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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0247.PDF
JANUARY 29TH, 1942 FLIGHT 95 'parent company, but it was obvious that the heavy demand could not Lfi met in time by the existing facilities, and the Stirling is now produced, in the form of main components, in more than twenty different factories,! in addition to a large sub-contracting scheme for the supply of smaller components. Recently the Ministry of Aircraft Production arranged for a party to visit a selected group of works so that activity on this. Great Britain's big gest bomber, could be appreciated. The huge workshops and lines of pro duction on such a massive type form a most impressive sight. Some delay was caused by a mis hap to the first machine, the under carriage of which collapsed on the first landing. The trouble was, how ever, tracked down (it was, we be lieve, caused by the binding of a wheel brake), and in all subsequent aircraft the un- _j^tarriage has functioned as Intended. In its general design the Short Stirling is a mid-wing cantilever monoplane with four engines mounted on j the leading-edge of the wings. The standard power plant is the Bristol Hercules sleeve-valve 14-cyl. radial air-cooled, of 1,600 b.h.p. maximum power at 2,900 rp.m. Arrangements have, however, been made for the fitting, as an alternative, of four American Wright Cyclone engines of the same power. As not only the size and weight, but also the power, of the two engine types are almost identical, it may be assumed that the per formance will be very much the same whichever is On the score of however, the Cyclone wins easily. Its noise is deafening. The choice of the mid- wing position was probably dictated partly by aero- fitted . decibels, Everything to scale except the pilot. This fqur-engined half-scale flying model, with four 90 h.p. Pobjoy Niagara engines, was built in 1936 and thoroughly flight-tested before the Stirling was built. This exclusive Flight photograph shows the similarity between the model and the full-scale machine. dynamic and partly by operational considerations. The placing of the wings on the sides rather than at the bottom corners of the fuselage causes less inter ference with the air flow, calls for small fillets or no fillets at all, and has much to recommend it aero- dynamically. The fact that to get the high performance aimed at it was necessary to house the bombs in the fuselage made it necessary to raise the wing so as to leave a clear space in the floor, so that here again the mid-wing arrangement was logical. Aircraft design is always a compromise; in this case the' " price to be paid " for the advantages o( the mid-wing arrangement was a rather tall under carriage, which must weigh rather more than the shorter undercarriage of a low-wing monoplane. However, it was decided that the mid-wing arrangement was preferable, and so the basic outline of the Stirling was settled. One of the four. The Bristol Hercules 14-cyl. sleeve-valve engine fitted in the Stirling develops a maximum of 1,600 b.h.p. at 2,900 r.p.m. The Wright Cyclone, which forms an alternative power plant, is of the same power (at 2,400 r,p.m.), but has poppet valves. This front view of the Stirling shows the large ground angle and the placing far out towards the wing tips of the outer engines. The airscrews are de Havillands of Jtfi^ fully feathering type.
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