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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0747.PDF
MARCH 27TH, 1941. 245 EXHAUST CAS TURBO BLOWERS (Continued) gas turbines, in establishing contacts for the current Howeither by immersion in mercury or by spring-loaded axial or radial brushes. A set ot pincers was finally developedconsisting of copper brushes which were lightly pressed by hand against the sides of two discs insulated from eachother. The pressure is exerted only while measurements are being made to avoid overheating the brushes and iscontinued until the galvanometer ceases to rise. This method proved satisfactory foi speeds up to 22,000 r.p.m. A test turbine was provided with a series of nickel-nickelchrome thermocouples at points selected as most important. Wires c, Fig. 2, were led through tubes of steatite havingtwo holes, gathered into a central bore and led to contact carrier d. Pincers e were connected to a measuring devicef. The influence of the housing temperature and the heat- ing of the contacts upon the series of thermocouples mustbe given consideration. The installation was continuously checked by resistance measurements. BOOK REVIEWS " Wings of Victory." Written and compiled by Ivor Halstead.Lindsay Drummond. 6s. IF this writer could have forgotten that he had ever been inFleet Street and had abjured the temptation to write sensa- tional journalese, this would have been a good book. As it is,it has merits, for it covers the ground pretty well, explaining what the R.A.F. is, what it has done, and how it does it. It^includes chapters by Charles Gardner and a postcript by J. B. Priestley, both of them as good as one would expect. For therest, in some chapters one feels that the author has done good service in writing this book, and in others one is merely irri-tated by his style and his occasional inaccuracies. Still, the amount of information contained makes the book quite worthyof a place in one's war library. Flying Model Planes. By Harry McDougall. LutterworlhPress. 6s. HERE is a book for the boy—of any age from nine to ninety—who wants to design, construct arid fly his own model aircraft. There are, of course, two kinds of model aeroplaneswhich fly; those which are scale models of full-sized aircraft and those which are designed specifically for their own flyingqualities and do not pretend to be a scaled-down copy, in ex- ternal appearance, of some familiar military or civil type.Mr. McDougall's book deals exclusively with the latter and, in contrast to a number of other books more or less on thesame lines, it does not presuppose that the reader already knows the fundamental principles and has already built andflown models. Instead, it really does start at the beginning and therefore is just the work for those who are about to takeup this fascinating hobby. Incidentally, the author stresses the fact that the flying model aircraft is not a mere toy. It is areal aeroplane on a miniature scale working on exactly the same principles but developed in a different manner. In thefirst chapter he briefly sketches the history of the hobby (which goes back farther than that of real aircraft since theearliest pioneers first tested their theories,with models), follows on with a simple and lucid chapter on how a model aircraft- flies, and then, after explaining the essential characteristics of different types of flying model, proceeds to describe in a per-fectly straightforward manner the best way to set about the job and the best tools to use. Various accessories and fittings,such as the simple device for allowing a propeller to freewheel when the elastic motor is exhausted and so prolong the glide,are dealt with. Two successful models—the Whippet and the Wren—are fully described, and there are also some valuabletips on the actual flying of the finished machines. "England Is My Village." By John Llewelyn Rhys. Faberand Faber. 6s. THE collection of short stories, beginning with the one whichgives the book its title, is the story of the life of its author, John Llewelyn Rhys; not a mere recounting of incidents fromhis brief but brilliant career, but the story of the pattern of life as he, an R.A.F. pilot, knew it. In the preface by hiswife, Jane Oliver, she says, " He wanted to fly and he wanted to write. He did both." And he did both uncommonly well,for "flying played too large a part in his consciousness for him to write merely of life in flying terms. He wrote, rather,of flying in terms of life." And it is just that which gives to his work a quality that cannot fail to have universal appeal.He took his " A " licence at Cardiff in 1934, became a Sgt.- pilot in the R.A.F. Reserve in 1935, and "The FlyingShadow" was published in 1936, just when Jane Oliver, of whom he had probably never heard, was taking her " A"licence at Carlisle. She, who had also been "caught by the air," wrote to John Rhys in appreciation of this book "whichcaught so exactly the terror and loveliness of flight." They became friends and in that year he was gazetted Acting PilotOfficer in the R.A.F. itself. They married in 1939 and by the middle of last year he had risen to the rank of FlightLieutenant. They spent the last week-end of July on leave in the New Forest, happily discussing his work and the future.He went back to duty on the evening of Sunday, August 4th, and was killed on active service the next day. " I cannot feeldespair that we had so little," writes Jane Oliver, "but only amazement that we had so much." To read this collection of his short stories, the arrangementof which his wife completed for him, is to realise that, but foi the misfortune of war, here was a writer who might one dayhave spoken for his generation. Television Receiving Equipment. By W. T. Cocking,A.M.l.E.E. lliffe and Sons Ltd. 8s. 6d. WHILST developments in television are inevitably held upby the present war conditions, it is a subject in which many of our readers will be extremely interested, and to theseMr. Cocking's book can be unhesitatingly recommended. In his preface the author, who is on the staff of The WirelessWorld, points out that a regular television service is operating in the U.S.A. and that, as development will no doubt continuein that country, it is highly desirable that interest in the subject should not be allowed to lapse in Great Britain, since its theo-retical aspects can still be studied. As cathode-ray television reception rests on the foundation ofordinary wireless theory and practice, it has been treated by Mr. Cocking as an extension of wireless technique and shouldtherefore not prove too difficult to follow by anyone already familiar with modern practice in sound receivers.The book explains the principles upon which the modern television receiver works, and deals with the design of itsessential parts. There are also final chapters on faults and their remedies and on television servicing. "The Cathode Ray Oscilloscope." By W. E. Miller. "TheWireless and Electrical Trader," Dorset House. Stamford Street, S.E.i. 2s. net, or 2S. 2d. posted.THE cathode ray oscilloscope is one of the most useful pieces of modern scientific equipment and can be adapted formany diverse purposes in engineering as well as science. The principle on which it works is to discharge a thin stream olelectrons at a glass screen coated with a substance which fluoresces and becomes visible where the electrons strike it.Thus a single bright spot is visible. But the stream ot electrons, being small negative charges of electricity, can bebent by the presence to one side of it of a positive or negative potential, so altering the position of the spot on the screen.If the potential is a varying one such as an alternating current, the spot will vibrate and so draw a short straight line on thescreen, the length of which is a measure of the potential. The electron stream can be bent in two directions at right anglesand various traces can be produced on the screen by applied potentials of different voltages, phases and frequencies Ifone of the applied potentials is a standard one of known pro- perties, the properties of the other can be investigated Cathode-ray oscilloscopes are used for tracing faults suchas hum and distortion in radio work, for determination of the octane number of fuels, and for investigation of vibrationproblems. In this latter application a small strain gauge of the electrical type is attached to the vibrating part and theelectrical impulses resulting from the vibration led to the oscillo- scope. Latest application of the oscilloscope in flying is in theSperry Flightray. The uses of the oscilloscope as an aid in radio work, and its fundamental mode of operation, are set out inthis booklet of 28 pages.
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