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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0034.PDF
FLIGHT JANUARY 4TH, 1945 Indicator " Discusses Topics of the Day About Amphibian* Pros and Cons of a Once Much Discussed Type: Can the Idea be Practical as Well as Pretty? : A Word About Sea*going Aircraft in Qeneral ise and even ON paper, at least, the amphibian type of aircraft hasalways appeared as an attractive proposition bothfor the wealthier kind of private owner and for cer- tain airline operators. Thinking of it in more or less general terms, it is difficult not to wish the type to be a little more mechanically practicable when possibilities are so very pleasant. Furthermore, the layout gives the designer and prospective owner some very fine opportuni- ties for exercising their native ingenuity. Unfortunately, any applied ingenuity in the design of an amphibian is" not only likely to cost a good manj pounds sterling, but to weigh a fair number of pounds avoirdupois. It is an unhappy fact that nearly all multi- purpose devices of any kind tend to be inefficient applied to each of their severally designed purposes, ever ingeniously and expensively the manufacturer about the business of producing an amphjx^n, it seems that it must necessarily be a clever comp; comparatively inefficient as a flying mach:' Which is not to say that a well-designe never be used. There must be a numb- air-routes in the world on which such the only possible solution. I won't en graphical and economic situations in und which would make such a service worth ^ still be a sufficiently large number of comparatively wealthy prospective owners who would be ready to pay fairly high initial and running costs for the pleasure and privilege of operating such an amusing type of craft. But there should be no illusions about the problems in- volved. Designers will certainly have no illusions. They know that, if it is to be usefully seaworthy, an amphibian must be fairly large; and, whether it is to be flown from land every day or only twice in its life, the undercarriage must be strong enough to take any reasonable landing loads on any kind of surface. Since this undercarriage will, almost inevitably, be of somewhat narrow track, it may even be heavier than the average, and the retracting gear (whether hydraulic, ele.ctric, or chain-and-sprocket-cum- elbow-grease) will weigh quite a number of pounds. All of which means that, in order to carry around passengers and luggage, a deal more power than that required by the conventional landplane will be necessary—with a bit more added to cover the inherent glueyness of water and the u»stickableness of hull-steps. Getting over the '' Hump '' There is the blackest nigger in the woodpile. In any but good conditions of wind, wave and tide, a very real reserve of power is necessary to make a sea-going aircraft fly before it breaks either its own back or the heart of the pilot. Any pilot who can clearly remember his first per- spiring efforts to get a medium-sized flying boat into the air from a difficult sea will shy at the idea of owning an under-powered, small-scale boat, except for amusement only and on an inland stretch of water. Bigger sea-going aircraft seem to be fairly well-behaved once their technique has been mastered, but a miniature affair with a high thrust-line and small-scale hull seems to be a law unto itself, even in fairly good water conditions., No ordinary rules of control reaction seem to apply during the take-off, and the entire structure will have to be fairly strong if it is to suffer undamaged the buffetings received. At the start of the run it is either digging in a float or trying to emulate a submarine, and even when it is "on the step" the pilot's troubles are not quite over. Power, as I've said, is usually the only thing to save the day. Even with larger boats " override " power may have to be held for uncomfortably long periods in poor engine- cooling conditions. While a landplane will be off the ground (and power may consequently be reduced), after a certain definite number of seconds in any conditions, nothing quite so reliable can be expected in the behaviour of a sea- going aircraft. But, remembering the tremendous perform- ances put up by our own Sunderlands in emergency con- ditiojhs when grossly overloaded, maybe I'm speaking out when considering the larger sizes. ever ingeniously designed, an amphibian must, too, mewhat top-he^y when it is away from its primary ent. So that the airscrews and engines shall not be ^aged, these, with the lifting surfaces, must be high nd the undercarriage must be tall enough to pie- ;nt|any possibility of damage to the hull during a heavy ndihg on bad ground. And, without adding further eigjpt and complication, it is difficult to see how the rcarriage can be anything but narrow in relation te-^ e/span. So we have a high, narrow-track affair which is iikely to be something of a handful in cross-wind or g^sty conditipas? / The Question of Weight Of course, the amphibians we have so far seen are by no means the last word, and our designers may still see their way round many of the inherent difficulties. But weight and the necessary extra power will always give them cause for suffering unless they have a free hand in designing something for special duties—any attendant disadvantages being clearly understood and tolerated by all. In spite of all the difficulties and disadvantages, we can still give the more expertly contrived amphibian at lesfct three prospective civil markets: Among airline operator? who wish to fill a very special need in difficult mixed ter-* rain, where only an amphibian is practical, or where, also,, prestige demands the operation of a service; among the wealthier private owners whose passions happen to be both for sea-going and air-going aircraft; and among the joy- ride firms who wish to give their customers a new kind of experience, choosing, of course, the right moments and the best weather for such excursions as may be demanded. A few enthusiasts will be happy to play about with small flying boats rather as they might amuse themselves with a sailing dinghy, but they are not likely to bother with the complications attendant on amphifoiousness, and will learn to be neither surprised nor indignant if, on occasion, their economically under-powered boats fail to do much more than porpoise. It remains to be seen whether the pure unencumbered flying boat has had its best day for the time beingj— though that day was not, I feel, fully exploited. In* the years before the war, when airfields were few, bad, and far between, it was thoroughly economical and sensible to make use of the available water "landing" areas which required little or no development work before use. Our own Empire air routes were (and possibly still are) par- ticularly suited to flying-boat operation, so it was not really surprising that Imperial Airways and its American counterpart, Pan American Airways, should have made such good and successful use of this type of aircraft. But it has not been all so easy even for these two big and experienced airline operators. Water is rarely flat; aircraft hulls and wing-floats are easily damaged ; landing places are still' limited, so that the captain hasn't quite
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