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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0522.PDF
212 FLIGHT FEBRUARY 25TH, 1943 CORRESPONDENCE desired, being carried away clear of. the aircraft in the slip-stream. As a guide to weight, some years ago the writer was asso-ciated with the design of a three-bladed rotating wing aircraft of some 26ft. rotor diameter, the weight of each individualblade being but 15 lb. only. Increased wing area (as represented by the rotor) will, ofcourse, reduce the speed of the fighter, but not below that necessary to keep pace with the average heavy bomber. Shouldspeed be desired at any time the rotor blade is alwavs jettison-. able. Due to the employment of the auxiliary rotor, complicationswill arise in connection with aircraft stability, but these have been carefully examined and are by no means insurmountable. Incidentally, a jettisonable rotor of the type described here-with might find a sphere of usefulness in connection with the vexed question of "assisted take-off." E. V. HAMMOND. FIGHTER SPEEDS Other Factors to be Considered IN answer to Mr. Willey's-query in your issue of February 4th,may I, as one of those who helped to build the S.6 racing seaplanes, endeavour to explain the apparent lack of progress since 1931 ? First, the S.6B:— (a) The Schneider Trophy race was w^on at, I believe, 348 m.p.h., and not 407.5 as stated; the latter speed was achieved in a successful attempt to break the existing speed record, and the engine was specially boosted for this effort. (b) The S.6B was just a racing shell and carried the barest instrument equipment and only sufficient fuel and oil for about 45 min. flying. (c) The engines were only built to last for a few hours', running, after which period they would need complete over- haul. (d) The cooling was by means of surface radiators—far too vulnerable for operational flying. (e) These machines could only be flown by extremely skilful pilots, and, apart from their speed, their performance in manoeuvrability, ceiling, and available load would leave much to be desired in a fighte'r. Now compare the modern fighter :— (a) Anything up to 50 m.p.h. more than the average spec,] of the S.6B over the Schneider Trophy course. (b) Complete flying and navigational equipment, including oxygen gear, two-way radio, navigation lights, landing lamps blind flying panel, reflector sight, etc., and sufficient fuel for 1^-2 hours' high-speed cruising. (c) High degree of engine reliability with normal service maintenance. yd) Radiators reduced to smallest possible size, and self- sealing fuel tanks. (e) Aircraft capable of being flown by average Service pilot with manoeuvrability, climb, and ceiling far beyond anything possible in 1931. Available load includes machine guns, cannons, ammunition, armour plate, armoured windscreen, etc., and all this on about 1,300 h.p. No progress since 1931, Mr. Willey ? G. W. GREEN. Effects of Torque Reaction IN Flight, February 4th issue, C. G. Willey compares theperformance of the S.6B of 1931 with that of modern fighters and wonders at the apparent non-improvement of the breed. The S.6B was, of course, a racing machine at racing pitch in the same way that Austin Seven cars, with a cruising speed of 40 m.p.h., were tuned up by experts to treble that speed on the race track. Another point is that the S.6B utilised the fuselage surface as a very efficient cooler (and what wouldn't one bullet have done for that?), whereas modern coolers are more localised and offer much more resistance owing to their protrusions. Owing to the terrific torque reaction, the S.6B had to take off across the wind, otherwise one float tended to dig in while the other tried to soar when full power was applied. The same principle affects modern single-engined high-powered fighters, often preventing use of full power at take-off. My own idea of a really fast machine comprises a Sabre engine lying 6n its side across a shallow fuselage, with the cylinder heads towards the leading edge of the wings, in which are situated the cooling inlets. Hollow shaft extensions, through gears, drive two oppositely rotating airscrews. The absence of bulky engine nacelles and radiator scoops should contribute materially to a really high performance. The torque reaction in such a machine would tend to lift the tail into flying position, but would be controlled by the tail when flying. H. M. Book Reviews The Fl%et Air Arm. By John Moore. Chapman and Hall. js. net.A T a time when the equipment of the Fleet Air Arm is rather a burning question, the publication of a book on the subject bv a pilot in that Service, especially by one who was a successful author before the war, is an event to be wel- comed. This is, as one would expect, a very well-written book, and if some of the stories have already been told (e.g., the sinking of the Bismarck and the loss of H.M.S. Ark Royal) this author adds to those epics certain details which were not generally known before. He tells us that when H.M.S. Victorious went out to chase the Bismarck she had a crew that was not yet used to her and a scratch collection of air- craft hurriedly' assembled, while she had not completed her trials and had never run her engines at full speed. Going back to the earliest air blow of the war, one remem- bers that when the R.A.F. bombed Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbuttel (reconnaissances, the author calls the flights) it was officially stated that special observers had been chosen to guide the aircraft. From this book we learn that those observers were naval officers of the Fleet Air Arm. On the equipment of the Fleet Air Arm Mr. Moore is frank. The fighters in 1939 "looked horribly out of date by compari- son with the R.A.F.'s Hurricanes and Spitfires"; the1 Sword- fish (known as " Stringbags") and the "old bumbling Walrus" (christened by the-F.A.A. the " Shagbat ") "were like brontosauri that had outlived their day and strayed into the age of the sabre-toothed tiger." Yet he never complains or says that the F.A.A. had been let down. Some critics have said that the Admiralty was to blame, and had no clear ideas about aircraft. This author reminds us that in 19T8 when the R.A.F. was formed, the Navy lost 5,000 officers and 50,000 ratings Is it much wonder that the Admiralty should have been left groping when all its air experts had been taken from it? The most valuable features of this book are the author's sum- maries on things in general. One trenchant remark is. "Writing as a pilot, I would say that the observer's respon- sibility, in anything other than fighters, is about twic_e as heavy as that of the man who flies the aeroplane." His com- ments on F.A.A. duties in action are sensible, and the most striking opinion expressed in the whole book is the conclusion about the Battle of Matapan: "It would be nonsense to sav that H.M.S. Formidable won the battle: hut it would be tru<.-. I think, to say that without her and her aircraft it could not have been won." The Campaign in Greece and Crete. H.M. Stationery Office. 6d. net. •"""PHIS little brochure is one of the series " The Army at War," -*- and, truth to tell, it is rather disappointing. It was inevit- able that Army writers should have been entrusted with tin- telling of the two stories, and yet the air side had so much bearing on the result, especially in the Crete campaign, th;:t the reader naturally expects some well-considered reflections on that side, and he does not get them. The Australian General, Sir Thomas Blarney, made some acute observations on the effects of German bombers at the end of the Greek cam- paign which might well have been quoted. He said that the bombing, though irritating, did very little damage. The struggle for Crete was still more a matter of German air power working with troops who fought on the ground, but- the writer of this section (who was different from the author of the first part) evidently considered it his duty to devote most of his attention to the fighting on the ground after the air- borne Germans had landed. Of course, he had to mention the use of air-landing troops and parachute troops, but he contents himself with a recital and hardly ventures to draw any lessons from the events. The brochure is, therefore, chiefly useful ;.? a record of facts.
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