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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1965.PDF
372 FLIGHT OCTOBER 4TH, 1945 Refuel li 11: Flight A Possible Solution tq^tany Post~ymr Transport Problems By C. H. LATIMMR NEEDHAM M.Sct (Engineering, D.Sc.(^^necring), F.R.Ae.S^F.Z.S. rare A PPLICATIONS of the principle of "^ansfer, J-\ from one aircraft to another duri: •*- •*• numerous, but all can be grouped under functions: — (a) Assisted take-off, as a means of getting heavily loaded aircraft into the air ; and must bejfiirccted towards the problem of assisted take-off, to-day the weight carried per square foot of wing area on certain American aircraft attracts the notice of the more thoughtful members of our aircraft industry. In some instances the wing loading is more than 80 lb. per square foot. For example, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser (b) The extension of range: Obviously the range of air- is credited with a wing loading of 75 1b. per sq. ft., which craft may be made infinite if fuel is added in flight asrequired. Both aspects are of the utmost importance, but thegreatest benefits will accrue by the employment of a com- bination of both. The flight-refuelled transatlantic service, provided byImperial Airways in 1939 with the Empire type flying boats, marked the first occasion on which refuelling inflight was exploited for the purpose of assisted take-off. Wing loadings, however, arestill on the upgrade with the consequence that a con-tinued increase in the length of take-off distance is re-quired, and thus more and more airfield space is de-manded. There are those who claim that, so long assufficiently lengthy runways are provided, the questionof wing loading is of little consequence ; but the time must come when accidents during the take-off of large passengerairliners will assume such serious proportions that attention IN our issue of August 23rd, 1945, we published an illustrated description of Sir Alan Cobham's system of refuel- ling in the air. In the present article, the author of which is the chief engineer of Flight Refuelling, Ltd., certain operational and economic aspects are dealt with. • That refuelling in the air has a great contribution to make in future long-distance air transport appears obvious. enables the extraordinarily high cruising speed of 340m.p.h. to be obtained, but this can only be achieved at the expense of take-off and climb performance, and it maywell be that some form of assisted take-off will prove essential. Apart from the question of hazards it is perhaps notfully reali'sed how great is the wear and tear on engines, undercarriages, and, in fact, the whole structure of anaircraft due to taking off in a heavily loaded condition. Here it may be noted inpassing that by far the greater portion of the wearon engines and airframe takes place during landing,take-off and climb, and, by flight refuelling, the savingbrought about in the elimin- ation of each landing, dueto the prolongation of en- gine and airframe life, main-tenance, reduction of hazards and insurance premiums, can be shown to be considerable. In the case of flying boats, if they are to keep up withlandplanes as regards cruising performance and, therefore, make use of correspondingly highwing-loadings, assisted take-off may be of still greater importance on account of the high waterresistance to which the hull is subjected. Also to be considered is the contingency thatmay be brought about on the occasions when large airliners may be forced to alight at air-fields other than those which have been specially prepared to accept trans-ocean types,or when it may be particularly desirable for them to land at airfields with relatively shortrunways. In the case of military aircraft, the addition of most of the fuel after take-offenables heavy bomb loads to be lifted from small, hastily constructed airfields. In concluding this section it may be statedthat flight refuelling offers the most advan- tageous form of assisted take-off on account ofits flexibility, ease of operation and cheapness. The Long Non-stop Flight Problem Our thoughts are being turned to-day to-wards long-distance air transport. During the inter-war period, before the aerial conquest ofthe Atlantic, we were concerned mainly with relatively short distances such as the routesconnecting the capital cities of Europe. A glance at Fig. 1 shows how short are the dis-tances between capital and capital. For example, the distancefrom London to Paris is only 215 miles, but the CNCLISH MILE5 OOMO «x> eco JOO Fig. 1. This map of Europeillustrates the rela- tive shortness of thevarious distances be- tween capitals andprimary cities. air line takes the place of the train-ship-train service with great sav- ing of both time and
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