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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2717.PDF
DFXEMBER 31ST, 1942 FLIGHT 717 SOME HIGH SPOTS OF 1942 A Technical Survey of Progress Made During the Past Year By W. NICHOLS, A.R.Ae.S. WITH the progress of the war the design of aircraft and equipment advances rapidly, and it is unfor tunate, but, nevertheless, essential, that so many valuable and interesting data must be withheld until the final victory has been secured. In our pessimistic moments we are apt to ask ourselves : Are the Air Ministry long-term strategists and our aircraft and engine designers accurately foreseeing the aerial and military needs for 1944 and 1945 ? Can our designers keep ahead of our rivals? A glance at what has been achieved during the past year is reassuring. For example, our heavy bombers, the Stirling, Manchester, Halifax and Lancaster, were, in fact, visualised some six years ago, and the first Hurricane flew in 1934. The Spit fire is in essentials even older if one takes into account its Schneider Trophy ancestry. , This review emphasises that these aircraft in their latest details, devices and equipment, automatically brought • -ibout in the light of experience as the war proceeds, are ahead of anything the Axis has produced so far, proving the soundness of policy and foresight of the Air Ministry . in co-operation with the British aircraft industry. For this reason perhaps we have not during the past year been overwhelmed with new designs, as such, in the Ser vices. Amongst the more important new British types described by Flight during the year are the Avro Lancaster, Handley Page Halifax and Short Stirling heavy bombers ; the Westland Whirlwind, designed as a day and night fighter, and more recently in use as a fighter-bomber; and the De Havilland Mosquito reconnaissance bomber, which has figured in many raids during the latter part of the year. In all these aircraft, aerodynamic cleanness is an outslaud ing feature of their design. AH carry heavy loads, over long distances at high speed. The Mosquito bears a considerable resemblance to the De Havilland Comet which won the England-Australia race of 1934, and, apart from such changes in outline and arrangement as arc necessary for its function with the Service, it may be regarded .is a scaled up development of the Comet. Racing Influence The Mosquito is chiefly of wood construction, and the form is such that it makes possible a very wide dispersal of manufacture, not only at home but overseas, and it lias already been announced that this aircraft is also being manufactured in Canada. This is the first modern opera tional type of aircraft to embody this type of construction. The Westland Whirlwind is powered by two underslung 860 h.p. Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines, the radiators for which are totally enclosed in the wing, duct cooling being employed. Frontal area of the Whirlwind has been reduced to an absolute minimum. The Peregrine engine as employed in the Whirlwind is fully supercharged. The Avro Lancaster is the latest of our four-engined bombers, and has been used very effectively over enemy territory. Features of this bomber include the nose, tail and dorsal gun turrets on the lines of its giant sisters, the The uooer photograph shows the Short Stirling, which is powered by four Bristol Hercules •
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