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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0570.PDF
372 FLIGHT. 23 Match 1950! UNIVERSAL FREIGHTER An Appraisal of the Blackburn and General Aircraft High-capacity Cargo-carrier BY comparison -with the various forms of surface trans-port, aircraft have been virtually disregarded ascargo-carriers; and yet the overwhelmingly greater proportion of transport revenue is derived from freighting —passenger traffic on road, rail and sea represents but a thin froth on the solid base of cargo revenue. It is there- fore at first sight somewhat curious that, until recently, aviation "big business" should have resigned itself to ex- clusion from so fruitful a field of reward. The reasons are, however, not hard to find. Before the war it was not a practicable proposition to build a freighter aircraft which could stand on its own in competition with other means of conveyance except in the most severely limited conditions. In addition, the design "know-how" was lacking—and the importance of this quality is only now coming to be realized at its true worth. The advances in aeronautical technology which resulted from the urgency of war, however, changed the situation considerably; not- only that, the demands of war itself fathered the need for aircraft capable of transporting loads which were both bulky and heavy. General Aircraft, Limited (now amalgamated with Blackburn - Aircraft, Ltd.) first became constructively interested in the carriage of unwieldy goods by air when, in 1940, the Service requirement for an aircraft which could carry a 7i-ton tank was made known. The result was the Hamilcar glider. The creation of this aircraft led Mr. F. F. Crocombe and his design team to focus a great deal of attention on the whole subject of bulk trans- port, and an interim outcome of their design research was the Hamilcar X power-assisted glider. It was, however, apparent that all-round efficiency—in its widest commer- cial sense—could best be obtained by a rather more ortho- dox concept and this led to the design of the Universal Freighter. The fact that General Aircraft did not come de novo to the job of designing a cargo transport, but had their outlook on the problem coloured by factual experience, makes it not unnatural that the Universal Freighter should bear a close affinity to the Hamilcars in physical design. In fact to some extent it confirms, by implication, the "rightness" of the Hamilcar concept. Despite the fact that a freighter aircraft is a highly specialized type, the design criteria are such that optima are fairly readily derivable. A prerequisite is, of course, economy of operation and this lays down the boundaries of aircraft size, payload capacity and performance. Pre- liminary studies '' ringing the changes'' on the several factors serve to indicate the broad outlines of a specifica- tion which will produce the maximum return on the prime and operating costs. Having decided upon the optimum from these considerations there remains the physical de- sign layout of the aircraft: high- or low-wing, front- or rear-entry (or both), retractable- or fixed-undercarriage, twin- or single-tailboom, and' so on and so forth. In some degree these questions will be settled by aerodynamic con- siderations versus the necessity for keeping everything as simple and straightforward as possible, for in aviation per- haps more than in any other field, simplicity means reli- ability, and reliability is virtually another name for profit. In essence, the belief held by Mr. Crocombe is that the most potentially successful form of air freighter is one in which the cargo-carrying capacity is surrounded by the least amount of simple aircraft, without undue sacrifice of aerodynamic efficiency, which is capable of doing the job. The Universal Freighter is a physical expression of that belief: it is a synthesis of the varied factors which prescribe the design formula for an aircraft intended to handle large amounts of heavy cargo over longish ranges anywhere in the world. More specifically, the primary requirements for a truly universal freighter aircraft may be epitomized as carrying capacity wedded to economy and reliability, and the ability to operate with the minimum airfield facilities and a minimum crew. These qualities the Universal Freighter possesses in brimming measure. It can carry 14.4 tons payload for a 250-mile stage length with standard fuel- reserve allowances, or 7.25 tons fpr a 1,750-mile stage; actualScale is given to the actual size of the Universal Freighter by the human figures.' The nose is lifted* so that the rudders clear the roof.1 ma
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