FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0232.PDF
FLIGHT JANUARY 28TH, 1943 FIGHTER DESIGN and built up of sheet metal channels and plates, riveted together. The neatness of these engine bearers must be paid for in the form of a cer- tain amount of additional weight, since there must be a fairly heavy stress concentration at the_point where the three limbs of the "Y" branch out. It is interesting to compare the Mustang wing with that of the Spitfire. In the latter the spar is placed fairly far forward in the wing section, but in the Mustang it is located at a point roughly corresponding with the centre of pres- sure, so that when the c.p. moves aft at high speed (small angles of incidence), the torsional stresses imposed are not high. The Mustang wing is, as already mentioned, built as a complete unit, composed of the two wing portions, bolted together on the centre line. It is offered up to the fuselage as a unit, and attached to it by four bolts. One result of placing the single spar fairly far aft is that the wing guns, mounted on the spar, do not project thVough the leading-edge as is the case when they are mounted on the front spar of a two-spar wing, or on a single spar placed far forward, as in the Spitfire. Another advantage of locating the single spar fairly far aft is that it becomes possible to house the retracted wheels in front of the spar, where the greatest possible space is available. Compactness was obviously the aim of the designer of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. He started with a radial engine, very closely cowled, and brought it as far into the fuselage as possible. Like the designer of the Mustang, he chose • a single-spar wing construction, but placed it very far forward. In the outer wing portions the spar is'very close to the leading-edge. To continue it in that position would have precluded the possibility of housing the wheels ahead of the spar, and to overcome the problem the designer of the Fw 190 cranked the spar as shown in the sketch. This not only enabled him to attach his engine ring at five points by a triangulated structure of tubes, but brought the central portion of the spar' back ift the region of the centre of pressure. The writer of these notes would not care for the task of stressing the wing of the Fw 190! From a practical point.of view it may be argued that the Fw 190 type of structure, with the wing built almost integral with the fuselage, does not make for ease of repair ia the field. The fitting of a new wing must be quite a task. The Bell Airacobra is unorthodox in every way so far as structural design is concerned, yet in external appear- ance it does not differ greatly from other single^engined fighters. The form of construction shown was almost inevit- Structure dictated by unusual loca- tion of engine able, once it had been decided to place the liquid-cooled engine in the fuselage, aft of the pilot. One might express the Bell system either as a chassis- built fuselage, with the wing and engine loads taken direct to the chassis members, or perhaps better regard it as a sort of boat hull (using the expression in the purely nautical sense and not as relating to flying boats). The lower half of the fuselage, in the region of the engine and pilot, is the backbone of the machine, and to it areattached the engine and the wing roots. The forward part has to be torsionally strong in order to resist the torque reaction from the air- screw reduction gear placed in the nose. It also has to house the front wheel of the tricycle undercarriage. The tricycle undercarriage has its two rear wheels farther aft than the wheels of the conventional undercarriage, and in the Airacobra they are housed, when retracted, behind the central main spar. The armament is located partly in the wings, outboard of the undercarriage wheel wells, and partly in the nose of the fuselage. PILOT OVERCAME SIGHT HANDICAP THE only operational pilot in Fighter Command to wear con-tact lenses—"invisible" glasses which fit closely against the eyeballs inside the eyelids—has been promoted to the com-mand of a Whirlwind fighter-bomber squadron which operates from a station in the South of England. He is Squadron-Leader Geoffrey B. Warnes, a 28-year-oldLeeds man who, in peacetime, played Rugby football for Head- ingley. He learned to fly at the Yorkshire Aeroplane Club atYeadon, where his instructor was "Ginger" Lacey, better known as Squadron-Leader J. H. Lacey, D.F.M., and Bar, oneof the six highest-scoring pilots in Fighter Command. The day after war was declared, Warnes, who then worespectacles, volunteered as a pilot. He was rejected because his eyesight was not good enough, but was later-commissioned forground duties in the Equipment Branch. After serving in France he was eventually posted to a flyingrefresher course and became a qualified instructor. After several months of instructing—all this time he was wearing spectacles—his hopes were blighted by the medical verdict thathe was unfit for operational flying duties because his vision was too bad to l>e corrected by lenses incorporated in flyinggoggles—as is the usual practice. Warnes, who had read of contact lenses, travelled to London and within a week had beenfitted with a pair. This cost him /50, since contact lenses are still in an experimental stage and can be made only by a fewhighly skilled craftsmen. For this reason, the adoption of contact lenses cannot be general in the R.A.F. Again. Warnes sought a_ medical examination and this timewas passed as a special case, took the fighter pilot's course and, 16 months ago, was posted to the squadron he now com-mands. During 'those 16 months Squadron-Leader Warnes has beenon low-level attacks on targets in occupied territory, and was on the first operation when the Whirlwinds, newly convertedinto fighter-bombers, sank two armed trawlers off Cap De La Hague last September.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
