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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0122.PDF
43 FLIGHT JANUARY ISTH, 1942 The Fokker D.23 is an example of tandem engines with pilot between them. .TWIN TAIL BOOMS A Brief Review of Their History and Purpose : Their Modern Application Due to Operational Rather Than Aerodynamic Considerations NEARLY all the earliest aircraft were of the pusher type, beginning with those of the Wright brothers in America, followed in Europe by the products of the brothers Henry and Maurice Farman in France and of the Short brothers, Horace, Eustace and Oswald, in England. Excellent forward view was the advantage which accrued, and open tail girders with high drag was the price paid, aerodynamically, "for that advantage. The pushers were slow, which is scarcely surprising, and a few early experimenters conceived the idea of putting the engine in the nose of a central body or fuselage, and carrying the tail surfaces on the rear end. The pilot had to be content with a less good view from a position aft of the wings. In this country the chief champion of the tractor type, as it became known, was Mr. A. V. Roe, now Sir Alliott Verdon-Roe. In France, the Goupy* brothers did some experimental work with tractor bi plane types, and Robert Esnault Pelterie, Louis Bleriot and others turned to the tractor mono plane for extra efficiency. It was not long before the greater efficiency of the tractor, with the better performance resulting from it, won the day, and after a few years the old pusher all but disappeared. The single-engined tractor type, biplane or monoplane, held undisputed sway until the need for greater power than could be obtained from a single power plant forced the twin- engined type on the designer. The simplest way of installing two engines seemed to be In the Cunliffe-Owen "Flying Wing " the crew is housed in a wing-section central nacelle.
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