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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0969.PDF
APRIL 15TH, 1943 FLIGHT 395- DATA Engines: Two of I.SOOh.p. ea. Wing area - - 400 sq. ft. Weights Structure - - - Undercarriage - - Power plants - - Fuel Oil Crew (2) - - - Pay load - - - - Gross weight - - Wing loadingg g /q Power loading - - 9 Ib.'h.p. Ib.9,000 1,4756,000 - - 8,125 - - 625- - 400 - - 2,000- - 27,000 67.5 Ib./sq.ft. Performance Max. speed - - 445 m.p.h. Cruising'speed - 375 m.p.h. Still-air range - 3,000 miles Fig. 4. Twin-engined mail aircraft. Dealing first with the power plants. The stipulated range will enable us to con- sider operating at sub-strato- sphere • altitudes for which purpose the pusher power plant is preferable. Two of the benefits accruing from this arrangement are purely aero- dynamic and ensure first, laminar airflow, and secondly, local air velocities in the sub- sonic range. Both these attributes are even more highly desirable at high alti- tudes than at sea level. The liquid-cooled in-line engine is the better installation for a pusher power plant in that it can be more easily mounted in the wing without presenting quite the same tooling difficulties, as, say, a A popular conception ol the pusher installation is that embodying an engine buried within the wing. This we are precluded from using by reason of physical limitations imposed by the machine itself, which will be of compara- tively moderate proportions. The nearest approach we could make would be to use a flat engine such as the Lycoming, although two liquid-cooled engines of about fifteen hundred horsepower each are what we require, driving contra props and accommodated in underslung nacelles designed to give minimum interference with the wing leading-edge. Buried-engine Cooling One of the. difficulties would be that of supplying cool- ing air to the radiators during running-up of the engines before take-off. The slipstream from a tractor airscrew meets this requirement adequately and efficiently, whereas the pusher slipstream is lost to the purpose. Nevertheless, this is not an insurmountable difficulty, and there are ways and means of overcoming it. Mainly for its all-round aerodynamic efficiency a tail- less fuselage has much to commend it. A highly efficient finesse ratio is assured, and the wetted surface becomes a minimum, while longitudinal stability is catered for by a stabilising elevator placed forward of the main plane, located in this manner the elevator would offer but four- fifths the drag of an elevator in the slipstream. In the interest of safety, high landing speeds are to be Fig. 5. Diagram ofcabins of machine shown in Fig. 7. radial air-cooled engine. condemned, and with passenger-carrying craft added em- phasis is lent to the assertion. There is no reason, however, why an expert, not to say specialised, crew should not be able to handle with safety a highly loaded mailplane even incorporating assisted take- off, and on that premise we might commit ourselves to a wing loading as high as, say, sixty-seven and a half pounds per square foot. The precise form of launching device is immaterial, and could be in the form of rocket propulsion or a gravity accelerator. The relatively high cruising speed and the resultinglv moderate duration may fit in with a crew of only two without imposing too great a strain. On the North Atlantic route the east-to-west crossing would be the most trying, though the alternative South Atlantic route via Bermuda and the Azores would be quite a reasonable proposition. After all, a crew of two flew the Mercury from Dundee to the Orange River, South Africa, in 1938. The three-view general arrangement drawing in Fig. 4 defines a machine designed round the foregoing specifica- tion. Pilot and wireless operator are accommodated for- ward in the nose of the aircraft, in a pressure cabin. The wireless operator, who will also be navigator, is seated slightly aft of the pilot, and has access to a chart table conveniently located at his left-hand side and immediately behind the pilot. Around this table comprehensive two- way radio and astro navigational equipment is installed. Immediately aft of the crew's quarters would be the mail compartment. Plastic - bonded plywood construction would be advan- tageous in providing integral fuel tanks within the wings and certain parts of the fuse- lage, resulting in a certain economy of weight. Alter- natively, conventional metal construction could be em- ployed . Summing up: It has to be conceded that extensive ex- periments and wind-tunnel tests would perforce need to be carried out before such a project could be embarked upon, and this would involve considerable time. Nevertheless, given the opportunity and the financial backing, the British Aircraft Industry would prove itself more than equal to the situation. The tailiess type of aircraft has ever appealed to the FiriNC S ENCINE COHTROLS CONCEALED < ACCOMODATEO BEHIND PHNELLtNC IN NO%£ SOUNDPROOF PARTITIONING ON FRONT * REAR FACES Of FRONT MAIN %PAR Fig. 6. Wing cabin and promenade deck.
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