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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0129.PDF
JANUARY I8TH, 1945 FLIGHT Martlet: Elaborate,unusual but fairly efficient. ingenuity, as shown in the various arrangements illustrated. Arising from these considerations is that of wheel track, which can have a great deal to do with the docility or trac- tability of small aircraft when landing, taking-ofE or taxy- ing. If a machine has a narrow-track undercarriage it is less stable in roll and yaw when moving on the ground than a machine with a wide track. Tendency to swing under airscrew slipstream influence is minimised by a wide track, as is also the tendency to be tipped up on one wing if a wheel hits a bump whilst taxying. In addition, when land- ing and almost on the point of touching down, if the machine suddenly drops a wing, and the pilot is not quick enough in ^•bringing it up, a wide-track undercarriage will offer a far ^smaller likelihood of a crack-up than will a narrow track. .*• The modern trend in wheel mountings is towards a single telescopic oleo-pneumatic leg carrying a cantilever axle on which the wheel is fitted. This arrangement involves some form of mechanism to prevent twisting in the undercarriage leg under the influence of landing drag. It must be appre- ciated that the inertia of the wheel when instantaneously accelerated from rest to, say, 1,000 r.p.m. in the case of the average fighter, produces a high torque in the telescopic strut, which must be combated by some provision that will maintain the wheel fore and aft. Most usually, the provision takes the form either ot splines between the upper and lower members of the oleo- leg, or, alternatively, scissor-links likewise anchored to the two leg members. The scissor-link device is employed on almost all American machines using cantiliver axle under- carriages, whilst the internal splining in the oleo-leg is used more frequently on British aircraft, although on the Typhoon the scissor-links are used. On the Tempest the leg arrangement is rather ingenious in that it is composed of upper and lower members staggered fore and aft and joined by parallel linkages. This arrangement was necessi- tated by having to retract the undercarriage into the air- craft's very thin wing, and the lay-out is such that the linkage between the leg members automatically functions as a drag torque linkage. Another virtue of this particular arrangement is that the shock absorption side is accommo- dated by oleo-pneumatic units which are pin-jointed between the upper member and the lower link arms, so that they are thus free from any bending or torsion loads whilst, at the same time, being readily accessible. , BRITISH EMPIRE LECTURE , HE Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society has recentlycompleted arrangements for the founding of a British Empire Lecture. The lecture, on any aeronautical subject approved by theCouncil, will be delivered amnually in September in London by a lecturer chosen in alternate years from the BritishDominions and Colonies and Great Britain. The Council, by founding the British Empire Lecture, areanxious to encourage new ideas and new points of view from all parts of the British Empire and to make the lecture second onlyia importance to the Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture. The British Empire Lecture will have a premium of /50,, attached to it, and in the case of lecturers coming from the I ^Dominions and Colonies an allowance up to /n will be paid'towards the lecturer's expenses. It is proposed to hold the first lecture in September, 1945,and suggestions for lecturers should be received by May 31st, 1945, at the latest. GLENN MARTIN'S GIFT FOR RESEARCH A MERICAN universities are preparing to tackle post-war•i*- industrial research projects on a scale that will match their wartime record. Evidence that the war research done byuniversities and institutes of technical learning has already won recognition from American industrial leaders is the recent$1,700,000 gift made by the Glenn Martin Aircraft Company to the University of Maryland for further education andresearch in aeronautical engineering. Earlier this year a group of private aircraft companies con-tributed funds for a series of research studies in aeronautical sciences at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Adminis-tration in Boston, Massachusetts. Before this the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology became the first recipient of agrant for the advancement of aeronautics from All-American Aviation Inc. at Wilmington, Delaware. The All-ArnericanAviation gift was made in memory of the late Richard Oupont, pioneer in the development of gliders.One reason why university research services are so much in demand to-day is the fact that their laboratories are particu-larly well fitted to conduct what is called '' fundamental'' research on technical and scientific problems and precedesshort-range "development" research commonly done directly in industrial plants themselves. Although universitiesgenerally agree they should continue to specialise in funda- mental research, the range of subjects they are asked to coveris steadily increasing. The division of industrial co-operation of the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, for example, has stepped from engineering into labour relations, and in the future hopes alsoto investigate certain aspects of market distribution. Columbia University in New York, already heavily engagedin war research, recently conducted heat transfer experiments for a number of industrial clients. Ohio State University isalso conducting a new study of the synthesis of pure hydro- carbons for the American Pettoleum Institute. Scientists atthe marine laboratory of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, are chiefly responsible for developing agar, a seaweedderivative resembling gelatine, into a valuable war product. Not all research activities of universities are new develop-ments. The University of Illinois engineering department and engineering experiment station has been doing industrialresearch since 1911, when it looked into coal-mining problems for the Illinois State Geological Survey Division. It is nowworking on projects for Government agencies as well as for private concerns. One project for the National DefenceResearch Committee seeks ways to dispel fog from airport runways.Universities are more than ever conscious of the value of their research activity and are busy on new research-for-industry plans. Thus Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, has created a research council, the aims of whichare to expajjd existing research programmes and to encourage co-operation in research between departments in the universityand organisations outside. The council will also make avail- able to scholars and the general public the results of researchdone at the University, Study on new techniques for the moulding of plastics is on the immediate post-war agenda. TheUniversity of California, in Berkeley, California, is deep in discussion on how to grapple with technical problems arisingout of the growing industrialisation of the west. TRADE ANNOUNCEMENT MESSRS. DAVID BROWN AND SONS (HUDDERS-FIELD), LTD., announce that Mr. J. A. Brown, who was area office manager in Scotland and Northern Ireland forfourteen years before the war, has now resumed this position at 29, St. Vincent Place, Glasgow, C.i. Mr. R. E. Wardlaw, who has been officiating in Mr. Brown'sabsence, will continue in his capacity as sales engineer.
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