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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 0962.PDF
428 FLIGHT This starboard-side view of the Otter emphasizes its main features: neat cowling of the Wasp engine; straight fuselage-lines, but with curved instead of flat panels; large fin area with long dorsal extension; and high-placed tailplane. (Below) Close-up of the Otter's induced-flow en gine cowling. The only cooling-air outlet is that from the ducts surround ing the exhaust tailpipes. The typical Hamilton- Standard blade shape of the cropped DC-3 air screw is also noticeable. The external skin-stiffen ers under the fuselage allow a clean inside skin for the three self-sealing fuel cells, the fillers for which are also visible. D.H. CANADA OTTER Constructional Features and Air Impressions of the Dominion s Latest Aircraft By JAMES HAY STEVENS LAST week we published the first of a series of articles, by James Hay Stevens, on the Canadian Aircraft Industry; the next will appear in an early issue. Meanwhile we present here, from the pen of the same author, an appraisal of an outstanding new product of that industry. T HE Otter is a remarkable aircraft, far more remarkable than its somewhat simple outlines would suggest. It is usually regarded rather as an enlarged Beaver, but it is very much more than this and is, in fact, an entirely new design by its makers, the de Havilland Aircraft of Canada, Ltd. It has been born out of experience with the Beaver, itself the epitome of a generation of practical bush flying, but apart from the adoption of a similar high-wing layout the two types have little in common. Good as is the low-speed performance of the Beaver, the Otter was designed to better it and, in particular, to reverse an unusual characteristic of the former. The Beaver needs slightly more space for landing than for take-off and it was decided that the Otter must be able to enter any clearing it could leave. As- the makers' provisional figures show, this objective has been attained and the landplane can be taken off in 400 yards over a 50ft obstacle in still air. Actually this figure gives no idea of the extraordinarily short run achieved under normal wind conditions, when the Otter just seems to waddle along for a few yards before lifting off and climbing away steeply. The Otter—it is officially the DHC-3—was built to an R.C.A.F. specification and the prototype is being purchased at a price of around $630,000 (£225,000) after it has received its C. of A. to cover development costs. Thereafter, it is hoped to market at a basic price of about $65,000 (£23,210), plus $7,500 (£2,680) for floats and $1,800 (£642) for skis. On top of these figures one has to add, in Canada, a sales tax of 10 per cent or, in the U.S.A. an import duty of 15 per cent. An output of six or eight Otters is envisaged during this year, rising to one a week by 1953. The second and third machines were well in hand in March and these have been sold to the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests— already owners of 41 Beavers. Envisaged from the bush experience of many people, including that of Mr. Phil Garratt, the company's managing director, the Otter was designed by Mr. R. D. Hiscocks under the general engineer ing direction of Mr. Douglas Hunter. As with the Beaver, simplicity has been the keynote in the structural design. The fiat fuselage-sides of the Beaver have given place to slightly curved panels in order to suppress "oil- canning." The resulting fuselage cross-section is particularly convenient for accommodating either passengers or bulky freight. The rear of the cabin has a door 30m wide in the starboard side and a 46-in double door in the port side. The cabin dimensions are deceptive, because the Otter looks so little larger than the Beaver. In point of fact, it is almost the same size as that of the Dove, being slightly wider and higher, a foot longer in the passenger section and a foot shorter over all from the cockpit bulkhead to the draughtproof rear bulk head aft of the freight and radio compartments. At the rear of the cabin is a 27-in dropping hatch. The cabin space can be used for 10 passengers (14 when using sideways seats and the second pilot's seat), six stretchers and four passengers, three stretchers and seven passengers, or for freight. The longitudinal skin-stiffeners under the front fuselage are there to give a smooth interior skin round the fuel cells mounted under the floor. The wing structure is a simple one, with a main spar at 35 per cent chord, flanged blank ribs and stressed-skin cover ing. The spar is farther back than on the Beaver because it has to take the twisting loads imposed on the wing torsion-
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