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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0676.PDF
MARCH 2OTH, 1941. AIR-COOLED v. L I Q U I D - C O O L E D AIRCRAFT (Continued) take-off, climb and ceiling. When range and weight- carry- ing ability are the primary consideration, the air-cooled has every advantage. In view of this situation, it is only proper to ask why are not all the engines of the warring nations of the air-cooled type? The answer is not tech- nical, it is practical. The Germans have specialised in liquid-cooled engines ever since the last war. What few air-cooled types they have built have been of American design, built under licence. Judging by the fact that the G«nnans continued to buy American radials for some years, it may be inferred that they never really mastered the air-cooled types. The English have built both types, as did the French. However, the application of Meredith's ducted radiators to the liquid-cooled pursuit planes in advance of the time when his principles were applied to the air-cooled pursuit, gave the liquid-cooled type a tem- porary speed advantage. This advantage came at the time England was going into war production, so it was natural that her pursuit planes would be built around liquid-cooled installations, while her bombers used the air-cooled. Because the Germans and the English use liquid-cooled pursuits is not an argument that we should. "They made their decision at a time when they lacked important tech- nical knowledge which we now have. They cannot change now. We are in an extremely fortunate position to have in production 2,000 h.p. air-cooled engines—30 per cent, more powerful than anything available abroad. The foreign nations would match them if they could, but they are learning, as some Americans have already learned, that to develop a really satisfactory 2,000 h.p. liquid- cooled engine is truly a monumental task. V-*^ Of course, we must learn from the experience of other nations when that experience applies to us; but we must not copy the mistakes of other nations, nor must we accept their limitations, if they do not apply to us. When we are possessed, as we are to-day, of technical know- ledge which was not available to them at the time when they "froze" their fighting types, we should not hesitate to differ with them. In the light of our present knowledge, comparison of air-cooled and liquid-cooled aircraft upon a basis of equal size, weight and type, indicates that the air-cooled aircraft are superior. A.T.G UNIFORMS Different Styles Dictated by Practical Considerations EDITORIAL comment upon the Air Council's decision toapprove a uniform with collar and tie for A.T.C. cadetsin university squadrons, but tunics buttoning up to the chin for those in school and local units, was made in a recentissue of Flight, when the opinion was expressed that this dis- tinction might convey the mistaken impression of some differ-ence in status between the two sections of the corps. An explanation of the Air Council's decision on this matter,now issued by the Air Ministry, emphasises that it was based on purely practical considerations—a fact upon which Flightnever entertained the slightest doubt, of course. "School and local unit boys must have jackets they canslip on quickly over civilian shirts and vests when they leave the classroom or the workshop to go on A.T.C. parades," saysthe official statement. " On the other hand, members of uni- versity air squadrons are destined at an early date for Air Forceservice (many will in future be already attested), and there- fore it is reasonable to issue them with uniforms they can con-tinue to wear in the service. " There is no element of snobbery in the regulations foruniforms," the Air Ministry adds. " The public school boy of 16 to 18 and the boy of the sameage who is employed full-time in a factory wear precisely the same uniform. So, too, the young man who has gone up tothe University at his own expense will wear precisely the same uniform, an airman's uniform, as the young man who has goneup with a State scholarship or under the Air Ministry special Short Course Scheme. The uniform which is worn by local and school units ofthe A.T.C. alike is one which was taken over from the Air Defence Cadet Corps and which is eminently suitable for youthsof iC to 18. The same uniform would not be so suitable for men of 19 and 20, and members of University Air Squadronswill in consequence be wearing ordinary type uniform thouch with A.T.C. buttons. B The difference of uniform between school and local unitsand University units corresponds to the distinction which existed and which still exists between the uniforms of the SeniorTraining Corps at the Universities and the Junior Training Corps at the schools." Flight's original criticism of the distinction in uniform wasinspired by the fear that it might create, in the mind of the public, the quite unfounded notion that the 'Varsity airsquadrons were regarded as being of a higher status in the A.T.C. than were school and local squadrons. Our editoriallaid particular stress upon the unquestioned equality of oppor- tunity which the A.T.C. would provide for every cadet, andcommended the essentially democratic ideal underlying thev - corps from its inception. In our view, therefore, complete f'uniformity in dress would have been preferable. Fog Investigations VR. SVERRE PETTERSSEN, in the fourth Wright * Brothers lecture on "Recent Fog Investigations," saidthat the physics of fog had been investigated to a considerable extent but much remained to be done. The principal problemwas still the forecasting of fog, and experience had shown that its formation depended on many local factors such as aircurrents and sources of pollution. The average diameter of a fog particle lie gave as 40 microns (1 micron is one-millionth of a metre) and he also stated that "there is no region of the radiant energy spectrum which will penetrate fogbetter than visible light." It has been found that fogs over the ocean contain mag-nesium and sodium chlorides, and that other fogs contain sulphates, probably from the burning of the sulphur in coaland other fuels. On the question of the artificial dissipation of fog, Dr. Petterssen said that heat did not appear to be apractical possibility, hut it had been possible to make a clear- ing .jo by 600 mr-tres with a depth of 10 metres by sprayingsaturated aqueous solution of calcium chloride into" the air at the rate of 85 gals, per minute. This had been done evenwith a wind velocity as high as 16 m.p.h. R. L. Ives, of the University of Colorado, is also working on the fog problem, and he considers that the presence ofsuper-cooled fog droplets can be detected by using a source of noise and a polariscope. By this means a pilot might benotified of wing icing conditions in sufficient time to avoid them. Readers may have noticed that the coronas round theheadlights of a car in fog increase in brilliance when the horn in blown. January Exports from U.S.A. A NOTHER report from Washington gives additional details11 ln regard to the January production of American military aircraft. The report says that of the 419 aeroplanes which leftthe United States on British account, 102 came to the United Kingdom, 135 went to Canada, 120 to the Gold Coast, 43 toMalaya and 19 to South Africa. Most of those to Canada would be trainers, but the 120 sentto the Gold Coast would almost certainly be operational tvpes for strengthening the British forces in the Middle East. ' Itseems a reasonable speculation that there will be a lot doing in the Balkans soon, and that aircraft will be needed to do it.For those whose geography is a bit shaky, the Gold Coast is a British possession on the lower part of the "bump" ofAfrica, and Takoradi is one of its ports. An airline runs from here across the continent to Khartoum.
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