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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1618.PDF
151 An early version of the Ju 87 dive bomber (Stuka), 1937. 153 French elegance epitomized—the LeO 45 bomber of 1937. THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS . . . (1937 Cont.) Some sharp contrasts in bomber design are to be seen on this page. At 149, for instance (with a P-26 fighter to give it scale) is the Boeing YB-15, which was generally similar in layout to the YB-17 but of much larger dimensions (span 150ft). But, whereas the YB-15 was never to progress beyond the prototype stage, the YB-17 became world-famous as the Flying Fortress—mainstay, with the Consolidated-Vultee Liberator (and later with the B-29 Superfortress) of the U.S.A.F. strategic bombing force in the late war. Apart from its size the YB-15 had a certain technical interest in that it carried— for the first time on an aircraft—a 110-volt alternating-current electrical system, with generators driven by auxiliary petrol engines. The early Boeing bombers did not have power-driven turrets, although these were later introduced on the B-17. The German imagination, unlike our own and that of America, was never really captured by the heavy, four-engined bomber, although, as we have previously noted, the Fw 200 was converted for military operations, and other four-engined types—notably the He 177—were used on a limited scale. The most common, and most successful, German bomber was, in fact, the twin- engined Ju 88 (150), a brilliant design in its way, though deficient in armament. The major part of the bomb-load was carrisd externally. Performance of developed versions was such that the "88" was successfully developed for night flying during the war years. The bomber version had wing-mounted dive brakes which enabled it to make dive-bombing attacks, though this method is usually associated with the single-engined Ju 87 (151). There is a popular belief that the Ju 87 was the first dive bomber, though this is far from being the case, for British fighters were aiming bombs in steep dives during the First World War. The same practice was successfully revived by the U.S. Navy several years later. The French equivalent of the Ju 88, though not fitted for dive bombing, was the Liore et Olivier LeO 45 (153). Judged even by modern standards this was an efficient machine. The Boulton Paul company is chiefly famous for its bombers, but it has some interesting fighters to its credit, including the Bittern of 1928, in which the guns were movable in elevation, allowing attack from positions denied to fixed-gun machines. In 150 (Above) A fine multi-purpose aircraft—the Ju 88 of 1937. 149 (Left) Boeing YB-1S bomber and P-26 fighter (1937). 152 Turret-mounted armament—the boulton Paul Defiant (1937). 154 A very fast airliner: the Savoia-Marchetti S.83 of 1938. 155 " Maia" and "Mercury" formed the Mayo Composite (1938). 1937 came a far more significant development, namely the Defiant "turret fighter," in which the armament of four machine- guns was concentrated in a Boulton Paul power-driven turret, the mechanism whereof was of French origin. Although the Defiant saw brief, but spectacular, service at Dunkirk, it is chiefly famous as a night fighter over England. 1938 The twin searches for commercial speed and range are typified at 154 and 155 by the Savoia-Marchetti S.83 and the Short-Mayo Composite aircraft. In service with Sabena, the Savoia, with its cruising speed of 250 m.p.h., was the fastest airliner in the world. The upper component of the British composite machine—named Mercury—flew non-stop from Dun dee to the Orange River, South Africa (6,045 miles). Last we show the North American BC-1, a forebear of the world-famous line of military trainers best known under the name Harvard. Machines of the same general type were built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Pty., Ltd., in Australia. They were the Wirraway general-purpose monoplane and the Boomerang single-seat fighter. The building of these types marked the beginning of large-scale aircraft production in Australia, where today Canberra bombers and Sabre fighters are coming off the lines. 154 Forerunner of the famous Harvard, North American BC-1 of 1938.
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