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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1612.PDF
102 The P.Z.L. P.1 of 1930 was a credit to Poland THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS . . 101 Built-in comfort and built-in headwinds—the H.P.42, 1930. 103 An approach to the all-wing ideal—the Junkers G.38 of 1930. 105 Focke-Wulf Ente (1930), designed to be stall-and-spin-proof. A really successful ultra-light aircraft was the 1930 Aeronca. 107 Like a clipper crowding on sail—the Sikorsky S.40 of 1931. 104 The Caproni 90 P.B. was the biggest bomber of its day (1930). 1930 In the late 1920s and early 1930s a common formula was tc be discerned in the design of three dissimilar Handley Page aircraft—the Gugnunc competition machine, the H.P.42 airliner and the Hare day bomber. This formula made use of biplane wings, wherein the lower were much inferior in span and chord to ihe upper; of rigid interplane bracing; and of slots on the upper wings (in the case of the Gugnunc, on the lower wings also). It is seen to good advantage in the picture of the H.P.42 at 101—a portrait of one of the best loved airliners ever built and one which offered safety, comfort and spaciousness in unrivalled degree. Speed, however, was of such an order that with a headwind on the London-Paris run progress seemed almost negligible. It was, alas, the H.P.42 which kindled the phrase "built-in headwinds"; nevertheless it will always be remembered as a great-hearted giant, which did Britain much credit. A com parable German type was the Junkers G.38 (103)—a somewhat distant approach to Professor Junkers' ideal of the all-wing transport. Eventually it was fitted with Junkers diesel engines, as indeed were a number of other types of the same manufacture. A third (this time Italian) approach to the problem of large- aircraft design was the somewhat unusual one evident in the picture of the Caproni P.B. at 104. Mightiest bomber of its day, this 25-ton monster set up six world records for load- carrying. Note the gun position perched on top of the upper wing and the tandem disposition of the six Isotta-Fraschini engines. An even more strangely contrived machine,'of German origin, was the tail-first, unstallable, unspinnable Focke-Wulf Ente (105). The P.Z.L. P.l single-seat fighter (102) was a notable Polish achievement, and its essential features were repeated in subsequent models which were to see action in the late war. The first ultra-light aircraft to meet with widespread success was the Aeronca (106) which, though of American origin, was also well known in Great Britain. Various models were marketed, typical of these being a single-seater with a 30 h.p. engine and a side-by-side-seater of 36 h.p. 1931 The reader may remark (and not entirely without justification) that the Sikorsky S.40 amphibian at 107 does not appear to represent a very great aerodynamic advance over the same designer's Ilia Mourometz of seventeen years earlier (Fig. 36). It did, however, give good service and a contempor ary specification claims a cruising speed of 115 m.p.h. and a top speed of 133 m.p.h. The tail booms were characteristic of the big Sikorsky amphibians of the period. Strongly contrasting with this "birdcage" is the Boeing Bomber monoplane, the clean lines of which are admirably brought out in the head-on view at 108. With its ring-cowled Pratt and Whitney Hornet engines, retractable undercarriage and bomb load of 2,400 lb, this was a milestone in military air craft development, and the patriarch of the Boeing monoplane- bomber line, which has included the B-17 Fortress, B-29 Superfortress and B-47 Stratojet. A companion type was the single-engined Monomail, and a later civil development was the famous Model 247. 108 A brilliant American achievement of 1931—the Boeing Bomber.
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