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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2371.PDF
OCTOBER OTH, 1941. FLIGHT •M PROPULSION of AIRCRAFT Part IV (Conclusion).—Summary of Possible Advantages : Absence of Comparative Data : "Flight" Artist's Conception of a Jet-propelled Plane By G. GEOFFREY SMITH Flight's conception oi a jet-propelled, low- wing monoplane of the future. This specially pre- pared composite design embodies many of the proposals which hare been described in this series. The inset diagram shows a comparison with the normal plane of to-day. STARTING ENGINE AND GROUPED AUXILIARIES \ CYLINDRICAL ANNH14D COMBUSTION AIR CHAMBERS COLLECTOR AXIAL. FLOW AIR COMPRESSOR FROM the designs of thermal jet propulsion plantsdescribed in the three preceding articles, the generalprinciples of the process will have been grasped. The review was by no means exhaustive but covers a period of more than thirty years' activity by scientists of many different nationalities. Pioneer work by British, French, Swedish, Swiss, German and Italian designers has been recorded. ; So far no mention has been made of American activities in connection with jet propulsion but it should not, on that account, be inferred that there is no interest in the subject on the other side of the Atlantic. It would not be unfair, perhaps, to suggest that America has been more interested in rocket propulsion schemes. Nevertheless, some extremely valuable contributions to the common fund of knowledge have been made by American investigators such as Goddard, Roy, Jacobs, Shoemaker and Schubauer. Typical of these are the studies of the Melot mul- tiple nozzle device referred to later in these notes. This method of inducing air to augment the mass of the gas stream was published by M£lot in 1920 and is usually asso- ciated with his name, but credit must be given to Lake, an Ameri- can inventor, who outlined the scheme in a patent in 1909. At present, such devices are known in America as "thrust augmentors." IN this, the last of four exclusive articles discussing designs and schemes in connection with the fascinating problem of jet propulsion of aircraft, a summarised list of the possible advantages is included. A part-sectioned drawing of an imaginary jet-propelled plane has been prepared to assist the student. Acknowledgment is given for technical data made available by the Ministry of Aircraft Production and the Royal Aeronautical Society, though much of the material has been collected by " Flight " over a period of years. Previous instalments appeared in the issues of August 28th, September llth and 25th. Although America may appear to have somewhat neg- lected the development of jet propulsion, it may safely be assumed that such an enterprising nation is not ignoring the possibilities. American engineers have a gift for grappling with basic technical problems such as this and with their splendid research facilities and test laboratories we may be sure they will not lag behind other nations. The Possibility of Realisation These thirty years of collective study and investigation of jet propulsion devices have served gradually to bring the principle nearer to realisation. Much research and ex- periment, however, remains to be undertaken before prac- tical success can be said to have been achieved. In this connection it is apposite to quote the opinion of D. Riabouchinsky. a noted Russian worker in this field who has conducted extensive re- searches on the subject under the auspices of the French Air Ministry : "The problem of motopropulsor groups producing supersonic velo- cities is certainly not one which is capable of being completely solved in a few months, nor by a single experimenter with limited facilities at his disposal. The eventual solu- tion of this problem will, in all probability, consist of a collective work in which many investigators
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