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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0278.PDF
Cargo FEATUR ECONOMY SPEED UNNECESSARY : LARGE CARGO HOLD AND LOADING HATCHES ESSENTIAL For 1 dipt into the future, jar as human eye could see; Saw the Vision of the World, and all the wonder that would be; Saw he heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the' purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales ; Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-fags were furl'd, In the parliament of man, the federation of the world. ALFRED LORD TENNYSON ("Locksley Hall," 1854). The 1922 Gloster " Goods Carrying " aircraft designed byMr. H. P. Folland. Its goods load was 1,600 lb. ; cruising speed, 92 m.p.h. ; engine, a- 360 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle. TENNYSON wrote it over ninety years ago!never held a Poet's Licence, but it seems goodpoetry to us. It shows sound common sense, too, and vision greater than Jules Verne's.J Note ! The cargo aircraft to which Alfred refers had a payload of costly bales. Tennyson knew there was no point in carrying lumber, coal, «and or politicians by air. Such commodities, non-perishable, have no urgency and are of low specific value. If Tennyson had lived to join the Board of B.O.A.C. (of course he would have been getting on a bit by now) he would have recommended such urgent and costly bales as boots ami shoes, leather goods, clothing, newspapers, watches and jewellery, choice flowers, oysters, carpets, brought by air, caviare from Astrakhan, trout from Nor- way, sea-otter pelts from Kamchatka, and perhaps ever, lobsters from Juan Fernandez. By air freight would have come pearls from Thursday Island, gold from New Guinea, and diamonds from Kimberley. British requisites for hunting, shooting and fishing—always the best in the world—Tennyson would have sent, by air. So would have gone urgent automobile, aircraft and machinery spares, tyres, instruments, films, and a thousand and one other things including, of course passengers' excess luggage, any- thing, indeed, valued at more than, say, £200 per ton, w I providing the distance was not too great. Poet's Perspicuity Similarly, had Tennyson lived to be a member of the Brabazon Committee would he not have included at least one freight aircraft among the imposing list of British civil passenger air liners ? Of course he would! In- deed, he would have had three assorted sizes—two twin- engined machines and a big four-engined one. He would have argued that we would not attempt to build up our shattered Merchant Marine with cruising liners only. Horace, our Tame Stressman, says Tennyson would not have been so daft as all that! Now to be really good a freight aircraft must be designed as a freight aircraft. You can carry freight in a bombermedical supplies, hardware, confectionery, bicycles, race- "-5'- r—--. --" -<*» ~"y ""«•.".'" <* """"^ . 1' ' ,, , , , , f , J • ' / or in an ai| lmer, but you cannot do it efficiently. Simi-lu.rMs ami , Ws. He would have takenfmotor cars com- ,' ^ »an c c> a battleshi or a £assenger plete witli passengers ami luggage from Lympne to Le H * ^ cannot do it efficiently. What are" Touquet, Irom Leith to Oslo and from Liverpool to fa chief J irements o a freight aircyraft? In the Dublin And, ol course, vice versa! tip would have , , , -, * , , ,- 1 u •,!. 1 j first place it must have a big cargo hold with large doors or hatches to facilitate loading and unloading. The ratio of its payload to its cruising horse-power must be high, This is of more importance than the ratio of its dispos- able load to its total weight. f Its airframe and its engines must be simple and I robust, easy to service and maintain. It must be most economical to run. It should be readily con- vertible into a seaplane or a skiplane. It should be capable of carrying passengers on occasion. Its external finish and appearance are relatively un- important. Remember it is a cargo aircraft, and if it is a bit slab-sided what does it matter ? It need not be very fast because speed costs money. A cruising speed of between 140 and 150 m.p.h. will do for most purposes because above all other things its cost per ton-inile must be CAMEL - TON - MILES ;Transporting the Shell petrol for the MackayExpedition in Australia. I / low. If it can do that on, say, 40 per cent, power, there will t cost 15/- per gall, to get J D* ampl<f reserve'*-- r-»l to the dumps by ' for use against this^method. head winds.
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