some of the smaller dive-bombers Germany has developed a variety of types for naval catapult work. The upper left-hand machine is a twin-float Arado as carriedon the " pocket battleship " Graf Spee, and to the right of it is a central-float version of the same machine. Below the twin-float Arado is the central-float Vought-Sikorsky OS2U-1, now in production for the U.S. Navy. This type was designed to the samespecification as the Curtiss XSO3C-1 (right), which has a Ranger vee-twelve engine.
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