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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1830.PDF
594 FLIGHT, 3 November PROGRESS of the PRINCESS P rote us^ T urboprop Development Satisfactory But Behind Schedule THAT the first flight of the prototype Princess flyingboat (S-R.45) will be delayed for a few months becausethe time taken to develop the Proteus power units had been under-estimated was the gist of a joint announce- n?3nt made recently by the Bristol and Saunders-Roe com- panies. The coupled turboprops are expected to be about nine months late in delivery to the aircraft manufacturers, but steps are being taken to reduce subsequent delay before taxying and flight trials of the flying boat by completing all installation details in advance with the aid of facsimile power units. As a result, the first flight will probably not be more than six months behind the target date. It is hoped, in fact, that the first Princess will fly in the late summer of 1951, the power units having been delivered during the previous April. In all probability the time of delivery of the three air- Right : The single Bristol Proteus turbo-prop. It has an axial and centrifugal compressor, eight combustion chambersand two separate axial-flow turbines. Ten Proteus—eight paired and twoseparate—will power the Princess boats. craft for service—reportedly on Empire routes for a start— will be unaffected by the late arrival of the prototype power unit. The powered flying controls are already being proved in flight on a Sunderland, and a complete wing section will be sent to Bristol for engine installation and preliminary running tests. These arrangements, together with the plans for advancing installation details mentioned above, will all help to bring forward the date of the maiden flight of the first Princess boat. Since the early Whittle gas turbines were built, a great deal of mechanical complication has necessarily been added in order to obtain the efficiency ajid low fuel consumption essential for commercial operation. Aerodynamic com- plication results from the need for a high compression-ratio and in the case of an airscrew-driving turbine, such as the Theseus, it is particularly apparent. The Bristol com- Below : A unit of the Proteus whichhas proved most satisfactory, the re- duction gear is of compound epicycltctype with ratio of 11.1 or 11.9 to I. Eight torquemeter cylinders balancethe load on the fixed gear. pany have set themselves an ambitious task upon which, in spite of the disap- pointment of this delay in delivery, good progress is being made. It is hoped and believed that by the time the Proteus units are ready for com- mercial operation the fuel consumption will compare favourably with that of current large piston-engines under similar operating conditions. Pro- visional figures are quoted below. The main units are all behaving well on test. Dr. S. G. Hooker, of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, said Re- cently : "We have a very good com- pressor and the turbines are at last looking right." There had been no a 10
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