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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0913.PDF
APRIL STH, 1943 FLIGHT 373 CORRESPONDENCE v*ras likely. Should no such plane exist, substitute Me 210 as long-run:.-', fighter-bomber. Latest figtm.u give the bomb-loads of the Baltimore, Mitchell, and Ventura as 2,000 lb., and of the Marauder 2,460 lb. Only 1 lie last named exceeds the Mosquito's 2,000 1b. So, in my opinion, you just can't call theMitchell, etc., medium bombers simply because they risk about twice the number of human lives per trip, cost about twice as much to build in the first place, and are bigger all over. The net result of 2.000 lb. of bombs from a Mitchell is the same as of 2,000 lb. dropped from a Mosquito. Either call them all light bombers and give the Mosquito class prize, or put them in a class of their own. What a pity we didn't think of making this special Army Co-op, class when the. Spitfire III was on the go ! The Spit. Ill did 407 m.p.h. at sea-level with two cannon and four m.g.s, wliich would have made it one up on the Mustang, with its 370 m.p.h. and eight m.g.s. The Seafire, with the same speed as the Corsair, does drop a point in its armament, but four cannon would more than even things up. The Seafire gains a lot on flying character- istics and also (of vital importance on a.c.s) stowage, deck handling, and maintenance qualities. The Beautighter is surely better than the Hampden 'or Marauder as a land-based torpt-do-bomber. Lord Beaverbrook announced its use as such HI the House of Lordsrecently. judgment on the Avenger v. Barracuda should probably be withheld until we. can all study the figures of the Barracuda, I nit 1 think she will win on points. The only rival for the York is the Constellation, which is not yet in service in numbers, nor is it likely to be for some time. The only dive-bomber in my list, I've designated "Anti- Surface Craft ". dive-bomber. In my opinion that is the one arid only use for dive-bombers. Every other job you like to set them can be performed much more efficiently by fighter- Iwmbers or light bombers. Even for ship sinking I'm begin- ning to have my doubts. In annihilating the Jap convoy in the Bismarck Sea recently not a single dive-bomber was employed. " O. M. ETOE. .-.' Spitfire IX and Thunderbolt Compared - IN reply "to "Squita's" letter published in Correspondence,March 18th, I should like to point out that'the Republic Thunderbolt is as yet untried in war. The performance at height is undoubtedly good, but should scarcely exceed that of the Spitfire IX with the Merlin 61 and two-speed super- charger. As for manoeuvrability, the Thunderbolt is the heaviest fighter built, and has a very high wing loading, and I entirely disagree that it is more.manoeuvrable than the Spitfire. Though the armament of the Thunderbolt, eight o\5in. machine guns, is very great, the four Hispano cannon and four 0.303 machine guns of the Spitfires already used over Malta are heavier. Though the turbo-supercharger of the Double Wasp may give a slightly higher speed at 35,000ft. plus, the two-stage supercharger of the Merlin Gi should very nearly cancel this out, and there should be very little difference in the perform- ance at great height. "THE HIGHER. THE FEWER." Boston and Mitchell Armament Compared TN the great controversy on the best types of aircraft which •*- now seems to be raging in Flight, may I express my opinions ? First, in regard to the letter of G. E. D. Ross, published on March 26th. He states that the Boston III has "a very much better armament than the Mitchell." Obviously he is under a misapprehension. The Boston III does have one more machine gun than the Mitchell, but it should not be forgotten that those of the Mitchell are of 0.5111. and are far more deadly and effective than the 0.303m. guns of the Boston III. Further, two pairs of the Mitchell's guns are mounted in power- fperated turrets, which gives a decided advantage over the hand-operated guns of the Boston. In any case, the Boston comes into the class of light bomber. Secondly, the case of the Do. 217E2. Though this aircraft is superior to others in bomb load and in the number of guns it carries, but not, as many state in si.trd, I prefer a medium bomber with most of it? defensive aunainent in power-operated turrets—which virtue the Oo. 217E2 does not possess to a very great extent. In the majority cf his choices T agree with original list, though I submit my own below. Ex-R.F.C.V Operational Class. BwtType. Siiijjk1 M.-.it ('[filter and interceptor ... j Tvplioon High altitude tighter ... ... ... Spitfire IX Long raiigt; day and night fighter ...Night Intruder Duvlight fighter bomber Long range fighter bomber ... Short range reconnaissance ...Long range reconnaissance ... High speed light bomberMedium bomber Daylight heavy bomber Ground attack Naval fight:T ...Naval torpedo bomber l.attd based torpedo bomber... Naval dive bomber ...Long range naval patrol Transport landplane ...Transport flying boat MosquitoBoston Ill.iuid Havoc 11 Whirlwind J11 88, A(i MustangMosquito MosquitoMarauder (B.2fic) ' Liberator HI Hurricane \Tank buster Seafire Ie.Barracuda Beaufort. Helldivf-rSunderjand 11 CommandoBoeing 314A Nationality. ' British British BritishAmerican . British German AmericanBritish BritishAmerican BritishAmerican British BritishBritish British Americanflritish AmericanAmerican The Barracuda is now officially stated to be first class. I will not comment upon ti»e ether types, though some will no doubt disagree with my choice. « WILLIAM B. RICHARDSON. INTERNATIONAL AIR POLICE Decentralisation of Control is the Remedy TE main answer to Mr. Charlton's letter published on •A- March 25th commending the article of " Ajax " is: " If you can't solve your problems on a small scale, why should you expect to solve them by making them bigger?" At best, internationalisation is an attempt to abolish quarrels between nations by abolishing nations, and is about as sensible as trying to abolish quarrels between individuals by abolishing individuals. Decentralisation of control—the reclaiming and reuse oi initiative by individuals in association with the smaller institutions and organisations—is what is necessary for the attainment and maintenance of peace, free- dom and security. . "The Big Idea," a small work, written by Major C. H. Douglas, is a good witness that bigness is- no criterion of greatness. • - . • Congratulations on Flight's new series of articles advocating the merits of helicopters. "GYESY." TAILPLANE DIHEDRAL Trial and Error Method in Design WITHOUT wishing to disparage in any way the undoubtedskill and knowledge of aircraft engineers, it would appear that much still remains to be discovered about tailplanes and that, in the absence of a proven theory on the subject, the essentially practical "trial and error" method'still largely dominates. To the question of tailplane dihedral and position can be added that of how many fins and rudders; the Manchester first appeared with a triple tail, but was later reduced to two; the CW 20 began life with two fins and rudders, but subsequently swapped this arrangement for a large single unit, to quote but two examples. Reverting to tailplanes, I am told that the idea of lifting them high on the fin (e.g., Whirlwind) or setting at a dihedral angle is to remove them from the disturbing influences of vortices from the engine nacelles; yet this has not been found necessary on the Mosquito, Blenheim, Beaufort, Oxford, Wellington, Baltimore, Ju 88, Hs 129—to mention a few that occur to me off-hand. At the risk of incurring the amused contempt of the experts, mav a groping student ask why? "HIT AND MISS." NOW READY AIRCRAFT IDENTIFICATION A reprint of a h'ghly effective and successful series of articles from FLIGHT delineating and describing Service types and their characteristics. 3/6 (or 39 Post free) Flight Publishing Co. Ltd., Dorset House, Stamford Street, London, S.E.I
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