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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 2357.PDF
AUGUST 22, 1940 145 The U.S. Army Air Corps' latest big bomber, the Consolidated XB-24, in flight over San Diego, California. The aeroplane isliberally supplied with hatches and'windows. Fixed wing-tip slots and two pitot heads may be noticed, and the airscrews are Hamilton Hydromatics. CONSOLIDATED BOMBER XB-24 Davis Aerofoil Again Used : Patent Details THE U.S. Army Air Corps' latest "bombardment"(long-range bomber) type, known to the Air Corpsas the XB-24 and to its designers as Model 32, has a wing incorporating the new Davis aerofoil. Designed and built by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, the proto- type made its initial flight early this year at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, California. It is a four-engined high-wing bomber of all-metal con- struction. The wing is a full cantilever type of high aspect ratio with four tractor engine nacelles mounted flush to the upper surface. Fowler flaps extend from fuselage to ailerons. In the illustration five fixed slots will be noticed in each wingtip. Power is provided by four Pratt & Whitney 18-cyUnder twin-row radial air-cooled engines rated at 1,200 h.p. each. The airscrews are of the Hamilton Standard 3-bladed Hydromatic constant-speed type, 12ft. in diameter. The gross weight of the aeroplane is 40,000 lb. ; wing span, 110ft. , length of fuselage, 64ft. ; and overall height, 19ft. Crew varies from 6 to 9 persons, depending upon Jb.e mission to be performed. Control surfaces are fabric-covered and mass-balanced. A full cantilever horizontal tailplane has twin fins and rudders mounted at the tips. The all-metal stressed-skin fuselage is equipped with hatches and windows in the nose. tail, sides, top and bottom. The landing gear is of nose- wheel type with all three wheels retracting. The makers claim a speed of over 300 m.p.h., a range of 3,000 miles, and a bomb carrying capacity of 4 tons. The Davis aerofoil has come in for a certain amount of publicity and some extravagant stories have been written about it. But the fact that Consolidated, always in the forefront of American design, has seen fit to adopt it and use it on their outstanding twin-engined Model 31 flying boat and then on the later XB-24, shows that it is some- what more efficient than a flat plate. The Davis Aerofoil This aerofoil is covered by U.S. Patent No. 1,942,688, dated January 9, 1934. Its inventor lodged the claim some vears-before this, in 1931. The following is a brief precis of the patent:— For any given upper curve of an aerofoil there is but one most efficient lower complementary curve. The upper and lower curves of the profile each affect the fluid flow around the other and are interdependent. The general object of the invention is to provide a formula for laying out the two profile lines so that they have a definite relationship for each given type of aerofoil. (Continued on page 152.)
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