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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0405.PDF
FEBRUARY 13TH, 1941. THE :ANS Boat and Air TO DO BATTLE : The Tomahawktaxies out to fight the Hurricane. All three wheels of the P.40 retract ; themain wheels turn through 90 degrees in their passage upwards and back-wards. a goodly number of Mohawk's readyfor the fray. J)uring the afternoon a BrewsterSpffalo, a Grumman Martlet and ""^"Douglas Boston flew over from their erection depots and were on view. The Buffalo and Mart-let in their native haunts are both shipboard fighters, but in this country it is intended to operate them from.landbases, presumably to de-Ju. 87" the Channel. These fat little devils are affectionately termed '' Peanut Specials ''in the Service. They are universally admired for their fly- ing qualities, manoeuvrability being an especially strongpoint. In the Martlet the petrol tank is part of the wing structure, the skin forming the top and bo>ttom of thetank. Both have one thing in common. Their under- carriages are the queerest-looking pieces of mechanismthat ever graced a tarmac. To know whether the shape of the fuselage is dictated by the undercarriage, or whether theboot is on the other leg, so to speak, is difficult to decide. To one so accustomed to seeing English fuselages with not asquare inch to spare anywhere, the vast empty space under the pilots' cockpits appeared strange, if not necessarilywrong.. The Grumman has a Hamilton hydromatic air- screw with dural blades, and the Brewster a Curtiss elec--trie hub with hollow steel blades. This latter also has special cuffs near the airscrew blade roots to improve thecooling. The Douglas D.B.7 or Boston bomber shows very con-siderable promise. This is the first tricycle machine to go into service with the R.A.F. We must not take toomuch credit for purchasing these, since those which are now arriving were ordered by the French before the col-lapse. According to pilots who have flown it, the Boston is very pleasant to handle as an aeroplane. The Bostonis also a good military aeroplane. The two Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasps of 1,050 h.p. each, give a speed inthe neighbourhood of 350 m.p.h., which is not to be .iitneezed at in a light bomber. In fact, if the advantages1 accruing from the ease of landing a tricycle machine allied with this maximum speed are con-sidered, it appears that the Boston would make a first-class night lighter. After these three aircraft had beenclambered over, the piece de resistance of the day took place. This was amock combat between a night-flying Hurricane flown by a squadron leaderwith the D.F.C. (he had flown this particular Hurricane for over 200hours, which is a long time as war aeroplanes go) and a Curtiss Toma-hawk with a wing commander, whose, name is a byword among rugger fans,at the controls. The Hurricane was already warm and made a glorious THREE LEGGED RACE : In thisview of the Douglas Boston the bomb aimer's cockpit, the tricycle under-carriage and hydromatic airscrews are ciearly shown. The wing arrangementwould be called "shoulder high" by the Germans. cross-wind take-off with the wheels nicely tucked up within15 seconds of opening up the engine. What a businesslike job -the Hurricane is. It is difficult to realise it is over fiveyears since it first thrilled us at Brooklands; and that was with the comparatively bad take-off with a wooden air-screw. It has the appearance now of having been tested in war. The Tomahawk followed with more uncertainsteps. A careful taxying into wind before giving the Allison the gun. The take-off run is of some 13 seconds'duration, and a further 35 seconds are required to retract the legs. After cruising round for a while theHurricane dived and fastened himself on the tail of the Curtiss. It was a sheer joy to watch. Bybrilliant anticipation of his opponent's next move, it often appeared that the Hurricane changed direction first. Intight turns the Englishman could just keep inside, per- haps, but had scarcely enough in hand to get in a shot.At times the Curtiss was perilously near slipping in. The positions were changed and almost "the same thing occurred,since the machines were so closely matched. Now at 20 feet, now at seven thousand just in the cloud layer.Vertical turns and two screaming dives as they pass over- head at less than a hundred feet again. Two artists theywere, painting as fine a picture in that cloud flecked blue sky as ever an old master painted on canvas. Honourswere even. We were to have seen a Maryland I, another name forthe Martin 167, which has been doing such excellent work in the Mediterranean. Another non-arrival was the Cata-lina I flying boat (Consolidated P.B.Y. 2S-5). We missed the boat, but came away feeling we had notmissed the boat, because in addition to all these cheering things, there were even more cheering things hurtlinground the sky of which the censors request we say nothing.
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