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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 2297.PDF
558 FLIGHT NOVEMBER 22ND, 1945 ENGINEER'S STATION. ACCOMMOOATIOM fofl ?O J.UCPING oa «o PAY PASSENGERS- , REFUELLING IN FLIGHT at take-off) amounting to approximately 615 gallons, or 4,460 lb. This is an overload of 5.9 per cent, only, and cannot be considered un- reasonable. The tanker journey is reduced by approximately x,000 statute miles, and the cost oi the operation drops immediately from £400 to £130, or the absurdly small figure' of £4.6 per additional passenger, and 0.4 pence per passenger mile! The picture is not yet complete. For our example we took an airliner of 76,000 lb. gross weight, in which case the cargo fuel carried by the tanker foi the London-New York route amounts to roughly 1,000 gallons, or 7,250 lb. Now, as will be shown in a later section, the Lancaster or Lincoln, used as an aerial tanker, is capable of carrying 2,000, or even 3,000, gal- lons oi fuel for the required distance, which means that these tanker aircraft could be oper- ated with airliners of twice or three times the size of the Tudor II, and since the cost of operating the tankers remains substantially ttll- changed, the cost of conveying the additional payload, already absurdly low, may be divided by two or three with the advent of larger airliners. Handicap Until now all aircraft fitted for flight refuelling have been adapted for the purpose. This has not only made installation difficult (for instance, in the Lancaster installa- tion all fuel tanks, hose unit, controls and operator's cabin had to be cramped into the bomb bay and to be removable in a matter of hours!), but has precluded the realisation of anything like the full potential advantages. Flight Refuelling, Ltd., has prepared designs for aircraft of various passenger capacities whict would be suitable for Table III.—Main Particulars of Flight-Refuelled Passenger Airliners FLIGHT REfUELLING OPERATORS CABINJ WCTION°a-» Fig. 2. Cabin layout of the F.R.io, with accommodation for 20 sleeping or 40 day passengers. Four R-R. RM.14 SM engines. Gross weight 70,000 lb. Type No. Engines Passenger capacity— Sleeping Seated Component Weights, etc. Gross weight, Ib. Passenger load, Ib. Freight load, normal, Ib. Total payload, Ib. Structure weight, tb. Power plant weight, !b... Disposable weight, Ib. ... Fuel capacity, gallons Main Dimensions. Span, ft Length, ft. Wing area, sq. ft Aspect rates Wing loading, Ib./sq. it.... Brief Performances. Maximum speed, m.p.h.... Cruising speed, m.p.h. ... Landing speed m.p.h. ... Maximum range, miles ... Take off to 50 yds. Power loading, Ib./b.h.p. F.IUO 4 R.R. Merlin, 14 SM 20 40 70,000 3,500 4,100 7,600 21,430 13,400 25,849 2,000 120 99 1,450 I0.C (10.85 per cent.) (30.64 per cent.) (19.15 per cent.) (36.93 per cent.) ) 48.25 322 235 81 2,400 1000 10.5 F.P 6 R.R. 14 50 100 117,000 8,750 8,550 17,300 34,800 22,650 42,860 2,850 150 129 2.340 Ml SM 6 14.96 per cent.) (29.86 per cent.) (19.44 per cent.) (36.8 per cent.) 9.62 50.0 310 257 83 2,400 1,110 11.7 i r F.R1.12 Bristol Centaurus 57 100 134 185,200 17,000 14,200 31,200 63,285 30,760 68,575 4,600 195 146 3,800 10.0 49.0 300 242 82 2,320 at 1,438 (16.84) per cent.) (34.17 per cent.) (16.62 per cent.) (37.03 per cent.) 242 m.p.h. 12.25 use on a flight-refuelled service over the London-New Yor great-circle route, or via the Azores, and also for the diff cult stage Vancouver-Honolulu on the route from Englan to New Zealand and Australia. These three types bav accommodation for 20, 50 and 100 sleeping passenger respectively: the first is based largely on the Brabazo: IIIA specification, now cancelled; the second is designer to meet the requirements of the Brabazon I specification whilst the third represents what is considered to be a: airliner suitable for the transport of 100 passengers (sleep ing) over long distances. All these types allow for tw refuellings on the non-stop flight from London to New Yor and one refuelling on the return. The three airliners are illustrated in Figs. 2 to 4 ani the mjiin features are tabv lated in Table III. The wing loading has bee made approximately 50 lb. sq. ft. in each case, since thi figure is representative c current Britisjf airliners ani strict comparison is therefor possible. In other words, th possible advantages of highe wing loadings now bein adopted in the U.S.A. hav not been exploited, althougl it is at once realised that re fuelling in flight offers th additional and considerabl benefit of assisting the heavil; laden aircraft at the initia period of take-off and climl (see p. 372 of previous articl in Flight, October 4th). The payloads of Table II have been plotted agains gross weight in Fig. 5, and or the same diagram is show] the curve giving the paylo^ of current types, designed ? fly the Atlantic unrefuelled the design shows at once th< tremendous iaiprovemen that can be effected' by mean: of flight refuelling. Payloads, as percentages o. the gross weight, have alsc been added to Eig. 5, anc these curves are perhaps mor< enlightening tirfan the pay
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