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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 1313.PDF
w- AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD •• FOUNDED 1909 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Telephone; Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices. DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S E.1 Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY : 8-10, CORPORATION ST. Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 52 10. BIRMINGHAM, 2 : GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autopress. Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 29/1 (5 line;). MANCHESTER, 3 : 260, DE ANSG ATE. Telegrams : lliffe. Manchester. Telephone : Blackfriar: +412. No. 1853. Vol. XLV. Registered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. ,June 29th, 1944 GLASGOW, C.2: 2oB, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams: lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Central 4857. Thursdays, One Shilling c The Outlook D.R.G.M. N OW that more details have become known, it is possible to form a clearer opinion of the tech nical features of the air torpedo. The outstand ing discovery is that the jet unit is of the compressor- less type, which means that it is very inefficient, although one must admit that it is effective. There is, of course, a certain degree of '' ram'' effect due to the forward speed of the machine (one of the first uses of this was made in the Rolls-Royce " R " engines of the Schneider Supermarines), but this is not likely to be comparable in efficiency with a compressor. That the efficiency is low will be realised by compar- ' ing the air torpedo with one of the heavy bombers. Its fuel tank carries 130 gallons of petrol. As the range may be assumed somewhere in the neighbourhood of 150 miles, the consumption works out at a little more than a mile per gallon. A heavy four-engined bomber, at its top speed, does just about as well, although at a lower speed. There is, of course, no comparison between the bomb loads carried by the two types, while for bombing accuracy the air torpedo is nowhere in the picture. Interesting is also the fact that the jet unit does not work on the continuous combustion principle but inter mittently, which accounts for the exhaust sounding something like that of a multi-cylinder piston engine. It seems obvious that the whole basis of the design has been simplicity and ease of manufacture, so that the enemy could afford to waste large numbers. In connection with the gyroscopic control of the machine, it appears likely that this is a development of <an automatic pilot produced some ten years ago by the Siemens firm of Berlin. Known as the '* Autopilot,'' that instrument differed from other automatic pilots in that its gyroscopes were not the sole basis of the correc tions applied by the working cylinders to the flight-con trol surfaces. For instance, the elevator control received its initial impulse from the pitot tube. Similarly, the rudder control was worked from a tele-compass, and it appears, from the official drawing, that there is evidence of such an instrument being mounted in the nose. Aileron control was initiated by a pendulum, but in the air torpedo this third control seems to have been dis pensed with. In the original Siemens "Autopilot" the medium used in the working cylinders was oil. In the air torpedo it is air, doubtless for lightness and sim plicity. Should our surmise be correct, and the rudder is actually operated by a compass, the deflection of the air torpedoes from their course should not be difficult! A Pitiful Expedient O NE would have to search diligently through the records of warfare to find a more telling case of substituting futility and propaganda for true military measures than the recent German employment of the air torpedo. Hitler has always loved to talk about " secret weapons " in the hopes of making British flesh creep, and likewise of cheering the spirits of his own people. There was a time when he seemed likely to make good his words. The magnetic mine, to which he said that no antidote was possible, did for a time give us British a real fright. Shipping, as everybody knows, is our most tender point. To strike at our shipping was a real threat to our chances of winning the war. The heroism of the men who dissected one of the mines, and the brilliance of British scientists, soon removed that threat; but we had certainly had a fright. Compared with the surmounted danger of the mag-
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