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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0383.PDF
FEBRUARY IITH, 1943 FLIGHT 153 M. I. P. SMYK Fig. 3. The wing wasa single-spar struc- ture with leading-edge torsion box. The details are de-scribed in the text. The aerofoil used on the wing was Clark Y.H. with a comparatively stable c.p., which per- mitted the use of a short fuselage and comparatively small tailplane. The wing construction was 'based upon a single spar of box section. (Fig. 3a.) The part of the wing in front of the spar was covered with • ply- wood and formed the torsion box. The pilot's cabin was situated just in front of the spar, thus. necessitating the cutting of the torsion box in the centre. Here, there- fore, the torsion box was formed by the short rear spar (b), two strong ribs (c) and two diagonal spars (d). The centre section was ply-covered and faired into the fuselage lines. The ailerons were mounted on light intermediate spars (e). The trailing portion of the wing was fabric covered, except at the ply-covered centre section. The tank, containing fuel for three hours' flight, was placed in the centre section of the wing. The wing was attached to the fuselage by four Sittings (detail B). The connec- tion of the diagonal spar to the main spar was rather original (detail A). To obtain the transmission of stresses in the most efficient direction of the grain of the wood, the corner blocks were Fig. 4. The cockpit cover showed traces of glider influence,being a continuation of the centre-section leading edge. It could be jettisoned. constructed from bent laminated strips of spruce. Bythis means, good gluing surfaces were obtained, i.e., the gluing was maintained at a small angle to the grain ofthe wood. The aileron hinges were placed on the ends of the ailerons (Fig. 3 f and g) and another (h) in themiddle. At the middle hinge a sprocket was fixed to the aileron and control was by a chain (detail C). The middlehinge was attached to the bracket (h) and the end hinges (f) and (g) were mounted to the wing ribs. Of particular interest was the cockpit cover, since it wasreally a transparent continuation of the centre section of the leading-edge portion. In every longitudinal sectionthe cockpit cover completed the actual aerofoil, thus caus- ing no increase in parasite drag. The view was very goodin all directions, and particularly during landing, thanks to the transparent panels covering the bottomsurface of the cut-out. The cockpit cover (Fig. 4a) was hinged on twoswinging arms (b) and was provided with two locks on the leading edge. In case of emergency, thewhole of this could be jettisoned. The opening was operated by an upwards and backwards hingingmovement, as shown in Fig. 4. Monocoque Construction Of monocoque construction, the fuselage wascovered with plywood. The oval frames of the fuse- lage were of box section. The central part of thefuselage contained a space provided for the retracting of the undercarriage, which was supported by themain bulkheads (Fig. 5, a and b). In front of the bulkhead (b) the fuselage contained a comfortablepilot's cockpit. The engine mounting was attached at four points to the front frame protected by a fire-proof bulkhead. The undercarriage (Fig. 5) contained some veryinteresting features. Two separate legs (c) were hinged to the frame (d) along two axes at an obliqueangle. The legs contained the shock absorbers, con- sisting of rubber rings. Dunlop low-pressure tyreswere used, of 350 mm. diameter. The legs were stiffened by '' breakable '' connecting rods (e) whichwere connected by the tubes (I) to the slide (g), operated by chain transmission from the handle (h)
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