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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1358.PDF
65° FLIGHT JUNE 251H, 1942 4 DE HAVILLAND GLIDER Prototype Designed and Built by Canadian D.H. Employees in Their Own Time in the company's 1EST the title of this article should raise too previous -^ hopes in the breasts of enthusiastic A.T.C. personnel, it should be stated right at the outset that it refers to the de Havilland Aircraft Company of Canada, and that the glider illustrated on this page and about to be described was de signed and built by spare-time volunteers from the ranks of the company's employees. But the project had the bless ing of the management, who not only permitted the firm's work shops to be used, but also pro vided materials and funds to be expended on production costs. And while it is perhaps a little too early to announce that the resultant de Havilland glider has "gone into production," it is, nevertheless, reported that another group of volunteers has started manufacturing glider parts experimental department. Gliding Club Formed The sport of gliding and soaring is, to all intents and purposes, non-existent in Canada at the present time, but since it could hardly be doubted that the military authori ties would look favourably upon its development in view of its obvious value, it occurred to W. Czerwinski, one of the de Havilland engineers, that it might be a good idea to do something practical about the matter. Accordingly he, with the keen support of other members of the engineer ing department, formed a glider club with the avowed object of initiating and stimulating interest in the sport of gliding in the Dominion. As already stated, the man agement cordially approved the project, and so it may safely be said that de Havilland Aircraft of Canada is responsible for launching the movement in that country, which is not surprising in view of the fact that P. C. Garratt, their managing director, and W. J. Mc- Donough, director of opera tions, are themselves pilots and fully appreciate the im portance of glider develop ment. No time was lost in getting down to the job of designing their first glider and produc ing the requisite set of draw ings. The work was carried out by members of the draw ing office staff, in their own time, under the direction of Mr. Czerwinski, and, working twice a week for several hours each day, the drawings were completed in about six months. By the time the actual design of the glider was settled, other firms had begun to show an interest in the project, with the result that Canadian Aircraft In struments and Accessories, Ltd., donated a set of flying in struments, and Dunlops made them a present of the single wheel for the landing geart In designing the de Havilland glider, consideration had to be given to local conditions, the most significant aspect of these being that there are no hill? in the vicinity of Toronto where^^"" will be used for training* A better gliding angle than that usually found in the primary training glider was therefore de sirable, since it was hoped that, with a towed launch by motor car, sufficient altitude could be attained to give flights of useful length over flat country. Fur ther than that, the designers also had in mind the fact that strong thermal currents exist in the Toronto area during summer so that, with good aerodynamic properties, the glider could take advantage of these to make soaring flights. This combination of primary traininj-and sailplane is very unusual, and it is hardly to be hoped that the de Havilland glider can possess the sheer efficiency of an out- and-out sailplane, but m view of the unusual intensity of local thermals it is expected that a reasonably satisfactory compromise will be achieved. One of the most important points which has been stressed in the design has been the safety factor. Remembering that the student glider-pilot takes to the air alone (there have been very successful two-seater gliders with dual control, but the majority are single-seaters as in this instance), special attention was paid to the elimination as far as possible of the aircraft getting into a spin if stalled. The wing, therefore, has considerable wash-out towards the tips and ailerons of generous size, and with differential control are provided. With such a wing the glider, when stalled, will merely drop its nose into a steep glide and will not spin, since good lateral control at stalling speed is TRAINER-cum-SAILPLANE. Designed and built by enthusiastic volunteers at the de Havilland factory at Toronto, Canada, this glider is intended to function as both a primary trainer and a sailplane. Its strongly designed wing has a profile with great lift coefficient, giving a lift/drag ratio ot 16.
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