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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0597.PDF
MARCH 19TH, 1942 FLIGHT 251 clearance, had to have a fairly tall undercar riage. The placing of the airscrew behind the wings prevented the tail being carried on a streamlined structure, and the open girders used to carry the tails of pushers offered a great deal of resistance. However, at the low speeds then attained, or even contemplated, weight was of greater importance than drag, and the pusher could undoubtedly be made very light. The Maurice Farman " Longhorn," for example, carried less than 4 lb./sq. ft. Triumph of the Tractor As the cry for greater speed became more in sistent, mainly under the urge of war require ments, the pusher had to give way" and the tractor became the universal type of landplane and floatplane. The engine in the nose, at first a rotary and afterwards a liquid-cooled, at once introduced problems of cooling and cowling. Many early monoplanes had their Gnomes and le Rhones overhung from a bulk head just behind the engine. The engine and airscrew projected forward from this bulkhead, and the cowling in many instances was but a small shield over the upper half of the engine. And did those rotaries sling out some castor oil? Partly for cleanness and partly to reduce drag, the cowlings gradually grew until they enclosed the engine, except for an opening in front through which cooling air entered. When the water-cooled engine came along another problem was introduced : where to put the radiator. In some early types the radiator -«j^«!as placed above the fuselage. This did riot exactly improve the pilot's view, but may have helped to keep him warm ! In most of the early types he sat with half his body exposed to the slipstream. Then came the fashion of placing a large rectangular radiator in the nose, ahead of the engine. This looked like good car practice, and was a common arrangement for a long time. Familiar types with this radiator arrangement were the S.E.5, the D.H.4, the " Brisfit" and Variety of single-engine arrangements. Reading from top downwards : The Blackburn Pellet entered for a Schneider contest had a tractor engine placed high. It porpoised. In the -dickers " cow-gun " pusher there was a streamline fairing behind the pusher airscrew. The Parnall Possum had the engine placed in the fuselage, with shaft' drive to outboard air screws. The Arpin monoplane represented a modern attempt at pusher cleanness. The low-wing arrangement may be compared with the parasol wing of the S.M-.i on the opposite page.
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